onceup0nanightmare asked: I just started water scrying and I'm confused about my images. Any tips on figuring it all out? :P I've been writing stuff down as they happen.

Hello!

The method that works best for me is based on Jung’s “inner work”. It’s a way of analyzing symbols to arrive at your personal meaning of them, relevant to your situation. Basically you write down all the images and next to each one a list of associations. For example seeing a red elephant dancing could yield:

red - anger, passion, energy, motivating, my toy train from childhood, roses, favorite color, sex

elephant - big, family, never forgets, Africa, Disney’s Fantasia, graveyard, trunk, spraying water, mud bath

dancing - freedom, submitting to music, art, interpretation, clubbing, trance music, that one time you did E and didn’t really like it.

You associate with one at a time until you reach a meaning you feel is the right one (one of the first associations might be right, you just want a larger pool to choose from). Include the emotions you felt during scrying. So you might have seen a tea party but for some reason were very disturbed about it- associate with that, “a disturbing tea party”.

The next step is trying to interpret it “objectively”, as in referring to your life in general. If nothing makes sense, you switch to the “subjective” method, as in referring to parts of your psyche. So, for example, if in the work above I felt most strongly about the meanings red = passion, elephant = never forgets, dancing = freedom, then I ask “what is passionate in my life right now? What in my life “doesn’t forget”? Which part of my life is freedom?”, and decipher from there. If it doesn’t make sense to my life situation, I ask “Which part of myself is passionate? What am I not letting myself forget? What needs to be freed?”

The best conclusion is one that doesn’t “confirm” something you already know, it’s always something new. As a way of thanks, it is recommended to do some physical act honoring the message. So if I realize that I am clinging on to an old relationship, which was more sex than anything else, and need to let it go in order to free up valuable resources, I might:

• sign up for a dating site
• symbolically end the attachment by drawing the relationship on a piece of paper and burning it
• make a dancing red elephant from clay and put it on my desk as a reminder of this issue.

Of course all this depends on how you understand scrying. Because if it’s a tool of evocation for you, then obviously the above won’t be too relevant. Or if you’re visiting the astral plane. I guess the main tip is treat it as poetry. Or impressionistic art. Sometimes it’s straightforward, other times you need to make it communicate. You can also ask, during scrying, for a clearer message. Or for a different method of communicating. Or try saying “I am taking this to mean ____________________, is that correct?” and wait for a sign/clarification. It doesn’t have to be a movie, it can be a very successful interaction.

I hope this was helpful :)

Another chaotic scrying account (maybe when the novelty wears off I’ll make them more succint).

Anyway:
today’s scrying intention was to get healing - either learn to do it for myself or find someone who can heal me, perhaps the person from last time? i didn’t get the white static smoke, just a sort of black fluttering, again and again. i repeated my request a couple of times and remembered offerings - i got up to get some crisps and cookies. when i tried again i emerged in the vision, sitting on a largish rock in the same clearing as before. it was really hot, really sunny, full summer mode. i realized my chest has a gash down the middle of it, i understood that’s the manifestation of my illness. after a while i was joined by the guy from yesterday, i got a good look this time, he’s got a funny cleft chin. anyway, i explained my intent again and he pulled some mass out of my chest, and without showing it to me, threw it on the ground and ran off (in boar form) to the other side of the clearing and sat down (again as a guy) under a tree. a rabbit ran up to the thing from my chest and started eating it rapidly. other small animals came too, mostly mice. the rabbit looked up at me and his face flashed in a horrible grimace, he had fangs and was all kinds of nasty, but for just a flash of a second. i was disturbed but all this time the dude was gesturing for me to just stay on the rock. after a while the animals went away and he came up to pick up what was left. it was a black figure resembling a goddess figure, but it was really flat, sort of like cut out from sheet metal. i knew something else must be done and i had a sudden urge to eat it. and i did, it was very crunchy but didn’t cut me or anything. it felt like sheet ice, but not cold. then we talked about the healing process. the mass that grows on the seed happens because the wound is left unattended. all of these types of creatures have a gash to be pulled out through. sometimes the creature is bigger than the opening, it gets very painful (i got an image of someone having it in his eye). there is no way for a visitor like me to get rid of the parasite. i can take it out but i can’t kill it, i need someone local to cooperate. i asked if it’s possible to have a relative there or be partly local yourself, highly unlikely was the answer. each seed is different and i probably should have examined it more before getting rid of it. i said i might do so later, when my brain is in a more analytical mode, not busy visiting. it needs to be analyzed in the way all dream symbols are analyzed (at least the way i go about it in a sort of jungian way). afterwards i was told to lie down on the rock and rest. the guy went away (at some point during our conversation he had to swat away a mouse off his head - it was looking for more parasite to eat, he grunted at it in boarish). i lay there on the rock, feeling the heat of the summer sun. it was actually pretty uncomfortable so after i found myself dozing off (a shadow passing overhead woke me up, must have been a bigger bird or smth) i decided to go away. i bowed, thanking everyone and stepped back from the scene, opened circle etc. i remember there were two points of view - i was alternately in the scene 1st person, and looking down at it through the crystal. maybe i should have noted if the content determines how associated i am with what’s happening. the timer said i was 2 mins early, but i set it to 16 anyway and didn’t have much trouble getting into it this time.

