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lonely-pcp · 1 month

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Alternatives to telepathic communication

hey y’all! I just wanted to compile my own little list of communication methods that aren’t telepathic, as I struggle a bit with that sorta stuff and it’s kinda annoying seeing posts that don’t really go in depth about how many different ways there are to communicate with spirits and egregores. So I decided to make this post for the people who struggle with that as well!

Tarot

tarot is one of my favorite methods of divination, so I wanted to start off this list with it, of course. It definitely deserves a post of its own on using it for communication, so I’m not gonna go too in depth. Plus, some people have strict parents, but there’s plenty of alternatives. But tarot is definitely one of those things that you should research on your own, because there’s way too much to be said, and I’m listing methods, not doing a crash course on tarot. But a good way to use it for communication is to interpret the images intuitively, and if you get stuck, only then try looking up the meaning of the card. Chances are you might get a feeling that doesn’t exactly relate to the card meaning, but trust your intuition! The best way of knowing what the spirit is saying is by trusting the first thing that comes to your mind. Don’t doubt yourself!

but anyway, if tarot interests you, feel free to research it!

Playing card divination

this form of divination is basically tarot’s slightly easier cousin. It works amazingly for yes/no questions as well! Plus it’s a good start for people who practice in secret. I personally used this method of communication when I first started working with J, and it’s helped me a bit with my intuition as well, as I was able to guess what he was up to without being overwhelmed by too many meanings.

Here’s a chart showing the meanings of each playing card, excluding jokers. I personally use one joker as the fool, and the second joker as the world. It’s up to you if you even want to use them though.

There’s also an exercise for telepathy that can be mixed with cartomancy if you so choose! It involves drawing a card without looking and trying to intuitively guess if said card is red or black. If you do this with a spirit you can interpret the card after turning it over as well!

Shufflemancy

This form of divination is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING for beginners and closeted witches, as all you really need is a device that can play music, and most people have phones anyway! A lot of people recommend making a dedicated playlist for this form of divination, but I recommend using your entire music library if possible, because it can take a while to build a perfect shufflemancy playlist from scratch.

I’ve heard of 3 main ways to do shufflemancy, at least with a music streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music:

1: shuffling and skipping - this is the most common form of shufflemancy. It involves putting a playlist on shuffle and skipping a desired number of songs to get an answer to your question.

2: indicator songs - this involves assigning the spirit a song to represent them, and listening to music on shuffle. If the indicator song comes on, the song after will be their message. I use this method quite often since I usually listen to my liked songs on Spotify using shuffle anyway. You can even ask the spirit what they want their indicator song to be using the shuffling and skipping method!

3: asking the spirit - this method involves simply asking the spirit to play a song and pressing play on whatever playlist you’re using and seeing what comes up. If you feel the song relates to the spirit, then you’ve probably contacted them.

The only downside to shufflemancy is that you do have to have a wide range of music to get a decent reading, as it has better results the more variety you have. And another downside is that if you listen to a lot of instrumental music (like EDM, piano covers, etc) then you won’t have lyrics to go by, which kinda makes things a little harder. But it’s still a great method for beginners who want to practice their intuition!

Some general advice

TAKE NOTES! This is something that is definitely needed for this type of work, especially if you forget stuff easily. Take notes on what you ask, what card or song you get, the context and meanings. It will help you in the long run!

adding onto the first point, don’t be afraid to look up meanings! This mainly applies to tarot, as there are pre-established meanings for each card. Take notes on what you find!

Your intuition will always be above the traditional meanings. If you get a feeling that doesn’t align with the traditional meaning of what you’re looking at, it most likely means that you need to know whatever your intuition is trying to tell you. If you don’t get that feeling, that’s completely fine too.

that’s all for now, because I need to get this post out of my drafts. Let me know if you’d like a part 2, as there’s a bunch of other methods that I could list!

#pop culture paganism #pop culture pagan #pop culture spirit work #spirit work #spirit communication #spirit companionship #spirit companion #general posts

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isuckmorethanjustblood · 3 months

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the pagan urge to work with the mothman

#only problem is the question whether mothman is real or not #because depending on that he's either an egregore or a spirit or something else entirely #pagan #paganism #paganblr #mothman #cryptid #polytheist #deity work #spirit work #egregore #pop culture paganism #????

