Amidst The War, Airstrikes And Destruction, My Family In Gaza Is Living A Silent Tragedy. Between The

PUELLA MAGI & PRETTY CURE: A GUIDE FOR DUMMIES

NOTE ;; This account is not a roleplaying account, nor delusion! If you are here solely for the purpose of spreading hate and negativity towards my blog, please leave.

Hello! In this blog, I'll try my best in explaining about two of the most pretty well-known concepts in the magical hero community, Puella Magi and Pretty Cure.

I'll answer this question first, though— what is Puella Magi and Pretty Cure? What are they about? After that, I'll be explaining my own concept derived from both of these series in the next blog!

SLIGHT CW ;; A mention of suicide for the Witches section in the Madoka Magica concept.

PUELLA MAGI★MADOKA MAGICA

In the magical community, tons of people have the Puella Magi concept. Magis have different reasons as to why they chose this concept, despite the dangers they'll face in the future, which I find to be very brave and courageous of them. Thumbs up to all of my Magis out there! :3

Magis can also fight physically or fight in the Astral Plane, and I will refer to them as Physical Magis and Astral Magis.

To give a (hopefully) basic run-down of this concept—

RUN-DOWN

An incubator, for example, Kyubey, Juubey, or any other types of incubator that the Magi has scripted in, can sense potential from a person and will approach them to form a "contract". The incubator can grant the said person one wish, and in exchange, the person turns into a Puella Magi and fights witches who drop grief seeds, which are used to cleanse their soul gem.

SOUL GEMS

Soul Gems are an essential part of a Puella Magi, as it is the physical form of their actual soul that the incubator extracts from them once the two form a contract with each other.

Using magic, experiencing strong, negative emotions or sustaining physical injuries can gather impurities and thus, become corrupted. The more the Soul Gem is corrupted, the more the gem loses its shine and gets progressively darker.

As Soul Gems are the physical form of a Puella Magi's soul, when the gem turns black, it turns into a grief seed and the Magi dies**, depending if a person with this concept has scripted this feature in or not.

** = This happens in the original anime, but there are some differences if you are an Astral Magi or a Physical Magi:

- If an Astral Magi witches out, their astral form will transform into a witch and wreck havoc in the astral plane, whilst their physical form may do something similar in the physical plane.

- As for a Physical Magi, we still don't have any information since we haven't met an actual magi that has witched out, leaving us with little knowledge on how a Physical Magi works aside from information that we get from a member in Mahou Planet with full results as a Magi. (I will be omitting their name for the sake of their privacy)

When not transformed, a Soul Gem can take the form of a ring, which also displays the Magi's name in Runes. When transformed, the Soul Gem will change and be incorporated into the owner's costume.

The only way to get rid of a Soul Gem's corruption is to extract it with a Grief Seed (or a Grief Cube), which are dropped by Witches.

For Astral Magis, before they decide on their contract, they first have to decide an object to put their soul gem to be attached to, since they don't have a physical soul gem when their contract is formed.

GRIEF SEEDS / CUBES

Also known as a witch's egg, which drops after defeating a witch. These are extremely important items, as they can cleanse the Magi's Soul Gem from any impurities.

If a grief seed has absorbed too many impurities, it may revive the witch. A grief seed that has been used before and contains impurities cannot fully cleanse a Soul Gem as well. It is known that a witch can eat a Grief Seed in order to power them up.

(I tried searching and I couldn't find any information regarding Grief Cubes, but they're essentially just similar to a Grief Seed that appears during the final episode of Madoka Magica... That's all I could find)

WITCHES

Although they are the final form of Puella Magis, some have scripted that witches are manifested under areas with large amounts of energy. They also have what are called Familiars, basically they work like a worker bee for the Witch. There is not much more to say, other than that the witches all have different appearances, names and powers.

Witches can also inflict a Witch's Kiss, taking form of their symbol. It is a personal marking that is used to control the minds of humans, allowing them to exacerbate pre-existing negative emotions and thoughts, as well as making them commit crimes or even attempt to take their own life. Magis can save people under the influence of a kiss when they defeat the said Witch who inflicted the person.

That's the basics of the Puella Magi concept, I hope that'll help!!

Now, let's get into the Pretty Cure concept!

