Pagan - Blog Posts
What you reap is what you sow
What you give comes back three fold
As above
ʍolǝq oS
A norse runework starter pack!
Because runework is basically at the core of my craft, I use it all the time and I’m already more than familiar with it. Runework is super easy to incorporate into everyday life and it’s got a wide range of use so I truly recommend. It feels safe and reliable, and I don’t need to put a lot of time or focus on them. Now let’s get down to business to defeat the Huns.
Their story real quick:
So in His endless search for knowledge, Odin the Allfather hung Himself and was pierced by His own spear in order to be alone with Himself. He accepted no bread and no mead until He found the truth He’d been looking for. And He did: through the darkness of His own mind, Odin saw the runes and reached for them. It was told they were so powerful He could bring a man back from the dead using them.
The basics:
The runic alphabet, otherwise called Futhark. Because I’m a history nerd I try to use the “elder futhark” as much as possible, though there’s a new one going around that’s really popular too.
The more complicated stuff:
Vegvisir (you’ll often find it depicted inside a rune circle like the second pic, especially on jewelry and pendants): Vegvisir is first and foremost a compass, and its name translated from Icelandic quite literally means “that which shows the way”. Historians speculate that its shape might be derived from old sailing wayfinders in Scandinavia, thus its association with the compass. It’s supposed to guide one’s way through the storm, according to a line in the Huld manuscript. (x, y)
Aegishjalmur (Helm of Awe): Protection, protection, protection! That’s what it’s about. All of its branches are considered to be “guarding” the center, thus making it a major protection rune. Once you get the gist of it, it’s super easy to draw and useful. If you’re a fan of dragons like me, perhaps you know Fafnir’s invicibility was drawn from this rune, as stated in the Fáfnismál: The Helm of Awe | I wore before the sons of men | In defense of my treasure; | Amongst all, I alone was strong, | I thought to myself, | For I found no power a match for my own. (x, y)
Aight quick presentation for other complex runes:
Now; How do I use runes? Where do I put them?
Draw them anywhere and everywere. I wouldn’t recommend painting a ten-feet inguz on the closest police station but there’s still tons of places where runes can be useful. I draw them inside my wrists and close to pulse points, as way of “pumping” them into my system, so to speak. I write them down to focus my intent during rituals, choosing the one/s I need most atm. In a similar way, I envision them during meditation to clarify my intent. I also use them to decorate altars or devotional art. If you’re a norse pagan like me, maybe look up what runes your main deities are associated with! Quick rundown:
Odin is usually othala or ansuz
I often see Freyja associated with fehu, but that’s also the case for most of the Aesir
Tyr with teiwaz
Thor with thurisaz or uruz; etc…
What about bind runes?
By definition and according to historical speculation, bind runes are futhark runes which were merged into a single glyph (sometimes by carving them all on a single straight line, like oghams). They were super rare back in the viking age but they’ve become popular in the last few years.
People create them according to their needs. This aspect makes bind runes extremely versatile and personal because you can set really specific intents for them. They’re not exactly like sigils, though: when it comes to sigils, feeling and instinct usually guide people’s creation process. As for futhark bind runes, they’re made using existing glyphs from this specific alphabet. Here’s a bunch of bind runes that have been going around, just to give you guys a few ideas of what they can look like:
OKAYYY that’s all for me, time to sleep
Red (Blood) Witch Sisters
Connecting with the fae.
Occult Hunter
Early excitement for Samhain.
Nashagul otus eventulipen
Bring us the Creator
The realm of the witch, The Enchanted Wood.
“This so called man serves the Mistress. He is her eyes, her ears, her hands. Don’t trust the Host.” -Barveli
“Beware of the Circle. Your blood is like air and vile flesh will hunt you tonight. You must bring salvation with haste!” -Granholt
The Spirit of Present with its legendary beast, The Ashwick
The Spirit only lives one day on winter solstice, riding from house to house atop the ever-changing Ashwick bringing feast, drink, and good cheer to all
Drawings made on sticky notes, late 2017.