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knightofhylia · 2 years

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Basic Spirit Contact Etiquette

We’ve all seen some sort of ghost-hunting show in our lives, whether you were an avid Ghost Adventures fan or looking for scary things to watch on Halloween.

Here I’m whipping up a guide based on my 10+ years working with spirits on how to approach spirits respectfully and conduct yourself during contact whether in your own home or another location. This is focused on the types of spirits you may encounter while on a ghost investigation.

Before Contact

Consider who you are bringing with you. Take into account the location you are going to. If you are in the south investigating a plantation with a crew of all white men it might get a little tense and spirits will probably not like to respond, or respond harshly. Most of the time when shows actually think about this is if they are going to a prison or something and they bring girls to attract ghosts. Think about the spiritual background of the people attending. People of different backgrounds will react to and attract different types of entities.

Bring an offering. No one wants to do anything for free, so, give a little ‘thanks’ for the spirit's time and energy by bringing a gift. This can be almost anything! Do your research if you are investigating a specific location. Time periods, regions, specific people, and general areas can give you a clue on what to give. If you really don’t have much info, there are some good (generally) universal offerings.

Energy

Spirits need energy to manifest like I need energy to manifest myself out of bed sometimes. There are a couple of different ways to do this.

Candles are a great, cheap, easy way to offer a little energy to the spirits. PLEASE USE CAREFULLY. Make sure it has a stable support such as a holder if its a tapered candle or bowl if it is a pillar candle. Place a plate underneath to catch any wax runoff. I’m not going to go deep into candle colours, but the ones I personally use are purple for psychic boost, white for general and cleansing, black for protection, or blue for insight.

Crystals and rocks are a very common offering as well. This doesn’t have to be fancy, honestly a little quartz goes a long way sometimes. I personally have a pouch that has my stones for spirit contact specifically that I take with me to help me connect. I’m not going to go super extensive into the meanings of the crystals, you can find that other places, but these are my go to:

Labradorite: good for intuition and heightening senses

Spirit Bomb Quartz: I’m gonna be honest, I bought this mainly because it looked like a kidney stone I had, and it's one of Yusuke Urameshi's powers. But! It’s quartz so it’s always good to have around.

Azurite: good for mentality clarity and receiving messages.

Lapis Lazuli: My favourite stone <3. Good for connecting with inner guidance and intuition.

Music is great for bringing in spirits. Music is this incredible source of energy that carries over despite language, time period, or place. We all love music! Music can change a room in a minute. With music you are transported to a different time and place. This is great especially for spirits from older periods as it brings out a lot of nostalgia and emotion. Music also helps you get into the right headspace for communication as well.

Special objects are used all the time in ghost shows. Personal belongings such as jewelry, books, or clothes work well. Toys and crayons for children have been known to get them to come out and play. Things from the person’s time period or hobbies they did can help draw them in as well.

Food

Food is what gives us energy, and that doesn’t change much in the spirit realm either. Some good basic foods to bring are things like bread, fruit, baked goods, tea, or alcohol. I've found unless there is specific trauma around it, most spirits accept alcohol/cigarettes. Consider the time period or region of your location.

If you are investigating an old house or mansion, what food was popular at the time? What food was popular in the region? Try and give something that is familiar or would be a treat for them. Crack open a cold one for the spirits in your haunted bar, maybe offer up some peanuts or chips to bring the people in. Invite the lady of the mansion some nice tea or cakes and a chat.

If investigating a hospital/mental ward/prison, consider bringing something from the outside world. From my personal experience there is nothing someone wants more after a long stint in the hospital than a big burger. These people died eating the blandest shit imaginable (if they weren’t starved) so try something they wouldn’t have been able to have before. You don’t have to cook a wagyu beef steak, but cookies or sweets could go a long way in winning the favour of more shy or angry spirits. Bring milk and cookies to the children’s ward for a treat! Give the kids the sugar they couldn’t have in this realm!

