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It’s Sacred Space Time Again!

This is going to be a really fast little update, because it’s time for Sacred Space Conference again and we’re in a flurry of activity preparing for it, over here!  It’s always a great time and a great chance to stretch what we know and what we do to even greater heights.  The conference itself is held in Hunt Valley, MD, every March and is hosted by the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, a group of local Wiccan covens.  They aren’t the only group represented at Sacred Space, however: ADF druids and Troth Heathen Kindreds are well represented, and there are always quite a few solitaries of various paths amongst the attendees.

Sacred Space is also the place that the dream of Serendipities first started to become a reality, so it’s our own little new year in some ways.  Last year, I gave a short overview of all the workshops and rituals I attended and I’m planning on doing the same again this year, so look for that next week after we get back!

The Etsy shop will briefly be on hiatus while we’re away – I’m not shutting it down, but I will be putting up a notice that normal turn around times will be extended.  One more quick Etsy teaser: I’ve acquired a new tarot deck!  And it’s a beauty… stay tuned for a new listing some time this month!

My Reiki Classes: A Reflection

As you probably know, I taught two Reiki classes in February: a I and II class on the 19th, and a III (Master) class on the 25th.  Both classes were small: 3 students for the first, 2 for the second, but I think that was a good thing for me, where I am right now.

It was the second time I’d taught a I/II class and I think it went just as well if not better than the first time, despite me no longer having the backup of other Reiki Masters (besides my husband, Glasreo).  I streamlined the notes last time, and this time I added a few things but mostly stuck to the outline from before.  Both classes together plus the attunements and several breaks took about four hours, and I think that’s probably just going to be how long it takes to do that class.  We had a little bit of practice time at the end and I think everyone went home satisfied with the progress they’d made.  The only thing I think I’d want to do differently is to have posters of the Reiki II symbols made so that they can be up on the wall.  And I may want to put page numbers in my notes so I can tell my students which page to find things like the hand positions on without having to look myself, or telling them to read the whole book.  I’m using William Rand’s manuals, the same as I was given when I was taught, and I do like them, but I don’t follow the flow of the book exactly in my class.  I did forget to print the certificates ahead of time (whoops!) and will now have to mail them, but that’s not the end of the world.

My first time teaching the Reiki III class was a bit stressful, because I was unable to finish my preparations the day before due to an emergency personal matter, but I think I made the best of it and my students were very understanding when I occasionally lost the thread and had to find it again.  Those notes will need some more streamlining, but I am confident that I gave my students enough information to succeed, and I will of course always be available to them for mentoring or further study.  The III class also took about 4 hours, because I included a review of I and II to make sure everyone was on the same page.  I think including a review was a good idea, because it allowed us to talk about our personal strengths and weaknesses when using Reiki. I may also want to expand my ethics section a bit, after having an amazing ethical discussion at the Soul Retrieval Workshop. Afterward we had another short practice section (one of the students brought their spouse to be a guinea pig). For this class I also used but did not exactly follow William Rand’s manual, and I think another poster of symbols would be useful.  I also need to take a closer look at the manuals – it seems the new edition has changed a few things, which I found out as I was teaching!  I didn’t give the Master students their certificates yet – I’ll mail those once they finish their “homework” and pass an attunement on someone else!

So far I’ve been keeping my classes to friends and acquaintances.  In the future I’d like to expand by word of mouth some before I go fully public, and if I continue teaching at my house the classes are going to have to stay small for now.  My goal is going to be to have one of each level each quarter, but as I am currently pregnant and due to give birth at the beginning of May, I think next quarter is probably out!

As always, if you’re interested in a Reiki class or a Reiki treatment (or even Reiki attuned healing jewelry) please contact us (or browse the Etsy shop)!

Divination for Beginners

As per usual, this is all just my opinion, based on my experiences, and your mileage may vary. I don’t claim to know everything about divination (how could I?) but I thought making a post discussing various methods might be helpful for beginners, so here you are!  I’ve also tried to include options for discreet or low-budget alternatives in every section below, and I’ve made comments about the suitability for various kinds of disabilities where they came to mind, but this is not meant to be exhaustive, and I welcome input from others!

1. If you are a beginner in everything, I recommend starting with Cartomancy or a Symbol Draw System.

Cartomancy is divination with the use of cards, such as Tarot, Lenormand, or Oracle cards.  The general idea is that you take the deck of cards, shuffle them, and pull a few (often a set number) and lay them on a flat surface like a desk (often in a pre-determined layout).  Most decks come with a booklet of interpretations and meanings, and for Tarot and Lenormand there are also many more books on various methods of interpretation, or layouts.  Playing cards are a good tool if you’re not open about your practice, but unfortunately you need to find interpretations for them online or elsewhere, unlike most decks made specifically for Cartomancy.  There are a lot of cards, usually, which means there are a lot of meanings to remember, but you can get good readings using the booklet and a little bit of intuition – memorization isn’t really necessary. Another good discreet method if you have a smartphone is by using a tarot app, like the ones by The Fool’s Dog. I’ve used their free one and gotten good results, but I can’t swear to the efficacy of any other online system or app. (This is also a great option for technowitches!)

