What form(s) of magic(k) do you practice?

I have found one of the biggest personal downsides of tredding the darker avenues such as the Left Hand Path, is that without proper will training, the ego takes hold ands creates inner chaos that ultimately manifests in the practitioner's personal life. The will must be broken down, and then built up only to repeat the process. It is not a path for the mentally ill, or weak as it all too often unlocks hidden atravisms within the individuals subconscious mind...

Arcade wrote:

Kamizu wrote: I also want to get into more incense work. I love the way smells can make me feel and I want to ultimately make some of my own stuff.

That sounds excellent. I sometimes feel I am missing out in this area because I have really bad reactions to incense. Find a jar of ghost peppers and inhale and you'll get a similar reaction. Sorry about your seeds.



Whenever you feel like chatting, I'd be interested in hearing more about your experiences with stones, incense, and energy work, as well as your recent shamanic endeavors.

I know how you feel I'm actually slightly allergic to incense but I like it too much hehe. But there was a while there where they went into overdrive and I was miserable for months over the slightest smell Especially that Sentsy stuff. Felt like my face was imploding.

Arcade wrote: Reading your post, what I love about you is that you're so creatively driven. People like you and Ryu inspire me to get my hands a little dirty, so to speak.

:blush: You're so sweet! I think my creativity is more of an insanity hahahaha. It makes me do things.... I'm excited to hear that I can inspire

Arcade wrote: Whenever you feel like chatting, I'd be interested in hearing more about your experiences with stones, incense, and energy work, as well as your recent shamanic endeavors.

You know me, I'm always up for chatting. I don't have anything beyond personal experience with stones or incense. My knowledge of stones goes about as far as "Hey! That feels like something's going on there! Oh cool! There's meanings behind a bunch of different types of stones!" haha. I want to do more research on them at some point but I've got some things that take priority at the moment

As far as incense, I notice that I get strong feelings attached to smells. Lavender makes me feel happy, Dragon's Blood makes me feel calm and secure. White Sage is uplifting and reminds me of my dad (we use to go out to the deserts of So Cal and harvest the wild white sage to make smudge sticks with) I also find myself inspired when I'm burning it. I don't know if that's attached to me burning it while crafting and it's just continued but I found that if I burn it when I'm feeling unmotivated I'm ready to do something pretty quickly Rose makes me happy. I had this incense that was just labeled as "Fire element" that I absolutely loved. Made me feel stronger? More sure in myself I guess would be better. (Maybe to do with fire being my primary element?) I love many of the darker wood smells too. And always have a love of mesquite smoke (mmmm. Texas has the best smelling wild fires LOL). And for Christmas a friend gave me some hand-made frankincense and myrrh soap that I just loved too! This is something else I need to do research on haha. But I had a guide that told me that lavender and white sage is very healing for me. So that's primarily why I want to grow those two. I have some dry loose leaf sage and lavender buds (flowers?) that I love burning together but I'm trying to be stingy until I can find a place (and the money!) to get more.

Kamizu wrote: I have some dry loose leaf sage and lavender buds (flowers?) that I love burning together but I'm trying to be stingy until I can find a place (and the money!) to get more.

That's probably one of the few reasons that I'm happy I can't use incense. It seems like it can get expensive!

Arcade wrote: That's probably one of the few reasons that I'm happy I can't use incense. It seems like it can get expensive!

I go for oils instead of incense. There was a time when all I wanted was cedarwood incense and I couldn't get it, but I could get the oil.

Arcade wrote:

Kamizu wrote: I have some dry loose leaf sage and lavender buds (flowers?) that I love burning together but I'm trying to be stingy until I can find a place (and the money!) to get more.

That's probably one of the few reasons that I'm happy I can't use incense. It seems like it can get expensive!

It depends on the type of incense. Where it comes from and how its created. Resins can get pricy and pure oil extracts are a little too. The sticks/oils/cones and other types of oil aren't too bad mostly because they're not a 'pure' form (either diluted or solids soaked in diluted oils). But since I like making my own stuff, I go back to the source and start with quality ingredients... I went a little crazy the last time I bought oils and spent $80 on a bunch of different kinds because I just 'had' to try them I haven't made anything out of them yet. Mostly I just stick them in our oil burner and enjoy I was chatting with a friend a few months back and he showed me some sites on how to make scented prayer/wish/spell paper. Totally want to do that but I'm short a few ingredients....and the funding....hehe. I'd love to make my own lavender extract but it requires a distillery and I REALLY don't have the money for that!!

But mostly you can get the stick incense for about a buck a stick or less depending on quality. It's not too too bad but we've been down to one paycheck for four months and bills changed to over what I make so that makes buying even the little things something to think big on

I used to use incense for single pointed meditations, got a bunch left over still. Then I ended up using moxibustion sticks... I'm not sure why, perhaps the smell but probably because they put out so much more smoke!! Perhaps I should have used cigars if it was smoke I wanted. The thing with moxibustion is they are meant to be full of mugwort, which is referenced in witchcraft and wicca info sometimes I think?

Adder wrote: The thing with moxibustion is they are meant to be full of mugwort, which is referenced in witchcraft and wicca info sometimes I think?

Commonly used in witchcraft and Pagan traditions, yes (also by some Native American tribes)... and for varied reasons with various applications.

Kamizu wrote: And for Christmas a friend gave me some hand-made frankincense and myrrh soap that I just loved too!

Do you make soaps, bath oils/bombs, or anything of that nature? It seems like something you'd be good at.

My husband got into that last year, which was great because it took care of most of our holiday gifts.

Arcade wrote:

Kamizu wrote: And for Christmas a friend gave me some hand-made frankincense and myrrh soap that I just loved too!

Do you make soaps, bath oils/bombs, or anything of that nature? It seems like something you'd be good at.

My husband got into that last year, which was great because it took care of most of our holiday gifts.

I really want to! It's a funding thing again. I found a kit online that I think was about $30. $50 for the delux.

Hush you! I have enough projects to finish hahahahaha.

How does your husband enjoy it? What a great idea for holiday gifts! Everyone uses soap!

Kamizu wrote: Everyone uses soap!

Well, that's debatable. haha

Kamizu wrote: I really want to! It's a funding thing again.

Understood. I think he got everything he needed for a reasonable price, also from an online source.

Kamizu wrote: How does your husband enjoy it?

Loves it. He's a very hands-on kind of person, though. He works with everything from robotics to amigurumi.

Kamizu wrote: Hush you! I have enough projects to finish hahahahaha.

Whoops!