What do spirits do with food?

Think about all the energy you put into cooking! All the stirring, kneading, heating, cooling, oils, herbs, meats, water, all has energy that gets combined and condensed when food is made. In my mortal opinion, spirits can feed off of this energy like we eat food. This is why I think some food offerings shrivel quicker. The energy from the cow used to produce the milk is carried down through the milking, pasteurization, packaging, distribution and receiving of one single bottle, gaining more energy each step of the way. Machinery used to make food feeds into that energy as well as the people who make it. You ever buy food and can taste the energy of the overworked underpaid worker who made it? Homemade items are usually the best, but store bought works just the same.

I also believe that the spirit can manifest to physically eat the food. This could either be an apparition or manifesting in the form of an animal.

If the food is store bought I might suggest cleansing it spiritually before offering it.

What to do with the food?

There are a couple options here. The easiest one is just leave it and let nature take its course. Liquids are usually poured on the ground or drain. If you are not on your own property I would suggest other methods such as burying(if it won't harm the wildlife) or (SAFELY) burning. I would use a big fireproof bowl such as a glass or metal mixing bowl (probably best if it’s not the one you use in the kitchen). If you are able to leave it overnight and come back to it, take note of any changes to the food! I like to keep my offerings out overnight but if it is going to spoil or stink then whenever you are done/they are done is fine.

Incense

Fire is an amazing element! Prometheus ain’t getting his liver eaten eternally for nothing! Fire can turn herbs and resins into magic in a flash. There’s a reason incense has been used for centuries in ritual practices all over the world. This can be done with sticks, cones, resins, bundles or loose. If you are going to burn incense PLEASE do this carefully as well.

Herbs and plants I usually burn are mugwort, wormwood, damiana, sandalwood, lavender, and cedar. This can be done either as a blend or individually. These are usually burned on a charcoal disk or as a stick if I can find one.

Resins are also common for rituals and spirit contact. There’s a reason Christians love to hotbox themselves with frankincense and myrrh. Shit works! These take a little more work so I suggest planning ahead if you are going to use these.

If you’re a cop you have to tell us!!! Ok now that the cops are gone this might sound wack, but in my experience, ghosts love drugs. I have yet to encounter a spirit who did not like weed. I have been told specifically to smoke weed with my spirits to help charge and cleanse them. Taking a rip from a bong invokes all four elements and helps center yourself. I wouldn’t suggest toking up in a haunted mansion, but a sprinkle of flower or kief on a charcoal disk can work as well. Use tobacco wisely as it is sacred to many Native cultures. Use Native grown tobacco and treat the herb with the respect it deserves. White supremacy and capitalism have tainted tobacco to be what it is now. If offering cigarettes, I suggest using the more organic ones. That being said, if you know a specific brand the spirit likes, opt for that one. I would suggest burying this offering as burning it may cause health issues, set off fire alarms, or leave a harsh smell.

Consider the type of haunting or spirit you are going to interact with. What do previous reports say the activity is? What type of location is it? What was this land before something was built here? I will briefly cover different types of hauntings and spirits that are common for ghost investigations. This is by no means all-encompassing but I’ve gathered this much from observations.

Active haunting. Classic ghost haunting. This type of spirit is aware of their surroundings to a degree. Usually conscious of the fact they are dead but not always. Common characteristics are:

Footsteps

Lights flickering

Feelings of being watched

Temperature drops

Hearing voices

Apparitions (full body, partial, shadow beings)

Mild physical activity (touching, doors closing/opening on their own, minor movement of objects)

Residual haunting. More common for places of tragedy, this type of spirit is usually not aware of their surroundings and instead are repeating moments of their life. Most characteristics apply from active hauntings to residual as well. The main difference is activity is done in a pattern. Common characteristics are:

Activity that comes in cycles or patterns i.e. specific times of day/year, specific places

Footsteps

Movement of specific objects

Voices or audio that does is not in response to the living word

Apparitions seen around same place/time

Poltergeist. This is the more active type of haunting. Most horror movies are based on this type. This type of haunting usually happens when a spirit is very powerful, usually angered or annoyed. The spirit is very aware of its surroundings. Common characteristics are:

Apparitions of all kinds

Footsteps

Doors slamming

Wall banging

Intense physical activity (things being thrown, moved, broken, or disappearing)

Physical presence (cold rooms, being able to push or grab people)

Behaviour change in people (more aggressive, sad, or just strange behaviour in general)

There is a lot of bleedover in regards to the categories, but it is usually determined by intensity and frequency of objects.