Symbol Draw Systems consist of symbols written on small objects, that are then pulled without looking at them, like out of a pouch.  The most popular form of symbol draw is probably Runes – there are plenty of books and websites with images of the Runes and their meanings.  Ogham is also fairly popular, but there are fewer primary sources on Ogham, so you’ll find that meanings vary from book to book.  Symbol Draw systems are easy to make yourself, which makes them very budget friendly.  Simply look up the symbols, and draw or scratch them into whatever you have lying around – bottle caps work well, or small pebbles, or pennies.  It’s somewhat important to make sure they’re all about the same size and shape, however, so that you can’t tell them apart by touch.  It’s a little harder to do these discreetly, as the symbols have to be written on the objects, but you might try writing in pencil or something eraseable, so you can remove the markings once you’re done. This may result in you having to “calibrate” your set each time, however, if you aren’t writing the symbols on the same pieces every time.  Otherwise the objects might accidentally “remember” their old symbol instead of the correct one.  Symbol draw systems are pretty good for people with fine motor skill issues, because you can make the objects however big or light that you need to, and mixing them up will be easier than shuffling cards.  As a note, however, I don’t recommend using Ogham symbols for people with really severe dyslexia (because the symbols are frequently mirrors of each other) but you could get around it by writing the names of trees, instead, or using pictures of trees!  Symbol Draw systems can be a good option for the visually impaired, as well, because the symbols are usually very simple drawings.  If you have some sight you can make the symbols very large and bold, or the blind can have them etched into something, to read by touch.

2. If you want answers to a Yes or No question, I recommend using a Pendulum, or Cartomancy.

Pendulums are basically made of a weight at the end of a string or chain.  As such, they can be made out of jewelry or almost anything you have lying around – there are plenty of tutorials on what makes a good pendulum on the internet.  Prettier ones can be found online or in most metaphysical shops, but that’s not usually your best bet if you’re on a budget or you’re not open about your practice.  Learning to use a pendulum is fairly easy – but mastering it can be hard.  The basic idea is that one direction of an X or + is “yes”, while the other is “no”, and spirals in either direction mean some kind of uncertainty. It can be difficult, however, to make sure that a pendulum is working properly (you can try to calibrate it by checking the motion against questions you already know the answers to), and it can also be difficult to prevent yourself from influencing the answer.  If you ask a question and you really, really, want the answer to be yes, the “yes” in your head might be louder than the question, which can cause the pendulum to swing yes not in response to the question, but in parallel with your thought.  Also, pendulums can be tricky for people with shaky hands or fine motor issues.

Cartomancy isn’t the best option for Yes or No questions, but if it’s what you have on hand you can use a pretty simple spread to get a binary answer.  First, shuffle the cards well, allowing for reversals: you will need to flip some of the cards upside-down as you shuffle if you don’t usually use reversals when you read.  Then, lay out four cards.  All four upright is a “Yes”.  All four reversed is a “No”.  Three upright is “Yes, but”.  Three reversed is “No, but”.  Two upright and two reversed is “Uncertain” or “Maybe”.  For a deck with symmetrical art such as a regular deck of playing cards, assign “yes” to red and “no” to black (or vice versa, if that sounds better to you), and pull four cards, interpreting the same way as above.  I don’t recommend doing a single card pull for a yes or no question from any Cartomancy deck. But after you’ve done the four card draw, you can look at the meanings of the cards to get a little more information on your question.

 

3. If you are already fairly knowledgeable about magical correspondences and want to expand that knowledge, I recommend augury or lithomancy.

Augury is frequently described as divination by the movement of birds, but it can also involve observing other animals and natural phenomena.  The main drawback to this method of divination is that everyone basically has their own list of meanings and correspondences.  If you’ve already figured out some of your personal correspondences for spellwork or dream interpretation you’re well on your way, however.  As this doesn’t require much of anything but a willingness to observe nature (even out you window in a city – you don’t have to be in the wilderness), and your own notes, it’s incredibly budget friendly, and easy to do discreetly.  It does, however, take a lot more work to learn, and taking notes along the way is imperative!  It’s also best to start by focusing on one kind of natural phenomenon, like movements of animals, or the shape of clouds.