PRETTY CURE

Pretty Cure is also one of the more used concepts in the magical community, following themes of friendship and saving the world. People with the Pretty Cure concept may choose a series from the franchise to start on, for example, Star Twinkle, and work from there. While on the other hand, there are some people who start from scratch and build their Pretty Cure concept as they go along the way.

I will refer to the people who use this concept as Cures for short.

RUN-DOWN

The concept focuses on a group of people who are granted special and magical items that allow them to transform into warriors known as Pretty Cure. With the aid of mysterious creatures known as fairies, they fight monsters and villains with goals of their own, all while gaining power-ups and more items to use in battle, as well as gaining new allies to fight alongside with.

CURES

Self-explanatory. They are legendary warriors and transform with the help of their transformation devices. All Cures use different kinds of combat and magic to fight monsters of the day, with some exceptions, like Wonderful Precure, where they don't use combat at all, or Kirakira A la mode, where they mainly use magic rather than combat.

Precure Teams are usually in groups of four or more, but the most common being a group of four people. Colors are also a major part of them, with the most common colors used being Pink, Blue, Yellow and Purple. Of course, you can use other colors too! Be unique and go off!

Their Cure names also correspond with their series' main themes, for example, if the main theme were to be outer space, their names would also be related to outer space, like Cure Star, Cure Nebula, etc.

FAIRIES

They are also the mascots of their own series. Fairies are usually tasked with finding the legendary warriors, and in some cases, also be a part of their transformations, an example being Delicious Party and Healin' Good. (Although, they kind of act as familiars in a sense.)

In some cases, fairies can also gain a power-up or even become human and join the Precure Team as one of the final members.

ITEMS

There are tons of items in the Pretty Cure franchise, but always all of them include:

Transformation Items

Power-ups

Weapons (for Finisher Attacks)

Collectibles (Ex. The Star Princess Color Pens)

Of course, these items provide different uses and in my opinion, can be useful outside of fighting, an example being the Twinkle Book from Star Twinkle, which is used to also feed Fuwa.

VILLAINS

The big bad guys. They usually have a goal of their own to destroy the world and send out monsters to wreak havoc. The order of the villains meeting the Precures usually goes from the weakest of the bunch up to the final boss. Some villains are also purified by the Precure, which, in turn changes their ways and become good people. In some cases, the villains may have a change of heart and become good people without the need of finisher attacks.

That's all I can explain for the Pretty Cure concept, since there's a lot of information regarding this series provided by the Fandom website. :]

I really hope this guide can help out newer members in the community.

Stay magical, have a good day!

SOURCES :

https://wiki.puella-magi.net/

https://prettycure.fandom.com/wiki/Pretty_Cure_Wiki

— jun 14, fri.

Yay yayy terapagos magical girl liko coughs

˗ˏˋ ★ ― 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐘 𝟎𝟎𝟑 - 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 ‼

Astral Projection - In Depth Tutorial ꒰୨୧ (Written as someone with diagnosed ADD who APs maybe 5/7 nights) (This is magical hero specific, given the sole purpose of my travels is witch hunts and training, but it can be tweaked for the "normies!" /aff)

CW(?): EXTREMELY LONG UNDER THE CUT!

The Golden Rule If you want to astral project, you have to put in the work. Really believe. Spend time meditating, talking to your patron/contractor (this would be whoever you made a deal with/gave your soul to in order to become a magi), study the topic, read about it, watch videos, etc. Not everyone will get it first try, and that's okay! Everyone gets the hang of it with practice! I used to only be able to do it maybe monthly, and now I do it most of the week!

Sleep Paralysis Given sleep paralysis is one of the most powerful tools for astral projection, I'll provide a method for that first! From this state, it's impossible to move, so you can easily become disconnected from your body similar to how you do in a dream or trance!

How To Enter Sleep Paralysis 1) Lie on your back. Dead still, this won't work for anyone who twitches frequently/has tourettes. Keep your mind active, think about whatever you want. Blast loud music in your headphones, anything to keep your body still but your mind up and awake. 2) Don't even think about your body. Let your thoughts consume you, forget you're anything more than a mush of brain. Don't even focus on your breathing. A lot of techniques will say to, but just let it naturally come to you, focusing on it just reminds your brain you're inhabiting a body. 3) Wait until you tingle like HELL. Not just a little buzzing or numbness, you gotta feel like you're being electrocuted (without the pain. Immediately stop if it hurts, something's wrong) for it to work properly. Most people who've experienced sleep paralysis know you tingle like crazy. 4) Stay calm. Pretend you're on vacation or some shit. You want this, you know you do, so once you're frozen, stay calm and let it happen. 5) Once you feel completely tingly, disconnected from your body, and like you're nothing but your thoughts (not even your brain, just thoughts) congratulations, you can move on to astral projection!

