Thoughtforms are manmade spirits created from someone’s concentrated energy. Just because they are manmade doesnt make them any weaker, or lesser of a spirit. They tend to be dependant on your energy, and because they are sentient beings, without your energy they could wither away and die. Energy is basically food for them.
Thoughtforms are usually created with a purpose, whether it be a buddy, aide you with magick, astral projection, aide with mental illnesses (they should not replace any therapy or medical attention youre recieving), or fill your loneliness.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
There are many different types of thoughtforms, each one is different and unique in their own way.
Servitors- servitors are a type of thoughtform that is created with the energy and a specific purpose. They are more commonly used to serve the creator and fulfill tasks. Servitors are completely customizable, from their looks to their thoughts and personality. They need attention and energy to stay alive
Tulpa- Tulpa are very similar to Servitors, except that they dont really perform tasks. Tulpa are basically imaginary friends, and strictly made from pure thoughts, and little energy. They survive off your attention, and will die if you forget about them.
Egregore- Egregores are quite complex beings, as they are created by a group of people, usually likeminded people. Most often not, these are created intentionally and feed off the energy from the people. It also forms when the same people meet up.
Godforms- Godforms are extremely powerful and have free wills. Usually these start off like basic thoughtforms, from concentrated energy, and will feed off energy given until they are strong enough to sustain on their own. Godforms tend to be more unique and will have their own personality, thoughts, looks, beliefs, set of morals as well as ideals.
Basic Thoughtforms- Basic thoughtforms are the most common to see around. Shops will make these for people. They are similar to Servitors, except their personality develops on their own, and they have a free will. They not only feed off of given energy, but offerings as well.
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Thoughtforms can look different, they are all unique, just like people. Most common are Orbs, Animals (or something with animalistic characters), and humanoids.
Orbs are quite simplistic and tend to be a basic color, and have simple tasks to fulfill. They have limited knowledge as well as communication skills. The tasks they are created are simple, like helping with astral projection for example. Because they are simple, they are easy to make.
Animal thoughtforms are more complex, and have more complex tasks. These thoughtforms are extremely loyal to their companion, and will fulfill tasks for attention as well as offerings. Animal thoughtforms have a more broad range of comminication, as well as knowledge, and to have emotions.
Humanoid thoughtforms are the most complex, and need more energy to make. They tend to perform tasks that orbs and animals cannot do, as they are more intelligent. Since they are more intelligent beings, they communicate easier, as well as learn easier than the other two. Since these are more complex thoughtforms, they tend to be harder to take care of and require more energy as well as offerings.
So, I asked if there was anything not often covered in witchy information posts and @hopeforenvy suggested Spirit Work. Spirit Work fascinates me and I’m interested in learning more, but I don’t think I know enough about it to write my own post just yet, so I’m going to make a masterpost and include informational posts, spells, and sigils about and having to do with Spirit work. I found all of these by going through @sylvaetria ‘s Spirit Work tag, but I’m linking to the original post when I can in case this actually gets attention so that sylvaetria doesn’t get spammed with notifications.
Spirit work is becoming even more popular and drawing a mass of people to it. But not many think or talk about how to proceed if you or your family & or Companions were in danger.
PSA:I am by no means a pro, nor do I claim to be. But please keep in mind, there are a lot of toxic & dangerous people– as well as sellers in the spirit work community.
———–
Firstly: Ward your ass off.
I feel this is one of the most important things to do, even if you do not have any suspicion or need to do so.
When I first got into Spirit Work, I ignored most of the advice to ward and shield myself. But it is SO important.
There are lots of techniques to Shield and Ward yourself. They can be wards, shields, charms, hexes. Whatever you are more comfortable with, I have some links below to help you if you need them as well.
How to proceed when you know you are being attacked/cursed:
You are not alone.
You are strong, and WILL make it through this.
Do not lash out, I repeat DO NOT LASH OUT OR TRY TO GET REVENGE RIGHT AWAY.
I know it makes you feel helpless, and even scared, it makes you fucking pissed. But Please for the sake of your safety and companions, as well as family; Try to determine WHY this is happening. Then Proceed to the safest course of action!