Here’s a super fresh report from my scrying attempt. It might not make much sense, but I want to get as much down as I can remember, before I lose it.

i tried the crystal ball while listening to a recording of bird sounds in a forest, sitting with the ball in my lap, a candle out of the range of sight. it turned out to be half visualization/half vision, they influenced and informed each other. the intention was to contact a nature spirit to help me with my spiritual path, guide me in my wanderings. one of my cats immediately hopped into my lap and stayed there for the whole 15mins. at first i got whiteness, and the feeling of looking into an opal, or at the moon. then it seemed like there’s smth right under the surface of the ball, a sort of rippling i interpreted as a stream. then after a period of nothing i got a strong feeling of light from my front/right. i looked up to see if it’s in real life but no. together with the sounds it felt as if i’m in a dense forest and am getting light from the side because the overhead is too dense, i only get light from a clearing. i repeated the intent and waited for more visions. (most of the time in between “signals” there was a longish break of nothing, restating intent, and looking into an opal). i can’t remember the order of things now. a feeling of earthiness happened, so i was asking if it’s a spirit of the ground, but didn’t determine it. or i got the light from my right, telling me i changed orientation regarding the clearing in the forest. i felt as if i’ve walked backwards, keeping the clearing to my right, circling it. i kept getting flashes on my right (maybe before this reorientation?) and i first asked if it’s a night spirit and won’t come out as long as the vision is about daytime. i tried visualizing going under ground, or finding a cave entrance near the clearing but nothing happened. (break again). then i got more flickering on my right (this is as if in the room, it was not overlaid on the forest vision). i felt i should bow to show respect and lack of hostility towards whatever it was, to encourage it. when i finally saw the whole clearing there was a boar there, on the other side of it, between the trees. i bowed lower or again and it came forward into the light. i guess it was average boar size, not anything specially big. but it flashed with light and morphed into a guy. i didn’t want to stare so i averted my eyes straight away, but i know he had long golden hair. can’t say much more, he immediately crouched close to the ground, but not in a scared apprehensive way, more like “this is the natural resting position”, he actually looked curious and quite forward. oh, at some point, after the first flickering perhaps, i was saying smth like “hello. who are you? i’m Wandering”. after the guy showed up i just sat underneath the closest tree, facing him |(but not looking). the tree had very rough bark and there were flakes of it all under my butt. i let the sun shine on my face and then the soundtrack i was using for a timer stopped. so i said thank you and until we meet again and strongly visualized sprouting roots here and now, opening the circle etc. blinked solidly a couple of times et voila. fin.

interesting differences - with the water scrying i tried, there was a lot more smoke boiling over the rim of the container. there was also color changes - especially to black. it looked as if a point is expanding into a crater really really fast and i’m about to fall in. also - geometric shapes. none of that here, at all. just a solid, non-swirling ball of greyish-white. today’s experience felt more like a collage of things. the light sensations, the forest scenes, the interludes were all of a different sort, i couldn’t grasp them, i just had to let them haze and mingle and overlay to make any sense. from what i remember from my spontaneous mirror scrying i didn’t get any smokey stuff at all. I just zoned in on a scene and it was as if i was there in an obe kind of way, floating a bit above. and then the scene would dissolve. maybe because of the size of the mirror. there were similarities with the crystal and water, though - both times i was sure the light in the room changed, it was so strong i would look up to check more than once (event hough i did water scrying in almost pitch black conditions).

just some loose thoughts and notes for later. i want to try again!

