Bitchin’ Witchin’

I had the silly idea of starting up a pagan group (sarcasm – it’s a great idea). At first, the idea was simple and a little pure, just to help create a community. It would be a sort of group that did events, had little structure, and basically got together to exchange on a variety of topics as well as to help each other out in manifest, physical ways.

A variety of adventures happened, including curses being laid and disruptive actions -> all caused by a cis white male who thought he was ‘the most uber spiritual gurbl gurbl out there’ basically.

Well, I banished him in no uncertain terms from the group and found myself having to rebuild my group from the ground up. And then – lo! Behold! I fell across inspiration! A pagan abbey! Oh, isn’t that a lovely idea?

After slavering at the idea, I decided to give it a shot. I tried to get into contact with Trey from the Silver Song Collective.

She, of all the elders I contacted, actually answered me (holy shit!). With the guidance of someone who’s done it before, I decided to create the Starlight Pagan Family, a hopefully soon to be legally recognized not-for-profit.

Now where, you ask, is the drama? Wait. I am starting to get to it. So you see, I began organizing pagan gatherings. Being a kind person, I invited everyone I knew – including the witches who, about a year ago, had been doing some pagan gatherings but then stopped as they weren’t working well.

Remember, a sentence ago, I said ‘they weren’t working well’ in combination with the words ‘stopped’? Well, bloody fucking Christian hell.

All of a sudden (Magically, one could say!) they re-began hosting their get-togethers, within days of mine!

Oh. Okay. I contacted them and they insisted that this was pure coincidence. They offered to share my event. Well, I thanked them and invited them to my get together again.

Now they never did come to my organized meeting where I announced the formation of the Starlight Pagan Family. If they had, they would have known that the new core purpose of my group was to offer events to unite the community, as well as fundamental services such as weddings, rituals, mental health and spiritual counseling hotlines, accompaniment to doctor visits, etc.

Well, when I saw that they had made yet another ‘witchy’ gathering (so soon? They used to host these twice a year before I came along…) my group of admins told me that it was pure coincidence and not to think about it. Everyone told me I was overreacting.

So, one day, after a full week of planning, I giddily made the Facebook event for our first activity -> Candles & Drums. I snapped a closeup picture of my drum, its beater, a pentacle, and a tealight candle.

Well. Within fucking hours these bitchy witches had released their own event. With a very same picture, a closeup of several random things and a tealight.

I flipped my shit in no uncertain terms. I almost cried. It was a virtual stab in the back, as I had literally invited them to join my group, invited them on Facebook within my closed group for the family, and was hoping to approach them about being active members of my group.

Well. All this drama brings me to a point. It’s not just drama for the sake of drama (I promise, though I do relish in gossiping viciously).

Why the fuck do all the pagans just try and make money off of each other? Huh? I know of at least 8 witches in my tiny local community that sell stuff and throw all their efforts into making money off the pagan community. Yeah, I’m no better. I tried to sell my embroidery online -> but I did my all best to make it the cheapest as possible. I hardly paid myself for my efforts. These witches? Please! 35$ for an event per head is not what I call cheap when it comes to making one bloody fucking ‘magical’ sachet. Not when the room rent (I know because I checked to rent that very same space) is 10$ a head. Materials for one tiny-ass sachet CANNOT be 25 $. There better be a fucking gold nugget in there if so.

And you know what else? Why the fuck do no pagans offer actual services to each other? Like why is it that I seem to be the first pagan organization to come up with hotlines, and accompanying members to hospitals? Why is it so easy to walk into a coffee shop and find a pagan advertising their soaps/tarot readings/handmade cards/whatthefuckever … but no such thing as a pagan charity event? WHY?

Even a larger community that I admired, which is supposedly organized and run by a good priestess, does not do charity drives. They do not help in holiday food drives. They do not run around cleaning up rivers and doing actual, physical, good change in the world.

What instead do they do? Offer ‘classes’ on witchcraft and paganism. Sell teas. Sell, sell, sell.