During Contact

Ugh, nothing pisses me off more than people back-talking ghosts when they are trying to make contact. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar folks. Here’s quick do’s and don'ts of making contact with spirits.

Do:

Bring an offering

Announce your presence when you come in and state your business. Be polite and introduce yourself. Spirits are more likely to warm up to you if they know what your doing.

Explain your equipment as you set it up or use it. Show them where to talk on recorders, I can almost guarantee someone from the 1800s probably doesn’t know about REM pods, EMF detectors, and video cameras. Explain using simple language but remember you are not talking to a child (unless you are). Demonstrations of equipment can help you test out your gear and get the spirits used to it. Evidence doesn’t start when you turn off the lights, record as you set up in case curious ghosts have things to say

Thank the spirit when it responds! If you ask for a sign and they bang the wall, thank them! Even if it’s scary stuff like slamming doors it’s still good to thank them.

Don’t:

Provoking the spirits by taunting isn’t going to do shit but get you cursed. Y’all know what I’m talking about. Early seasons Zak Bagans shit. ‘I’m not scared of you! Come out and face me! Show yourself coward! Attack me!’ Okay dude good luck with that attachment!

You are a mere mortal in the presence of something you don’t understand, don’t be an asshole about it. Talk to them like they are people because they probably were once! Talk in a respectful tone and be humble.

Don’t get mad if they don’t respond. Be mindful of where you are and what you’re talking about. If you are asking a spirit about a horrific event, accept that they may not want to talk about it. The type of haunting may not be fit for the type of investigation you’re doing.

NOT EVERY GHOST IS A DEMON OR EVIL. I’m so tired of every time someone has a negative interaction with a ghost it’s a demon. Maybe they’re just pissed off you’re in their space? Don’t throw around random labels just because you’re uncomfortable.

Debunking is always good to try but disregarding unexplainable things discourages spirits from trying. Or they may try harder and you might not like what they do!

Ending Investigation

Show your gratitude. Dispose of your offerings properly and thank the spirits for their time and energy. Clean up any mess you may have left.

Cleanse the space. Everyone likes to cleanse differently so I won’t go into it too deeply. Personally, I like to burn incense and use sound. I find ‘cleansing tones’ on Spotify and turn my bluetooth speaker upside down so the speaker is directly touching the surface. I believe this helps dispel negative energy. Other ways are using a bell, using cleansing water, visualization etc. Take only pictures, leave only footprints type of deal. This is especially important for places of violence or negative energies.

I advise walking out of the space backwards so nothing can follow you and cleansing yourself when you are done. Too often people go into these spaces, rip the bandaid off the spiritual wounds and then leave. It’s cruel to keep these spirits bound to these places for our entertainment.

Only YOU can prevent spiritual fuckery!

Note: the source leads to an outside blog that is co-run by me. Some of the words may have been changed in this edition, but this is not plagiarism, i wrote both! The URL is randomly generated for now but it is still a legit website. Feel free to check out the other posts!

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tmapagans · 2 months

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We need more occult blogs to follow

Interact with this post if you post about:

PC paganism

Tarot/runes/any kind of divination honestly

Kemetic paganism

Spirit work (esp with plant/animal spirits and ancestors)

Chaos magic

Honestly any sort of occultism/witchcraft/paganism

#pop culture paganism #pop culture witchcraft #kemetic #spirit work #occult #occultblr #witchcraft #pagan #chaos magick

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jasper-pagan-witch · 2 years

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Pop Culture Deities & Spirits: Common Questions

Image description: A screenshot of a comment left by Runa from @serpentandthreads that says "What are the theories to explain pop culture deities and spirits? What qualifies as a deity in pop culture magic/religions? How does one go about forming their personal craft based on pop culture magic, when it is so new and has little resources?" End image description.

