Since the beginning of society, it seems, blood has held a special meaning. We make blood oaths, swear that blood is thicker than water, invent demonic entities that live off it. Why do we hold blood in such high esteem?

Simply put, blood is life. It flows throughout the body, replenishing your energy and revitalizing your organs. If it is tainted, or you lose too much, you die. Therefore, it’s clear why blood would become an important symbol of life and strength. In Shakespearean terms (I’m reading his plays this semester), the term ‘blood’ also refers to intense emotions.

Because of long centuries of belief, blood does invoke a certain power. I’ve seen multiple sites advising people to strengthen their spells by adding a drop of blood or two to a runescript or other item. I can’t say I was too excited to comply. The idea of cutting myself or even pricking my finger makes me antsy – it’s lucky I’m not a diabetic. My stomach also churned at the suggestion that females use more powerful ‘moon blood’. Girls – you know what I’m talking about. That would just be nasty.

Anyway, I’m usually up for trying something at least once. As I was innocently chopping up an apple, my knife slipped and cut a narrow gash on my finger. Did I bandage it? No. I went upstairs, found my rune casting cloth, and carefully blotted a drop of blood on it.

Of course, if anyone asks, I’m saying it’s ketchup.

The French catacombs are beyond creepy. Rows and rows of bones and skulls, stacked to create eerie patterns. The miles of quarry tunnels – many off limits to tourists – are considered the most haunted area in France, and one of the most haunted sites in the world.

Apparently you can find videos of ghostly encounters. I haven’t managed to find these yet, but I’ll keep looking.

Picture credit: http://ghoststoriesandhauntedplaces.blogspot.com/2010/01/catacombs-of-paris-have-always-been.html

This girl – I’ll call her Star, as it’s part of her old username – leads a troubled life. That’s an understatement. Anyway, her world was recently rocked even more by the death of a loved one. It’s her (completely baseless) belief that she should have died instead. She even thinks her entire family would rather have her dead.

All of this misplaced grief and self-loathing created quite the negative energy center. Star emailed me, saying that the loved one’s ghost had appeared in her dreams, telling her to kill herself.

I was immediately suspicious. I warned Star that this could actually be a negative entity, and told her basic safety precautions. (In fact, I may have freaked her out more by firing three emails off in rapid succession as I thought of more to add.) I then raced upstairs, took out my runes… and became very confused. The runes told me that this ‘ghost’ wasn’t a ghost at all… but it wasn’t a neg either. It was created by Star herself.

I think I’ve already mentioned the thoughtform effect – if enough people think a place is haunted, they might create a haunting by force of belief. Willpower is strong, after all. I theorized that this ‘ghost’ was a manifestation of Star’s grief and self-hatred, appearing to ‘back up’ her confused self-accusations. I explained this to her, and while I’m not sure she completely believed me, she hasn’t killed herself yet. Just another day in the crazy world of magic.

She then told me through email.

The girl held it up, so everyone could see. A fine silver chain supported an intricate silver pentagram. I frowned.

“I know whose that is,” another girl answered, taking the necklace. I noticed that, around her neck, another pentagram with an amethyst center hung. Hmm…

Maybe both jewelry owners knew exactly what their fashion symbols meant. But I doubt it. The fact is, pagan symbolism and practices are becoming popular – and both people who understand the paranormal and don’t are jumping on the bandwagon.

So why is this pagan resurgence happening? I have some theories.

1. Teenagers are rebellious. It’s what we do. Many are turned off by their parents’ organized religion and strict rules, turning to the more individualized, accepting pagan religions.

2. Witchcraft, ghosts, magic, and all related things are far less taboo than they used to be. No one’s being burned at the stake. Of course, it’s still not going to make you loved at family reunions if you announce you’re a witch, but you’re unlikely to be run out on a rail.

3. Support for the environment, religious freedom, romantic freedom, and similar ideals are more commonly found in pagan religions than the typical Big Three.

4. I hate to say it, but I’m sure plenty of kids go to the store and buy a pentagram or a bracelet covered in runes with absolutely no clue as to their real meaning. That’s what makes it so hard to tell the difference between real and fake psions/witches.

Why do you think paranormal ideas and items – particularly jewelry, symbolism, etc – are popping up again? Have you seen it happening where you live?

Anyway, if you’ve read Practical Psychic Self Defense (which has about five pages of practical self defense and two hundred pages of theory) you know about core image work. The idea isn’t exactly a New Age thing – it’s a method of psychological healing. I’ll walk you through it.

There are memories in our heads that are just plain nasty. We may not even consciously remember them, or realize what effect they have on us. However, these ‘core images’ can do a lot of damage. That’s why it’s best to get rid of them.

What you do is meditate. I know – meditation sucks. I always lose focus after a while, although it helps if I’m outside. Still, do the best you can. Probe around in your mind if you know a specific bad memory. Otherwise, just let them rise to the surface. To test if an image is infected – that’s the best word for it, really – mentally flip it over. If it won’t flip, it’s party time.