Nazis will never be welcome in paganism. They have no space in our communities, we will have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to nazis. You have no right to the cultures, gods and religions you hijack to spread your disgusting ideologies. You will find no refuge or comraderie amongst pagans.
Reblog to let nazis know they’re not welcome here.
I really don’t like how the chilling adventures of sabrina ended up demonizing (lol) satanism. at first it was about satanic witches and satanism and that was great but they ended up abandoning Satan for Hecate because of something that would only ever happen in a christian church. no satanic church would force anyone to stay in a religion they didn’t feel was for them. awful representation.
When things get bad or gets me to a point of almost crying, all I can do is go and sit in front of Hades’s altar. I don’t even think sometimes he even realizes how much I adore him. Hail Hades! 🖤
Does anyone else’s deities get really aggressive with ya when you are sick and not resting when you should be?
It’s like guys I know but most meds don’t work for me and I can’t sit down for more than 5 minutes without having to always be constantly doing something.. 
Hello everyone! Arcane Academia is a Discord server in which we have discussions about topics pertaining to spirit work, witchcraft, and anything in-between. Our server is open to anyone with any level of experience, as well as people who are interested and/or curious. If you are looking for advice or need some suggestions on what resources to read up on, our server can also provide in that area! Aside from the arcane, we also have channels for more general topics. The Arcane Academia is always open to branching out and looking for more members to join, so don’t be shy and pop in! We look forward to meeting you!
There is so much to feel when Athena guide u.
🌿Ancient goddess🌿
Make me powerful
Make me brave
Make me feel myself
Goddess Athena
✨Athena, my strenght✨
✨She has my back, she inpires me✨
Athena marks my path
I love how I get credit when all I do is text jay with questions lol, thanks jay! Love you!
Psychic Abilities
What are psychic abilities?
Psychic abilities are metaphysical powers that generally cannot be explained or observed by science (although there are scientific studies that are currently trying to understand and delve into psychic abilities). Everyone has access to psychic abilities; the most common psychic ability out there is intuition, that ‘gut feeling’ people get. I will list more psychic abilities down below.
Please make sure that you are discerning mundane from magical; some of these abilities can and are symptoms of serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, so if these suddenly start happening (especially around the age of 20) please make sure you are checking with your doctor to make sure nothing medically is wrong.
Clairsenses
Clairvoyance- also known as clear-seeing, this clair allows people to see pictures or images, or even visions in their minds eye or sometimes even manifesting in the real world. This is also a clair that can allow someone to see auras.
Clairaudience- also known as clear-hearing, this clair allows people to hear deities, spirits and entities, again either in their mind or sometimes manifesting in the real world. This can also manifest as hearing music randomly or having a song repeat over and over and over in your head, or having a deities name constantly on your mind/in your head (this can sometimes be a sign a deity is reaching out or generally trying to get your attention as well).
Claircognizance- also known as clear-knowing; this can be your intuition going off about something. Just ‘knowing’ that something is going to happen, and then it does. Being able to know what color an object is when its in black and white, etc.
Clairempathy- also known as clear-emotion; this clair allows the practitioner to sense others emotions, sometimes this can almost manifest as if you are feeling those emotions, even if you aren’t.
Clairsentience- also known as clear physical feelings; this clair allows someone to feel physical sensations and energies (for instance, feeling like someone is touching your head when no one is physically there).
Clairtangency- also known as clear-touch; this clair allows someone to receive information through touching objects. This has manifested for me before. I will touch an object and sometimes have gotten downloads of information from that object about the person who previously owned it, or the energies that were commonly around that object.
Clairsaliance- also known as clear-smelling; this clair is when you can pick up on smells that aren’t necessarily in the physical world. A good example is that sometimes I will smell my deities when they are around me.
Clairgustance- also known as clear-tasting; this clair is similar to clairsaliance, but with taste. It allows the practitioner to taste different things in the spiritual realm. Similar to clairsaliance, sometimes when I am channeling, I can taste the things my deities have been eating.
Can psychics read minds?
