Physical Manifestations from Astral Travel

Other than my accidental journey, one of my first few trips, after learning how to control myself when I was astral, was experimenting with the flying capabilities that I suddenly had at my disposal. As with most people, I had wondered about how the birds feel when they fly through the air, so I was having a great time playing around.

I was using the trees as catapults of sorts. I would fly at them and grab one of the top branches that was sticking up and hang on until it bent way over to one side. Then, using the force of the branch returning to its natural place I would slingshot off again faster and faster. It was a blast.

When I got tired of playing with the trees, I started swooping and soaring, making huge ornate patterns with my flight. Suddenly, I realized that it had gotten a bit out of hand, when I looked down only to see the ground as it seemed a million miles away. I knew in that instant that something was wrong. I was hearing this extremely high whistling noise and the lights below me were getting larger than they were… much faster than seemed normal. “Oh My God… I’m falling.” was all I could think. I have a fear of heights, normally, so I reached my hands and feet out in front of me and began to chant “This can’t happen, this can’t happen, this can’t happen.” continuously while scrunching my eyes closed as tightly as I could. The high-pitched whine had my ears so sore that my whole head throbbed. I was terrified of what was going to happen.

Suddenly I felt something incredibly soft under my hands and feet and then there was pressure against them. I opened my eyes and saw that I had landed ever so softly and lightly into a beautifully manicured cemetery. It was small and had a house right next to where I had come down. I knew that it belonged to an old man who tended the place, because I saw him as he wandered about. I decided to go exploring. I saw that he had some clotheslines out in back where they were not visible to the cemetery because of his fruit trees. The trees were not very tall only 20-30 feet or so, but they were very bushy and as such, provide a great deal of privacy for him. His little cement porch by the back door was encircled with terra cotta planters and had all kinds of plants growing in them. Small ones with tiny little blue flowers to huge ones that looked like heavily stemmed herbs, some were almost like rosemary… but not quite the same. There was a radio playing softly beside the back door as if he had been out there earlier and he had forgotten to take it in with him as dusk began to set in.

The name on the wrought iron gate said it was the Cumin Cemetery. I have looked around a great deal over the years since and have never found it on a map, yet. I am curious to know where I was. All I know is that there was a very large airport near to it, because I passed it on my way out.

After coming back into myself, I had severe earaches for a few days after that trip. When I asked about my earaches, a casual friend, who is an experienced astral traveler, told me that my physical body had manifested the pain that I had experienced in my astral form as some kind of sympathy reaction. Shortly thereafter, the friend had to relocate for his job. As such, I have never discovered if there is a way to prevent these types of issues, though I am sure there must be.

Though I am not very well experienced in going astral, myself, I still want to learn more about it and explore it when I have the chance to do so. With me, it is all a matter of finding the time to do so and the peace and quiet necessary in a house with three teenage sons and their visiting friends.

 

 

Recipes: Teas, Simples, Washes and Philters for Witches

There are many different sources for divination teas, philters, simples, and washes. These are added to magickal workings in some instances and actually are the magickal workings at other times. Any time you combine two or more types of magick into one ritual you are building that much more power to be able to send out with the spell.

The following is a list of tried and true recipes that we have enjoyed in the past.

Clairvoyance Philter
Source: Scott Cunningham

Ingredients:
3 parts rose petals
1 part cinnamon
1 part nutmeg
1 part bay
1 part mugwort

Directions:
Put these in a cauldron or pot and pour boiling water over them. Allow them to steep for several minutes, use the scent of the brew to improve your psychic awareness by inhaling the scented steam; you may even drink a bit of the brew to assist you in this. Then lie down and allow the visions to wash over you. Allowing the steam to continue rising and continue to help with the visions.

Psychic Tea
Source: Cunningham

Ingredients:
3 part rose petals
2 parts yarrow
1 part cinnamon

Directions:
Put these in a cauldron pot and pour boiling water over them. Allow them to steep for several minutes, then strain and drink it to assist you with divination and scrying.

Here are a few other recipes, which we have picked up over the years, which have proved helpful. They require 8 ounces of boiling water and the following herbs depending upon the result you are seeking. First, add the chosen herb to your cup or mug, bring the water to a boil on the stove top, then, and add it to your cup or mug. Let it steep for ten minutes and strain out the herbs. You may chose to sweeten teas with the old standard sweeteners of brown sugar, clover honey, orange honey, or you may use ordinary honey if you wish.

