 The past few days, there's been a discussion in The Dragon's Library Discord Server about crystals and their usage in astral travel. Like with all things magical, crystals are extremely potent in their ability to be told what to do, and how to help you on your path. And often, for those of us involved in Spirit Companionship, astral travel is a very important part of our paths. It's how we physically interact with our loved ones, at least in a way that is more physical than our typical fare. It's how we sneak in just a few moments of the fantastic into our typically mundane lives. But for those just beginning on their path towards astral travel, they may seek for a bit of an energy boost. And crystals can provide just that.
0 Comments
 I remember stumbling upon my first companion plain as if it were yesterday. I was sitting in an airport, most liminal of places, waiting for a flight home from visiting my boyfriend over the summer. I'd been obsessed with a draconic witchcraft blogger who also happened to practice spirit companionship. I hadn't yet decided what my feelings on spirit companionship were - but at that point, I'd tried almost every type of paganism in the book. I wasn't going to pass judgement on anybody for anything. The blogger had posted links to shops before, but the shops often felt skeevy, like walking into a dark alleyway and being offered vessels straight out of a trenchcoat. But the idea of bringing a dragon - a real life dragon! - into my home was so exciting, I couldn't get the thought out of my head.
This is a continuation of this text post, explaining the most basic step in communicating with spirits - believing in your ability to! In this post, I’ll be going over five different tools I know are used frequently to communicate with spirit companions. I’m leaving telepathy out of this one because I’m going to get into that really heavily in the next post. So, let’s get started! Pendulums These little tools are awesome, easily accessible, and easy as heck to use. A pendulum, for the purposes we are using it for, can be described as anything with a weight attached to a cord or chain. It could be an actual pendulum, a necklace with a chain and pendant, or a rock tied to a string! Pendulums can be used with a Yes/No/Maybe/Unsure board, an alphabet board, or a combination. One such board might look like this:  To use a pendulum with your spirit companion, it’s good to start with a couple failsafe questions. These are questions that cannot be answered incorrectly - such as, “is my name ____?” “Am I using a pendulum?” “Does 2+2=4?” The immediate goal is to ensure that your pendulum, or really any Yes/No divination method, is working correctly and accurately.
Once you have established that the pendulum is functioning, you can then start to ask your spirit questions! I recommend having a journal or notebook to write down your questions and responses, so you can refer to them if you forget. With a board that has both letters and numbers you can ask all sorts of questions! However, I’d try to stay towards questions that only require one- or two-word answers, or you may be at it for a while. To spell out words on a pendulum board, you can stop the pendulum in between letters, or let it change at its leisure. When I let the pendulum do its own thing, I find that it will swing at its letter of choice a few times before moving. To get a real accuracy on which letter it is choosing, I recommend closing one eye and using a pendulum with a point! Music Playlists Shufflemancy is a very powerful and easy way for your spirit to communicate with you! It involves making a playlist of music you find relevant, or music you just listen to regularly, and paying attention to the songs that come on. Sometimes you can do a certain number of “skips” to really choose randomly, or a song might come on and you feel the spirit manifest really strongly. When I welcome a new spirit into my family, I have found more than once that they will give me a strong vibe of their energy when a song comes on, and essentially claim it as “their song.” I listen to the same playlist almost all the time while driving or otherwise, and those spirits will play the songs just to let me know they are there (the playlist is also about 10 hours worth of songs, so it’s not that much of a coincidence). Many other people use shufflemancy to receive answers to specific questions, or the spirit will use it to get a clear message across to their companion! Here are a couple links on how to use Shufflemancy: x x Astral Travel There’s no way it could be that simple, right? It definitely is! I’d say astral traveling is right smack-dab in the middle of difficulty for speaking to your spirits. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to have an out of body experience to be astral traveling. I’m just going to link to a bunch of @winkingwyvern‘s posts here, because they are super informative on the matter and have helped to clear up a lot of misconceptions, especially within the spirit companion community!