Woo! Got myself a crystal ball, 8cm in diameter :) I’ve only tried scrying with water before and didn’t get much results (not counting the spontaneous stuff, a mirrored wall in the bedroom is a versatile thing indeed). I’m thinking I didn’t sit with it long enough, got plenty of bubbling smoke though, and some shapes. Oh yes, I also didn’t set an intent, so there’s that. I’m looking forward to exploring this new tool :)

thank you Santa.

The healing ritual I wrote about some time ago, using the ideas form “Portable Magic”. The aces outline the sacred space and serve as the quarter guardians. The Magician is underneath, at the very center, representing, well, the magician. Moon - Hanged Man - Sun symbolizes the time frame I expect the results in and the way they are to manifest (peacefully, during rest). The vertical axis represents the change itself 9 of Swords - Death - Star (the bottom is always what I’m moving away from, the top is the goal). In the corners there are some additional, nice to have goals, as seen in the shoaling sigils technique. It worked! (90% counts).

Things happening recently:

• gaining some more understanding re: personality differences in relationship. Trying to be more forgiving for the INTP boyfriend (he’ll have to be more patient with my ISFJ - especially the F).
• trying to magic away the nerve pain I’m getting in my jaw. It declined over several days but now seems stuck on a low level (perhaps the ear and sinus pain/infection? is clouding the real image here). Might try to do a second tarot magic ritual. Got the idea from Portable Magic, but that’s basically all I got from it. Or, you know, go to the doctor.
• assembled an altar to the divine feminine in the bedroom. It’s tiered, white, holds offerings of perfume, nail polish, bath cubes etc. There’s also a couple of cards from the Moon Oracle (Freya and Venus) and Symbolon (taurus and aries/taurus) to represent the aspects of the Goddess I feel are important for now (everything is suddenly so Jungian!). Also candles, aromatic oils, incense, and some crystals.
• getting into dream analysis. I really want to stick with it this time. I’m using the method described here. Will soon read the book this was based on. (Although library books… my first encounter with Ian McDonald).
• art is stuck. other things are more important. having nice and open conversations with mom and sis. generally a time for lots of inner work. I’m fine with that.

"

See, this is my opinion: we all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake.

And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.

"

Robert R. McCammon, Boy’s Life. (via eyesofwolves)

If any of you magical people don’t know Grant Morrison, maybe you could have a look :)

occultrock:

Grant Morrison on Sigil Magick

8/

Plans!

Okay, quite some things to do/research/learn!

1. make some fat knitting needles from sticks I collected earlier in the year. I need to knit some poufs for sitting - using up my stash of yarn that never ends up in any sensible project. Plus I can stuff them with clothes I can’t bear to throw out and can’t afford to have lying around as scrap material for sewing projects. And we’ll have a nice seating area in the newly arranged room that is our bedroom and office.

2. Research Ogham some more. Maybe make a set of runestaves. Finally making use of that plants encyclopedia. Still, would like one on local birds, regardless of magical applications.

3. Look up what’s happening in the astral projections and spirit work areas of the occult nowadays.

4. Astrology, especially mansions of the moon. I have a great looking Moon Oracle that I’m hesitant about because of this aspect. The internet is showing some interesting things so far.

5. Archetypes. Maybe they’ll help with the Symbolon deck. If not, some more general astrology is in order. Archetypes might also come in handy in interpreting some recent dreams. I think especially the one with the underground swimming pool complex with a corpse mushing away in it would benefit from some Jung. And maybe the black panther popping up everywhere.

Yeah!

What is everyone else up to?

I forgot about this. Shoal nr 2, launched last week.

Commissions! Drawings, sigils, tarot?

Would anyone be interested in them? I’m sitting here thinking I could definitely use some money next month and I came up with this offer for you:

Drawings!