This will only cause more drama and most likely more harm to you and others around you, especially if you ask for help from another friend or spirit worker in the community.
Effects of Lashing out:
– Entities & Companions can end up in comas, and even dead.
– You can drag close friends into this, and then they will be hurt and in danger.
The list goes on.
This does not mean you cant get revenge, but you MUST be smart about it.
——-
You first need to figure why you are being attacked, and who by.
You can get or do readings, whether it be by your own self; or friends. As well as People to look at your energy, even check on you and or your companions.
If you are poor like me, and can’t go to a trusted conjurer or spirit worker who charges money, this tends to be the best way. As well as seeing if you can trade for services.I will link some trusted Spirit workers who know their shit below.
I made a big mistake not too long ago, and had a screw up by mistaking one energy for another.
So! When you go to work with an energy you’re not familiar with, and you attempt to make an offering or allow them into your area or anything that gives them any sort of permissions whatsoever:
DO NOT say, “I offer this to you,” or “You may ____.”
DO say, “I offer this to [name],” or “[Name] may ____.”
This way, no adverse energies will be given the go-ahead to interfere. This is very important when you’re not familiar with an entity’s energy and may not be able to discern whether an energy belongs to the entity you’re wanting to deal with and another one entirely.
A lot of times, the answers to your problems are a lot simpler than you realize.
Off topc and related to more witchy stuff
when I am in a bad headspace and negative things are going on, I have a bad habit of attracting spirits with Not So Great intentions into my life. Never intentionally. Always on accident.
I am so low energy in these states that doing magic like shielding and such is hard for me to do, can anyone give me some help? I’m afraid of attracting something very dark again.
Please note that this guide is designed for spirit workers who already are capable of warding and sensing spirits. If you don’t know how to ward your space, or how to tell if it’s the wind howling or a spirit trying to get your attention, you should not be conjuring.
Before you even get started with any conjuring – have a purpose. In the beginning, it is very helpful to have a clear game-plan of what you want to do. Do you want to learn a new skill? Ask questions to a member of a species you’re very interested about? Consider this and write it down.
Take notes. Write as thorough a document as you are able to – spare no detail on the type of thing you are hoping to accomplish with your conjure. The more you write, the easier the rest of your conjure will be.
Additionally, research some banishing methods (I have included a few helpful links at the end of this post!), and prepare an offering. Please note that the offering you provide should be of equal value to the thing you are asking for. For example, if you are conjuring an entity because you want them to empower a spell, the offering you provide should be of higher value than if you are calling a spirit just to ask about their day.
MATERIALS:
Offering
Banishment spell and ingredients (if you need them)
Wards
Divination method (you can use telepathy if this is your strong suit, but having a divination method is incredibly helpful to confirm your answers and should be used as another method to verify answers during your vetting sessions)
Cleansing spell and ingredients (if you need them)
A quiet place, free of interruptions
Your written document
STEP ONE:
Make sure you have all of your materials ready. If you are going to need to banish something, you don’t want to have to pause your ritual and run to the kitchen for salt. Make sure your divination tools and your space have both been cleansed, and that you will have at least an hour of uninterrupted time.
STEP TWO:
Please, for god’s sake – make sure your space is well-warded.
Example of a bad ward: “Only light spirits with good intentions can come in.”
Why is it a bad ward? A spirit can be light aligned, or have good intentions, and still cause you harm. Consider a light-aligned angel who sees you as “unclean”, enters your wards, and attacks you to cleanse you. According to your wards, this would be acceptable. After all, he is light aligned AND he means well.
Examples of good wards: Wards that prevent spirits from using glamours while inside them, wards that prevent malicious or dangerous parasitic entities from entering, etc. Please make sure that when creating these wards, you are clear about your definitions of ambiguous terms, such as “dangerous” or “harmful”.
STEP THREE:
With your offering in hand, state your intent (this is where having the detailed document really comes in handy!). While being fancy and poetic can really get you in the Conjuring Mood, it’s best to aim for being clear. Saying something along the lines of “I am sending out a calling for ______, I offer ________ in exchange for _______” can be a good place to start.