Well, fucking pardon me. But if we want to actually build something, we might as well get off our asses and start trying to be serious adults and try and stop looking at our wallets. You know what? Why don’t we offer classes to which some poor students can fundraise their way into? Why don’t we host raffles from which the majority of the money goes to funding our members to attend an actually academically recognized university? Maybe I’m dreaming in pagan Technicolor, but I dream of building something useful.

Maybe it’s because I was raised by relatives that indulged themselves in Christian churches. And in those churches, I saw members that were willing to fundraise for my family to have clothes. Who were willing to actually take care of their sick and their poor and not just send ‘thoughts and prayers’.

If we’re an actual religion, let’s start acting like one. Because you want to know my final point? When I was sick, horribly lost in my mental illness, I missed a community. I needed people to comfort me and listen to me and drive me to the hospitals and support me and just be there for me. I needed people to show up and do my dishes for me and drive me to do groceries. I needed the support of a community.

And there was none. Because we’re pagans and apparently we do nothing to help each other.

Well if I can change one fucking thing about paganism with my lifetime-> it’s going to be that. I’m going to make a movement unlike any other. I want to inject a shot of adrenaline into my local community and Make. It. Roll. Because dammit, people need us. We need us.

Reading & Rambling/Book Review

These days, I’m doing a potentially hazardous activity for my health -> I’m reading a spiritual book. ‘Craft of the Wild Witch’ by Poppy Palin reads like one giant poem – and can get just as frustrating.

Now don’t get me wrong, I kind of like the ‘lyrical’ bladibla that gives it flow. It helps brings the concepts to life. But the hazardous part is the creepy, insidious stigma of mental illness. UGH!

Now, forgive me for not having marked down the exact pages of where& when she wrote this but the first ringer was when she said that schizophrenia/madness was just a manifestation of magic (I think it was specifically moon magic) getting out of hand.

I almost threw the book at the wall.

I mean, nevermind that on page 94 she singles out people with mental illness as potentially dragging along giant nasty energetic baggage, she has to go ahead and add to the myth that mental illness is some ‘magical’ problem.

Whoop de fucking doo.

Let me give my two cents about this (it’s my blog after all). Mental illness is not some magical fuckery. It’s brain fuckery. That’s an important distinction because as much as you can use magic to treat a physical problem, the root cause is physical. Which means a lot in terms of treatment, the amount of magic needed to fix it, and how one should visualize it.

Second -> mental illness does not mean icky magical hygiene. Yes, those with mental illness can suffer from dark thoughts. No, that doesn’t mean we walk around dragging heavy energetic thought forms along with us. We can cleanse ourselves, purify ourselves, and practice positive mental wellness (not the same as mental illness).

So this is all to say that I am halfway through this book and I am not impressed. He table of contents hardly helps you find anything. Her organization of topics feels hectic and jumbled. But worse of all, it feels like she hasn’t strayed far from the norm. Light is good, darkness is bad (a pet peeve of mine). The wiccan god is virile, the lady quiet and mysterious (why are women always quiet? Huh? Can’t they be virile and sexy?). These gender roles are achingly heteronormative and conservative. It’s kind of disgusting to read about this ‘deep kiss’ that is summertime. What is an asexual supposed to make of this? As a member of the LGBT + spectrum, I feel left out by her blinded persepective. I feel abandoned – willfully. Like, she hardly even tried to step out of the norm. She doesn’t even try and include a queer perspective.

Furthermore, her ‘trance’ sessions have nothing to do with traditional shamanic trances, but sound directly lifted from ‘white light’ New Age sessions that I have attended.  To which I beg a question. If we create our own astral worlds (as she says we do when we create our own ‘safe space’) then who the fuck are all the tree spirits and squirrels and pheasants and what have you that live in it? Huh? She just throws them in as if they live there but all I can think of is – where are they from? Who invited them into that world? She never mentions whether they really are alive, or if these guiding spirits that give you signs are really just figments of your subconscious. This sort of inconsistency… frustrates me.