Lithomancy is divination using stones, and like aurgury, every practitioner seems to have their own system.  If you already use a lot of crystals for healing or spellwork, you can begin with that knowledge as you build your own system.  Easier systems pretty much depend on the color of the stone for meaning, and those are probably the most budget-friendly, because you can pick up a few pretty dyed agates at a gift shop somewhere for $5 or so.  Also, if you’re using color correspondences, there’s really nothing that says they *have* to be stones, either – you can adapt the system to work for casting small plastic beads or anything else small and colorful, as long as you have a full set of colors.  More complicated systems usually require specific stones and more of them, and that can get pretty expensive pretty quickly if you don’t already have an appropriate collection.  As stones in lithomancy are typically cast onto a cloth or mat, it’s best to use small tumbled stones, stone chips, or beads, so that you can hold them comfortably in your hands to toss them.  Some people like to use mats with symbols on them to help with interpretation, but it’s not necessary, and if you’re not open about your practice it might be best to have a small “rock collection” and simply cast them onto a flat surface covered in a cloth (like a scarf) to prevent chipping and to dull the clattering sound.  The basics of lithomancy are the same as the basics for osteomancy (bone throwing), too, if bones are your thing, instead.  You could also use any collection of small objects that has meaning to you, like DnD minifigures, or monopoly pieces, or sea shells.  The important thing is that the pieces have to have meanings that make sense to you, and you need to be able to interpret them in relation to each other and how they fall on the mat.

 

4. If you are already good at meditation and trancework, I recommend scrying.

Scrying is a term for a bunch of divination methods that all pretty much amount to sinking into trance and gazing at something until you either see symbols (which you can then interpret) or you suddenly have an answer by other means.  Common scrying methods include gazing into crystals, black mirrors, water, flame, or smoke.  Obviously some methods are cheaper and more discreet than others, but in my experience the results don’t depend on the tool.  They do somewhat depend on your ability to use the tool well – for instance, I do better with fire and water scrying than I do with crystal or black mirror scrying – so I recommend trying a few different tools before giving up on the method entirely.  While most of what’s written on scrying talks about interpreting symbols, I sometimes find that while scrying I end up so deep in my trance that I end up seeing through to the astral or godphoning directly, so that’s a possibility if your talents lie in that direction.  That comes with a HUGE ymmv disclaimer, though.

 

There are a lot of other methods of divination (tea leaf reading, automatic writing, bibliomancy, coin flip, divination by musical shuffle…) but these ones above are methods I’ve had success with, and would recommend to various kinds of divination beginners.  Hopefully you found this helpful!

 

[[The original version of this post is from my personal tumblr.]]

What Happens When You Are Reiki Attuned?

While scheduling my upcoming Reiki classes, one of my prospective students asked a question I think I ought to answer for a wider audience.  She wanted to know what to expect from her Reiki attunement, as she had heard that the experience could be intense.  When answering, I started with the basics.

Learning Reiki has two parts: the theory, and the attunement.  (Well, three parts if you include practice, which any good Reiki class will include.)  The theory is pretty normal stuff, easy enough to read out of a book, but will probably take up the majority of the time in any class.  It certainly does in mine.  The attunement is what lets a student use the energy we call Reiki – or, depending on one’s perspective, lets it flow through the practitioner.  The founder, Mikao Usui, believed Reiki exists in ambient form all over the universe, and that he was given the ability to harness it, and to let others harness it as well.  You can read more about the story of Master Usui on my About Reiki page.  Reiki is now usually taught as three levels.

The first level attunement is the one that connects students to the Reiki energy itself, and helps them become vessels, so that the energy will find them and respond to their intent to use it for healing.  If you think about it in terms of vibrations, getting a first level Reiki attunement allows a student’s etheric bodies to process the Reiki energy and change slightly so that their vibrations are closer to the energy of the Reiki, allowing the student to work with the energy more easily.

When I am doing attunements, I first perform a short Reiki healing on my students, to make sure that their energy pathways are reasonably clear, and their energy centers are reasonably able to open.  Then I connect them to the Reiki flowing through me, and I use the symbols to connect them to the Reiki source.  I can do this because I’ve been attuned at the Master Level, and I have been given the ability to attune others and the correct symbols for that process. I make sure that the Reiki energy is firmly connected to the energy centers at the crown of the head, the third eye, and the heart.  That is why it’s important that the energy pathways are clear – once the student is connected to the Reiki source, it will clear out any blockages in its path, and it will open up those energy centers.  This is the part my student had heard about: the intensity of suddenly open energy centers, and the purging that comes with being connected to the Reiki source.

Although being connected to the source of Reiki won’t harm you, it can be uncomfortable at first.  Many people haven’t ever had their energy centers fully open before, and they may find that they feel overwhelmed, or vulnerable.  And as the Reiki clears out blockages in their bodies and lives, they may find themselves having physical, mental, or emotional symptoms to go along with that.  Physical symptoms can include things like an upset stomach, headaches, mild aches and pains, or increased hunger.  Mental symptoms can include difficulty focusing on mundane matters, or forgetfulness.  Emotional symptoms can include irritability, anxiety, or being easily overwhelmed.  For most students, the symptoms, if there are any, are very mild and last no longer than a week or two.  Some people with major blockages in their lives, however, may find that practicing Reiki changes their goals and direction in life for the better, whether it helps them get out of a bad relationship, or out of a job that doesn’t fit!

 All in all, though a Reiki attunement might change your life, you’ll be the one guiding the changes, and heading towards the best self you can be.  It might be scary, but it won’t hurt you, and I’m available to my students during the process in case anyone has any questions or concerns – all my students will be given a variety of contact information and I’ll be sure to respond promptly!