STEP FOUR:
Wait for the spirit to show up. Once they are with you, confirm that they are not malicious. Make sure that they agree to the terms you specify. Some points you might want to consider including are:
They will only remain in your space for the duration of the conjure, and they will leave your space and have their permission to access it revoked once the conjure is completed
They agree to the transaction you proposed.
They will not lie, either explicitly or by omission, and they will present the information they provide in a way that does not misrepresent facts, lead to misinterpretations, etc.
The conjuring session is initiated once they agree to the terms you have set out, and it is finished when you say the following “____”.
If they agree to the terms, then proceed with the conjure. If they do not agree with them, ask them to leave and try again. If they refuse to leave, proceed to banish, cleanse, and put new wards in place.
STEP FIVE:
Begin the interaction with the spirit. While I encourage you to be polite and respectful, avoid language that might place you in a position of “debt” with the strange spirit (no “sorry”, “thank you”, etc.).
Listen to them, but also be on the lookout for anything that feels “off”. If you get a bad feeling- trust your gut. If you catch them in a lie, if their story doesn’t add up, if they are trying to convince you to sell your soul for riches – ask them to leave. If they do not respect your wishes, then banish them.
Some things you should look out for when interacting with a spirit are:
Claims about them being “totally your guide”, or “have been protecting you since you were a child, because your future is so special.”
“I am your long lost ____, and in your past life we were soulbound, I swear.”
“Only with my help will you be able to unlock your truest potential.”
While they might be sincere, it is important to keep a healthy level of cynicism in your interactions with a spirit. After all, they are a stranger, and while you might have met your soulmate during a random call into the astral, it is also very likely you just met an asshole. Just… make sure to keep that in mind.
STEP SIX:
Once you are done with the conjure, ask the spirit to leave. If things have been going well, you can schedule another meeting with them. Make sure they leave after you ask them to. If they don’t, then BANISH them. This may seem like an extreme measure, but they should respect your wishes. If they don’t, it’s unlikely they will for other things, too. Either way, once the spirit is gone from your space, make sure to dispose of your offering, cleanse your space, and thoroughly check your wards to see if they need any work.
Sunny here, bringing you a crash course on one of the most critical parts of being a successful and safe spirit worker – discernment.
This was originally supposed to be a post on my spirit shop’s blog – but it closed unexpectedly. I have been requested to post this on my own blog, instead, since a lot of people liked it.
Humans have this peculiar habit of seeing what they want to see. You start looking for something, and suddenly you see the thing everywhere – it’s like when you buy a new car, never having recognized that car before, and suddenly it seems like every car on the road is the same model as yours. These ordinary things were there all along, but, now that you’re more aware of them, everything seems magical – and this is even more true when entering a new field of practice where things really are magical, like witchcraft and spirit work. This is why the key skill of discernment is so critical – to be able to separate the mundane from the otherworldly. When it is so easy to trick your brain into seeing the supernatural, how do you know when it’s really happening?
What’s that big word mean?
Discernment: the ability to evaluate information or situations to determine the underlying truth, the “real” from the “fake”, the “right” from the “wrong”. It is centered around an acuteness of judgment and understanding (x, x).
Okay, now you know what it technically means – you’ve got the dictionary definition under your belt. But why is this important for spirit work?
In the context of spirit work, discernment is used to define whether or not your experiences are “real”. It also plays a part in determining whether or not the spirits you are working with are safe or whether or not they are telling the truth. Discernment is also a critical component of vetting – verifying the identity of the spirit over the course of several months.
Though this may seem opposite to the entire point of discerning, I have personally found that strengthening my discernment skills has made it easier to notice when a spirit is attempting to interact with me. Since I have trained myself so heavily into seeking out all worldly explanations first, I have learned how to distinguish a spirit much more clearly – because sometimes there really is no worldly explanation for what happened. By teaching myself how to tell when my brain is just tricking me, I’m much more capable of determining what’s real.