Alright, I’m done ranting. Thank you all for sticking around with me, it’s been hectic and very busy on my side of the world. I’ll tell you in another post what’s been happening, haha.

Also, the thing I’m crocheting in the picture is a mermaid 🙂

 

Creativity and Mental Illness

Hi everyone! Recently, a fellow blogger published a wonderful piece entitled ‘psychological changes due to medication’. It can be found here → https://encodey.wordpress.com/2018/02/24/psychological-changes-due-to-medication/

This piece was very interesting for me, and is the inspiration behind today’s blog post. So please give their post a read first!

Now, onwards! Today I would like to discuss (drumroll) creativity and mental illness! Hark! A fascinating topic, really!

So, how has my mental illness influenced my artistic abilities? Well! At first my answer would be ‘derp? No it hasn’t?’ because on the surface everything appears to be the same. I still draw. I still write. But, aha, ladies and gentlefolk – is the result still the same?

Ahhhhh- nope. Not at all.

You see, before my art felt stunted. I had difficulty experiencing color and expressing myself with it. I couldn’t ‘finish’ a picture, always leaving them as raw sketches. To put this in concept, my wifey bought me coloring books to relax with and I had a hard time coloring them in because that’s how stunted I was.

Here’s the thing though. When I was ‘normal’ I used to draw mathematically. Everything was straight lines and the odd curves. I would start with the eyes, finish them, then draw the nose incrimentally. Yet when I was in an ‘episode’ I didn’t draw mathematically. I drew shapes and curves and motion – but it would have none of the details that my mathematical side would have. It was as if my brain was divided and constantly popping from one skill set to another.

Now that I am medicated and balanced on that medication (so just popping pills didn’t do it – I had to get the right cocktail going on) I have noticed a great difference in my art. I use color now. I am actually able to draw so easily that I am illustrating one of my novels with (gasp!) completely finished pictures! It’s like the two sides have merged and made me even more functional than ever before. Furthermore, I am able to do greyscale drawings in ink relatively swiftly that are adorable.

And my writing? Well my writing is actually more explosive of a change!

Before taking medication I struggled to write a thousand words a day. Writing felt like pulling teeth. I loved it, but couldn’t write a sequence. I would write a scene here from, say, the beginning of a novel, then a scene from later, and then a scene from the ending. I would just write a package of floating scenes and could barely tie them all together. It was terribly messy and disjointed. There would be plot holes, hanging threads, the whole deal.

Now? Now?! The first week I started my antipsychotics it was like a booming revelation. For a week straight I wrote 5,000 words a fucking day. I just felt that good, that inspired. And yes, it was all written in sequence.

Since being on medication, I’ve been writing sequentially. I’ve completely finished two novels and am halfway through 4 others that I’ve been working on the side. There are no more floating scenes, just completed books and so much plot work.

What’s more (oh yea, there’s more!)? I’ve started having stories come to me in dreams. It’s like my medication has allowed a sort of communication to happen, and I’m halfway through one novel based entirely off a dream and have started two others as well as received tips and conclusions to others in dreams. WHAAAAT? This is epic! It’s like now that I’m functional spirits are coming to me like ‘hey, here’s a writer, write my story for me!’ and I’m like ‘yeah sure, hand me that!’… and now I’ve literally got over a dozen novels going. I shit you not. I’m not working on them all right now, there’s just a lot on the back burner. But damn, I got so many tips and revelations for my stories from my dreams, I really really love it!

What’s else? My stories are lighter. My stories are brilliantly, genuinely, funny and light-hearted. I’ve found my tone, my voice, in a fantasy world that I came up with when I started medication. Since its conception it’s been a respite, a ‘happy place’ that I go to. It’s become a bursting series of joy and creativity.

