As you can imagine, in my line of work, I spend a great deal of time observing all manners of behaviors. I see everything from the best folks have to offer to the worst, both in dealing with spirits and human beings. In truth, though our language and respective cultures vary, we're not all that different.
In truth, successful magic is frequently about understanding someone or something else's language, symbolism, cultural values, etc. A spirit doesn't say things the way you or I do. Elemental spirits have names, but they aren't ones that we can pronounce because we can't successfully mimic the sounds of the Earth.

We eventually learn to come to a place of compromise with these entities we work with, work for, serve, or remember. We come up with a language that works for both parties and then set to the task of successfully interacting with them.

I mention this to illustrate the fact that working with discarnate or non-corporeal can often be a lot of guesswork. When you get to know these entities, it no longer is, but until then they'll give you messages in dreams, random thoughts and instincts, images in your head, or strong feelings that you can't shake.

When you've earned a spirit's favor, most times they have great interest in your safety. You're their friend and visa versa, so like any good friend (or other such socially intimate role), they take it upon themselves to inform you when something's amiss. When that happens and you have dreams that aren't par for the course or you feel things that you can't explain, be sure to pay attention. I can't tell you how many times a well-timed warning has saved my bacon.

I've avoided many car wrecks, unstable clients, accidents with handguns or machinery, and other such unpleasant occurrences on account of such notifications. They've seemed a bit nuts at points, but heading those warnings does tend to be beneficial.

That being the case, my recommendation is to listen when your familiars, etc. pop up and give you a heads up on what's going on.  They're usually doing it for your health.

This brings me to the final point of this post: a working one can do to better connect with their Powers, their spiritual allies, for the sake of personal growth, etc.

Firstly, you start with a general offering to whatever strikes you as the image of your highest & best. Focus on that image and emotion you feel when you think about this symbol of raw achievement, then offer up a heartfelt prayer for its betterment and happiness, like so:

Note: Unselfishness seems to be key here. Replace "he" with "she" if you're a woman or make up your own prayer.

Once done, light a candle for this entity and begin to focus on the sigil below, feeling that essence rush into you and fill you up.  You may see other images, hear things, or otherwise be influenced...that is both OK and totally normal.

After meditating on this seal for a while, mentally close the working and the space, then ground yourself out.  Some of you will have instantaneous results, whereas for others it'll take a few weeks to really get into the current.

Enjoy!

SE

'lo my friends.

I hope this post finds you well.  As of late, I've had a few thoughts percolating about in my brain, and this one seems to be most urgent; in this post, I will be speaking on the subject of a meditation technique I learned recently.  This particular meditation comes from the Vajrayana school of Tibeten Tantra, and is geared towards helping us to understand ourselves on a deeper level, thereby allowing us to cultivate a sort of situational awareness.  This particular form of situational awareness centers around detached attachment and attached detachment.

To preface this entry, we, as human beings, tend to be ruled by emotions, so we don't usually put ourselves in the other person's shoes and endeavor to understand where they're coming from or see their other motivations.  We get lost in the moment, and then react on impulse, and this tends to get us into some really rough situations. The following meditation can be used to help cultivate the ability to interact with others without getting too terribly worked up about it.

That said, to understand the intention of this meditation, you must first understand and accept that every one of us is a multiplicity.  We are made up of different selves who are all interacting on the day to day, each of which are interconnected but different.  For some of us, there are wrathful selves, overly sexual selves, impish ones, and so on and so forth; these parts of ourselves, when uncontrolled and unrecognized can cause some major issues.

To do this, you will wish to get comfortable in a room where you won't be disturbed.  You're welcome to change into a robe, perform this naked, light incense, play music....do whatever it is that gets you comfortable and ready for extended periods of meditation.  When ready, close your eyes and focus on relaxing your body's muscles, piece by piece, bit by bit, so that when your muscles have unwound, you will be ready.

Begin to contemplate the different things you feel, and listen for the parts of you that cry out for attention and acknowledgement as you detach your focus from your earthly body.  Don't fight the meditation; just let those entities come forth, and as they do, acknowledge them.  If they seem unusually troubled, you can try talking to them and see what they say.  If you'd like, you can negotiate with them or find out what will help level them out, but do not get too attached to any one side of you.

This may be difficult at first, but eventually you will learn how to let this come easily.

With that said, do NOT attempt this meditation if you are not of sound mental and emotional health! This may exacerbate those issues, as this meditation has been known to cause some emotional discomfort; this is normal, but those who aren't mentally prepared could be damaged.  This serves as an initiation of sorts, and is the basis for more advanced forms of magical praxis.

Enjoy!

SE