Author: A Solitary Pagan

Writing your own Spells 1.3 Choosing Materials & Correspondences

1 — Select candle colors, herbs, crystals, or stones to charge the spell. Each of these items corresponds to different intentions. That means you can use colored candles, herbs, crystals, and stones to help you get what you want from your spells. Look online or in a book to find which items are best to use for your intention. Then, choose one or more to support your spell. For instance, let’s say ...

Writing your own Spells 1.5 Recording & Acting on your Spell

1 — Title your spell so you remember its purpose. If your spell helps you achieve positive results, you’ll likely want to reuse it in the future. Give your spell a title that reflects the outcomes you hope it achieves. This will help you remember the purpose of the spell when you go back to find it. 2 — Record the spell in your Grimoire so you can reuse it later. It’s a good idea to preserve all t...

Writing your own Spells 1.4 Wording your Spell

Use rhyming lines to give your spell more impact. It’s common for spells and charms to rhyme, so you might choose to write a short poem. It’s especially important to rhyme if your spell is long or your outcome may be hard to achieve. For a traditional rhyming spell, write your spell using rhyming couplets where each line rhymes with the line before it. Alternatively, rhyme every other line of your...

Common Spell Casting Steps

Spells to Battle Stress

Managing stress and anxiety improves your dailyfunctioning, enabling you to cope more effectively withthe very situations that can stress you. Managingstress can improve your physical, mental, andemotional health, as well as support your self-esteemand confidence.Fill Yourself with LightTaking a few minutes to fill yourself with light can give youthe mental break you need to reset your headspace. ...

MEETING THE SPIRITS OF A PLACE

Once you are comfortable journeying, this is a Middle World journey you can use to bring healing to a place, such as your neighborhood or even your whole city. It does not have to be a place where you live; it can be any place you are familiar with that is in need of healing. Set aside at least 30 minutes of time and prepare for your journey. When you are ready, hold the intent in your mind to jou...

DEVELOPING A SHAMANIC PRACTICE

ALTHOUGH JOURNEYING TO MEET WITH OUR helping spirits is a keystone of shamanic practice, it is certainly not the only component. The journeys themselves are extremely important, but equally important is the integration process. Integration refers to the way in which we bring the lessons of Shamanism into our daily lives. This process involves both acting upon the knowledge we receive from our help...

THE THREE WORLDS MODEL

THE THREE WORLDS MODEL IS A COMMON BELIEF across shamanic practices and defines how reality is set up, with reality divided into Lower World, Middle World, and Upper World. Many journey practices are built around this belief; but while it is common, it is not universal. Several cultures travel to both Lower World and Upper World, but some travel to only one or the other. As you gain experience wit...

HONORING THE ANCESTORS

HONORING OUR ANCESTORS IS AN IMPORTANT part of shamanic practice. As Shamanism aims to help us exist in harmony with ourselves, the planet, and the spirit realm, it also urges us to recognize our place within the story of humankind. We all have ancestors, and we will all have descendants, as our legacy continues whether or not we personally procreate. This happens in a variety of ways. When our bl...

JOURNEYING TO UPPER WORLD: CONNECTING WITH ANCESTRAL HELPING SPIRITS

JUST AS WE ALL HAVE POWER ANIMALS, WE ALSO have human-form teachers looking to help and guide us. All spirit entities can travel to any of the spiritual dimensions, but our human-form guides are generally found in Upper World. Before we journey in search of our ancestral helping spirits, it is important that we understand that they are a very specific type of ancestral spirit. Not everyone leaves ...

JOURNEYING TO LOWER WORLD: CONNECTING WITH POWER ANIMALS

IN SHAMANISM, WE HAVE A COMMON BELIEF THAT everyone has at least one power animal that accompanies them throughout their life. In some cultures, this belief states that no person can survive beyond infancy without a power animal. As we move through life, other power animals will join us as we navigate particular challenges, and then they will move on. Even if we are not aware of them, they are sti...

THE WOUNDED HEALER ARCHETYPE AND SOUL SONGS

OUR BODIES AND OUR SELVES ARE THE PRIMARY and most important ceremonial tools at our disposal. As such, we must learn to honor ourselves and better integrate our bodies, the material self, and our souls, the immaterial self. Learning to be in harmony with and within ourselves is one of the key processes of shamanic healing. When people are called to Shamanism, they are generally seeking to heal pr...