Pathworking And Astral Travel

Pathworking and Astral Travel

In spirit work, we often connect with the spirits that have crossed over and are present in the physical world. However, there are also ways to cross over into the spirit world and connect with spirits in their home environment.

Pathworking

As I mentioned in a previous post, a pathworking is a specific type of meditation where you go on a psychic journey, but are still anchored to your physical body. It’s sort of like dipping your toes into the spirit world.

There are two important elements to a pathworking: a clear entrance/exit point and a way to retrace your steps. Pathworking journeys are typically cyclical — there is both a journey out and a return where you go back the way you came. This makes it easier to fully return your consciousness to your body, and failing to do so can cause you to feel disoriented upon the return.

Your entry/exit point can be absolutely anything, but common examples include a door, a gateway, a tree (or sometimes The World Tree), a cave/tunnel, or a natural landmark like a beach or mountaintop. What’s important is that it’s recognizable and easy to find your way back to.

If you want to try pathworking, make a rough “road map” of your journey beforehand. This doesn’t have to be super specific, but it should contain the following: a goal for the pathworking (such as to connect with a certain spirit), an entry/exit point, and a general idea for the route you’re going to take. If you’re worried about getting lost, author Thea Sabin recommends using “the Theseus trick.” Like in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur, you can tie a golden thread or rope to your entry point and the other end to your astral body. If you get lost, you can follow the thread back.

Pathworking is fairly beginner friendly, and I highly, highly, highly recommend starting with pathworking and becoming comfortable with this method before trying astral travel. Even for more advanced witches, pathworking is often a better option than astral travel because it’s less involved and requires a little bit less effort. I personally prefer pathworking for most situations.

Performing a Pathworking

Before you begin, establish a clear goal for your pathworking and write out a rough “road map.” At the very least, you should know what your purpose is, where your entry point is, and how to find your way back.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense, diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down and begin meditating. You may want to play meditation music, practice breathing techniques, or use some other method to help you reach a meditative state.

Once you reach a meditative state (you should know what this feels like if you have experience with meditation), see yourself standing at your entry point. This is your entrance to the astral realm.

Set out on your pathworking.

When you are ready to leave the astral realm, you will need to find your way back to your entry point. Once you reach your entry point, it should be fairly easy to return to your body.

Once you’re fully present in your physical body, use your favorite method to ground yourself.

Write down everything you experienced during your pathworking in a journal.

Astral Travel

If pathworking is dipping your toes into the spirit world, astral travel is diving in the deep end. Also called spirit flight and hedge riding, astral travel includes actually sending your soul/consciousness out of your body and into the spirit world. As you might guess, this is more complicated and requires more effort than pathworking. For this reason, astral travel is not beginner-friendly. If you are completely new to meditation, witchcraft, and spirit work, it’s best to learn to pathwork before you attempt astral travel.

A word of warning: you may want to avoid astral travel at times when you’re in a very vulnerable or volatile emotional state. Some days you just aren’t up for it, and that’s okay. On those days, a pathworking or another form of spirit work may be a better option.

Triggering Spirit Flight

In astral travel, a trigger of some kind is used to help disconnect the soul from the physical body. Common triggers include drumming, special music, shaking a rattle, chanting, and dancing.

You can find shamanic drumming tracks on YouTube that can help you achieve astral travel. If you find that repetitive motion helps you trance out, you may look into getting a small drum or rattle to play.

Animal Guides

In many cultures, those who travel into the spirit world do so with the guidance and protection of an animal spirit. From the Norse fylgja, to the shamanic power animal, to the witch’s familiar, history is full of examples of these types of guides.

Before you begin astral travel, do a pathworking to meet your animal guide. It’s important to note that you aren’t choosing an animal guide — only meeting one that has always been with you. Your guide may be an animal that you like or identify with, or it may not. When I first began experimenting with astral travel, my guide was a coyote — an animal I had never identified with before, but who I learned was deeply connected to my inner self.

It’s important to always have your animal guide with you when going on astral journeys, as they are an important source of protection and power. They may also literally guide you to the things you need to see and the spirits you need to meet.

Flying Ointments

Historical accounts describe witches using “flying ointment” to help them achieve spirit flight. These traditional flying ointments contained toxic and/or hallucinogenic plants like belladonna, datura, henbane, mandrake, and opium poppies. For obvious reasons, most modern witches do not use these herbs.

Please do not try to create your own flying ointment with poisonous plants. If you’re a true traditionalist and feel like you just have to try a historically accurate flying ointment, Bane Folk Apothecary sells several. Bane Folk is run by Sarah Anne Lawless, a kickass witch who knows her stuff and produces safe, medicinal products inspired by traditional flying ointment formulas. I am usually very pro-DIY, especially when it comes to witchcraft, but this is one case where it really is best to defer to a professional.

