What's in a Magickal Name?

So I had someone send me a question yesterday in regards to what my Magickal Name is. This is something that I came across early on while I was studying Wicca and Paganism. I clearly remember reading about this Magickal Name that you are supposed to adopt and use when you practice your craft. It had to do with shedding the old self, and focusing on the Magickal self. Sort of like a changing of hats so to speak. It was a good idea, and a great way for people that may be just starting to learn to focus themselves. Use your Magickal Name when you practice and you are creating and working with that energy.

Personally I don't have, or use a Magickal Name. After many years with Wicca and Paganism, as well as the Metaphysical I came to realize something very important. Magick is around us all of the time, sleeping or awake, in a circle or in Wal-Mart. No matter where you go it's there so why do we need to put on a different hat in order to adopt a magickal personality? Personally I don't think that we have to. What better name to use, then yours! If we are constantly surround by this energy, this magick, then why only connect to it when you are working. Part of the Wiccan belief system talks about seeing the magick in everything. All things living or non-living have a magick to them. It isn't something that is turned on and off, it's always there. The name game is much the same. Ok, that was a bit more rhyming than I had planned. By using your own name you are working with that magickal energy all the time, practicing or not. You are connecting yourself to the infinite and allowing it to connect to you as well without pushing it aside for any reason. Besides, if we push it aside are we really living by the codes that we work with?

This isn't to say that having a special name, or even a Magickal Name is a bad thing. For all of the Willows, Nightshades, Hemlocks, Lady this or that's out there keep what you got! If it is somethign powerful to you then there is no need to change it, or ignore it. That being said choosing to use, or in my case not use a Magickal Name is up to you! If you do choose to use one, I suggest spending some time meditating on it, find something that speaks to you on a very personal and powerful level. Don't just go and settle for the first cool sounding name that you happen to find while googling 'cool witch names' or something on the internet! Remember, when it comes to Wicca and Paganism there is a lot of room for personal belief and interpretation as well as choice.

When a problem comes along..you must Smudge it!

 

Smudging, also known as sageing or cleansing is a ritual that has been preformed for centuries. It's most commonly known as being used in the Native American culture, but has made its way into the Metaphysical realm as well. The process of smudging is simple, and yet many people still fail to understand the uses. Smudging can be done on a person, area, or even a home or business. The purpose of smudging is to change the energy of the space or person by removing the negative vibrations, and replacing them with positive vibrations. Many times this leaves the person, or place feeling lighter, more relaxed and even "cleaner". This process is also done when preforming meditations or magickal work in order to cleanse the space and create a positive environment in which to preform. The process of smudging has also been popularized through the many different television shows about hauntings as a means to cleanse the home of negative spirits.

In order to keep a home or person clear, it's suggested that a smudging be preformed at least once a month. Obviously there will be times that you may require an additional smudging and that's fine as well. Don't think that you have to stick to the once a month process. It's a suggestion in order to keep negativity at bay. If you are having a particularly bad week, facing many challenges, or find that the  home/person is starting to feel weighed down and negative then by all means do another smudging. The type of sage that you use can alter the energy as well. What is usually used is either mountain sage, or white sage. If you find that you cannot take the smell of sage as much you may want to try the white sage. The scent of it is a bit weaker but still works just as well. There are other herbs and oils as well that can be used to cleans, but we'll save that for another post. You can find most types of smudge sticks online, or at your local metaphysical store (which I always prefer)!

Now the actual process can be done many different ways, and I'm not going to go over all of them here, but I do ask that if you are interested to look them up. What I will go over is the type of smudging that I use personally. Smudging a home takes time, you should be focused on what you are doing through it all. You will need to go through each room of the home, that includes attics or basements if you have them as well. The process goes like this, you will light the sage and go through each room of the house reciting a certain mantra, prayer, or blessing. When you are completed you can put out the sage stick and we are going to toss the ashes outside. Additionally if you have a black and white candle they can be used as well, and I will go over that extra step too.

Smudging a person:

1. You will need your smudge stick, something to catch the ashes (an abalone shell is used most often but anything will do), matches or a lighter, and if you like a feather, or fan of feathers.
2. Have the person stand still before you and outstretch their arms to the side. If they feel comfortable have them remove their shoes as well. This will give them a good grounded connection while they are being cleansed.
3. Light the sage and allow it to smolder enough to create smoke. While doing this I usually tell the person that I am working with to close their eyes, relax, and take 3 deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth. This too allows them to center and ground themselves before the smudging.
4. With the feather (or your hands) begin to gently move the smoke around their body. I usually start with the head and then move down one side of the body and up the other. Then I would move up the center of the front of the body and then ask them to turn around doing the same to the back. At the end I ask them to lift both feet (one at a time of course), and I smudge the souls of the feet as well.
5. While cleansing the individual I'm focusing on bathing them in white light and using the smoke of the sage to push away all the negative energy accumulated in their aura. I ask them to do the same as well, seeing the negative energy disperse and watch as it is replaced by positive energy and white, loving light.
6. When you are completed, have the person that you are smudging take a seat, relax and let the energies settle a bit. They will likely feel lighter, cleaner, and more energetic afterward.