While visualizing, the thought is the deed. Imagine holding a sword and a torch. Slash whatever nastiness (I see metallic roots) wrapped around the memory to pieces and burn the pieces. I like to pour some bleach over the picture as well, just to be sure.

Why does one do this? You might ask. Typically, it’s done to remove negative energy from the body. However, I have an annoying phobia. It’s nothing life threatening, just a pain in the butt. Anyway, I knew the exact root of my phobia, so I decided to try core image work to get rid of it. I’ve only done two sessions, but I think it’s working. This just supports my theory – psionics and other sciences aren’t separate worlds. They can bleed into one another. For once, I’m getting some use out of it.

Depending on where you live, you may have noticed that most of North America is under an oppressive heat wave. Where I live, people are actually dying because of the heat. I’ve decided that, under the circumstances, the risk is worth it. We need rain. The question is, how to I bring it?

My talent usually lies in nature magic. At times, I’ve managed to hold off rainstorms, with the help of two others. That was a strain, but this will take the opposite kind of effort. Instead of holding a force back, I must call it – probably from hundreds of miles away.

I’ll take a crack at the spell as soon as I finish typing this. My plan is to meditate and connect to the earth, trying to express to the sky the earth’s need for rain. Then I’ll visualize clouds rolling in and gathering overhead, letting their rain pour down. The rune charm of Laguz for water, Nauthiz for need, and Ingwaz for fertility/earth should seal the deal. The weather channel will show if I’m successful.

credit to Manfred Heyde

This should be fun – a whole series of posts about haunted areas in France. I’ll probably never get to see them in person, but it’s fun to pretend.

According to the great oracle Wikipedia, Chateau de Brissac is located in Maine – et – Loire, France. It was built in the 11th century, but its ghosts came later. The story goes (according to the blog conveniently titled ‘Ghost Stories and Haunted Places’) the castle was owned by a noble named Jacque and his wife Charlotte. Charlotte had a lover, and Jacque killed them both for the crime of unfaithfullness. However, he later fled the castle, supposedly to escape the pairs’ ghosts.

Speaking of haunted places, my family is considering (if we can save up enough money) visiting Europe next summer, specifically France. Although we’ll be obligated to hit the regular tourist traps – the Louvre, possilbaly Versailles, etc, I’m hoping we can squeeze in some more… paranormal locales. The Parisian catacombs sound interesting, at least. Does anyone know of haunted places in France?

Unfortunately, this France trip is hardly set in stone – at the moment, it’s purely hypothetical. For now I’m stuck in what feels like the most paranormally inactive section of the country. (Of course, having said that, something will probably bother me tonight just to teach me a lesson. Bring it on.) I’ve been so bored I actually started embroidering my casting cloth. After half an hour and a lot of embroidery floss, one rune (Laguz reversed) is done. This is going to take a while.

I’ll do some research on French haunted sites and hopefully post information next time.

Let me explain. I was talking to some people online about the existence of ghosts. One person told me ‘Most people who see or feel something supernatural didn’t see what they think. There’s a large chance that there’s a logical explanation.’

My question is – why can’t the paranormal/supernatural be a logical explanation? Why is proven science (which she meant to be the alternative explanation) always the one that’s more likely?

For example, remember the scrape the Mediator, the Protector, her sister, and I got into almost two years ago?

Explanation 1: there was a neg that attacked us.

Explanation 2: a bunch of phenomena converged: mass hysteria/panic with no apparent cause, mass hallucinations, muscle spasms with no apparent cause, localized fever again with no apparent cause, some external thing we didn’t notice panicking the dog, and last but not least, sheer chance causing both the runes and Tarot cards to tell us the same thing. (I would calculate the odds, but I’m not sure how many cards were in the spread or in the deck. The odds are small, trust me.)

Which seems more likely? Explanation 1 is far simpler, that’s for sure. But a skeptic would maintain that Explanation 2 is more likely to have happened, simply because it gives a scientific reason for everything. No matter how many explanations, weird medical conditions, or coincidences you have to use to explain things away, that’s what they’ll always assume really happened.

Why do you think people have developed this sort of mental block?

I had her photo and her name, both which allow me to have a fair bit of influence over her. (Note to readers – posting your picture on the internet leaves you open to magical attacks. This is generally a bad thing.) I won’t show either of these, but here’s a photo of the spell set up, with an index card instead of her picture:

And here’s a close up of the runescript I used:

Sowulo, Jera, Othala. Positive energy, positive change, and finding your center.

You’ll also notice the rose quartz for happiness, amethyst for general positivity, agate for strength, etc. I spent twenty minutes checking through my flashcards to double check everything. It’s a long term spell – I intend to burn the candle a little every day. Maybe it will help. Maybe it won’t. At least I’ll have tried.