To create a modern, non-toxic flying ointment: heat eight ounces (or one cup) of poppy seed oil over low heat on the stove. Once the oil is warm, add 2 ounces (or ¼ cup) of beeswax into the oil. (Use carnauba wax for a vegan alternative.) Take the mixture off the heat, and allow it to cool off a bit. Once it has cooled (but before it’s begun to solidify), add nine drops each of mugwort essential oil, star anise essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. Pour the mixture into a mason jar and seal tightly. To extend your ointment’s shelf life, add a few drops of Vitamin E oil and store in the refrigerator. If you don’t have access to essential oils or prefer a more traditional method, you can buy dry herbs and infuse them into your oil instead — to do this, crush up 2.5 ounces (or 1/3 cup) each of dried mugwort, star anise, and peppermint and add them to a mason jar; add enough oil to the jar to cover the herbs completely, with about an inch of oil above them; seal the jar and place it in a sunny window for 2-3 weeks to infuse; and finally, strain the herbs out of the oil with a mesh sieve or a cheesecloth. You can then add your Vitamin E oil and beeswax to create an ointment.

This modern recipe does not contain hallucinogens, but it does contain plants that are commonly used in magic to increase psychic abilities and aid in astral travel. You can say an incantation over this ointment while making it to add some extra magical potency. Applying the flying ointment can also become a sort of ritual that prepares you for spirit flight by helping you slip into a more spiritual head space.

Performing Astral Travel/Spirit Flight

Before you begin, know why you are journeying to the spirit world. You should always have a clear goal for your astral journeys.

Begin in a dark, quiet room. Cleanse the room by burning incense (mugwort incense aids in astral travel), diffusing or spraying essential oils, or using a ritual broom to sweep out old energy.

Use your favorite method to ground yourself.

If you are choosing to use a flying ointment, rub it on your skin now.

Hold a protective item in one of your hands. I like physical items for protection during spirit flight, because they can ground you and help you find your way back to your body. Examples of protective items include a sprig of rue, a piece of iron, or a protective crystal like black tourmaline. If you ever feel scared or uncomfortable during your journey, you can bring this object into the astral realm to protect you. It will also keep your body safe while your consciousness is occupied.

Start up your trigger, whether this is drumming, rattling, dancing, etc.

Allow yourself to drift into a trance state, and then to disconnect from your body.

Call your animal guide to you.

Set out on your journey in the spirit world.

When you are ready, feel yourself returning to your physical body. Allow yourself to come back slowly — don’t rush it.

Ground yourself. One good way to ground after astral travel is by eating a snack.

Write down your experiences in a journal.

Resources:

Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille

“How to Make Herb-Infused Oils for Culinary & Body Care Use” and “How to Make Herbal Salves” from the Mountain Rose Herbs blog

astro notes rant pt.2: moon signs

leo moons are some of the calmest bitches out there. seriously, one usually thinks about virgo or capricorn moons when it comes to keeping it together and appearing collected and steady, but leo moons have the most calming effect on others in my opinion. capricorn/virgo/aquarius moons have this artificial coldness to their calm facade and lack the warmth and openness one needs in order to be emotionally contagious so even if they look as if they’re not panicking other people around them would still be worried and anxious. leo moon has this super chill attitude - their confidence doesn’t appear superhuman, on the contrary, they appear calm in a very casual and non-forced way that relaxes people and makes them feel at ease. i mean, they can be quite the drama queens sometimes but overall i’ve never seen someone so confident and good at calming others with their composure and the way they seem to remain dignified and humane under any circumstances.

aries moons have a great difficulty with putting themselves in the position of other people and understanding the situation from their point of view. even if it’s in a chart that overall indicates a great deal of empathy and an understanding nature, aries moon makes a person sort of really stuck on their own point of view when it comes to emotions and gives a feeling that’s not exactly righteousness but more like…an inability to comprehend anything beyond yourself. the emotional world of the aries moon is so dynamic it’s quite difficult and bothersome for them to try and understand the emotional worlds of others. they just want to invite someone in their own and have them share it.

the most difficult moon sign to connect to emotionally is gemini. capricorn moons may put barriers, aquarius moons may dissociate, virgo moons may be nit-picky, scorpio moons might be crazy but gemini moon is like….they move too fast in order for someone to actually know them emotionally, and if you don’t know someone emotionally how can you even connect to them? it’s hard to keep up with gemini. pisces moons change emotionally a lot too but at least they’re open about it while gemini are kind of airy about their emotions and keep their true vulnerabilities hidden. so you see an ever-changing facade of moods that are expressed strongly and in an overwhelming manner but what’s truly happening will always be beneath the surface, just one step too far for you to grasp. gemini moon manages to be somehow both detached and overwhelming.