This is something gained through practice and experience and is, in my opinion, a massively undervalued skill. It takes patience, practice, and time. So much time. This is why it can be so difficult to learn, and, more often than not, you end up learning the hard way why it is so important.
How can I tell if the “spirit” is just something ordinary?
Have you eaten enough? Have you had enough water to drink?
Did you take your medication, if you have any?
Did you get enough sleep?
Do you have any mental or physical illnesses or disorders? Does the “sign” you’re receiving from the spirit correspond to one of your symptoms? Do some personal evaluation!
Is there any physical explanation outside of yourself for the sign you have received? Ask questions like: Is the radio on in the other room? Is your neighbor outside mowing the lawn? Is this animal that I am “suddenly” seeing a lot of and interpreting as a sign actually just more active this time of year? Did someone just walk by wearing way too much perfume?
Do things happen when you think of them? If so, it’s possible you might be placebo-ing yourself into believing a spirit is causing this. Spirits act of their own accord.
If your answer to these questions after investigations was a firm “no” across the board, there could really be a spirit around. This is not a guaranteed way to tell, but the first step to spirit work is to remember that not everything is a spirit – sometimes it’s just your grandmother sneezing in the other room. You need to entirely rule out the mundane before assuming the supernatural.
Okay, I proved that it’s not something “normal” – but how do I learn how to sense and discern?
This is a difficult question to address, because sensing and discerning spirits varies so greatly from individual to individual. The only way to really tell if what you are experiencing is a spirit is through a lot of experience and trial-and-error.
Some simple pointers:
Investigate the “signs” you are receiving. Is there a pattern? If you ask for a specific sign (ex: “Show me three [animal that is not commonly seen in your area] in three days.”), does it show? Write everything down. Signs do not always appear within a few days – they could play out slowly, over a period of months, and you could miss them entirely.
Are you able to distinguish the difference between your own internal mental chatter and the voice of a spirit? This takes lots of time and practice, but it is a major component of spirit telepathy. Learn your own speech pattern and mannerisms – an actual spirit’s speech patterns and mannerisms are not likely to match up exactly to your own. Try this: listen to what a spirit is supposedly saying to you, and then attempt to repeat it exactly. Does it come out sounding garbled or feeling off? It might have legitimately been a spirit. If you are able to replicate their voice, tone, and words exactly, it may have just been your own brain trying to trick you.
Focus on learning how to differentiate energy signatures. A spirit may be able to change their physical appearance, but it is incredibly unlikely they will be able to change their entire energy signature – these are as unique as a fingerprint and equally as difficult to cover up. Check out this energy work FAQ, and read up on energy signatures – try out this worksheet, too. Here’s another post about how to read energy (and some expectations when you do it). Here’s some ways that energy can be sensed. Look up some exercises. Practice this as much as possible.
Attempt to communicate. This will also take lots of practice – keep going!
Use different methods of communication (telepathy, tarot, pendulum, scrying, astral travel, the list goes on…) to verify what the spirit is saying. One method is not enough. Cross-reference the spirit’s answers across the different methods used and see if everything lines up. If it does, you’ve got a real spirit on your hands. If everything seems jumbled and reads almost like gibberish, the spirit may not be present, but they also may not be communicating.
How do I determine if a spirit is telling the truth?
This is something that comes mainly through experience. No matter the species, energy alignment, or affiliation, spirits can and will lie to you.
Any spirit who is interested in working with you (or with any human) should be patient and understanding about the fact that you might have a little trouble believing if you are really hearing them – communicating to a physical being while you’re on a non-physical plane can be tricky, after all. If they really want to work with you, they’ll be willing to wait through the vetting and discernment process for you to properly detect them, get to know them, and determine if they are safe and honest about who they are and what they are capable of.
In addition, even if they are telling the truth, they may not have the best intentions. Evaluate what they want out of the working relationship. Does it make you uncomfortable? Does it seem realistic and achievable? Are they attempting to use you as a way to advance themselves or get out of a bad personal situation?
Educate yourself on manipulation tactics. There are a lot of techniques out there. Gaslighting is very common. People write and publish books on the art of influencing and manipulating people for all sorts of purposes. Social engineering and mindhacks are very real. The more educated you are on the techniques used, the more you’ll know what to watch for, and the more likely it is that you’ll avoid toxic people or groups.