 

Soul Retrieval Certification!

This past weekend (Jan 13-16), Glasreo and I attended a Soul Retrieval Certification workshop, taught by Monika Healing Coyote, in the neoshamanic healing tradition of Sandra Ingerman and Gryphon’s Grove. It was an INTENSE experience.  Which is part of why it’s taken me this long to blog about it… I’m still pretty heavily processing,but I think it’s time to share!  I’m going to give a brief overview of each day of the class, the topics covered, with more details on any personal insights I gained.  I will probably forget things and miss things because I learned SO MUCH, but hopefully this will be a passable record of my experiences.

 

DAY ONE:

There were six other attendees, plus myself, Glasreo, and our instructor, gathered in her living room.  It was a small room, and a cozy fit, but pleasant.  We did a round of introductions – the usual.  Name, experience level for journeying, healing modalities practiced, why learn soul retrieval?  My answer to the last question was pretty much,
Another Tool in the Toolbox.  I’ve been spirit-led to do soul retrieval on a few reiki clients previously, and I jumped at the chance to learn it more deeply.

We talked a bit about ways to jump in and out of journey space in order to take notes and ask multiple questions, but I already have a system I use for “pausing” journeys in order to do that.  I’ve really found it useful in my reiki practice, because it allows me to receive messages from spirits and look at the energy body deeply, and still talk to the client and be aware of where my body is in relation to theirs and everything else in the room.

Our first journey was to talk to our soul retrieval guides about soul essence and soul loss, on micro and macro levels.  My guides are the same as my main reiki guides: Airmed and Miach, Irish gods of healing.  They gave me imagery that spun up and down on different levels, comparing the soul to the nucleus of an atom, or the star of a solar system – the center that animates the outside (the body).  Many of my classmates also got solar or fire imagery, and most of us also got messages about the soul of an individual being part of a larger soul (and likely made up of smaller souls, as well).  Fractals, spiraling up and down out of our ability to conceive in both directions.  Soul loss, then, can affect us all on many different levels, and it’s as important to do soul retrieval for individuals as it is to do it for groups, the land, and the planet, if you can.

Since we started in the evening and everyone was pretty beat, it was a short session.

 

DAY TWO:

Day two started with us asking our guides for a dismemberment healing, to prepare the way for new energies.  As usual, I dissolved into the water that borders my Waystation island.  It’s very very calming, and a bit less violent than what usually comes to mind for a dismemberment healing, but just as potent.  We talked a bit about my own shadows and blockages, shadow work I need to do and things I need to be aware of as I’m doing this healing work.  Most of it was things I’m already aware of and trying to work on, one or two were new and struck a chord.  Self improvement is never finished, and I’m glad to have their guidance.

Then we talked for a bit, with Monika introducing concepts like client education, confidentiality, consent, other complementary healing modalities, so that we could discuss them and figure out our own paths through this work.  Glasreo and I will probably be combining this work with our reiki practice, first and foremost, and using reiki to both prepare the bodies (physical and etheric) as well as to help with integration afterwards.

The next journey was a pretty intense one – we were to ask our guides for a run-down of our specific method, ie, how we were going to perform soul retrieval with their help.  My particular method requires me using sound to call in nearby pieces, and visiting an underwater (but air-filled) cave to find pieces that get lost.  I see the soul like a little squishy ball of light as I work on it, clearing things out and helping pieces assimilate back in.  After learning our method, and hearing about everyone else’s, Monika paired us up to work on partners.  My partner and I didn’t have any trouble working on each other, and it helped me really cement the method I’d been shown.

We then talked a bit about integration, and how to tell the client what we’d seen, and when it’s best to keep some of the story to ourselves – it’s not a good idea to share something if it will trigger or re-traumatize the client.  It’s better to focus on what the soul pieces are bringing back, rather than focusing on why the left – you want the client to move forward, and heal fully.  We also discussed how different messages come through our filters, and how sometimes a symbol will mean a different thing to us than it does to the client.  It’s okay to just say you’re not sure if the symbology or metaphor is unclear – maybe it will become clear to the client afterwards!  After discussing integration, we did a journey to the soul pieces that were returned, to ask them for their story, and advice moving forward, in order to cement our own integration.

Our last topic was soul theft, and we discussed the topic before journeying to ask our guides how we would handle it as healers, and what we should do to prevent it from happening again.  Monika pointed out that frequently, human-on-human soul theft is a chain that goes pretty far back, and it might be best to go as far back as you can, or until you hit someone dead, to prevent the cycle from recurring.  Most soul theft is unintentional, and the perpetrators often need healing, themselves, but consent can be difficult, so I will probably free pieces and hand them off to someone’s guides or Higher Self, as attempting to put them back into the core soul without consent is likely to get me nowhere, and it’s not very ethical.  Spirits can also steal pieces of soul, or pick up pieces that left and hold on to them, and those may have to be battled or psychopomped, depending on the kind of spirit and how reluctant they are to give up the piece.  I’ll be working with the Morrigna in these cases, though, so I feel ready to do the work.