taurus moons are the most difficult ones to argue with. they’re a bit similar to aries in that aspect. but it’s like…they make you feel as if they truly listen to you and it appears as if they actually take into account what you’re saying. they might even say you have a point and they’ll keep your words in mind. as time passes by you realize they just have this weird ass mechanism that prevents them from admitting someone else might be right. even if rationally they see this is so, at an emotional level they really are like a brick wall that refuses to let in foreign agenda. it’s just not comfortable, you see.

capricorn moons are extremely emotionally turbulent, even more so than scorpio moons. with scorpio moons at least you know you can expect them to constantly be in some sort of turmoil and drama. cap moons fluctuate between unpredictable cycles of absolute apathy and horrifying emotional outbursts. this often creates a feeling in others that they can’t be trusted. even if cap moons do their best to hide their inner turbulence, somehow it can still be felt on a more unconscious level.

pisces is often considered a favorable position for the moon while in fact the moon is in peregrine in it. this makes it quite neutral - there is an abundance of emotions and heightened sensitivity due to pisces being a water sign but the nature of this placement is to keep the feelings in and turn them inwards rather than to express them. this may create either someone who produces very personal art constantly or someone with huge emotional blockages who has difficulty letting other people in even tho they appear to be soft and friendly on the outside. most often, it’s a weird mixture between both.

scorpio moons, despite their reputation, are often somewhere on the asexual scale. sometimes this is due to having extreme feelings or experiences connected to sex when they were little. sometimes it can be a result of being hypersexual for some time and then starting to connect all sexual experiences to this in an unpleasant way. but regardless of the reason, i’ve noticed they’re often quite withdrawn when it comes to sex and might even be repulsed of the violent feelings they associate with it. it can be often connected to the feeling of intrusion and of letting someone in that scorpio despises so much.

taurus moons like to do stuff that makes them feel comfortable for other people. f.e. if a taurus moon feels cozy when they eat pasta with melted cheese they would cook that dish for other people. but they’re extremely insensitive towards the individual needs of others and often fail to understand how something that’s not comforting to them might be comforting to another individual. they’re least likely to adjust their behavior so that it’s comfortable for you. like, whenever i’m stressed my taurus moon friend would come and hug me and I keep telling her this stresses me even further yet she keeps doing it and saying she forgot it hugging isn’t as stress-relieving for me as it is for her.

aquarius moons always feel like they’re speaking an alien language no one understands except for them when they’re expressing love and affection. it’s hard for them to get through to the ones they love. even when they’re being super open verbally, like saying plain and clear “i love you, i care about you” it comes out as if they don’t put their heart into it due to their usual state of emotional detachment.

sagittarius moons constantly put on a cheerful facade to cover their sadness. this often leads to internal bitterness and frustration which gets translated into violent urges and a certain amount of hostility towards others. they may often try to hide it and to keep being in-your-face happy but one can definitely feel an aura of suppressed anger around them. like a feeling of hair-triggered temperament lurking beneath the surface.

libra moons can be extremely manipulative. they’re the type to observe carefully patterns of behavior in people, especially in larger groups, and to create different sets of attitude towards the different types of people that would make people like them more and do as they ask. they’re extremely good at playing people until they get what they want and can utilize others’ skills which makes them good leaders…unless they decide to take advantage of you. enough with the stereotype of the soft uwu harmless libra moon that just wants y'all to feel good! wake up sheeple, they’re playing you!!!

the most sociable moon sign is sagittarius. they are very people oriented and even if they have many placements in, say, cancer or virgo or capricorn, they are still super spontaneous about their hang outs and love to meet new people. aries moons are kinda like this too, followed closely by pisces (surprise surprise) and gemini.

libra moons are the rulers of networking. these people often master the ability to connect people and show them clearly why they need others and how they can mutually use each other. they’re also great at balancing and mediating. after all, that’s all you need to have so you can maintain a good network of people.

cancer moons can be really really really selfish. they are so taken by their own emotions they have a hard time bothering with the feelings of others. it’s like…cancer moons appear on the outside like capricorn moons feel on the inside. but on the inside, cancer moons are often like capricorn moons are on the outside. virgo moons are the moms of the zodiac. always so collected but also caring, they notice every little detail and analyze everything cuz they need to be in control of the situation all the time. they feel as if they’re always one step ahead of everyone, that’s why they think they’re better at caring for others than anyone else. and honestly? they’re usually right.

i’ve often noticed cancer moons express their feelings so strongly they cause random shit to happen without wanting it - the walls may vibrate when they’re angry even if they’re not showing it verbally, people might start dropping stuff when they’re around a nervous or aggressive cancer moon. i remember when i had a cancer moon boss, every time he’d drop at work in a good mood everything seemed to work smoother - we didn’t have the tech problems we usually did, the internet connection was flawless, etc. it was some mad shit right there and i’ve seen it happen with other cancer moons too.