(For washes used externally, you may store the concoction in a glass jar in your refrigerator for a few days up to a week. Experiment and see, which works best for you.)

Agrimony: Brew and use as a wash for areas of the body which need healing as it is an excellent anti-inflammatory. Used in conjunction with healing spells work wonders.

Chamomile: Brew and use as a wash to draw good luck.

Cinquefoil: Brew and use as a wash to clear away hexes and curses of all kinds.

Eyebright: Brew and anoint eyelids and temples to enhance clairvoyant visions.

Hibiscus Flowers: Brew and drink to improve divination.

High John the Conqueror: Brew and use as a wash before gambling to increase luck.

Horehound: Brew and drink to increase mental acuity and processing speed. (Author’s Note: Do not use this if you are already physically tired and have to drive after your mental tasks are completed. This tea will make your mind race and allow you to achieve success over complex mental problems, but it causes a side effect of extreme exhaustion and can be unsafe to drive after using.)

Jasmine Flowers: Brew as a tea and drink to draw prosperity. Drinking also assists with bringing psychic dreams.

Kava Kava: Brew and drink as an aid for astral travel and psychic visions.

Mugwort: Brew and drink for clairvoyance.

Passion Flower: Brew and use as a wash to draw in peace and to erase stress.

Peppermint: Brew and drink as an aid to peaceful sleep and divinatory dreams.

Rosemary: Brew and mix with two tablespoons of baking soda and applied it to the scalp as a baldness preventative. (Spiritwind reported that after using this mixture for a few weeks he began to see new growth on the top of his head where he had been losing hair for years.) Leave on overnight and then rinse the next morning. Brew as a wash to cleanse your hands before spell work.

Skullcap: Brew and drink as a cure for insomnia and to bring peaceful sleep.

Vervain: Brew and drink to increase creativity.

Yarrow: Brew as a tea and drink to improve psychic powers.

 

First Accidental Astral Travel

The first time I ever traveled the astral plane was completely by accident. I had heard of astral travel and had even read a book about it a few years before, but I had not thought that I understood the process. I had a very high fever and was at home in bed all day, or so I thought, initially. However, I was so miserable that I imagined I was leaving my body and floating away from it.

My school friends swore that I had not been around for the party that afternoon, yet I was able to tell them exactly what they had done. Right down to who had split her pants on the trampoline in the back yard. At first, I thought I was just dreaming but the conversations were surreal to me. I witnessed conversations which were ultra private were being discussed between two girls who were best friends, whom I was not close to, during the party. I kept wondering, “Why on earth would they talk about such private issues with me standing right here”?

A few weeks later, during school, a conversation came up about Debbie’s pants and I told them I already knew about it because I had been there. They said that I had not been there because my mom said I was sick and could not attend the party. I kept insisting that they must have been discussing a different party, because I remembered the color of the panties she was wearing and that everyone had laughed and said that at least she was wearing some, and yes, they were the color I mentioned. I, then, mentioned some of the broader topics of conversation and everyone agreed that they had occurred, but that I must have overheard someone talking about them.

If that were the extent of the situation, I would not have remarked it as exceptionally odd. However, a few days later I was talking with my best friend about how a girl we knew from school, but who was not at all close to us, was going to feel terrible about having to go away to a new school because she was pregnant (yes… I came from an incredibly small town, and this was the mid-seventies, after all) another girl overheard who was a close friend of the girl who was the subject of the conversation. I was insulted, and called every name in the book and then they asked how I knew. I said I had heard them talking about it about Cindy’s and Debbie’s house. I was accused of lying because the only time they had ever discussed it outside of the pregnant girl’s bedroom was in the bathroom at the party, and I was not at the party, nor in the bathroom at the time, so how did I know about it?

That one even stumped me, and increased the “that girl is weird” mutterings and opinions of others in our far-flung group. From that time on, I was officially “that weird girl” in school and the popular girls… i.e. the pregnant girl and her friends never did like me again. Fear of what is unknown, perhaps, but I just knew that I aware of things I was not supposed to know anything about.

I did wonder for a few years about that particular item of gossip and how I had come across it since I distinctly recalled seeing and hearing them talking about it. My answer did not come until several years later after I had become a witch, when I learned in depth about astral travel and the possibilities, which it entailed.