Spirit Guides and Otherworldy Contact

Had a strange experience this past weekend. Well, strange for some and still strange to me, even if its also familiar. Okay, and THAT made sense. ;)

I woke up and saw neon red outlines of roses all overlapping. They were perfect and had five petals. Then they turned into black and white patterns (those I've seen before and usually indicate a stepping stone or the beginnings of going into someplace else; shamans see these patterns) and, finally, a face appeared. I opened and closed my eyes several times during this and saw the same thing whether they were open or closed. So, nope, it was not a dream. An altered state most like, but not a dream.

The face looked at me and, over his? her? left shoulder was a "wormhole." Or I call them that, anyway.

Time and again, when this has happened, it means I'm going to be getting another familiar spirit in my life. I wonder what form this contact will take and why they are forming a relationship with me. I've discovered, in the past, that they always take you in directions you need to go, lend aid, healing, that sort of thing. They don't fix everything (that's not what they're here for), but they are good companions.

I wish I could see those roses again, though. They were beautiful.

I just looked back and there's not been much activity here on this community for a while...which is okay, as I know we're all way busy and likely (okay, so I'm speaking for myself here) have plenty of LJ friends and communities to keep track of.

I wanted to know if anyone here has had experiences with strange storms, as in storms which feel like something more is going on than just wind and rain and lightning and thunder...more like a storm that is a sign of transformation.

Also, the idea of a stormcrow--any ideas where that term comes from?

Wrote a piece about totems and it kind of slipped over (briefly) into totems which are actually more spirit familiars. In Australia, apparently, there are clan or family totems and then there are secondary individual totems which you acquire (ie, helper spirits). These are more like familiar spirits.

So, the point was made that you can't change your clan/family totem (at least, not once its picked you), but your spirit familiars/totems can and do change.

But, of course, I also explored the idea that since we tend to all be of such mixed family heritages that WHICH family totem will be for us is up for grabs. However, my experience (and the experience of those I know) is that once you've been picked by one it tends to be possessive as all heck.

I know I thought when I was a kid that my totem should be Tiger...but it turned out to be Crow. As for my spirit familiars, some I felt a connection to before they showed up, but others were a real surprise.

Hi!

Here's my brief introductory message:

I've been a healer, clairvoyant, and astrologer for over 35 years.

Each month I make available free horoscopes, and as of this year I'm posting them up on my LiveJournal, so friend me, and you can read them on your Friend's page.

From time to time I also speak about something in a little more depth, or perhaps share something interesting and relevant I've found. You can find that sort of thing at my website under Podcasts, or on my Journal when I copy it over. My discussion on the astrology of 2012 was particularly popular for some reason, so I'm drawing special attention to that.

Part of my motivation behind my venturing into LiveJournal is that people might give me some feedback, and suggest popular topics I might analyze, so please leave comments and criticism - I don't know what to talk about unless you tell me.

Good to be here, and please enjoy my Journal!

I consider my spirit contacts to be my familiars. I know that some people use that term differently than I do, but as the original phrase was "familiar spirit" and not just "familiar," I do feel very strongly that presupposes that your familiar is, in fact, a spirit.

If I was a Spiritualist, I suppose I would call them my spirit guides, but I prefer familiar. We walk a path together, familial spirits all, and I find that our relationship is much like any other. You have to work to keep it all going and they have to work to keep it all going. When we get busy...

Yet I've found that their lives often reflect my own. I learn things from finding out what they've been up to in their own worlds. I also learn how to be a better and stronger me from my interaction with them.

Which is why...when I let it all slide for a while for a couple of reasons, now I feel as though I need to re-learn a few things and re-build what was lost. I let it go for a while and, maybe, I shouldn't have. My familiars are part of me and they are also gateways not just to my own power, but to otherworldly powers.

No self-respecting witch should let that just...slide...

Okay, so I know that spirit contacts fade and then come back strong again and again. I know this, yet everytime it fades off for a while (mostly because I'm too busy or they are or ???) I worry and wonder that, maybe, they won't be back. Yeah, I should know this, but still...