gemini moons have a hard time listening to others. they have so many memories and emotional reactions triggered by a single sentence and their train of thought gets completely carried away from your words. so they either interrupt you all the time and say shit that seems totally unrelated or just dissociate from your words and have to ask what the fuck were you saying all the damn time. it can be pretty frustrating.

aries moons needs to do something all the damn time. they literally can’t just sit their asses down and do nothing. they’re always picking on some shit and planning stuff. it can be a lot of fun sometimes but if you’re more on the low-energy side it can be pretty bothersome and can make you feel as if you can never catch up to them.

earth moons are always thinking about how they look in the eyes of the public. they actually quite enjoy when others envy them and like to show off with their possessions, in which they often include their partners. they love to see others staring a lot at their partner and to think shit like “yeah, i know you want them but they’re mine”. honestly, those lil bitches enjoy making others jealous of what they have.

fire moons are quite competitive when it comes to relationships and they enjoy it when they have to be compared with many other suitors by the person they have their eye on. they often go for the popular types that are liked by everyone and feel truly satisfied only when they’re picked among many others as they have proven to be the most worthy.

air moons don’t like answering questions and putting labels when it comes to relationships, quite often cuz they’re afraid they won’t be able to provide what the label expects of them. they like to live outside of expectations and schedules and to let things unfold naturally which can be quite unsettling for their partners.

water moons are the most demanding in relationships. they are the type to push you to act as they need you to so you can fit their fantasy. scorpio moons won’t hesitate to squeeze out drama from every action of yours that they don’t approve of, pisces moons will act like a super wounded victim every time you fail to play by their rules and cancer moons play with the cold treatment like no other. BEWARE, FOLKS!!!

capricorn moons are often tired by their own calculating nature. every capricorn placement has a deeply cunning nature and always has to plan and think about what use do they have out of anything, but capricorn moons really struggle with this cuz the moon sign is responsible for our moments of relaxation and comfort and it’s quite difficult to relax when there’s this beast inside of you that never sleeps and always whispers in your ear …but what do i get out of this, what do i get out of this…. SOMETIMES YOU JUST WANNA DO SHIT CUZ IT FEELS GOOD, YOU KNOW, NOT FOR SOME LONG TERM SUPER IMPORTANT GAIN FFS!! back the fuck off scrooge!!!

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spellbound-savvie

3 years ago

The Fog Was Thick And Full Of Light, And Sometimes Voices.

The fog was thick and full of light, and sometimes voices.

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spellbound-savvie

3 years ago

I’m an Aquarius rising and this was spot on.

Hi, can you do aqua rising culture?

Hey!

I did talk about Aquarius Rising women before!

💚 💚They are badass, uncompromising queens who independently do so much stuff. Much like Aries girls (they are leaders) but with more tact and dettachment. 💚 They have quirky, unusual, bold styles and clothing. Whatever their style is, they rock it and make sure it’s uniquely them. Like not two Aqua Rising girls have similar style. Each one is their own. 💚 They can be like a more open, people focused Scorpio. They have amazing research skills! 💚 They really seem to be into space, astronomy fun facts or space art?? 💚 Can be vegetarian/vegan or have a specific food diet. It usually corelates with their ethical view on certain subjects. Ask them and they will tell you about it. 💚 Much like sister Air sign Libra, they are big on fairness. 💚 High chance they smoke weed in order to alter consciousness or to combat nervous mental energy. They can be prone to anxiety, restlessness or being scatter minded. 💚 The ones to make digital art or be fond of fantasy characters, creatures, anime protagonists, fan fic characters, idols, certain members of hard rock/metal bands. 💚 Usually dislike mainstream artists, claim they are into underground/not very known artists and bands. 💚 Often they had at least one humanitarian life experience, like volunteering in a homeless shelter, giving out free meals, helping build houses or teach children abroad. 💚 I noticed some can be fashion conscious. Meaning they try to trift items, resell them, use second hand or even sew their own! They would also be the ones to love sustainable fashion and being fashion-forward. 💚 Weirdly, they can quickly jump on certain fashion trends. This has to do with how Aquarius deals with the collective. However, they make sure they stand out in the group. But they would dress in trend of subcultures, fan bases, friend groups or underground musicians/bands they associate themselves with. 💚 Also they LOVE band T-shirts! 💚 Have probably been into hard rock/metal or EDM at least once at a certain point in their life. 💚 Probably been really emo too back in the 2003 (or still is)! I hope this didn’t sound like a roast, though??🤔 I have huge respect for them! 😉😀