How To Astral Project 1) Do some heavy meditation. Get your brain in a state of drowsiness, like you're about to fall asleep. Make sure not to, though! Keep your mind active and ready, just like in sleep paralysis. Stay alert and open to responses from your body. 2) Lay down, preferably on your back with your arms at your side and your palm up. Close your eyes and just stare at the back of your eyelids until either your eyes hurt or you simply don't want to anymore. 3) Stay still. You can twitch, unlike the sleep paralysis method, but don't focus on the involuntary movement, focus on the darkness behind your eyelids. 4) Do whatever you have to. Stay awake and alert. Some magical heros are responsive, even in sleepy states like these! Strive to be just like that right now. Listen to loud music, a podcast, just do something to keep your body asleep, but your mind awake. 5) Imagine you're lifting up from your position on your back. Make sure you picture it from a first person perspective, not a third person one. Keep doing this over and over until you start to actually feel yourself lifting up. Be careful not to lift your physical body with you! 6) Once you're sat up, meditate until you start to see your room/wherever you fell asleep from behind your closed eyelids. You might be able to skip this step if sitting up gave you this ability. You should be able to look down and see your physical body below you.

How To Lucid Dream 1) Put together a playlist of subliminals/binaural beats with a timer at the end. I have one linked at the end of the post that I use! 2) Once the timer goes off, let yourself wake up, but stay as still as possible and keep your eyes shut. The alarm will turn off on its own after a bit, just ignore the beeping. 3) Take deep, controlled breaths, make your brain think you're still asleep, even if the alarm woke you up. 4) After a while you should be in a state similar to paralysis, where it feels hard, but not impossible, to move. Once you feel like your body is completely asleep, pinch your nose closed. If you can still breathe with it shut, congratulations! Open your eyes and enjoy the dream!

How To Go From Sleep Paralysis To Astral Projection 1) Focus really hard on a first person perspective of lifting your body up from the bed. Given you're in paralysis, you can't move your physical body, but your soul (or spirit, if your soul is outside your body already) can be transported, as it's not physical. 2) Do this until you feel yourself floating/lifting up. After a while, you'll start to see your room behind your closed eyes. Congratulations, you can now astral project!

How To Go From A Lucid Dream To Astral Projection 1) Summon your contractor/patron and ask them to help your soul travel back to the astral realm from the dream realm! That should be all you need <3 2) If they refuse to help/can't do that, I unfortunately don't know how to help you, as I've always had Kyubey help! Maybe look up some tutorials?

Lucid Dreaming Playlist Astral Projection Guided Meditation

Tags: @sylviasideblog, @jellyfish-collective2763

Psychosis Discussion for the Witchy/Pagan Folks In My Phone

also i'm not an expert, this is based off personal experience, personal research, formal research (my past college classes, but it's not like we had an in depth class for psychosis specifically, we just touched on it for like a week or two total), what i've heard from others, and observation

u know what. no one tells y'all what to do if you think ur in spiritual psychosis* (or just psychosis). all they do is make fun of people they think are in psychosis and use the term like a weapon.

here's what to do

eat enough (this one is underrated. how will your brain be able to work properly if not given the fuel? it takes energy to emotionally regulate and double check conclusions you come to)

drink water

try to get enough sleep (also underrated)

do something non psychosis related. draw something silly, or go sit outside, or watch a comfort show. observe how your body feels without assigning explanations to why it feels that way. these are all to help ground yourself. (sometimes grounding is explained with a spiritual lens and you may not want to get into that if you're trying to take a break from spirituality). if you're delusions are about deities, take a break from your deities. they won't be mad, they've seen psychosis before and they love you.

address your distress. i can't speak much for manic feeling types of psychosis, my episodes were very anxiety based. but for anxiety, use coping mechanisms for calming yourself down. do something that doesn't harm you but makes you feel safe.