Have I lost my touch for writing dark stuff however? Well, I’ve always had difficulty writing serious series. I can hardly make it a quarter way into a novel that’s all ‘dark and serious’ without losing interest and calling it ‘the most boring shit i’ve ever written’. I just don’t do serious. I just don’t do dark. I do complex, I do epic, I do funny and dork.

And what else what else what else? Y’all, this is the final foot-stomper! I have finally, Finally, FINALLY started working on my theology book about Wicca and Mental Illness.

Ya heard that right! I’m writing a book on mental illness! A theological analysis of mental illness through various aspects and I am just SO PROUD of myself for getting there.

Because it’s not easy to write, ya know. It’s difficult, thick, and I have to think theologically and in a straight line to be able to do it. But I’m proud to say that it’s getting there. It might be short, but it Is HAPPENING!

So that’s that y’all! My medication has really affected me a ton! By helping get me on my feet, it has helped me grow as an artist and writer and I am so so proud of the progress that I have made! 🙂 I know it’s maybe an unusual story and that I am very lucky to have found medication that works so well for me. Not everyone is as lucky as I am and not everyone has found the right medication yet. But for me, this is my story.

Have you felt any changes in your art since starting medication? Has your mental illness crippled your art in any way? Do share!

WHAT?! More posts?

Ah-ha-ha-ha! Fear and tremble and shake, minions! For I! Have! Made! A craft blog!

As if the world really needed another one, LOL.

But I have decided to make one, and so it has been done (TADA!).

https://unhingedstitches.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/materials/ is the latest post!

It shall focus specifically upon Wiccan and pagan/neo-pagan/polytheist craft ideas. It should be very simple, funny, and easy to follow for the average person. 🙂

I’m hoping to see y’all on that blog as well! And if there’s anything you’d like to see done (within reason!), don’t forget to drop a comment!

Medication First!

What? Whozzah? Medication? It’s such a rare thing. I never talk about it! Nope, not me.

Ah ha ha. I am joking, obviously.

As I have previously said, psychiatric medication is the high heels to my drag outfit of functionality. I prance around in them, adjust them, occasionally change them, but above all, need them. (Have ye, O great wanderer of life, seen a drag Queen barefoot? I has not.)

Now what do I mean when I say ‘Medication First (with an exclamation mark, no less)? I mean just that. Medication First. (!)

Now, this is where I draw the line between my fabulous self and the so many other viewpoints blazing out there across the Wiccan and neo-pagan and polytheist frameworks. You see, most of Wicca and neo-paganism and polytheist movements are what I would call ‘Medication Second’. In that they will often spout their views in this way.

• Mental illness may or may not exist, really.
• Why take psychiatric medication? It has (gasp!) side effects! One ought first to try exercise, eating ‘healthy’, de-toxing, eating special diets, doing special exercises, practicing yoga, meditating, walking in nature, practicing spirituality, spirit-journeying, re-adjusting their kundalini, consulting shamans across the globe, and maybe even breathing underwater while they’re at it. (Note how therapy with a licensed professional is usually not part of this list? Strange, right?)
• If and ONLY IF the person has tried all the above suggestions (probably even including breathing underwater for some) then the person could, they suppose, try psychiatric medication. But beware of those nasty nasty side effects! Oh, and have you tried the other remedies already?

Note how everything else under the sun (and maybe under the earth) comes first before psychiatric medication. This means psychiatric medication comes second as a final and last resort for the ‘real’ crazies.

Now, I used to be like this. It led me down a truly crazy path and led me into great psychiatric distress. But now the little caterpillar has become a butterfly, so to speak, and I’ve become a Medication First kind of person.

What do I mean by that? It means my train of thought goes like this:

• Is there a significant problem?
• If yes, seek medical help. Take the psychiatric medication.
• Then, once a sense of betterness has been achieved thanks to psychiatric medication, get therapy and try other stuff like exercise and whatnot.

But Why Why WHY? Pagans and so-called ‘spiritual’ people will gnash their teeth and foam at the mouth. We must try all the so-called ‘healthy’ alternatives first! We must avoid the medication at all costs!

