Survey Says...

Over on I Heart Pentacles, there's a nice little post answering some questions about magic/paganism etc. Being the lazy sod that I am, I've stolen them to answer myself. But again, all credit for the questions goes there, so go read the original.

ALTARS
Q. Do you keep an altar?
A. I keep a permanent one to my ancestors on the wall between my living room and sewing area. I don't have a deity altar per se - I do keep my candle and prayer box for the Morrigan on the corner of my bedside table. I also have an apothecary jar filled with moss and the wooden crow skulls my Grandpa carved over there.
I have some statuary of other gods hanging about the place, too.
Q. Have you kept an altar in the past? If so, what for?
A. Back when I was younger I kept one up pretty much all the time - in my early twenties my sister and I had a long black dresser that we used as a sort of sideboard in our living room. We kept deity statues on this, as well as a 'working altar.'

AFFIRMATIONS
Q. What is your opinion on affirmations? Do you think they work just as well as casting a spell or praying?
A. Affirmations certainly have their place - I'm all for positive thinking. But no, I don't believe they work the same way, and depending on the situation they may not be as effective.

Affirmations seem to work best when it comes to changing modes of thinking, or personal habits. "Fake it til you make it" is pretty much an example of affirmations used to change the self.

Prayer involves gods. You're basically asking for outside help, which you may or may not receive. It can put you in contact with a force bigger than yourself, and grant a wider perspective.

Spellwork is focused - an application of one's Will powered up with other energies.

BOOK of SHADOWS
Q. Do you have a BoS?
A. No. I own a ton of books, some of which are used for reference. My personal experiences are recorded in a journal. Some day I plan to put together a Book of Shadows scrapbook, but that's more of an artistic project than anything else.
Q. Would you consider you journal to be somewhat like a BoS?
A. I suppose so, since it contains spells and the results thereof. But I think of it more as a working journal.

CATS/FAMILIARS
Q. Do you have a familiar?
A. Hell no. I once had a pet fish named Dirk Anger that exploded. This is strangely appropriate.
Q. Do you think you will have one in the future?
A. Double hell no. I am not an animal person. No, not even cats.


CIRCLE CASTING
Q. Have you casted a circle before?
A. Cast. And yes, I have many times. I don't do it for everything though - it doesn't seem necessary.

CLEANSING and CHARGING
Q. Do you cleanse and charge items? If so, how do you do it?
A.Yes, although not very often. Cleansing I tend to use the old salt water and incense routine for. Charging is just really energy raising and direction, with some form of intent. I'm not really sure that's much different from person to person.

CHAKRA(S)
Q. Are you familiar with the Chakras?
A. Yup.
Q. Do you work with Chakra energy/cleanse your Chakras?
A. Nope.

CRYSTALS
Q. Do you work with crystals?
A. Very, very barely.
Q. How do you work with them?
A. Honestly, mostly through jewellery. If I'm buying rings that aren't just giant shiny things I'll usually look up what the stone does in that bigass purple book every metaphysical store ever carries. Or call my mom. Crystals and gems are not my specialty.

DANCING
Q. How is dancing spiritual to you?
A. I'm tempted to say 'inherently.' But okay, let's see... I find dance spiritual because of the mind-body-soul connection you get when you're really into it. There usually comes a point when all three work perfectly in harmony, and it's certainly an ecstatic experience.

DEITY
Q. Do you have a patron god/goddess?
A.Yes. The Morrigan.
Q. Do you worship any gods/goddesses at the moment?
A. Well, the Morrigan. And I have working relationships with a few others - Anubis and Thoth, Ganesha, Papa Legba and Erzulie Freda.

A note on those last two: I know it's probably all very trendy to include the lwa these days, but I firmly believe that these spirits especially ought to be approached on their own terms as they are part of a living tradition. (Ditto the Hindu gods, actually, although in my personal experience Ganesha is sort of like the guy who never minds if you knock on his door at 3am because your car broke down.) Yes, you should try and worship in culturally appropriate ways whenever possible, but the lwa seem particularly picky... and not shy about letting you know. That said, in my personal experience Legba is fairly easy going. Freda not so much.