if you can, get professional help, or get medications adjusted if that's what's causing it

if you know the source or something heavily influencing your psychosis, distance yourself from it. witchtok is known for fearmongering and feeding peoples psychosis

reach out to friends if you've been isolating yourself. you can just spend time together doing something chill. something that helped my episodes was being with people who weren't tied to the themes of my psychosis, so if your psychosis is tied to witchcraft for example, hang out with friends who don't do anything witchy, or stay off the topic of witchcraft if your friends are all into witchcraft

hold off on major decisions like large purchases, getting rid of lots of personal items, moving, etc until you feel better and more stable

a bonus tip is to spend time away from people who are toxic or who make you feel confused and off kilter. if there's someone who for reasons you can or cant explain, just repeatedly makes you feel bad about yourself or guilty or angry, it might be because they're toxic in a way you havent noticed yet. if i had a nickel for every time someone told me they thought they were going insane until they spent less time with someone who turned out to be an abuser, and they suddenly got better, i'd have three nickels including myself.

i see too many people in witch/pagan communities acting like the psychosis is just when people are weird or when believe weird things and it's such a bold thing to say when we literally talk to gods and/or light candles to get money. it makes it seem like the bad part of psychosis is being weird or cringy. that is not what is destructive about psychosis. what's destructive is the social isolation, obsession, anxiety, paranoia, lack of self care, and big impulsive decisions. if you feel safe, are safe, and aren't harming others, your beliefs are not a major concern. you're either right, or harmlessly wrong. nothing wrong with that. so stop bullying people you think are weird, i will always repeat this sentiment

if something happens in your practice that is a little wacky, just keep taking care of yourself. the priority is your safety and others' safety. there's a lot of fearmongering in witchy spaces about being wildly wrong meaning you're in psychosis, but being wrong is okay. do some research (not on social media), ask for signs you can't miss, get a tarot reading from someone you trust, and remember spirituality is just wacky sometimes. we can't prove every single spiritual occurrence. we can only prove if we're physically taken care of. if you're safe, and the people around you are safe, and you don't feel overwhelmed with paranoia or anxiety or mania, you're probably okay to move forward, and just accept you could be right or wrong.

also, coming out of psychosis is a slow process. you're changing your view of your own reality. that doesn't happen in one night.

*i want to add to this, it is possible to know you're in psychosis, it's just not always common. if you are feeling like everyone is out to get you (thinking everyone is trying to hex you or you're being constantly spiritually attacked), or that you are more special than everyone (thinking youre a gods favorite devotee, that you're the most powerful witch, thinking you're the only one stopping an astral war, for me i thought i personally would cause the rapture), feeling like everything is a sign, those could be delusions. (the ones i'm describing here are delusions of persecution, grandeur, and reference. i see these most often in witchy/pagan/spiritual spaces)

also this might just be me, i have chronic dissociation, OCD, GAD, and such but psychosis has its own separate feeling of "i'm losing it". it feels like that mental thing you get in dreams where you just don't question anything. once you're out of it, you're like "why did i just believe that???". and like you can question yourself in a dream, but you'll only catch one thing. you'll recognize the clocks are look weird, but you won't notice the walls changing colors, you know? so if you feel that half-in a dream, reasoning isn't working right feeling, that could be a signal too. i think the closest feeling i've had to this was a PTSD (not a cptsd one in this case) flashback after a night of no sleep.

okay i'm rambling. tldr: if you think you're developing are/in psychosis, do basic physical self care (especially eating enough). do things that are simple and fun that isn't related to what is triggering you (so like grounding). social self care, like meeting with friends to do things not related to your psychosis triggers. try to use basic coping skills for anxiety, guilt, fear, things like that. you don't need to dig into why you feel it, just how to calm it down.

and stop bullying ppl online, doesn't matter how insane you think they are

(i have DID and it's hard to keep track of what i say without rambling and switching trains of thought and repeating myself without realizing so if this is confusing. uhh. rip lmao)

Hello everyone, I hope you are fine 🌹🤎

I am Mayson Hamada. I will tell you my story. Imagine this: It was a night like any other night. My children laugh at the house, and our hearts were beating with love and hope. We were going out with our friends and spent a fun time with my family, but suddenly the earth was shaken under our feet 💥💣, and we heard a thunder -like voice. . . Then silence. scary. it's all over! 😱💔 The shells exploded everywhere, the walls of our house collapsed over our heads 🏠💣, and the deaf sounds mixed with the screams of my children 😢😢. We crawled from under the rubble with exhausted bodies and terrifying hearts, we run between smoke and debris in search of safety 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️. Our house, which was full of life, is now a pile of ash. 💔

We live in a dilapidated and worn-out tent that is not suitable for winter or summer. 💔

Now we live in a very high cost of living.