This, along with anything you might see about psychics in media (movies, tv shows, etc) is probably fake, at least in the way it is usually presented in these media formats. Using clairsenses, and being able to pick up on subtle cues from the other person, can lead to some ‘mind reading’ or telepathic-like abilities. For example, I know my wife very well, and even if she doesn’t always outwardly say so, I can sense when her mood has shifted. There are other friends that I have been able to do this with as well, including online friends. So the answer to this question is ‘yes, but not in the ways you might think’. I cannot tap into people's minds and see their exact thoughts, but with a combination of my clairsenses, and picking up on cues I see from them, I can figure out what they might be thinking, or how they might be feeling.
How can I train/hone my clairsenses?
There are various ways to do this, depending on the clairsenses you’re wanting to hone. Firstly, I recommend figuring out what your strongest clairsenses are. This is basically just about observing yourself and how you experience the world; this can also sometimes correspond to your physical senses. Once you know what clairsenses you have that are strongest, focusing on using those in various settings is a good idea. For instance, if you find that clairvoyance is the strongest clair you have, practicing meditation and seeing things during meditation might be a good idea.
How do I know it's not just my imagination and it is psychic abilities I’m experiencing?
This is where discernment and using other tools can come in very handy. Double checking with divination is a very good way to know if you are really using your clairsenses, or if it's just your imagination. There may also be certain emotions or feelings that come with psychic abilities vs imagination. For instance, for me personally, I’ve found that a good way to discern my intuition vs imagination is the emotions that come with it. If I get a sudden feeling about something for instance, I ask myself if there is anxiety or other negative emotions surrounding that situation; if the answer is yes, I often use other tools to figure out if the feeling I’m getting is truly my intuition, or if it's just me being anxious about a certain situation. If there are no emotions that I can figure out are coming from a situation, but something feels ‘off’ I still use discernment, but am more likely to immediately trust the gut feeling I get. In certain situations (like if I’m driving and my gut tells me ‘don’t take this road!) I usually do trust my gut feeling, and later on am often shown why my intuition told me to do that (often it's because of road closures or traffic that my intuition was guiding me to avoid).
Do mental illnesses (such as autism, ADHD, and dissociative disorders) affect psychic abilities/clarisenses? How do I distinguish the two?
Yes, mental illnesses can sometimes affect psychic abilities and clairsenses. Again, this is where discernment and using other tools such as divination can come in handy. Practicing can help as well; I have autism and ADHD, and sometimes it’s hard for me to distinguish if it's a deity talking to me, or just my ADHD going ‘brrrrr’. However, as I have practiced over the years, I have learned how to distinguish between the two sometimes; a lot of times my inner voice sounds different than the voices my deities will use, which is a good way to know that I might be hearing something other than my own inner monologue (I also still use divination tools as an extra step to make sure that what I’m hearing is in fact metaphysical).
What deities do you recommend to help with learning/honing psychic abilities?
First and foremost, pretty much any deity can help you with learning to hone your psychic abilities; however there are a few (mainly infernals, since I work so heavily with the infernal divine) that I will list that specialize in helping with psychic abilities.
Hermes is a good option when it comes to seeking help with honing psychic abilities. As messenger to the Greek gods, communication is part of Hermes’ natural wheelhouse; this can go for both mundane and magical communications. He is excellent at helping not only with psychic abilities and clairsenses, but with divination as well.
Dehuty/Thoth from the Egyptian pantheon is also a very good deity to reach out to for help with psychic communication; he rules over writing and communication.
Some of the infernals I have listed below are lesser-known or unknown, so the UPG (unverified personal gnosis) listed here are all from my own personal experiences with them.
In my own UPG, the infernal Alcanor is also very good at helping with psychic communication, clairsenses and mediumship.
Also my own UPG, the infernal Martinet is also excellent at helping with the clairsenses.
Acuar is another infernal who is listed (VPG, verified personal gnosis) at being good at helping with psychic abilities (especially those that have to do with emotions).
Lucifuge Rofocale, Azazel and Forneus are also infernals who are listed as being good at helping with psychic abilities. This is also VPG.
This is not an exhaustive list of course, and in terms of the infernals listed, if you’d like to find out more about them I have more info on them on my Reddit blog; r/DemonStudies.
