Let me tell you about some of the main things I write about both in my blog and as part of my content I create. Knowing about my take on these things will help you know if you’re in the right place.
One thing that I think is very important to note is that beliefs and ideas change over time. Through education and life experience we will often find that a spiritual or magickal believe we had at one time no longer rings true for us 10 years down the road. That’s OK! Embrace your evolution! My beliefs on some of these things have changed over the years and I’m sure they will change again in the future, and I welcome it.
Energy
Think back to your science classes from high school. Everything is energy. We are made of energy, are surrounded by energy and deeply affected by other energies around us. We vibrate at various rates at different times depending on the people we’re around, the places we’re in and the things happening in our lives. Our thoughts, beliefs and feelings help shape this vibration and when we learn how to shift it using different spiritual tools we can completely change the shape of our lives. Being aware of your energy, how it effects others, and how the energy of other’s effects you can be invaluable when making big decisions and changing things up in your life and on your path.
Tarot + Oracle Reading
When it comes to a tool that I carry with me everywhere I go and that I use in every aspect of my life and spiritual practice it’s tarot cards (and oracle cards too). Tarot can be used for divination to look into the unseen parts of our lives as well as a tool for meditation and manifesting our most desired outcomes. Tarot is an intuitive tool and not nearly as intimidating as it may seem at first. Anyone can learn to use the cards, even in simple ways, becoming a tool for gaining confirmation and understanding in even the most confusing situations.
However, there is one thing about tarot, oracle, and other forms of cards and divination tools that I feel strongly about; we can’t ever fully predict the future. In fact, I often go so far as to say we just flat out cannot predict the future with a reading. The future isn’t set in stone. What a reading says today could be totally different tomorrow or a week from now because of the actions you or others have taken that changed the course of things. Now, you might say, “But wouldn’t you see that in the cards then and know it’s going to happen?” If you believe in free will, no. But if you believe in fated destiny and that everything is already laid out and you’re just being taken on a ride, then, sure! But I don’t believe that, and therefore I don’t use divination tools of any kind for predicting the future but getting a better sense of what’s happening now and how the past can help us make better choices moving forward.
Angels, Guides + Animal Spirits
I believe very strongly in the existence of different spiritual allies all around us. Sometimes we know they’re around…we might hear someone call out name but nobody’s there or we feel a hand rest on our shoulder to calm us. Even when we don’t know they’re there, they are. Sometimes all we need is for someone to come along and help clear the connection for us and help us get on the same wavelength.
Angels are non-denominational, despite what many people may believe, and they serve as messengers from the Divine to protect us. They have never been incarnated on earth and are beings of pure love and energy. Our Spirit Guides are the spirits of those who have lived on earth before and who have a connection to us in some way. Some may be deceased friends or family but more often they are people we have never known but who share a connection to us through our life purpose, past experiences, personal mission, and passions. Then we have Animal Spirits, both Totem Animals and Power Animals. Our Totem is with us from cradle to grave to guide and protect us while Power Animals come and go based on the lessons we’re working through at the time. All of these entities come together to create and amazing spiritual support system for us if we’re working to learn to connect and work with them.
I know some people will begin to get their magickal panties in a bunch over the very mention of animal spirits/spirit animals thanks to the recent increase in calling anything and everything non-white said or done by a white person as cultural appropriation (even when it isn’t). This isn’t something I’m going to discuss or debate, in fact I’ve written about it several times on my blog which is more times than I care to even discuss it. The use of animal spirits as guides, healing partners, and allies in magick and spiritual practice (aka animism) can be found in all cultures and is not a uniquely Native American practice.
The Divine + The Universe
Along with our own energy vibration there are the vibrations of Divine Consciousness and the Universe. These aren’t completely separate from us because we’re all connected through them. As humans we had to find a way to make sense of these abstract concepts so we have done things like create mythologies with gods and goddesses that we have given names, faces, and personalities to better understand hose to connect to those vibes. Some of these divine beings actually lived and some are aren’t so sure about, but having incarnated in body isn’t what makes them “real,” our believe in them and our interaction with their energy is what does it.
One thing that I believe very strongly is that the Divine and the Universe are two different things. The Universe isn’t God and doesn’t care about your wants or desires. It simply gives you back what you put out into the world – it just matches your vibration. You can read more about my thoughts on that here.
Healing
Healing is an often misunderstood thing. Healing doesn’t mean curing, but rather becoming whole. The process of healing is where we create the mentally, emotionally, spiritually and energetically space to go through the process of improving our mind, body, and spirit and bringing them together as one once again. Healing can mean shifting the way you think to raise your vibration to bring the right people into your life and letting go of the energetic blocks that can keep us from being able to heal. Healing rituals, working with healing meditations and healing crystal remedies can help speed up recovery times and make dealing with an illness easier. But healing is a journey, and sometimes that journey requires the separation of the soul from the physical body. That doesn’t mean healing didn’t “work,” and to think of healing purely on a physical and in a very one dimensional way is missing the whole point of the process.
Crystals
These little sparkly friends can heal and manifest things for us just by simply being there. There is almost zero experience needed to use crystals and have amazing results with them. Crystals change our energy vibration when we’re feeling sick, sad and just generally low and down because the higher vibration of the stones lift up our vibrations. When we use specific stones in specific situations we can shift our vibration to heal and attract what we need most. Crystals can be used as jewelry, in geometric energy grids, carried as pocket stones and even used to create gemstone elixirs which we can drink or bathe in to infuse ourselves with crystal vibrations. Crystals are a vast subject with so much to know and learn, and on a practical level there are things to know when it comes to health and safety, but learning to work with crystals is something I found to be a highly rewarding part of my practice.
Intention + Mindset
Your intentions are key to everything that happens around you. As the Buddha says in Verse 2 of the Dhammapada “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” Our intentions are our plans, the things we want to create, and the desired results that we are working toward in our lives. But intention is also an energy around us, an energy connected to the Divine and the Universe that helps to bring us into alignment with what we need most on our journey. What you most desire is what you think about and what you think about is your true intention. Your intention is who you are at your depths. When we learn to shift our thoughts, change our mindset, and refocus where we’re putting out energy, we can completely change our lives. One of the most empowering and healing experiences of my life was to pick up the book “The Four Agreements” by don Miquel Ruiz at a very challenging time in my life. It helped me completely change my view on mindset and I’ve never looked back.
Law of Attraction
While this may be a fairly new concept to a lot of people thanks to the boom from “The Secret” and the new age movement in the early 2000’s, it’s a far more ancient concept and really nothing new. It is an aspect of the Hermetic Principles and is one of the Universal Laws. What it comes down to is that there is a cause and effect for everything, especially our thoughts. One of the problems that we run into is that we focus mainly on our conscious thoughts and don’t pay enough attention to our subconscious thoughts. We might be very careful in choosing our words that we use with someone else so as not to hurt them, but we might do nothing but talk shit to ourselves in our head all day long. This is where other tools like meditation and intention come into play. When we focus on what we truly desire, both consciously and subconsciously, paying attention to not let counterintuitive things get in the way, that’s when we attract what we really want.
Meditation + Mindfulness
I know meditation can seem like a big, giant pain in the ass sometimes, but it has untold benefits to our mind, body and spirit. Meditation isn’t about trying to stop your thoughts but about learning how to observe what’s going on in your mind without judgment. We use that time to let our mind create some space, we give it time to let go of the thoughts that we’re usually holding on to so we can see what needs our attention most.
Learning to live mindfully, being aware of your thoughts and emotions and how it’s impacting the world around you, can completely change your life. We tend to be so wrapped up in the things our Ego wants us to do that we don’t give enough attention to these things to realize how much of an effect they have on us. When you do this you learn how to chill out, relax and not stress out so easily.
Spells, Magick, Ritual, and Witchcraft
Witchcraft is the Craft of the Witch; it’s the art of working with energy from many different sources to bring them together in a harmonious way to manifest a desired outcome. The tools we use in magick, like herbs and oils, candles and and crystals, all have specific energies. When we uses tools with energies aligned with one another for a specific purpose as part of a series of magick actions guided by our clear intentions, we can make big things happen! Spells and rituals are two different but powerful practices that often work hand in hand as part of the magick of Witchcraft.
Witches can be both male and female and they don’t need to be “born as natural witches” to practice witchery. That concept, in my opinion, is a silly elitist trope intended to create a sense of superiority where it doesn’t actually exist. I remember in the late 90’s this being a huge thing, mostly because of the sudden rise in people practices Witchcraft and Pagan religions; people who had been on their path for decades were starting to feel “less special” it seemed and suddenly family linage, years in practice, and specific traditions and invitations became a big deal (and that’s not to say it wasn’t before, but this was when I was heavily active in the community and saw it on the regular). All you need is a passion for magick, a desire to learn the Craft, and the commitment to walking this path every day and you can be a witch. Yes, it is really that simple.
Shamanic Journeying
This is one of my favorite things to teach and work with because it can be deeply healing and oh so revealing! Shamanic journeying is a process we use in order to shift from ordinary reality to non-ordinary reality, also known as shamanic reality. Ordinary reality is the term used for our three dimensional, every day world where we have to deal with the physical world, gravity, and the other law of physics. Shamanic reality is a bit different. This is where we go to enter the word of energetic form where we encounter Spirit in all its forms – power animals, spirit guides, ascended masters, teachers, angels, and so on. There is really no end to what we can encounter in shamanic reality because energy is such a vast thing, but the wisdom we can bring back – from knowledge of past lives as well as our present one – can be life changing!
Tradition
I’m a big believer in the idea that tradition is a great tool for learning but ultimately we’re here on this journey to create our own path. Everything that I work with, share, teach, and write about comes from a variety of traditions but in the end is presented from the point of view that I call The Tradition of Jess. I want to help you find your own tradition too!
Chaos Magick
That brings us to Chaos Magick, something I get asked about any time I mention the term, and find myself often struggling to explain it in a way that someone else will understand. That’s actually the very nature of Chaos Magick. It’s a path that is hard to define because it doesn’t actually exist. The best way to describe it is as a non-dogmatic, deeply personal practice that is rooted in your beliefs at any one given time with the acceptance that those beliefs can and will change and therefore your magickal practice and your spiritual path will change. You work with whatever magickal and spiritual practices and beliefs are fitting for you at the time, using things that you truly believe in and know will work, even if you are using a variety of practices from a variety of sources. That doesn’t mean you work magick without knowing about those practices and traditions (the only way to really know what you’re doing and believe it will work is to study it first), but you don’t subscribe to any one tradition or practice fully.
Some people feel it’s a bit of a bullshit tradition (and that’s kind of true since it isn’t really a tradition) but it makes total sense to me, and quite honestly I’d been doing it for years without realizing it. You might really feel connected to one practice or belief in a tradition but find the rest of it doesn’t feel right. And it’s really hard to fully commit to the practices of something that you don’t believe in. At the end of the day Chaos Magick is focused on getting results from your rituals and magick and letting go of the requirements of belief specific gods, ethics or morals in order to have success with said magickal techniques.
Lifestyle Design
The life you live is the life you choose to create. We know full well that we’ve been taught to live a certain way, that the 9-5 lifestyle is the only lifestyle that brings security for today and the future. At the same time many of us long for the ability to live more freely, travel at will or even just be able to sleep in when we want or spend a whole morning doing yoga on the beach if that’s what our heart is looking for. I’m a big advocate of learning how to give yourself the space you need to create a life you truly want to have, even if it’s just an hour a day. You deserve it!