There is no money to buy anything, and there is no work because of the war and the difficulty of the situation. I hope you will support me and my family until this difficult war ends.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supports us in these difficult humanitarian circumstances. May God bless you. 🌹🍉🇵🇸

Vetted by @gaza vetters, my number verified on the list is(#274)

Chuffed

Escape from the horrors of war

Hello everyone, I hope you are fine 🌹🤎 I am Mason Hamada.   I will tell you my story.   Imagine this: It was a night like any other night.  

Hello chicken!

I come to you today with a question I've had for a long time, and I read a post a while ago where you gave tips on entering the astral for people who struggle with it. In this, you mentioned, if I remember correctly, that people who day dream a lot should find a way to tell apart their spiritual travels from daydreams.

The thing is—I'm not only a maladaptive daydreamer since I can remember but also a fiction writer. Meaning my mind comes up with random places and people and story fractures all the time. And when prompted with something, it can run pretty far. I have no way of determining wether or not my spiritual encounters with familiar spirits have been legit or a complete result of my own imagination.

I really wanna know if there's a way to determine if my experience are "real" or made up and how I can go about differentiating them. If you have anything that could help with that I'd be super grateful.

Have a wonderful day and thank you already

We're in reference to this, I think?

This is one of those situations where there are IME never any blanket tips, because everyone has their own needs.

"Real astral travel is fatiguing whereas daydreaming is not" is not a rule of thumb that is helpful to people that don't really get tired astral traveling, or who are exhausted by racing thoughts.

I believe it's vital to experiment for oneself to build up a system of checks and balances that works for you.

That being said here are some ways that travel can be tested (again, consider how these checks may be inadequate depending on the areas you travel, your innate skills, etc).

If you have tips or thoughts to add, please feel free!

You have valid experiences with your spirits if they pan out - if your spirits give you information, spells, techniques, etc., that work. A lot of valid techniques and lore aren't written down, so comparing it to other sources doesn't always work - you have to put it to the test. You can also ask spirits to do things for you - things that should be easily doable - and see if it happens (like, asking them to visit you at a certain time and setting a reminder after the fact).

You can't really control spirits in the astral the way you control daydream characters. Your daydream character can say or do whatever you think even on the slightest of whims. Spirits do not, and if you try to force them to say or do things they can become very upset.

In the astral, there is no story to fracture. It's not a story, there is no narrative. It's a lived experience.

Astral realms are causal, just like our normal physical reality. In a daydream if you realize a character has on the wrong outfit for this scene, based on that mere idea the story might retroactively correct to suddenly have the character be in the right outfit. But in the astral, for a spirit to have on different clothes, they have to go change clothes. And that takes time. They have to leave that location, go to where they keep their clothes, change their clothes, and come back.

There is no fracturing the story into two versions, one where the spirit has on the right outfit from the start, and one where they don't. There is no story.

In a daydream, you control the experience. At the perfect moment, it starts raining in the graveyard for the dramatic reveal. In the astral, you are experiencing something external. You can imagine it's raining, try to force it to rain, or project rain. You might even see rain for a few moments. But your perception will tend to snap back to the actual experience. And then the spirits might be looking at you weird, asking what you're doing. You can't restart the scene because there is no scene.

In a daydream if there is a locked door, that doesn't necessarily stop you in any way. You can know what's behind the locked door, where the key is, how difficult it is to open the door, if there are alternate routes, and so on. You can even know who made the door and the forest the wood came from. The characters might be stuck on one side but you are the omnipotent creator god of that reality and you have all the information you want.

In the astral if you encounter a locked door, you don't automatically know what's behind it. If you don't have the key, you can use magic to unlock it or you can try to break it down. But if you can't, then you can't. If your path is blocked, you won't automatically know any alternative paths forward. The narrative isn't going to be rewritten to account for plot holes; there is no plot. Do you want to know who made the door? Well, how do you intend to find out? Because that information isn't up to you; it exists externally from you.