 

DAY THREE:

The first half of the day was spent on smaller topic discussions: ancestral line soul loss in the client’s family, past lives/reincarnation/soul contracts of the client, working on clients with mental or physical illnesses (especially the limitations of this work to “fix” biological problems – it can help, certainly, but “miracle cures” are incredibly rare), working on clients with addiction issues (and the limitations it puts on healing if they are not Ready, Willing, and Able to change), working on clients remotely (can totally be done, across time and/or space), working on land spirits, working on animals, and group healing ceremonies.

After we discussed animals, we did a small group session on the dog that lived in the house, and we found that some of us were called to do different parts.  For example, I ended up doing mostly gunk removal, from both the core soul and pieces, though I was not guided to gather or integrate more than one piece.  Another classmate was called to gather many pieces but not clean them, and a third was guided to hold space for the rest of us and then finish the integration process.  That led us into the discussion of group healing, and once we had finished all our discussion topics, we did a brief healing on Monika, as well.

The final journey of the day was a discussion (with our guides) of trickery and intrusions, from spirits and thoughtforms and suchlike that could mess with a healing. We were to come up with a system to guard against and deal with these issues.  My personal system is to remain basically the same as what I already do with my guides when working on reiki clients, or when encountering new spirits in journey space, so that was more confirmation for me than anything new.

 

DAY FOUR:

The first half the day was entirely devoted to a discussion on ethics.  We revisited consent and confidentiality, and also covered topics like holding space, moving past our own ego, self-healing work and shadow work, honoring equal exchange, knowing our personal limits, and making sure not to cause dependency, not to hold any healing back from the client.  Monika shared with us her own ethical code, and talked about the code put forth by the Indie Shaman quarterly journal, and we all thought a bit about our own guidelines.  Then, another journey – this time to ask our guides for their input, and to be told what the consequences might be if we broke our oath.  After that, we all participated in a short meditation to release any soul essence that was not ours that we had taken or ended up with, consciously or unconsciously, so that those pieces could find their way home.

After lunch, Monika led a ceremony to call forth many many spirits as witnesses, and we all gave our oaths.  The core of mine is that I will abide by the sacred rules of Hospitality, and I will Put Right what is Wrong. Some things will not be mine to change, and I should never put anything wrong that was right to begin with… It is somewhat difficult to put into terms, but I understand and my spirits understand, and the consequences if break this oath will be immediate and dire, and completely out of my control.

 

OVERVIEW:

I feel like I learned so much, from both the discussions, and the journeys.  It was also really helpful to hear about other people’s journeys, and where everyone else was coming from.  It was one of those times where I’m not sure it could have been replicated with another group of people, because we were all so in sync!  Hopefully Monika will teach the class again – I would highly recommend it to any experienced energy healer.  It’s been a lot to process, but I would do it all over again.  I really think this is going to help deepen my healing practice.

One last thing – before we receive our final certificate, we have to do 1 free soul retrieval healing, so if you’d like to volunteer for that, do let me know.  I’ll probably offer a handful for free to make sure I’ve really integrated what I’ve learned, and then I’ll add it to my reiki bag of tricks and stick it on the menu, so to speak. I’ll be updating the reiki & healing part of the website with more information soon.

 

Discernment

This past weekend, Glasreo and I attended an informal pagan discussion hosted by the Fellowship Beyond the Star, on the topic of discernment.  It was a very fruitful discussion, starting with general definitions and then branching off into individual stories of encounters and omens and general spirit work and work with deities.  It was fun to hear other people’s stories, and helpful for all of us to have others’ insight into our experiences.  In general, the discussion of discernment hinged on a couple of key points:

  1. Ruling out mundane causes.  This is a big one.  Sometimes a flock of crows is just a flock of crows, sometimes candles fall over, sometimes your air vents cause incense smoke to move a certain way.  Chances are, if it’s something pretty normal or totally plausible, it’s not a sign of something more.  It’s a good idea to learn as much about the science of whatever you’re working with as possible, and to get to know your environment.  Seeing a heron isn’t unusual if you’re near a body of water – but you might think it is unusual if you don’t know that there’s water nearby!  However, it’s important to know that you can’t ever rule out mundane causes 100%.  What you should aim to do is figure out whether what you’ve witnessed is unusual or common.  Unusual things may just be an omen!  This also applies to trancework: if you’re doing journeywork or astral travelling or something like that, and you aren’t sure whether what you’re experiencing is something you made up or insight you’re receiving, ask yourself whether the patterns are unusual  or common.  If you were going to daydream about the topic, is this what you would probably come up with?  Does everything seem expected, do you feel like it’s all something you’ve already known?  Then you’re likely to still be inside your imagination.  If something unexpected occurs or doesn’t go the way you’re trying to create it, that’s probably coming from somewhere outside yourself.
  2. Trusting one’s intuition.  At some point after you’ve examined the possibility of mundane causes, you need to think about how you feel, in general.  Sometimes a very common thing can be an omen anyway because it’s what you needed, or because the timing was exactly perfect.  If you feel strongly that it’s an omen, or that you’re receiving insight from outside yourself, and it’s not just wishful thinking, you probably are.  Learning to tell wishful thinking from truth requires a lot of practice evaluating your own thoughts and that can be hard, but the self-awareness that comes with that struggle is very much worth the end result.  You’ll learn to trust your intuition and in doing so, trust yourself and your experiences.  It can really deepen your practice to not be second-guessing yourself constantly.
  3. Using lore as a guideline.  Lore is really useful if you’re getting messages from deities or other lore-known spirits.  You can look up their animal associations, get a sense of their looks or personality, or other things and check those details against the information you’re getting.  Lining up 100% isn’t required for you to be correct, but nothing should be huge and glaringly contradictory.  Blonde vs brunette is probably fine; mountain associations instead of lake associations might be a bit too far.
  4. Using divination to double check the message. If you can, it’s always a good idea to do divination or to ask someone else to do divination for you and ask “Am I seeing things clearly?” or “Is the message coming from X deity?” or, “Am I really supposed to do Y thing?” to double check that you’re getting the message from who you think you are, and that it’s trying to tell you what you think it is.  Divination can also be helpful if the message is clear but vague: you can ask how or when, and get more information.  Be careful if you’re divining for yourself, though, that you’re not falling victim to wishful thinking (yep, there’s that little gremlin again).
  5. Asking for further signs or repetition.  One of the best ways to figure out if you’re really getting messages from spirits when they’re jumbled and unclear is to ask for some kind of unusual, specific sign.  Don’t make it something impossible, but make sure that it really is something unusual, that you’ll notice and pick up on.  You can ask for a certain number of something like birds, or ask to see a specific animal on your drive to work, or something like that.  It might be a good idea to give it a deadline, too, so that you’re not waiting forever and wondering if the answer is just “no”.  Repetition, whether you asked for it or not, can also be an indication that something is really a message.  Maybe there’s a cardinal nesting near your house, so seeing that one isn’t unusual, but throughout the day you see another 5 or 6 cardinals all over the city and there are pictures of cardinals indoors as well – if you feel like you’re being stalked by something, it may very well be a sign!
  6. Journaling.  One of the best things you can do when you receive a message or something you think might be a message or just witness something really unusual is to write it down!  Maybe it was a message, but it will only make sense after the fact.  Maybe the message is in the repetition, but until you write it down you don’t realize that you only really ever see crows on Wednesdays.  Even if you are sure it’s a message and you know who it’s from and what it means, it’s still a good idea to record it, since a lot of the messages will make even more sense with time.  That was you can also keep track of how different spirits and deities usually approach you with new messages, too, and it can help you figure out if things are messages or not much more quickly!

Hopefully this all makes sense to you, and maybe it’ll even help some of you – it certainly helped me to discuss it and write it all out!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from us here at Serendipities!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, whatever holidays you celebrated!  I’ve been planning away and I have some exciting news coming up soon!

First of all, Glasreo and I are signed up for a Soul Retrieval certification training this month, taught by Monika Healing Coyote.  She’s a friend and a talented fellow healer and we’re very excited that she’s offering this class, because we think it will help us in our healing work.  We’re always interested in learning new ways to use energy and spirit guidance to heal ourselves and those around us.

On that topic, I’m scheduling another reiki class sometime at the end of this month or in February, since the last one went so well and I have more interest!  It will most likely be a weekend afternoon, held at our house in Reston, VA, so if you are interested please please contact us as soon as possible to tell me what dates you are available.  Cost is going to be $50 + the cost of a manual for I and II. (If you already have the William Rand manual for level I, level 2 is the same book).  The class itself will include some practice time and munchies, too!

Other new things on their way are Rune Readings, as soon as I get the pictures taken and the listing written, and I have three new tarot decks: Archeon Tarot, Tarot of the Boroughs, and the mini Tarot of Pagan Cats.  So, expect to see listings with those soon – again, I still need to take pictures, and that requires good natural lighting, which the world has not been providing me with, lately.  They’ll be up by the end of the month, gods willing.

The other thing I’m going to start doing is mini monthly horoscope-type Lenormand readings here in the blog, for all of you!  So here are your two cards for January:

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The Crossroads refers to choices and decisions we have to make, which makes sense for the beginning of the year: we’re all trying to decide what we’ll work on, what we’ll try to accomplish, and what we want the new year to be like.  The Fish are a symbol of finances, money, wealth, and our “wants” (as opposed to “needs”).  Together, the two cards are telling us to pay attention to our financial choices, and to make sure what we’re choosing to do this year really lines up with our own values and desires – not the values and desires of others.  If we can make the right choices, January should be a time of increase for us all.  May it be so!  And, as always – if you want a more in-depth personal reading, I’d be very happy to do one for you. Just take a look in the Etsy Shop or send us an email!