Smudging a Home, Business or Space:

1. Start by opening a window or door of the building. You will want an open space where the smoke can escape the house taking the negative energy with it.
2. Prepare your sage stick as you would normally. Something to catch the ashes, a feather etc. At this point as well, if you have a black and white candle you can light them. Light the black one first and then the white. The black candle with help to absorb any negativity and the white will exude positivity. When the candles are done be sure to bury them in the earth somewhere outside of your home.
3. Begin to go through each room of the home with the sage. Move the smoke into corners, closets, drawers all over each and every room. In each room that you cleanse focus on the smoke removing all the negative vibrations and filling each space with white light, love and positive energy. As you are doing this its often helpful to recite a mantra, or blessing.
4. When you are done wait until most of the smoke has been removed from the home and close and shut the window. You will find that the energy of the space has changed quite a bit and should be feeling a lot better at this point.

 As far as the mantra's or blessings go it's best to say something that has meaning to you, as well as mentions clearing the space of negativity and replacing it with positivity. Something quick and easy that you can use are one of these:

"By the smoke of this sage, I cleanse this space of all negative energies and vibrations. Only positivity, and white light can remain here."

 "I send all negativity out and away. You have no place here! White light and positive vibration chase you out and fill this space.

Don't forget as well that when using a blessing or a mantra you can add in your personal religious affiliation or beliefs to it as well.

You're doing it wrong...or are you?

 

 

Living and learning in the Metaphysical world can be a daunting and difficult task. For starters, you never wind up knowing it all. There are no true "experts" in the field. It is a continuing learning process. Granted there are those that have the experience and knowledge behind them, but in a realm where things are continually growing and expanding how can one be an expert at it? I have personally been studying in the Metaphysical and Occult field for 19 years. That's a pretty long time, but I will always refer to myself as a student. To me this is a great thing. I know that there is no way that I can possibly learn all there is about his realm and the only way that I can even experience certain things or learn about them is to listen to those that know. Now I say all this for two reasons: One, it's my blog and I can say what I want; and Two everything that I do say here on the blog comes from my personal experiences and understandings. That being said anyone that tells you that they are an "expert" in any Metaphysical field is more than likely too full of themselves to be of any good use to you. There are far too many ways of understanding and doing things in this spiritual way of life. If you refuse to keep an open mind and at least be willing to learn, then you have already lost.

Being that there are so many different ways of doing things, you are bound to run across many different terms, names, titles, and even instructions on how to accomplish even simple tasks like using sage to cleanse a house. Don't let all of these things intimidate you, but don't be a fool about them either. Unfortunately there are some people out there that crave attention and dream about being renowned in this field. These people are the ones that will attempt to come up with their own terms, styles and even ways of doing things that may not have ever been heard of before. This doesn't mean that what they are doing loses any credit, in fact they may have a very good take and style of things. What it does mean is that you will need to discuss with them exactly what it is they mean when they use certain terms that may be special to them. Be sure that you can get enough answers from them that you can do the legwork yourself and research something that is at least similar to what they are talking about. You really shouldn't let anyone do anything spiritual for, or with you until you are certain that they are going to be helping you and not hindering you.

It is so easy to get swept up in the whirlwind of this field. There are a lot of things that can take you from a grounded individual to a floating ball of goofy in a matter of days. It's important to remain true to yourself and to retain your grounding. Investigate things that you may not know or have heard about. Search out the things that don't seem to make sense with what you do know and be as informed as you possibly can! The important thing to retain here is that there is no right, or wrong way of doing things necessarily, there are however ways that may not be beneficial to you. Take the time needed to make a decision and a choice based on the best information that you can gather, and don't just take someone's word for it....not even mine.

Vampires....and not the sparkly kind either!

That's right!

Ok, so before you get all bent out of shape about the obvious play on Twilight in the title,  let me at least preface this by saying it is not in any way about actual vampires, or vampire films! There, now that it's out of the way we can happily move on to the actual blog post. This post is about the most lethal kind of vampire out there, the Psychic Vampire. Psychic Vampires are well know both as a term and a people within the metaphysical community, in fact chances are that if you don't already know about them you have at least heard the term before.