Well, I firmly disagree now.

First of all, for someone to be seeking relief, they probably have a sizeable problem. Chances are, it’s worse than what they (or others around them) think it is. It certainly was for me. No one ever thinks they’re ‘crazy’ or ‘really that bad’. They always think they’re ‘just in a slump’ or ‘just having a bad day’.

Second of all, there is a never-ending source of so-called ‘alternatives’. One can waste years seeking them all out, and they can be blazingly expensive. And finally, no matter the amount of them that one has tried, one will never have tried enough. There will always be one more guru, one more supplement, one more yoga sequence that people will pressure you into trying or, worse, you will pressure yourself into trying. This will delay treatment indefinitely.

Third –and really, I think this is my point – there is no harm in trying psychiatric medication first.

It’s not like the world will fucking blow up.

Because here’s how it happens.

You take the medication → you feel better (somewhat) → you use this ‘feel good’ energy as momentum to propel yourself further with therapy, lifestyle changes, etc.

This might sound like drivel, but I swear it’s how it works for me and how I’ve seen it treated by the good doctors I’ve met. I could try all the lifestyle changes, but without my medication there to help me, I was just swamped. Once I felt better thanks to medication, I could clean my house, go jogging, and feel even better!

It’s basically like giving a sick person medication. You give it to them to help re-establish the normal flow, so that the body can get back on track.

Ohhhhhhmyyyyygodzzzz. Does this… does this mean psychiatric medication is… medication? *sarcasm*

So, medication comes first in the sequence of treatment. At least it did for me.

What’s my point? Where am I going with this? I’m going here → we need to change our narrative surrounding mental illness to be medication first.

I know, I know, it sounds like I want everyone to just echo my viewpoints. It’s not that. I want people to stop leaving medication ‘second’ as a choice that you only go to if you are ‘that bad’ or ‘really crazy’ or ‘desperate’. I want people to realize that medication is not dangerous or toxic, and that it can be the start of therapy and of a whole lot of changes in one’s life.

What would a ‘medication first’ discussion sound like? Like this:

Person a) hey, i’m feeling shitty.

Person b) ok, I trust your judgement. Have you consulted a doctor and taken the requisite medication?

OH MAH GAWDS. Doesn’t that sound the same as when someone has the flu, cold, diarrhea, or whathave you?

Trust me, we can do this. We’ve got this. We do it for broken legs, asthma, and everything else. Yes, for a very mild cold, we may stick to alternative solutions. But let’s revisit my first point in this discussion one more time.

Chances are, it’s worse than what they (or others around them) think it is. Now, I don’t want to be a drama queen. But people tend to overlook their mental health. It’s been my experience that those who finally realized they needed help (especially those who are so-called ‘spiritual’ people) were in dire straits when they finally turned to a doctor.

So what this means is that by the time someone realizes they’re having a problem, it is no longer time for the alternatives. It’s time for the doctor.

And guess what? Here’s the kicker. If you’re at that point… just how much of a dosage of alternative stuff do you think you would need? It’s like taking alternatives that would treat a cold, to treat… pneumonia? Ebola?

Because psychiatric medication can be very strong. It can be easily jacked up to high doses. Not so with alternative ‘treatment’. In a recent video I watched, someone compared the efficacity of zoloft to smelling saffron for 20 minutes, and said they were on equal footing. They neglected to mention the dosage of zoloft it was equal to. Was it a small, itty bitty tiny dosage of zoloft? Was it a high dosage? Was it a stable dosage that the person was accustomed to? What if the twenty minutes of saffron was not enough? How long a day would the person have to smell it for? Similarly, they mentioned cloves as being helpful (I think it was to boost serotonin). Just how many cloves a day would someone need to take in a case of severe depression?!

Personally, I think this is ridiculous. Yes, these alternatives can help someone with the mental health equivalent of a small cold. Yes, they can help someone maintain positive mental health much like they help boost physical health.