 

As we slide into Winter…

A few months ago, I posted a blog titled “A Message for the Equinox”.  In it, I described a journey I took to see the Morrigna, the three Daughters of Ernmas, and their message for me about the coming fall and winter.  As they predicted, the fall has been tumultuous, even beyond what I had expected.  Fierce storms raged, the veil was so thin that people who aren’t normally in tune could feel that something was amiss, wild unseen things were wandering, and the US election seems to have caught quite a few of us by surprise.  Illusions are being shows for what they are, assumptions are being overturned, and we are all confronting the fact that we have painful shadow work to do in order to move forward.  The unnecessary, the luxurious, and the gilded things are being stripped away.  It has been a painful season of growth, but I hope you all are rising to the challenge.

As we move forward, however, remember to take time for yourself.  Remember to rest, recharge and heal. Check in with people around you; give help where you can, and accept help when you need it yourself.  The winter is likely to be even worse than the fall, and spring is very far away.  We have much to do before then, and burn out is likely if you can’t maintain yourself.

The Morrigna have been calling me, personally, to help heal those of their warriors who are in my own circle.  That, it seems, is my role in the struggles ahead.  I am a healer, not a warrior, and my most important efforts include holding space for others.  I will do my best to provide respite and sanctuary to all those I can, whether through reiki or spellwork or simply listening.  If you need someone to help you find hope, please do not hesitate to reach out.

I’m attempting to schedule some reiki classes for January or February, so if you are interested in taking Reiki I, II, or III, do let me know.  Classes are tentatively priced at $50 plus the cost of a manual (which is $15-20), and I’ll need at least three students per level to be able to schedule a class.  Weekends are probably best, as each class is several hours long and I’d prefer not to go too late into the evening.

Updates!

Well, the shop tumblog is now up and running!  So if you’re on tumblr, please be a dear and give us a follow!  Right now it’s mostly posting Etsy shop listings and updates, but no more than 3 posts a day, we don’t want to spam anyone.  In the future that will probably be the fastest place to learn about anything new going on in the shop besides Etsy itself!

Speaking of Etsy, our seasonal coupon went live this past weekend!  Use coupon code YULETIDE2016 for 10% off anything and everything in the shop!  Code is valid through the 2nd of January.

Also coming up soon (hopefully by Yule): rune readings are FINALLY going to be in the shop, at approx $2/rune.  These are going to be pulls, not casts, but I’ve gotten some good feedback on my free rune readings on tumblr, so I think I’m now confident enough to offer them for sale.  I use the Elder Futhark, on slices of wood, and I’ll be included pictures in those readings, just like with the cards.

On the reiki side of things, we’re finally more or less open for business (though we may get a zero gravity chair to replace the one we’ve been using, for additional comfort) and I’ve updated the Facebook Page with the street name – when you book an appointment I’ll be more than happy to give you the entire address and parking directions, but we’re working out of our home and I don’t really want our home address plastered all over the interwebs.  I’ve also added “Services” to the FB page, with approximate prices so you have an idea, though divination and jewelry are still primarily sold through the Etsy Shop.

In the realm of upcoming things, Glasreo and I will be attending a Soul Retrieval workshop in January which is very exciting and should meld well with our reiki practice, so stay tuned to hear about that (and maybe book a reiki session for the spring to get some of your lost soul pieces back, *winkwink*) and hopefully I’ll be blogging weekly again from here on, now that we’re all moved into our new place!

Weather Protections

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Matthew was bearing down on the east coast of the United States.  I was safe enough, inland in Virginia, but my husband had family very close to the coast near Jacksonville, FL, where landfall was expected.  They did not manage to evacuate, in part because one of those stranded was his 91-year-old great aunt.  My mother-in-law was very distressed, and asked if I would attempt a protection spell to keep them safe through the storm, and I promised I would do my best.

There was just one problem.  The storm was being powered by the Wild Hunt, and they do not take kindly to outsiders interfering in their work.

So, I turned to a friend with some excellent Wild Hunt connections via Gwyn Ap Nudd.  Initially I asked her if she would just present my case to Gwyn and ask his advice.  What would I need to do to get my spell let through?  I knew I could make a decent spell, but I was worried about being able to send it south to get to them, and I was worried about anchoring it.  I needed this to be a spell cast and set, not something I’d need to constantly pour energy into, because the storm could be there for days.

My friend went journeying to see Gwyn, and came back with a somewhat unexpected answer: he’d allow my spell through, but only if my friend went to bat for me.  She would need to give offerings, give my spell her essence, and stand guard throughout the storm.  I was hesitant, not wanting to put that much pressure on her, but Gwyn had made it very clear that this was the only way.  She agreed, much to my relief, and gave me directions.  I was to enter her place of power and take away a goo-like material gathered in a pool there, and use it in the Otherworlds-side part of my spell.