Anyway, I'm going to try to keep it stronger this time. All the books I've read lately talk about spirit contacts and how important they are to the Craft/Shamanism. I definitely want to not only work with that in my own life, but to help others make that contact if they so desire it and also work to keep their contacts vital and strong.

One way I have of doing that is by setting aside one day of the week for each contact and making sure I "talk" with them on that day, even if only for a few minutes. The other is to come up with questions and ask each one of them to answer it in their own way. That certainly has led to some interesting viewpoints. I suppose I could also try to dream of them...one each week, touch their world, their hearts, their minds, their feelings.

Just like any other friendship, the current has to go both ways and both sides have to be willing to be open and to remain open.

Call for Writers - Engaging with the Spirit World: Shamanism, Totemism and Other Animistic Practices

Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A) is seeking submissions for an anthology on modern animistic practices, particularly (though not exclusively) within a Neopagan/modern Pagan context.

Animism is an ancient thread that has run through countless religions, spiritualities and creeds. However, in a world that is increasingly dominated by science )(which says spirits don't exist) and anti-animism religions (which may call the spirits "evil demons"), the belief in spirits has often been met with skepticism and/or hostility. Yet for many people around the world, animism is alive and well. This includes within Neopagan and reconstructed religious contexts, where rediscovery of animism may take even more varied forms than in the past.

Two areas of animistic practice that are alive and well in contemporary paganism are shamanism and totemism; however, animism may take a variety of other forms in modern practice. We're looking for your perspectives on animism in the twenty-first century, particularly your own experiences thereof. While theoretical explorations of indigenous practices by observers are a worthy topic, we're especially looking for essays from practitioners themselves, whether of indigenous or Neopagan animisms.

this post from Lupabitch, who is looking for essays re people's experiences with animism/spirits

Have often played with the idea of writing a book re spirit contact, as all the ones already out there tend to be based off of Spiritualism--where you talk to dead people mostly, or at least facilitate contact with dead relatives--or books about contact with angels. Though, there are some books that talk about faery contact, usually meaning divas or nature spirits. That just seems a little too exclusive. I'd rather find a book that talks about many forms of spirit contact and how to open yourself up to it and how to shut it down if it needs shutting down. Not trying to say this or that can't be a spirit guide/contact, but letting it be open so that the contacts can take on many forms (as they do) and not have the person read the book and wonder if what they're experiencing is wrong or not really spirit contact at all.

What we send out to the universe is, in part, what draws spirits to us and our expectations can often influence the form of the contact, the mask that the contact takes. Not to say that the spirit in question isn't who they say they are, but that they are both that "person" or "animal" or whathaveyou and are also something more. At least, that's been my experience.

I tend to call such contacts "living masks," meaning they are both masks and yet do have a life and personality of their own, one that is just as real as ours is. Which, in a way, means that we are as much living masks as they are, though we have a physical body here in this world. Which doesn't preclude them having the same elsewhere.

Just wanted to jump in and give a quick plug for my new book which has just appeared on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sorgitzak-Fo…

Would love it if you checked it out and told all your friends about it, all those who might be interested in old European Craft.

Thanks much!

(jumping up and down with excitement!!!!)

Some of the people I hang out with now--though supportive--don't enjoy hearing about this side of my life as much. They believe me, but they don't want to interact with my guides on a regular basis. I mean, one of my guides wrote something once and a friend and I got into an argument over whether he should be credited or me. I was arguing that I just wanted it stated that the info had been channeled and she was arguing that my hand had written it down, so I should be credited. But I know the difference...

Sometimes, I think that it would be nice to have a convention for people with guides/familiars and be able to meet others who share the same ability and interests. Unless, the kinds of folks you'd tend to get showing up would be mostly into the crappier side of the New Age?

I mean, most of the books out there re spirit guides and the like are either Spiritualist based or New Age (read fluffy New Age). I have found very few books that are both serious and offer good advice.

What if, then...what if one of my guides ends up writing a whole book someday? Should I put it under his name? Give credit where credit is due? I mean, sure I should be credited with having done the actual typing (my fingers anyway) but if he did the writing, then its his work IMHO. Weird wonderings...