But! Mental illness is just that. A fucking illness. It is un-health to the point of distress. It is a serious situation that we, by leaving the life-saving medication thereof as only a second and ultimately ‘only take last’, we are neglecting to treat the illness or take it seriously.

Because take it from someone who tried all the alternatives first. It didn’t work. It hasn’t worked for anyone I’ve known, either (and now I know a lot of people with mental illnesses). And yes, most of the people I know have had it go to the point of critical conditions, ergo their life and functioning was in danger. It is that common that it becomes that critical and yet we suggest treating it as if it was a common cold.

Wow. It’s been a while

Hi everyone! Wow, it really has been a while (hence, this title) . Don’t worry, this blog isn’t dead yet. It is just… out of color? Out of time? Out of… energy? Lately I’ve been on a new dosage of medication and I’ve been… *drumroll…. Absorbed by the horrors of Netflix.

What, oh what, have I been watching? Let me blow your minds.

What has over sixty episodes, is a giant drama suck, and contains copious LOTR rip-off hairdos? ICE FANTASYYYYYY. Yep. Ice fantasy. I’ve been binging it. All of its terrible dramatic moments, all those horrid special effects, and the occasional terrible ‘muahaha’ villain laugh. Who am I kidding? There’s like two giant ‘muahahaha’ per episode of half an hour (ish). That’s a lot of ‘muahahaha’, y’all.

Anyways, muahahaha and terrible wigs aside (let’s not get started on those wigs, y’all) I have been well. it’s just… I lack organization when it comes to this blog. Other social media ventures and projects have gained steam and sapped my time, and now I find myself seriously missing this blog. The sense of something it gives me (not gonna lie, I like to feel like I’m helping people, even if it’s just to show them they’re not alone). So all that to say, I’m not done. I’m far from done. But… I’m still slow. I promise I have a back-load of stuff to share with you, but I just haven’t been able to get around to sharing it for some reason, but I will. I will keep this blog going because I love it, and I really really care about it. It’ll just have its ups and downs, so please be patient.

But do I have any good news to share with you? AH! Well! I do! Guess who is finally getting their permanent disability paperwork completed? YASSS! And how is this possible? BECAUSE I HAVE AN AMAZING PSYCHIATRIST NOW!!!

*Glitter! Glitter! Glitteeer!

So that’s it y’all, haha. Good things are happening to me, I have a great therapist/psychiatrist, and my life is moving forward much less dramatically than things unfold on ‘Ice Fantasy’, which is a great thing. I’m going to try and be active on this blog again, and so I look forward to reading all the stuff I’ve missed from y’all! Tag me in things! Link me some of your favorite articles that you’ve written! I want to read them!

Building Our Own Empire

Well, remember how the other day I was all ‘Fuck Youuu’ to the world and all about building our own empires a la Luciferian inspiration? Well! I received what felt like another punch in the gut the other day – and am using that momentum to turn around and keep going instead of falling on my butt and crying.

What happened? *gasp!*

Well, here’s the thing. I knit. I craft. I was hoping to use the funds from that to help donate money to Lightning’s service dog foundation, Chasam – Paws. And things were going good. A local store popped open that was more than willing to host my items, and all was well.

And then this weekend the lady returned ALL of them to me. ALL. Why? Well, I’m assuming my items were too pagan-ish for a gift shop, and she said she couldn’t sell my knitted items because of the few bits of fur in them. UGH. I live with a dog. Good luck keeping the tiniest amount of fur off anything.

So, what’s a good ol’ Luciferian to do? No, no, aside from screaming ‘fuck you’ to the world? Keep on going, that’s what!

So, Ladies and Gentlemen! I Present To You! My future Etsy shop! Ta Ta Dam!