Psychic Vampires don't drink blood or fly around as bats, they don't only come out at night either! It would be so much easier if they did of course, a simple call to your local Vampire Slayer and poof...dusted. Unfortunately that isn't the case here. The Psychic Vampire is a person just like any other, and can sometimes even be yourself. The trouble with a Psychic Vampire is that they draw upon energy. They create for themselves situations or events, sometimes even falsifying information in order to drain energy from others in order to fuel themselves. This can be done for a variety of reasons. Some simply don't know how to create or conserve their own energy and so they look for it from others. Others know exactly what they are doing and actually seek out their victims. And others still are willing victims of this Psychic Vampirism!

If you have ever had a conversation with someone, even for a short period of time and were left feeling drained, tired, or maybe even angry then you had a run in with this particularly nasty type of vampire. They use simple methods to make you open up to them so they can latch onto you psychically and begin to drain your energy. Usually by time you are done they feel great while you don't! I can't say that it's always easy to spot them as some can be really sneaky about it, but think of it this way, if they are throwing a pity party and you got the only invitation, politely decline. One of the most common ways that these vampires tend to get in is to complain about things, and why not? Complaining is something that we all do from time to time, and when someone does it to us we tend to listen and attempt to find something similar to their situation to relate to. There it is, you're already being sucked on like a cough drop at the flu ward! Ok, so maybe not the best analogy there but you get the point.

There are a few things that you can do in order to protect yourself from these types of individuals.

1. Don't get pulled in! Seriously! This is the easiest and yet the hardest one to work with. Don't surround yourself with those individuals that need to take your energy in order to thrive. At some point they are going to have to learn to deal with their energies in a constructive way, and they aren't going to be able to do that if you continue to let them drain from you! Something that I always live by is this, I am sure to surround myself with positive individuals and energy only!
2. Close of your energy points! Doing something as simple as crossing your arms, or legs will close off your energy circuits (so to speak of course), and will make the vampire unable to draw energy from you. It sounds too easy to be real right? Give it a shot, see if you sit there with your arms and legs crossed while they attempt to drain your energy you will not feel drained or tired afterward. You can still be the good friend, or sibling, or child, or whatever and listen to their situation without getting drained by it.
3. Psychic Protections. Surround yourself with white light, electricity, mirrors. Use these types of images in your protections to destroy or even bounce back the attacks that are made toward you. You can even use all three listed here in order to really keep yourself locked up and protected.

Believe it or not we deal with these people every day, sometimes even more than once. What it comes down to is that fact that your energy belongs to you. You are the only one that should decide where it goes and when, and you shouldn't have to be bullied and taken advantage of by these Psychic Vampires. Now that you are in the know, you won't have to ever again!
 

Amulets and Talismans

"Evil Eye Amulet" for protection against negative forces directed at you by others

Amulets and Talismans, well at least that's what the title of the blog post says. As in the above image there are many different kinds of Amulets and Talismans throughout history and the world. I don't want to focus on making a huge list of them for you or anything like that, I tend to be more informative than that as you can tell by now. So what I am going to do here is talk a little bit about these two items of magick.

Amulets and Talismans have been used for centuries and not just by magick users. In fact many cultures and religions tend to use Amulets to this day. From Greece, Egypt, Rome, China, Japan, all over the world there are many different types and forms of these items and chances are that you are wearing one, or using one in your day to day life and may not even be fully aware of it!

Talismans

The term Talisman can be a more rounded for what we are talking about here, what I mean is that Amulets are a form of Talisman but Talismans are individual from Amulets. Now that I have more than likely confused the heck out of you lets continue. Talismans can be any item that has been created or charged with a magickal purpose or intent. Traditionally when we think of these things we think of necklaces, jewelry, or charms. If that is where you first go you would be right, but keep in mind that Talismans can also be pieces of paper, articles or clothing, or even a myriad of other items that you come across, provided of course that they are created into Talismans for a specific purpose. Talismans are usually used for things like luck, love, money, power, energy etc. They really run the gambit of things from A to Z and can be charged by the creator for any purpose that they desire. When carried they emit that energy and draw to themselves, and the user of course that similar energy in order to help manifest it in their physical lives.

Talismans can be purchased of course, from a dozen different websites and stores. These are great, but tend to be mass produced articles of jewelry that are already created for certain reasons and may not exactly meet the requirements of your personal need. In addition to that these pre-made ones are usually riddles with symbols and writing that can barely be deciphered. That in itself has always been a personal issue for me. Unless you are a master of symbology there is no way that you can tell wheat energy these symbols really take, where they have been or what they are currently used for. In fact I have even seen Talismans that have used symbols that have been completely made up from either T.V. or books. I Think that the best way to get a Talisman that you want, that you can charge with your personal energy and be sure will work for the purpose you create is to make it yourself. Now of course if you want all the fancy symbols and lettering you can do your research and find ones that are suited to your want or need, but sometimes as they say the easier the better. Metals, stones, woods, papers all of these things make terrific Talismans that can be charged with your personal magick and used right away. Stay away if you can from things like glass, and plastics that don't tend to hold energy well.