These are all such wonderful questions, Runa! So you'll have to forgive me for breaking these down bit by bit!

What are the theories to explain pop culture deities and spirits?

There are many! On account of not knowing them all myself, I'll just cover two - the egregore theory and my own theory.

Egregore Theory

To quote Wikipedia for a simple definition, an egregore is "an occult concept representing a certain non-physical entity that arises from the collective thoughts of a distinct group of people." Historically, this referred to the watchers of Enochian traditions, but I'm not getting into that because I'm not part of any Enochian tradition.

In recent times, the term also refers to figures such as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny - they're very easy to know about and run into (in the United States at least), and they have very simple jobs that they do for particular reasons.

So in this theory, the worship of a pop culture deity or spirit by multiple people would bring it into creation, especially if you count any worship in the source the deity or spirit comes from.

I've actually known people who wanted to work with a lesser-known pop culture spirit, so they started out by building up worship and offerings first to either bring the spirit into existence or to help them form a bit in our world. (Though out of respect for everyone's privacy, I'm not gonna name any of the people or pop culture entities involved in that.) It was fascinating to observe from an outside perspective.

My Theory

As I so lovingly and eloquently stated in the past, my theory for how this works is that magic and the universe and shit are already so goddamn weird. Another way I phrase it is "you can't prove that any of this is real, you can only prove the impact it has on the lives of you and other physical people", which also applies to questions about why appropriation is bad.

My craft runs on experimentation first and foremost, not what other people say is or is not possible. My little wizard heart continues my experiments and compares them to other experiences I've had.

If I reach out to Azura and get a response back, then clearly Azura exists in some meaningful way. Through experiments like these, I've come to find out that Azura has a similar energy to "historical" deities I worship, such as Athena and Aphrodite, so I've felt comfortable continuing my worship.

(Quick side note: I use "historical" to mean "deities not from a form of pop culture", such as the Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and Roman pantheons. We'll discuss this further down.)

My theory really is "fuck around and find out".

What qualifies as a deity in pop culture magic/religions?

This one greatly depends on the person and practice.

You have people who believe that any figure from pop culture can count as a pop culture deity. (While I was writing this, I found a post discussing Eevee as a pop culture deity.) You have people like me, who have a different idea of what a deity is and use "non-physical entity" as the catch-all term. Ultimately, the answer to this question is highly personal.

To me, "deity" has a particular connotation. If an entity is worshiped as a deity or deity-adjacent figure (the Aedra and Daedra, Legendary/Mythical Pokemon, et cetera) in the source, I’d consider that to be deity work.

If I were working with, say, Son Goku, I'd consider that spirit work or hero worship, because even though he has a Super Saiyan Shark-Jumping Bullshit- I mean, a Super Saiyan God mode, he's not worshiped as a god in the Dragon Ball series, and that's the primary difference for me. I actually mention in my post about Vadrok that I see Legendary MTG critters like him and Alesha to be spirits that you can holler at, not deities.

How does one go about forming their personal craft based on pop culture magic, when it is so new and has little resources?

This is an even more complicated answer because no two pop culture practices are going to look the same, even when drawing from the same source. For the low bar example, let's use me and @kaosmage aka Faust aka the @strixhaven-biblioplex for Magic: The Gathering-inspired spell work. We both draw from the cards of the game as inspiration for spells.

I take a more card-first approach, often using the card, its pictures and symbols, and its effects as the basis of a spell. For example, look at my Cradle of Safety spell, where I take inspiration from the presence of the feathers and heron medallion in the art to call on Sigarda (long story, look at the Innistrad lore, good luck) and incorporate the usage of feathers into the spell proper.

Faust takes on a card-inspired approach, as seen in his Curse of Clinging Webs spell. Sure, he's got the spider webs in there, but he doesn't have cheap Halloween spider decorations in there too (which is probably for the best because you can only get those between August and October from most retailers and he posted the spell in January). It's probably a good thing that he has significantly more chill than I do.