The characters are at a gorge. The next part of the story is on the other side. Figuring out how to cross the gorge isn't interesting right now, the emotional energy is ready to carry us deeper into the plot. Let's just put a pin in the crossing and figure it out later. For now, we teleport into the future. The characters are on the other side of the gorge, ready to travel into the city.

In the astral, you are stuck on that side of the gorge until you figure out how to cross it. You can imagine or pretend you're on the other side, but eventually you will be bounced back to where you are actually standing.

Daydreams remain static unless you are there to change them. The changes may be sprawling and nigh instantaneous, but they come from you; you are making it up. You are never going to come back to a daydream and realized the fundamental reality of the daydream changed since monday and is irreversible to its prior state.

Astral realms will change on their own whether or not you're there for it. One day a new path appears that was never there before. You can't "switch back" to the other version because there is not more than one version, it's a living area. One day there is a blockage and you can't go to that location. The next day the blockage disappears, or it remains until you resolve it.

Daydreams tend to be low-energy. You can go through the epic history of an empire in 30 minutes. Astral travel tends to be energy-intensive. You can hang out for 15 minutes and talk to one fish in a fountain before you get tired and sleepy.

Similarly, changes in daydreams can be done with nothing more than the energy of a thought; you can raise up houses, neighborhoods, cities, empires, and solar systems with the blink of an eye. In the astral, if you want a bucket of water, you have to pick up the bucket, go to the well, get the water, and walk back. And if it takes you 15 actual IRL minutes, then that's how long it takes you.

My tl;dr is that if it feels like you're an omnipotent multiversal creator god having adventures in endless stories with clear narratives, side-quests, and character arcs, then I'd be more likely to hazard that you're daydreaming. If it feels like you are a person trying to live your got dang life, if you run into problems that require real time and energy to resolve, and if you drop the ball and the world moves on without you - it's more likely you're traveling.

(The only thing I will say is that time in the astral generally doesn't work like how it does here - time can scroll forward very quickly. But if you have time-god powers like editing the past, jumping around from past to present and into alternate timelines, or flash-freezing the universe to walk around in it, I'd be suspicious.

In addition, what worlds you're going to can have a huge impact - personal astral spaces you're fully in control over are, well, much easier to control than external spaces where you're a visitor.)

JOURNAL ENTRY 2 ☆

I TALKED TO KYUBEY !!!!

heres how i did it, and how it went !!!

i started playing "sis puella magica", set up two LED candles beside me, cleansed my room with incense while saying "this space is cleansed of any beings, creatures, or spirits with negative intentions. only those with neutral or positive intentions are allowed to exist within this space."

then, i used my selenite stick to create a circle, while saying what i said before + "on top of that, only incubator's or kyubey himself may enter this space"

after that, i said "i ask that kyubey or an incubator please talk to me and answer my questions if you are willing to."

then, i used my pendulum to ask if kyubey was here, and i got a yes !!! from there, i asked if i had enough potential to make my wish ("everything goes in a way thats benefitial to me and my future"), and i got another yes :D

after that, i used tarot so kyubey could give me some advice. i pulled eight of swords reversed, strength reversed, nine of cups, ten of cups reversed, three of cups, and an orace card from a seperate deck.

my interpretation (that i confirmed w/ kyubey was correct) was bascally that once i make my wish, i can stop stressing and relax, that i need to trtust my intuition and power more, that i need to be ready to step into my power once i contract and start fighting witches, and that once i contract i need to defeat the witch that has a witches kiss on my father. which i. Really Need To Do.

i doubt that *all* of my fathers... actions probably aren't just from the witch, but i think his willingness to just... be like that, with no guilt, no attempt to even hide it, and his just. zombieness, probably are from the witch.

i doubt i'll be able to forgive him even if he completely changes after i defeat the witch, just from everything he put me and my family through, but as a magical hero i have to save all people, including, unfortunately, him.

ANYWAYSSS, all in all, it went really good !!! once i know i can astral project, and once my necklace i'll be making my soul gem gets here, i'll be able to make a contract !!!! ^_^

How to Discern Sign from Coincidence

I've noticed that in both on and offline witchy and pagan communities a lot of people's first question relating to deity work and communication is "how do I tell if something is a sign" so I wanted to share my perspective and how I vet something as being a sign or message from my deity or not. This is a pretty simplified 'checklist', but it's important to note that signs are not my main form of communication with my deity which is why I'm quite 'conservative' in identification of them!