Amulets

These are a bit different from Talismans, Amulets tend to be charged with a specific purpose of protection for the bearer. In the same way as Talismans these can be any item and are most often articles of jewelry. Things like the Crucifix, Buddha, Pentacles, Evil Eyes are all forms of Amulets that are made for protective reasons. This type of Talisman is most often carried with the user on a daily basis while other types are carried until the user is satisfied with its use and then put away to use again.

Like Talismans, Amulets can be purchased or given to you by a loved one, maybe even passed down through your family for years. These tend to be a bit different in energy because each bearer of the item has believed that it was worn to keep them protected, and has such has likely been charged through many years for that exact reason. This isn't to say that you shouldn't also be charging an Amulet that has been passed down to you with your own protective energies or chants, but that the Amulet has likely retained all that energy from the past as well.


Keeping the item charged with its magick is important as well. Each time you wear, or carry the item it is important to focus a moment on the reason why it was created, the use of the item and what it is that the Talisman or Amulet is supposed to do for you.

Paranormal Information Association Conference

Poster for the 2014 P.I.A Conference

I just got home from about an hour drive from Sebring Florida where I attended the Paranormal Information Association Conference (or P.I.A for short), for my fourth year now. It was another great weekend accompanying the team I work with. Each year the P.I.A Conference is a chance for Florida Paranormal Investigative teams to mingle with each other, go over ideas and theories, and have a little fun while we are at it. This is the fourth year that it has been held at the Kenilworth Lodge an old historic hotel in central Florida.

The hotel itself has its own sort of glamor as an historic location. You can tell by the exposed pipes with sprinkler heads, the old slow moving elevator, and the decor that the Kenilworth has attempted to keep as much of its historical charm as possible with still moving forward into the new age of hotels that we seem to be entering. The place isn't for everyone, but if you are looking for a comfortable place to stay the night the rates and staff at the Lodge are very welcoming. The P.I.A. has been very blessed to have worked with the hotel four years now in holding their event, and each time the staff is more than happy to help. Anyway...before I go of on too much of a tangent here about the location let me get back to the point which is the P.I.A. itself.

The P.I.A. started out several years ago and was called the Florida Ghost Gathering, at that point it was simply a chance for other Paranormal Teams to meet with each other and get to know who's who so to speak. Once they found their success in that they wanted to be able to expand it a bit and, from what I have come to understand the P.I.A. was born. At the core of this conference is a group of administration teams, that from the beginning have seen to every aspect of the gathering itself. The main goal for this conference is to bring the Paranormal Investigative Community together and give them a place where they can learn, talk , and teach others as they go along.

Each year there are different classes, seminars and workshops that you can attend to either learn more about something that you are not familiar with, or delve deeper into something that you are. Different social events as well as dinners are scheduled throughout the gathering; and there are vendors where you can purchase anything from the newest up and coming equipment, to nic-nacks such as jewelry or candles. Some years as well have seen some very popular and well known special guests from within the Paranormal Community that have given their time to be there and speak, and learn alongside the many other groups. Now before I go too far and you start signing up you do need to know that at the present time the conference is not open to the public. In the future we will have to see if this changes but in the meantime there are rules regarding registration of the event that can be found at their site.

The people of the conference have always been great. I personally have always found it to be so awesome to be able to speak with different groups and talk about investigations, or theories, or even about their evidence or personal experiences. Its refreshing in a way to be able to speak freely among your peers especially about something that you know everyone there is passionate about in the first place. Though the conference started out focusing more on the Paranormal or "ghost" investigative side of things it has expended over the years to include other facets of the Paranormal Community as well. Groups such as MUFON are often there, as well as others that focus on more spiritual aspects and more still that work with Mythology, or even Cryptozoology. 

Now no conference of any scale big or small is without a few snafu's now and again. Schedule changes sometimes occur and you may not get to attend everything that you want to within the weekend format, but the P.I.A. itself is still very new and each year they look for ways to improve upon the last and make the event something that is as best suited to the attendees and members as possible.

I always have a great time away, beside a lovely hotel its great to be able to reconnect with people that I have met there in previous years. I look forward as well to attending next year, and seeing what the P.I.A. has in store as it changes again and works toward the future.

Well....its been far too long

I know that a lot of you are still looking up the page, and you have noticed that there haven't been any updates in quite some time. I would like to change that in the future. I have had some very serious family things happen to me in the past few years and they have taken quite some time to get through. I apologize for not being around and not posting more often, I had such wonderful intentions to do it all the time.

Anyway, I'd like to start posting again soon, I miss the communication with you all , and moreso miss learning and teaching alongside all of you.

Thank you for your patience.