What was I talking about again? Oh, right, forming one's pop culture side of their craft. The great thing about pop culture magic and paganism is that it can blend almost seamlessly with almost any other practice because you can draw as little or as much inspiration from pop culture as you want. Find something you love, something that inspires you, and work from there using the same methods you'd use for non-pop culture magic.

Just want to loop the Streets of New Capenna OST during a ritual? Sure! Want to get a Daedric Artifact replica to put on your altar? Why not! Need a spirit pal or familiar and run into a Charmander? I've been there! Want to dedicate the next four years of your life to the study of pop culture magic and how it varies between different people? That means you're me and we must fight at dawn for the right to keep our names.

My advice? Just give it a shot. Only you can figure out what works in your craft.

Bonus section: Jasper babbles about "historical" deities and how pop culture is older than it looks.

Something that's always skinned my potatoes upside-down is how people treat pop culture paganism as something "harmful" but then those very same people turn around and worship Aradia, Eostre, and even Mesperyian, all of whom were made up for fake documentaries (Aradia), assumed to exist based on the name of something else (Eostre), or made up for a mythology writing assignment for class (Mesperyian). Does this mean they don't exist? No! But they're not "ancient goddesses". They're just a slightly older version of pop culture paganism (except for Mesperyian, who's one of the younger versions).

There are also historical deities who have fallen to the wayside, such as Cernunnos. We have little to no idea of what his deal was, which unfortunately left us to pick up the pieces later and have to work twice as hard to figure this mess out. So we're working on very little historical information and a pop culture understanding of this deity's "thing" - a god of wealth in the time of 14 CE Gaul has a very different understanding of what can be done and what is usually asked for do than a god of wealth worshiped in 2022 CE Missouri.

Anyway, that was my dive into "pop culture paganism isn't as new as people think it is so please stop being a dick about it to random pop culture pagans on Tumblr, thank you". I hope you enjoyed this bonus section, because this is a problem that comes up a lot in pop culture paganism discussions.

#jasper post #pop culture #pop culture magic #pop culture magick #pop culture pagan #pop culture paganism #pop culture witch #pop culture witchcraft #deity work #spirit work

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gestaltcraft · 2 years

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Pop culture deity work is watching your other witch friends leave beautiful offerings in the form of incense, hand-cooked meals, shells and stones, lengthy poetry, etc. while you’re over in your little pop-culture corner like “I offer up this cup of instant ramen”

#pop culture witchcraft #pop culture magic #pop culture paganism #spirit work #deity work #personal #...it's one of his favorite meals okay

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curious-chaosmagiic · 13 days

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having one of those moments where you learn something new that changes your world view, which has been happening a lot lately honestly-

anyway i've been doing more research into conpantheons / popculture pantheons and generally speaking a lot of it is really drawing me in!

idk maybe it's just because everything about my craft is very very personal to me? as much as i want Tithonus to be well known as all the other gods there's something so special and personal to me about our bond, that he picked me of all humans, that i was lucky enough to see his signs

idk i think i should go out into the forest and meditate, maybe see if anything calls to me or something? honestly if i hadn't have learned about Tithonus before learning about conpantheons / popculture pantheons i would have probably assumed i had found a deity that was unrecorded!

i guess what i'm trying to say is that my world view has gotten bigger and more welcoming with time and learning and i've loved every second of it

#🧿🌸practice #witch #pagan #witchcraft #witchblr #deity work #conpantheon #pop culture witchcraft #greek pantheon #spirits #ancestors #really anything #i'm just so interested in it all #🪲tithonus #deity worship #tithonus devotee #tithonus deity #lord tithonus #<- he's the best

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popculturealtar · 1 month

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Hi Bun! If you're still awake: do you mind talking a bit about how you determine which sources contain the divine in your eyes? (Eg. Why Shadow of the Colossus or Silent Hill or anything in particular contains beings to revere?) And please, use examples, this is an invitation to talk about personal impact, I'd love to hear about it.