Soon, hopefully this week, just in time for Yule, you will be able to shop from DarknessGifts (not yet opened) and buy some truly beautiful items such as prayer beads, beautiful pouches, meditation pillows (hand embroidered or not), decorative pillows (hand embroidered), tarot cloths and  altar cloths (all hand embroidered!). Furthermore, there will be knits whose funds will go 100% towards Chasam-Paws! Also, 100% of the fabric and wool is bought at local thrift stores (one of which supports a local women’s shelter) and charity events (refugee sponsorship sales, etc). Even some of the embroidery thread (not all) is recycled.

I feel like a walking eco- advertisement, haha. But I really do care about the environment, y’all, and I really do want to sell high-quality recycled and positive items.

Are you interested in seeing what I’m making? Got any requests/ideas for things  you’d like to see in the store? Drop a comment and let me know!

Wiccan Tips For Sleep (SleepSafe Project)

Hey y’all! I’m trying to keep myself in the roll of posting every so often, so here’s a quick post!

I have no honest idea where the SleepSafe Project idea came from, or how long it will go on for. It was a bubble in my mind when I was writing that blog post, and I just thought “hey! We with mental illnesses need our sleep and at least I don’t feel safe while sleeping so…SleepSafe!” and that’s how it started.

The SleepSafe concept is to provide tips, tricks, and advice that are aimed at helping the sufferer get a good night’s sleep, no matter their symptoms. So today (drumroll!) here is SleepSafe- the Wiccan version!

First and foremost, as a responsible little witch, you ought to

• Try and determine the root cause of your troubles. Wicca is about knowing oneself! Is the influence interior (internalized trauma, unbalanced medication, childhood fears, etc) or is it exterior (bad vibes, unpleasant presences taking advantage of you, etc). This can be difficult to do. Easy ways to determine this would be with tarot cards, a pendulum, or runic readings. If finding clear answers to personal problems are difficult to you, I suggest to…
• call upon deities of guidance. Ask them to help you find the truth in your situations and find solutions. You’ll never know what they bring up.

Now, if the influence is exterior, you could

• work with magic barring these entities/influences from working on you. Protection shrines, amulets under the pillow, sleep sachets, runes in the window, etc.

However, what if they really are just a symptom of your mental illness? (Gasp! Imagine that! Having symptoms that affect you!) In this case, and in a traditionally ‘Wiccan’ sense, I would suggest calling upon deities such as (aside from your matron/patron, of course)

• the crone for help with mysterious and dark troubles.
• Or, if one is an adherent of the idea of the fourth phase of the moon/hidden fourth goddess in charge of mysteries and hidden things, one could simply put up a black frame for her.
• Any deity regarding safety or mental illness that calls to you.

Furthermore, one could…

• Cast a pentacle within which one sleeps (perhaps have it set up semi-permanently with elemental alters in the corners of the room) so one sleeps in a spiritually balanced space
• perform rituals to balance one’s interior prior to sleeping with the express intent of eliminating nightmares
• eat runic symbols (carved into bread, biscuits, etc) of balancing, healing, and of sleep (such as the svefnthorn, Birkana, etc)
• cast a spell on your medication to have it help stop the nightmares
• Basically, design spellcraft to control these forces within yourself.

Now, as a final point, in the previous SleepSafe post, I mentioned posting shrines or statues to overlook your bed to provide protection and a soothing presence. However, there is one snag.

Technically, in many traditions such as a variety of Mahayana Buddhist ones, statues of Deities are not placed near the bed, because the deities might see you do ‘shameful’ or ‘impure’ things, i.e., sex or masturbation. In tradition or even eclectic Wicca sex or masturbation and undressing for bed at night are not considered impure, so one ought not to worry when putting up Wiccan statues. However, one ought to take pause and think it through if your deities are from another tradition, especially one with eastern origins. So as the final point in this advice series

• make sure your statue(s) doesn’t mind being in the bedroom. As a Wiccan, especially one that is eclectic or polytheist, you have a ton of responsibility to be respectful of the deities’ traditions, as they are living and sentient and may easily get offended (whereas an archetype would not).

And that’s it for now folks! Sleep well!