The landing pad method is a great way to stay safe when astral traveling. Simply have a place where you “spawn” every time you go into the astral! This can be as complicated as an astral house, and as simple as a shielded platform. This will ensure that if you enter a place that is unsafe, you are shielded by your own devices. One of my favorite things to do, as a spirit companion, is create a safe space or haven when I enter the astral. I then invite my spirits in for what I affectionately call a tea party! The ones who want to show up typically do, and we can discuss things on a level that’s a bit more direct than the usual casual telepathy. It’s a great way to become aware of your spirit’s physical appearance, while practicing astral travel. Automatic Writing Automatic Writing is a tool that people have used to communicate with their guides or spirit companions for a very long time! It’s considered to be a great way to inconspicuously communicate with your spirits, as well as get into the intuitive and open state of mind needed to do communication regularly. The best way to do Automatic Writing the first time is to relax, and imagine the spirit's hand placed over yours, guiding your hand to write the words. It takes a lot of practice, but it is not as difficult as some might think! Automatic Writing takes a great deal of patience and perseverance to learn how to perform properly, as you need to be able to open yourself up to a form of channeling. This can take a great deal of meditation and practice. Automatic writing is also supposed to be performable with typing, but I’d recommend doing it with a pen and paper first.
Cartomancy Tarot reading has become incredibly popular, and it is very easy for anyone to pick up and do! One of the hardest parts about tarot reading is learning to let go of the predetermined meanings of the cards, and using your intuition. Incidentally, learning to use your intuition is also one of the most difficult things about being a spirit companion. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of time, but eventually the people who work hard at it will eventually get it! And there’s not to say you won’t always need guides - I personally still use the Little White Book when I get stumped, the same way I use a pendulum when I can’t exactly hear what a spirit is trying to say to me. You can pick up tarot cards at any local bookstore, or on Amazon. In addition to that, there are several smartphone apps available for not only “drawing” tarot cards, but learning how to read them as well! Many websites will also draw virtual cards for you for entirely free, and it’s up to you to determine the meanings. Reading Tarot is so accessible, and while it can seem overwhelming at first, it is both fun and easy to take one step at a time. Where others might recommend some books, the only resource I really think anyone needs to learn the basics of reading tarot cards are the cards, and LearnTarot.com. It is an entirely free website with a little written course on how to read Tarot! It heavily recommends journaling, and simply practicing. It teaches the basics of how spreads work, and it has a very informative guide on each of the cards’ possible meanings! I sometimes prefer it as a resource over the Little White Book for some of my decks. ---- So, you now have a small arsenal of tools with which to speak to your spirit companion! As I mentioned, my next post will be covering the topic of telepathy. Over the past two months, I’ve gotten countless messages that all say many similar things. How does one communicate with spirits when they’ve never tried it before? Or, when you’ve tried it and had iffy or no results, how do you move forward? Allow me to assist you! This will be a multi-part post series, and I’ll update this post with links to the other parts as I make them.