for me, it's just a belief i carry! i find spirits within everything that graces our existence, whether it be a big giant deity giving us sunlight, or something pretty regular like a chocolate bar that we're about to eat. while i don't choose to work with every spirit i come across, i do firmly believe there's a little piece of divine within everything. especially if it's been created by a person - i see us as capable of creating the divine just as the divine is capable of creating us - we can create art, poetry, writing, that invokes feelings and thoughts and memories in one-another, so i thus also believe that divine experience extends to pop culture creation.

now, when it comes to what i choose to write about - it's just what personally interests me and has impacted me on a personal level! i write what i like! especially if it hasn't been covered yet.

there is also a sense of familiarity when i choose to write about sotc and silent hill for example, as silent hill spirits are very comparable to spirits of chaos and tricksters, which are a very comfortable place for me to work from - whereas the colossi remind me a lot of ancient deities i've already interacted with and seen in my years upon years of religious research. it's about positive and curious association, that usually urges me into writing about a certain pop culture spirit - i like researching and learning, and if there's something more i can research and learn about what i'm already comfortable with, then good! i'll write a post!

and not to get all spiritual about it, but if a spirit wants me to write about them, i usually will do that for them. i'm not great at psychic-ly feeling something, but i am extremely sensitive to a feeling of the "hi hello pay attention to me" sort of urgency - and if i identify that from a spirit, i will write for them. so far, i have felt that sense of urgency from most spirits i've written about. not all, but most.

thank you for the questions! i hope i was able to write a satisfying response!

#bun talks #pop culture paganism #pop culture spirit work #spirits #deities

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neonswitchhouse · 4 months

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Hey, I love your posts on Pop culture paganism, it's been helping me a lot. I just wanted to ask, how do you deal/cope with the insecurities that come with working with the "villains" from sources?

I find myself drawn to villains moreso than heroes, and I feel more at home with them. However, I get so insecure about it, especially when interacting with other pop culture practitioners. I would love any advice you might have about this, and if you already posted about this, my apologies - Clementine

Hey there! I briefly went over villain work and some of the drawbacks in a previous post, but to get a bit more in-depth (and since that post is a bit older nowadays) I'll try to give some tips.

So I've always been a villain-worker since I started on this path from jail breaking dogmen, ghostly mobsters, mutated fishmen, and lately a brief foray into eldritch horrors, obsessive lovers, and streamers that would get banned from the Home Depot for the inappropriate use of hardware tools. And what I can say is in a sense that it sadly "comes with the territory" or is the "nature of the beast" per se.

A majority of villains either may prefer isolation due to their "nefarious" schemes and plots or nature of their work and need to keep a low profile, while others just might not be used to being out-there due to a number of reasons including being ostracized or "othered" in their sources. From my observations, this may oftentimes also happen for those who are fans of the character as well in the "othering" sense in that they might not feel as at-home as say, protagonists fans, or even being accused of condoning a characters actions or behaviors just because they're a fan of theirs in let's say some more toxic fandom spaces as of late.

So the best advice I would have is to simply embrace it. Be open about it and develop your confidence and brazenness. Those who understand and feel the same way will flock to you naturally and form a small community of sorts. And those who don't well, as long as they mind their business they can go on their merry way; no one's forcing them to go down the same path or be involved with the same characters. Share your experiences working with them to help others feel comfortable and be more open as well (that's what we try to do ourselves anyway ^^;;)!

The isolation or the "othering" is part of the reason I would only recommend villain work to maybe intermediate or at least somewhat experienced practitioners, but it can also be a deeply rewarding and intense path to those who feel drawn to it. Embrace working with your beloathed beloveds; be open about your experiences good or bad.

Besides, not every villain is 100% "evil" and not every hero is 100% "good". Plus there's that whole rejection of "black vs. white" "high vibe vs. low vibe" thinking that should hopefully be in most folk's approach to witchcraft and paganism as a whole. It's all gray and subjective, baybay.

As always

Stay safe, have fun, stay spooky <3

#pop culture paganism #pop culture magic #pop culture witchcraft #pop culture spirit work

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