That required a journey on my part, so I found a quiet place to lie down, and let myself drift into my Waystation.  From there, I left by the portal door and ended up in a dark forest, where it was an autumn night.  I followed a path up a hill and then down stone stairs cut into a cliff face, to the mouth of a cave.  Once inside, I intuitively made my way to the cavern where I knew I would find the pool.  Although I normally glow somewhat in dim light Over There, I did not disturb the blackness of the cave, because my clothes had adjusted to be something like black-out curtains.  Even my face was veiled and my hands were gloved – I moved without seeing where I went. Once I found the place, I briefly lifted my veil so that just the dim glow of my face could be seen – the place needed to know who I was, needed to recognize me, so that I could take some of the goo without mishap.  I could vaguely see or feel someone back towards the wall ahead of me, though as I was the only source of light, I could not see them clearly.  At first I hesitated, wondering if I would have to prove myself to this being, but whoever it was, they simply watched, perhaps making sure I was not taking more than I had agreed to, and that I wouldn’t overstay my welcome.  I bent down, uncertain how I was going to scoop up some of the goo when some of it jumped out, a droplet the size of my fist.  I held out a belt pouch to catch it in, and the goo landed but bounced back up once, twice, three times before settling, and then I closed the bag.  I put it back on the belt at my waist, lowered my veil again, and made my way out the way I’d come in.  Once I was outside the cave, my clothes became my usual airy dress, and this time, instead of heading up the stairs, I leapt into the water at the base of the cliffs. I used the water as a portal, leading me through to the water of my own Waystation, where I emerged.  Once out of the water, I headed for my temple, in which I do most of my offerings and spellwork in the Otherworlds.  I transferred the goo from the belt pouch to a glass jar, where it bounced around in a vaguely annoyed manner – I got the feeling it didn’t like being cooped up, but I wasn’t yet ready to add it to my spell and I needed to put it somewhere for the meantime!  Then I ended the journey, coming back to myself in this realm.

Once I was grounded and back to my usual self, I set about readying the Over Here portion of the spell.  I selected a jar, cleaned it out and dried it and set it on the counter.  Then I found a square of paper – one with waves, from my one-a-day coloring book desk calendar.  On the reverse side I wrote the address of the place my husband’s family members were staying, in red ink.  I then crossed it with the word “safety” three times in blue ink, folded the paper towards me twice, and put it at the bottom of the jar. On top of that, I put sand from a bucket we’d gotten at a gem mine.  There weren’t any large pieces, but any small pieces that went in with the sand I promised in offering to the Wild Hunt.  Once I dismantle it, those will likely go on my faery altar.  On top of that, I poured just about a half a container of sea salt. Next time I think I’ll use a narrower jar!  Into the sea salt I stuck the handle of a small folding knife, with the blade close to and facing the edge of the jar.  Behind the knife I put in a seashell, given to me by my husband from his collection.

While I was doing this, my husband went to the store to get some stew meat, for an offering to the Hounds and the Wild Hunt.  When we returned, we selected three pieces and put them on a plate on the balcony, making it clear to the spirits who and what it was for with a short invocation.

Then it was time to head back to my Waystation.  Again, I found a quiet place to lie down and once I had drifted to my Waystation I went to the temple where I had taken the goo.  I brought the jar with me, solidifying it’s existence in that world, too – although Over There it was in a much prettier and larger jar.  Once it was solid, I focused first on the paper at the bottom, the address.  I visualized it on the map, visualized my husband’s family in the condo, and saw it protected, anointed, covered in the paper that would keep it safe.  Next, the sand: I imagined sand bags circling the building, the sand of shore and coastline buffering the waves and stopping  the storm.  Then, the salt: protection of the highest degree. Protection for them, protection for the spell, the glue holding everything together. Kin to the ocean water, that it would not be seen as foreign, but a natural barrier.  Lastly, the shell, encasing it all, keeping it safe, keeping them safe inside a bubble of protective energy.  The blade I visualized parting the wind, breaking the storm winds around them so that the brunt of the storm was elsewhere, so that the condo was in a calmer pool of air and water.  Finally, I uncorked the jar of essence goo, and added that – it smelled of my friend, and then she was there, claiming it, and the storm raged fiercely in the jar and she met it just as fiercely, tooth and blade, claiming her area as beyond its destruction.  The storm truly parted, then, and the bubble I had made was encased in an additional bubble of this essence, of her power, and my husband’s family members were made safe.

Back to myself, I stood and closed the pickle jar then, and on top I placed a tea light, and lit it, so that the work I had done would be sealed and it would come to pass as we had willed.

They will weather the storm, I thought to myself.

And I was not wrong.  A whole day passed as the storm raged, and I heard it batter against our protections. A second night passed, too, before it becalmed.  Then we heard word from those stranded: they were safe, they were fine, they had weathered the storm alright.  The spell’s work being done, I released it, though I did not dismantle it right away in case I had need of it again.  But the storm passed and did not return.

 

[If you’re interested in doing a similar spell, yourself, contact us and I’ll be glad to give you more concise instructions.  Or, if you’d like to pay us to do spellwork on your behalf, contact us and we’ll talk!]]

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