If a spirit came to you and claimed that they’ve known you your entire life and had secretly been guarding and guiding you, would you believe them? Would you immediately trust a spirit who randomly appeared and started claiming to have been your best friend, partner, or mentor in a past life? The answer should be no – every single time, without fail. It’s very important to remember that spirits are not all-knowing, all-powerful beings. Do not trust blindly. Do not just “take [their] word for it”. Consider: why is the spirit coming to you, and why now? They could be telling the truth, but you do not want to rush things and assume. If they are truthful, they’ll be patient. Spirits could mislead you, and they could use your blind belief and trust in them to manipulate you. If a spirit shows up in your house and acts like you are destined to be friends and you enthusiastically accept their offer, you could be setting yourself up for much more danger than you know. Malicious spirits are not always outright malicious.
Take. Your. Time. Do not rush this. Jumping to conclusions and rushing the vetting process – which discernment is a major part of – can give a spirit the opportunity to trick you. It’s easy to put on a disguise and pretend to be someone else for a few weeks; it’s much harder to keep that act going for several months. When communicating with a spirit, it is also very important to avoid having a god or hero complex, thinking you will be the “best” for the spirit and by working with them you are “saving” them – and it’s important to not allow them to have that same mentality about you.
Doubt is healthy. Doubt can prevent a potentially traumatic spirit-related experience. Don’t be afraid to have a normal amount of doubt.
How does this apply to vetting and conjuring?
Are you a conjurer and/or a spirit companion shop owner? Great! This section is for you.
You, the conjurer, the shop owner – you are responsible for the safety of everyone who works through you, both human and spirit. This is very important to know before you even open your conjuring service. You need to be willing to put in the work – and this does not mean giving it the bare minimum. Your discernment skills need to be sharp, and your vetting needs to be intense. Any spirit who is truly willing to pursue companionship will be willing to go through this process – but you need to be insistent on making them go through the extent of it. If someone is meeting their future companion through your service, it is entirely on your end to do all of the discernment before they even leave you. Do not rush a spirit out – this could take months, or even years. It will be worth it. Take your time.
And the thing is, you shouldn’t be rushing spirits out. If you’re so impatient to throw up the listing of a spirit that you can’t fathom taking the time to get to know them for three months then I have to question how much you actually care. It might seem mean, but a shopkeeper should be willing to wait months and even years to match the spirit with the perfect person. By the time you post the listing of the spirit, you should be close friends with the spirit yourself. How else are you going to know what would truly be best for the spirit if you barely even know them past superficial friendships? And how else are you going to ensure that the spirit is safe if you barely took the time to get to know them?
[…]
But we also need to talk about an excuse that’s cropped up before in opposition to intensive vetting methods and that is how intensive vetting “hurts the spirit’s feelings”. If a spirit objects to undergoing a long vetting process then that should be taken as a red flag, not as you hurting their feelings. The intensive vetting is a necessity in assuring that the spirit is safe and when a spirit won’t agree to that then it’s easy to assume that the spirit wouldn’t be safe. Also, as mean as it sounds, the spirit’s feelings on whether or not they’re vetted shouldn’t matter. You have a responsibility to your customers to make sure that the spirit is fit for companionship, shirk that responsibility for any reason and you could very well be putting someone’s life in danger.
[…]
You are putting a spirit in someone’s inner wards, usually a beginner’s inner wards, and they’re someone who trusts you when you say that the spirit is safe. Don’t take advantage of someone’s trust in you just because you don’t want to put in the effort for an intensive vetting process when you chose to be a spirit shopkeeper.
(Read this post. Incorporate this into your practice. You should be settling for nothing less. If something happens that should have been discovered during the vetting process, it is your fault and is a sign that your process and practice has failed your client.)
Spirit work takes time. Vetting and discernment take a lot of time. If you are willing to learn and build a relationship with a spirit, and if you want to stay safe and avoid being someone’s lunch, you will need to be willing to put in the time and effort. Do not trust without questioning, even several months down the road of vetting. Take notes, and check everything the spirit says against those notes. Are there any discrepancies, or does their story just not make sense?
Leave no gaps. Take no shortcuts. By the time the vetting and discernment process ends, you should know the spirit well enough to call them a close friend.
Further Reading
Some of these are not specific to spirits, but these techniques, mindsets, and practices can also be applied to general spirit work.
This post is one of many out there about discernment. I heavily recommend, as I always do, to read more than just this post and the ones linked. I tried to branch out while researching, but I do have several favored blogs that I referenced – you should look for sources outside of these. My experiences, opinions, and views are not the only way that discernment is defined and my methods are not the only way to do it. Take everything I say and read further to form your own opinions. This post is not comprehensive and does not cover every possible method and definition of discernment. Remember, the posts linked above (and this post, too!) are people’s personal experiences and individual research, and, while there is major benefit to reading other people’s own original posts about the subject, you can never learn better than by learning on your own.
This lecture has been issued so many times that the vast majority of spirit workers crossing these lines know better, so I’m just going to put a not-so-brief, highly specific reminder here (and I’m aiming this directly at shops):
Please stop with the inaccurate bullshit listings, actively trying to co-opt things you don’t understand.
Your random-ass American were-creature is not a skinwalker. You want to know why? Ask a Navajo.
Your carnivorous beast that is “sweet and gentle with their keeper” is nothing like a wendigo. Any Ojibwe or Cree will quickly set that record straight.
Your giant bird spirit is not a thunderbird and for fucks sake your water elemental panther spirit is NOT an underwater panther!!! The thunderbird is sacred. The underwater panther is sacred.
GTFO here with your plastic shamanism.
Every now and then a shop does spring up with a legitimate (and often known malicious) spirit from a closed culture. Here’s what you don’t understand though: there’s a difference between spirit vessels and spirit traps. These legitimate, malicious spirits are likely captured rather than willfully bound, and I believe this is where half the community is getting this whole ‘spirit binding is slavery’ thing from. Some species want nothing to do with humans, and when you find one of those beings listed, there’s a good chance they’re trapped and angry. And there’ll be hell to pay once the binding weakens enough for them to get loose.
You don’t want to listen? Fine, get wrecked.
For all the spirit workers who do use shops, do your research! When a conjuror lists a entity whose bio flies in the face of everything that species is, RUN.
When a conjuror does not publicly state their qualifications/experiences working with traditionally malevolent entities, RUN.
A conjuror who cannot properly inform themselves on a species cannot properly vet that entity. If they don’t care about the cultural origins of an entity they do not know the correct way to interact with that entity, nor what it is truly capable of.
Say you are matched with an entity from a closed culture, and it’s the real deal/not an imposter, and you get along fine. Your particular experience doesn’t mean it’s okay for just anybody to interact with that species. There are communities that have been working with their spirits for as long as mankind has roamed the earth, and when outsiders who do not know the proper level of respect to show get involved – en masse, thanks to irreputable conjurors – you know what happens? Offense is taken and they stop wanting to work with humans, period. And it’s not fair to those of us for whom this is our birthright; to have some outsider come in and fuck shit up so that our traditional spiritual allies close their doors to us. IMO, when it comes to beings from closed cultures, not only should the conjuror be a member of that culture, but along with the spirit being vetted, the spirit worker should be vetted as well.
There’s more than a couple of people in the community just trying to make a quick buck and they do NOT CARE about your safety. And if you can’t understand that part of the reason people call out folks appropriating is due to sellers misinforming people and putting them in direct contact with dangerous beings, you too canget wrecked.
Culture vultures are the exact reason I won’t post anything in depth about Unktomi.
I keep my head down and avoid most of the drama in the spirit community, but I am asking you now as an unenrolled Santee Sioux and Shoshoni (sheep eaters clan) native to please step back from our culture. It’s invasive at the least and desecration at the worst. Please grant us at least this small measure of respect.
Also does anyone have any good resources for a person who wants to get into spirit work?
fair--y backup 