A simple drawing of 1 character - $10

An elaborate drawing of 1 character (lots of props/scenery) - $15

A simple drawing of 2 characters - $20

Elaborate drawing of 2 characters (props/background/a more dynamic scene/interaction) - $25.

You’d receive your digital picture in a high resolution format to do as you please with, as long as you don’t sell the design. It’s just for you! Print it out, put it all over the house, get yourself a tshirt with it or make it a gift for your grandma, but please don’t sell it. (I reserve the right to putting it up here on my blog as well, although in a much smaller size.)

If you have a specific style in mind be sure to tell me - I know I’m a bit all over the board with that.

Apart from artsy stuff I can design sigils for you, or even activate them on your behalf :)

A simple sigil design, like any of the above - $5. If you want different sigil variations for one statement of intent, that’ll be 3 for $7. If you want me to charge and launch them too, ie do some magic for you, that’ll be $15 extra. That’s actually the work part and nobody likes that.

Elaborate sigil - $10. No variations offered with this one, but I promise it’s not going to be a bad quality photo. It will be either totally digital or a proper scan of a traditional media piece. Again, $15 more if you want me to actually work it for you.

There’s still some more!

Apart from all the above, I’m also offering tarot readings. I’ve been reading and studying tarot for maybe 13 years now and have posted some free readings here previously (alas I can no longer just give them out).

I think $10 would be fair for a three card reading dealing with one issue. For $35 I will come up with a personalized spread for your specific question, follow up with any clarifications you might need, and generally try to recreate the type of interaction we might have had in a live face to face reading - sending you pictures of the cards in case you recognize something of significance, and try to have a proper conversation about your situation.

Phew! If you’re interested in any of the above let me know! You can mail me at katjaa.bach at gmail dot com (that’s two ‘a’s and a period there) with questions and/or orders :) If you think someone you know might be interested please pass this along! Let’s do some cool things!

Shoal nr 4 (well nr 2 if you count casting order). It’s not really up to my aesthetic standards but I was going for speed.

shoal sigils record

I will keep updating this post with new developments as they arise. I will list the shoals in the order they’ve been designed in and comment on the effectiveness of each of the sigils contained within:

1. launched 10 Sep 2012

major goal sigils:

a) sort of

b) sort of

c) no

d) a couple of times

additional goals sigils:

a) a nice increase

b) works all the time so far

2. launched Sep 17th 2012

major goal sigils:

a) no way of telling in current situation

b) looks like it’s increasing as intended as far as I can tell

c) no

d) getting more quality and much more quantity

additional goals sigils:

a) lots and lots and lots of this

b) a bit

3. not launched, sigils designed, final picutre unfinished

major goal sigils:

a) works well

b) works very well

c) no improvement so far

d) works well

additional goal sigil:

a) was good, now hard to tell

4. launched 12 Sep 2012

a) ?

b) NO

c) a couple of times

d) no

e) no

additional goals sigils:

a) yes

b) yes?

So far the bonus goals seem to be happening much better without much change in the main goal… hm… maybe I should do groups of completely unrelated things? Shuffle them up? Or just give them a chance and launch them in the time I planned (one group a week), and then evaluate the results a couple of weeks later? hmmmmm

(sorry for the formatting of this, I can’t figure it out)

So I saw this (someone I follow posted it, but I can’t find who right now) and decided shoaling sounds interesting.

From what I understand it’s about launching many sigils at a time. Instead of one big goal you sigilize for a couple of small ones that will aggregate into the desired overall effect. You throw in some bonus unrelated wishes (is this so that you don’t stress too much over the result?) and one sigil for something that already happened. The idea is that because the subconscious isn’t too good with space and time, this one thing that actually happened will pull everything else closer to happening, closer to materialized reality.

In my first shoal I also threw in a symbol to tie all the sigils together, so that it’s enough that one gets through, it will pull the others with it. So I don’t have to worry if launching one of them seemed off or maybe not strong enough. Will see what happens. I’m really excited for this method because I love designing sigils, but can never come up with enough wishes/needs for such a magical endeavor.

Completely off balance, shouldn’t be too surprising. Maybe I’ll redo it some time, right now I just needed to get it out there.