Why are some clairsenses/psychic abilities stronger than the others?
Clairsenses are like muscles; the more you use them, the stronger they will get. That being said, everyone is different; someone who is a runner is going to have very strong legs, but their arms might not be as strong in comparison, but their arms also don’t have to be as strong compared to their legs either. Same goes with clairsenses; the ones you use and focus on more are going to be the strongest ones you have. Some people also have natural talent with certain clairs (again, similar to physical abilities, some people are way better at smelling naturally than others around them, and this might also reflect with them having better clairsaliance as well). You can always hone and practice any psychic abilities even if they are not the ones you are strongest in.
Do I have to be honed into my clairsenses to do deity work/spirit work?
You do not have to be honed into your clairsenses to do deity work/spirit work, although from what I’ve seen most people getting into deity work are naturally drawn to honing their psychic abilities as well.
Can using psychic abilities give me headaches?
Yes, just like how sometimes you get a headache from eye strain from staring at something too long, using your clairsenses can also give you a headache or affect your physical body in other ways. Taking breaks, allowing your body and mind time to rest, and doing self-care can help to prevent this strain.
Why do some people hear specific voices for their deities/spirits, while others just hear their ‘inner voice’ as deities/spirits talking to them?
This comes down to everyone being different and everyone experiencing things differently. Again going back to how people physically experience the world, everyone experiences the physical world slightly differently, one person’s perspective might be different from another person’s. This is the same with clairsenses and how we experience our deities. I know for me, Loki generally smells like cinnamon and smoke (like from a bonfire), but for others, I’ve heard that he smells of just cinnamon, or they say that he smells like cigarette smoke at times.
Will I be able to hear new deities/spirits I interact with right away?
The short answer to this question is maybe. Again, this is about personal experiences; for me, when I first started out, I had a lot of trouble hearing new deities that I interacted with, it was very easy for me to pick up on their energies and know they were there, but when it came down to hearing and seeing them, even though I was hearing and seeing the deities I interacted with regularly, it was harder for me to hear and see new ones. Now that I have been doing this for so many years, I do find that I can very easily hear and see the new deities I interact with on a regular basis. So again, this can also be about practicing as well as natural abilities you may have.
How do I avoid burnout when honing my psychic abilities?
This is similar to the question about headaches above; taking breaks and self-care are very important when honing your psychic abilities. Also, don’t be hard on yourself if you’re not getting it right away. Again, this is like exercising a muscle; even if you do have natural abilities for the particular clairsense you’re trying to hone, it can still be hard and frustrating at times. Giving yourself grace, and not trying to rush the process will be the best thing you can do for yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others either, learn at your own pace; everyone's practice is different and everyone learns at different paces.
How do I hone my intuition?
First and foremost, trusting yourself is a huge part of honing your intuition. Intuition can often be that little voice in the back of your head warning you or telling you about something, or that ‘gut instinct’ many people talk about. Sometimes, it really is ‘just knowing’ something, and trusting that knowledge even when there is no outside evidence is very important. There are also many intuition tests you can do to work on honing (and recognizing!) your intuition and what it feels like. A lot of times I use these intuition tests to test and hone my intuition. Don’t be too hard on yourself either when you get these types of things wrong, sometimes we have off days and it is a learning experience!
Will every deity/entity want to communicate using clairsenses?
No, not every deity or entity will want to communicate using the clairsenses; some may prefer to use divination tools or other forms of communication to talk to you. From my experience most deities prefer to work with a combination of some clairsenses (even if thats just you using your intuition to pick up on messages they want to share with you) as well as other forms of communication.
Are divination tools still useful even after I’ve developed my psychic abilities/clairsenses?
Yes, divination tools are always very useful especially when it comes to discerning and verifying what you are told through psychic abilities. Using divination alongside psychic abilities is a very good way to make sure you are not going into spiritual psychosis. I always encourage anyone who is getting into any type of spirit or deity work to use divination as a way to discern what they are being told.
As always I would like to thank my friend @astralscraft for helping me with this; they always ask such wonderful questions that I include and answer in these!