DIVINATION
Q. What methods of divination do you commonly use, and how do you use them?
A. Tarot. I drunkenly fake palmistry at parties for laughs sometimes, but tarot is the system I've been working with for fifteen years, and it's the most reliable for me.
Q. How did you learn to do these things?
A. Books and practice. Both my mother and sister learned to read cards through a much more intuitive method, but not me. I studied the shit out of the crappy book that came with my first ugly deck, and then subsequently every other book I could get on the subject. I read for pretty much everyone I know, especially at parties where I'm usually very drunk and prone to cackling at people's futures or swearing at them for doing something stupid.

DREAMS and the ASTRAL
Q. How often do you remember your dreams?
A. Ehh, about half the time?
Q. Is it easy or difficult to interpret the meanings behind your dreams?
A. I usually don't, unless it's blatantly obvious.

Q. What is the difference between dreams and the Astral?
A. Dreams I find (as a non lucid dreamer) tend to be hazier and weirder, and less 'real.' The few experiences I can think of that seemed to truly be astral travels and not just visualizations or dreams had a very strong sense of immediacy to them. But I'm not an expert on this subject in the least.

(Lon Milo DuQuette has a hilarious story about astral travel in Low Magic, as I recall, that involves quiche and terrifying his cat. You should all go read it.)

EDUCATION and the "BROOM CLOSET"
Q. How did you come across Paganism and Witchcraft?
A. The Craft. It was the 90s. I found the one occult bookshop in town and bought Bucky's Big Blue.
Q. When did you come forth from the "broom closet" to your friends and family?
A. My mother was the one who drove me to that bookstore, and bought me my first deck of cards. My sister practices also. My dad's side... My father knows, although I'm not sure if he realises I'm still practising and that it wasn't a teenage fad thing. He's a very zen sort of dude, so his only concern ever was that I'd fall in with some weird cult or let myself be distracted from achieving true Nirvana because of cool magic stuff acting as a distraction.
Q. What reliable resources do you have for learning more about Witchcraft and Paganism?
A. That can be tough, actually. Especially when I was younger - you haven't quite developed your bullshit filter as well as you will. I tend to trust Lupa's book reviews, and Pagan Bookworm is good too. I've been a fairly inactive on-again-off-again member of The Cauldron forum for years and years now, and it can be a good place to scan if you're not sure if something's full of shit or not. Some of the regulars are lovely people. But, you know, it's a forum and there can be a definite vibe of exclusivity. And Sacred Texts, of course, has oodles of goodies.

ENVIRONMENTALISM
Q. Why do you consider yourself an environmentalist?
A. I don't. Oh, I'm all for not killing the planet and I take my canvas bags to the supermarket (otherwise I'm haunted by Tim Minchin) and I recycle my tins and bottles. But I can't claim to be doing much more than that. Oh, and I don't drive, but that's because I can't.

FAMILY
Q. Are any of your family members Pagan or Witches?
A. Yup. My mother and sister. 

FEAR
Q. What do you fear related to your Craft?
A. Surprise dead people/spirits.  I'm waiting for the day I get up to take a piss and walk into some sort of full-bodied apparition in the hallway.

GHOSTS
Q. Do you believe in ghosts?
A.Yes.
Q. Have you had any personal experiences with ghosts?
A.Yes, but nothing awesomely dramatic.

GUIDES
Q. Who's your guide?
A. I'm not really sold on the idea of guides, to be honest. I think we can cultivate relationships with spirits who may function as such, but it's not like... you're born and some cosmic office assigns one to look after your ass.

HOLISTIC HEALING
Q. What is holistic healing?
A. It's a 'total package' approach to healing - one that takes into account psychological, social and spiritual issues as well as purely physical ones.
Q. What do you know about holistic healing?
A. Not terribly much. It's something that certainly requires more research on my part.

INTUITION
Q. What advice do you have about intuition?
A.There's a difference between intuition and wish fulfilment. Also paranoia.

JOURNALS
Q. Do you keep a journal? If so, how often do you write in it?
A.Yup. I try to do it every other day, but that doesn't always work out.
Q. Do you have any advice about journaling?
A.Write often, and write crap. Nobody's going to read this shit, so go nuts. I highly recommend Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones if you've never read it - that will give you all the advice you'll ever need on writing, really.