How many times? Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but three times may be a sign. This is a general rule I use for signs like angel numbers, specific animals or imagery or something similiar. Though it doesn't always apply - for example, if I see five crows on a nearby roof I don't see it as a sign because that is a very common sight where I live. But if I see three deer near my house in one day, that IS pretty mystical.

How unusual is it? If something 'makes sense' or can be easily explained by mundane reasons it is less likely to be a sign, and this can work in "levels". E.g. if I see a spider in the corner of my room, that's pretty unlikely to be a sign because that's just what spiders do. A spider running across a specific chapter in my book or tarot guide is still explainable but I'd probably check if it was meant to be a sign. And a sparrowhawk landing on my windowsill would almost definitely be a sign because they rarely come into the area where I live.

How does it make me feel? Sometimes I get a gut feeling that something is a sign or a message, even if it isn't unusual or has only happened once. This can easily be mistaken for 'wanting' something to be a sign so still vet and double check but the differentation does with time, experience and a growing relationship with a deity. Often, signs are clear that they are signs, because you're deity wants you to see them and so your intuition often drags your attention to the, and tells you that they're special somehow.

How do I confirm? I almost always vet signs and messages, typically it's just a quick tarot reading to confirm that something was a sign and what it might mean or represent. Often I'll also meditate or consider the sign to see what feelings or knowledge it inspires in me as well. Sometimes I don't need confirmation, I just know. But that has come with time and I would always check early in my relationship to my Mother Nature.

Important notes If something is just coincidence, that's okay, and it's still cool! So what if that crow wasn't a sign from a deity, you still got to see a crow! And so what if that fortune cookie message wasn't actually a message from your spirit guides, it can still be an inspiring and needed message! There is magic in the mundane and that's wonderful.

If you're new to paganism or witchcraft and want to work with a deity I will warn you to be wary and do a lot of research. Don't just assume: "I saw crows the other day, Odin must be reaching out to me." or "I found a bunch of rose petals on the floor so it must be aphrodite." Signs can mean a great number of things and if you truly believe it is a deity, vet and research source materials for that deity and pantheon. Ask for confirmation and take things slowly, it is very easy to trick yourself into seeing something you want to see.

Signs vary between practitioners and it's important to understand and respect that. What might mean one thing to you, means something entirely different to someone else - even if you're devoted to the same deity. While I always recommend checking original religious sources (if possible) for traditional omens and meanings, they will probably be quite unique to you!!

Tell me about some signs you've recieved from your deity or spirit guides (or whoever)! Mine tend to be animals or plants, which is definitely on brand!

Let yourself be cringe in your worship!!!

The Gods don’t find you embarrassing. The Gods don’t care about seeming cool and professional for the approval of others.

Make that fucking aesthetic photo collage for Aphrodite with cute pics you found on Pinterest .

Dress up like Hermes and go for a damn walk.

Collect random stones you think are cool and put them on your altar.

Put that photo of that cartoon character that reminds you of your deity on your altar.

Make that Minecraft temple to Hekate, domesticate those damn Minecraft wolves for Cerberus.

Make your deities in the sims!

Write soppy melodramatic poetry for Dionysus that no one else will read.

Make self insert fanfics about your favourite Gods and write them all as your best friends. Let them interact with your edgy ocs.

Create an AU where you and your Gods are all characters from your favourite anime.

Record silly little songs for them

Make them paintings that are full of clashing colors and weird forms.

Draw them a fursona

Wear that bright yellow outfit for Apollon.

Put on a dramatic makeup look for Aphrodite.

Call your closest deity that silly little nickname you have for them and let them call you one too.

Share your special interests with your Gods. Design your God as a pokémon or a crystal gem, or a sonic character.

Those losers that try to make you feel bad for being passionate will never have what you have.

In the words of the Great Lord Hermes: “Every human I have ever liked was at least a little bit cringe”

BE CRINGE. BE PROUD. THE GODS LOVE YOU.

"teens are prone to tantrums and are emotionally unstable" - okay, yeah, puberty is real, and emotional regulation is a difficult skill to learn. but also. any adult person would be pissed if their opinions were disregarded, they had no say in what happens to them, their emotions and feelings were downplayed and their privacy were intruded on.