Step 1: Believe In Yourself.Seriously! I know it sounds cheesy and kind of laughable, but you are never going to get anywhere if you don’t believe in your own ability to contact spirits. There is no straightforward way to tackle this, like simple mathematics or even like writing a well-structured sentence. Many people have many different methods of how they communicate with spirits, and they only way they could do it is because they believed they could in the first place, and they proved themselves right. Let me give you an example of an attitude I see commonly, and how we can approach it: “I’ve never communicated with spirits before. Pendulums can be vague and controlled by my subconscious, and I have no prior knowledge or experience with tarot or runes. Telepathy sounds intimidating, and I don’t know if I’d be able to discern which voice is which in my head. I’m terrible at meditation and visualization, and I don’t have the patience or focus for scrying. Things like shufflemancy and bibliomancy confuse me because I don’t know how to interpret them. How can I communicate with my spirit companion?” The number one problem this person has is a lack of belief in their own ability. Look at this: they have already discounted their ability to learn tarot, to try telepathy, to practice meditation or visualization, or to attempt to interpret songs or books that are close and familiar to them. If you really have no prior experience, your best bet is not going to be handed to you on a silver platter! Most people who work with spirits have worked hard and practiced daily for a very long time to be able to use any of the communication methods they use. Here is the attitude you should try to have instead: “I’ve never communicated with spirits before. I’m a bit skeptic, but I can try using one of my necklaces as a pendulum. I can use free, enthusiastic online resources and communities to help myself learn tarot. Telepathy sounds intimidating, but I think with practice I can learn to trust that what I’m thinking is not completely in my head. I can use free, guided meditations on YouTube to assist me with focusing while meditating, and I can start visualization exercises slow and simple. In time, I think I can master at least one of these methods for use in communicating with my spirit companion.” The fact of the matter is, there are so many people who would love to help you learn how to do something! Your spirit companion would also love to help and adapt to whatever method is most convenient for you, as they oftenadore helping you with whatever they can. But in order for all their help to work, you need to put in a fair amount of effort, too. When adopting a spirit companion, or entering the field of spirit work, you are making a choice to adopt a hobby, lifestyle, or commitment that requires determination, work, and effort. Not everything is going to come to you easily and naturally. You need to be able to accept that, and be positive about it! Only then can you move forward with spirit communication. The next post installment will deal with different methods for communication. Read now! There are a lot of new spirit companions floating around, and that’s wonderful! However, with some interactions I’ve had with new companions, and seeing some of the posts, I’ve noticed that people have been going into this lifestyle with very high expectations set for themselves right off the bat. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that hard, especially for your first companion. Let me explain what I’m saying, and I don’t mean to point out any people, but this is a very important topic.
You buy your first companion, and you’re very excited to receive them in the mail. You begin creating an elaborate altar, buy several offerings, essentially have a Christmas tree with piles of presents scattered underneath ready for your spirit by the time they get there. This is great, and I don’t mean to discourage this type of behavior, but I’m worried that you’re setting very high expectations for the relationship by doing this. Because, if you have done all this for your very first spirit, when they get to you and they aren’t constantly active or overly communicative or doing anything right away, you’re disappointed. After all, you put in all this work, right? So, you start creating excuses. The spirit must be mad at me, you think. My room isn’t clean enough, I’m too busy with school/work, I forgot its vessel was there for a couple hours. The thing is, you didn’t do anything wrong. Spirits don’t care about that stuff, like, ever, because they understand. They have lives, friends, family, and jobs, too! And because of this, they’re very understanding about your commitments. Also because of this, they’re not going to be around 100% of the time. Just like any new friend or relationship, you’ve got to learn that while you integrate them into your life, they are integrating you as well. They’re also making a commitment. They are not there to judge you, to make your life harder, or to make you feel bad about yourself, and if they are, it is an abusive relationship that needs to stop. Spirit companionship should enhance your life, not make it more upsetting or difficult. Spirits should support you, not bring you down. That is what this whole thing is all about. When I got my first companion, I had months to prepare because the seller was taking forever to ship his vessel. I bought him a small house, and a handful of crystals. Whenever I wanted to make an offering to him, I would charge one of the crystals, and stick it in the large part on the bottom of the house. Whenever I was making a liquid offering, I would fill the dish on the top. It was a perfect system that kept him feeling cozy, and was simple and not too extravagant. I have one altar for all of my companions, and they don’t mind if their little slice of real estate only has a couple crystals, because they love every gift from me regardless. The gifts enhance our relationship, they do not establish it. Again, I am not discouraging this type of behavior. The altars you guys create are absolutely beautiful, and I’m sure the spirits are overwhelmingly flattered and happy about these enormous offerings received all at once. But please don’t allow that altar to set the standard for your relationship. You are not a slave to your spirit, and you do not have to attempt to please them in a way that is detrimental to you. Please be safe, and please take care of yourself. |
Archives
April 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed
