mediumship

Labels and My Spiritual Path

/ Twist the Leaf / Leave a comment


People love to hate labels, and yet… hate to love them too. The debate goes both ways. Labels are lazy, harmful, or limiting in some way… or, labels are a “container” for a set of characteristics with the purpose of effective and clear communication. 

I fall in the latter category, although I see and understand the other side of the coin. The truth of the matter (at least in my observation) is that whether you hate them or love them, they’re necessary for clear communication.  

I wear a lot of labels, this post specifically is about those in my spiritual practice, though.  In one of the communities I’m a member of on Discord, a question came up asking, “Which terms do you use to talk about yourself and your craft? Why do you prefer those terms?”

Here are my answers:

  • Witch / Witchcraft – It just feels like a term that’s easy enough to communicate without confusion.
  • Pagan – Lots of people in society at large are uncomfortable with the word “witch”, and they find “Pagan” as more palatable with less negative connotations. It also feels like this term connects my witchcraft to my spiritual practice. Not all witches see that path as spiritual, but for me they are very much connected. 
  • Practitioner – Also a more “politically correct” term that makes non-witchy people more comfortable when speaking on the subject.
  • Spellwork / Spellcraft – These are the terms I grew up using when speaking of witchcraft workings.
  • Eclectic – This term fits because although I have a foundation in Wicca, I’ve been pretty much “winging it” in my own personal way for decades. I do a lot of “dabbling” in other types of witchcraft outside the ones listed below that I consider my “home base”, just to see how things work or how it feels. Sometimes these new experiences get adopted into my practice… but usually, even if they’re successful, they are not. 
  • Gray – This one is due to how my ethics work. I don’t have a lot of “set in stone rules”, and instead everything depends upon my gut/moral compass. What’s right one day may be wrong the next due to change in circumstances or other factors, and vice versa. It’s very wishy-washy, and could be viewed differently by different people as a result. 
  • Green / Forest – My practice leans very heavily into revering nature and her cycles, spending time in nature/communing with nature, researching nature, etc. This includes practicing with a wide variety of plant matter in a myriad of ways, as well as stones, crystals, soil, and other such detritus from nature.
  • Hedge – I spend time within, and draw energy from, liminal spaces. Especially liminal spaces among the trees and in forest areas. I feel that for me, this is a “sub-category” of Green/Forest.
  • Cottage / Hearth – I would say that my practice is split between Green / Forest and this category. My home is my sacred space and most everything in it is geared towards my spirituality and practice in some way.  Including things like cleaning, bathing, laundry, etc. I would also classify my jewelry making spellwork under this term. 
  • Kitchen – Ties in the Cottage/Hearth factor with the Green side of things in that one of the ways I commonly use plant matter in spellwork (and practice spellwork as a whole) is through cooking, tea making, baking, etc.
  • Tarot Reader / Cardslinger – It’s what I do. Quite literally with the word “cardslinger” since I pull my cards through jumpers instead of picking off a pile. I do a variety of other divination techniques, but using cards is pretty much “home base” for me. To be fair, I read all kinds of cards other than just tarot regularly. (ie: Lenormand, oracle, playing cards, image only cards, game cards, etc.) But the term “card reader” never seems to be something people understand, so I don’t use it.
  • Fortune Teller – I do predictive readings (usually using cards).
  • Mediumship – In my divination practice (and occasionally outside of my divination practices), I sometimes communicate with the dead.

Because I lean into experimentation, there’s a lot of other terms that could be used to describe my practices, but I feel like none of them really weigh heavily enough in my practice to break out of the “eclectic” container and stand alone on their own.  

It was an interesting exercise to look at my spirituality and practice in this way, and I feel that it helped me in seeing my own path in a more organized light.  I’d definitely encourage others to do a little examining of their own paths and see what they come up with as well. 

Remember, just because a label fits doesn’t mean you’re restricted by it. It’s just a word to help in communicating with others. After all, we don’t call a mug “that cylindrical thing that holds the hot drink made with brown beans”. We call it a mug, even when it holds paperclips instead of coffee.

Divination – How Does It Work?

/ Twist the Leaf / 1 Comment

This is a perspectives prompt that was offered up recently by one of the Discord servers that I’m a member of. Question: “How do you think divination works? To give some context to the question – there are various models I know of. For instance, some say that your tarot deck connections to The Universe. What do you think?“

I get this question often with long-term clients, and the thing is? That “where does the message come from?” question is actually pretty common when you read for others. The thing is, the answer is different for everyone depending on their beliefs, their skillset, and their sensitivities. Some options are…

1) The Universe – This includes but is not limited to God, other deity, divinity of all forms, and other “universal” energies or personalities. The way that I see divinity is that it is essentially the energies of creation, evolution, and balance in all things. People interpret these energies differently depending on their belief system and to parse out what “parts and pieces” of these energies they specifically want to deal with.

2) The Dead (whether it is the individual or their residual energy) – Mediumship is a thing. There are those that receive messages from the dead as their main source of divination. There are others that the dead surely influence their readings without them even realizing.

3) Guiding Spirits – This could include the dead and ancestors, but also includes the Fae, angels, demons, and other entities that are there in the background to help guide and protect you.

4) Other Entities – Sometimes mischief makers can influence a reading. These aren’t guiding spirits so much as entities out for their own agendas. Most people who encounter this issue, in my experience, find that they were divining just fine and then suddenly find that their deck/pendulum/etc is “acting up”. They cleanse the deck and in the process end up repelling the entity regardless of the fact that the entity is probably not residing in the tool being used.

5) The Subconscious – Our brains are busy working things out all the time in the background, and we don’t even realize it. Sometimes the messages we receive from divination come straight out of that dark inner working of gears, no external influences involved. This also includes communicating with your inner child and other parts of your past and present self.

6) Our Intuition – That mysterious “inner knowing” we all have. Some tap into it more easily than others, and some use divination to translate what their intuition has to say.

7) Clair-senses and Other Abilities – Much like with one’s intuition, sometimes these “other” abilities can be hard to understand and interpret without a little help. Divination can often provide that intermediary / translator needed in these situations.

I see divination as a bridge between languages. The languages of the above sources… and your conscious mind and understanding. Whether it’s pendulums, tarot cards, scrying, automatic writing, etc… the divination method is meant to help you better understand what needs to be seen, heard, or understood. It’s there to help you communicate with yourself and these other entities, elements, and energies.