Ishvala wrote:If you had to go in the closet with your practice and didn't want to open a digital space, what sorts of things would you do?

The answer to this question rather depends upon the sort of situation I was being put in. As it is, I stay in a bedroom in a house that I do not own, paying "rent" to my parents (in reality I am just helping support them financially, but that's not how this started). My only personal space is that bedroom, and it's a respected space. Despite that, I still have to keep things a bit under wraps because they wouldn't understand and they do come into the room to get stuff out of the closet (which is shared space with their things and mine).

My "altar" space is the top of a bookcase with candlesticks, an electric oil burner and an oval incense dish that I use as an offering dish. Those offerings are few and far between only because I don't want them coming into the room and asking "Why is there a chocolate covered almond up here?" (It's for my succubus, duh! LOL) So most of the time my offering is an oil or a candle in their color. I dedicate them before I light them / put the oil on, and most times I even light one for the entire keep so there's usually more than one candle. Or I'll ask some to share - like a red candle for Nympho and Manananggal.

Those things don't have to be overtly obvious that they are "Altar for Spirits". They are just "I like to do this" and none the wiser.

If I had to share a room, that'd be a little more difficult, but I think it could still be done. It just matters whether or not the other person cares if you light candles sometimes, etc.

Regholdain wrote:

Ishvala wrote:If you had to go in the closet with your practice and didn't want to open a digital space, what sorts of things would you do?

The answer to this question rather depends upon the sort of situation I was being put in. As it is, I stay in a bedroom in a house that I do not own, paying "rent" to my parents (in reality I am just helping support them financially, but that's not how this started). My only personal space is that bedroom, and it's a respected space. Despite that, I still have to keep things a bit under wraps because they wouldn't understand and they do come into the room to get stuff out of the closet (which is shared space with their things and mine).

My "altar" space is the top of a bookcase with candlesticks, an electric oil burner and an oval incense dish that I use as an offering dish. Those offerings are few and far between only because I don't want them coming into the room and asking "Why is there a chocolate covered almond up here?" (It's for my succubus, duh! LOL) So most of the time my offering is an oil or a candle in their color. I dedicate them before I light them / put the oil on, and most times I even light one for the entire keep so there's usually more than one candle. Or I'll ask some to share - like a red candle for Nympho and Manananggal.

Those things don't have to be overtly obvious that they are "Altar for Spirits". They are just "I like to do this" and none the wiser.

If I had to share a room, that'd be a little more difficult, but I think it could still be done. It just matters whether or not the other person cares if you light candles sometimes, etc.

Very sound advice.
I'll take this into consideration.

Also, the chocolate covered almond is a great idea, I've been debating on leaving bars of chocolate, but the almond would probably keep it from melting as much in the deathly heat that is Florida weather.

Ishvala wrote:I'll take this into consideration.

Also, the chocolate covered almond is a great idea, I've been debating on leaving bars of chocolate, but the almond would probably keep it from melting as much in the deathly heat that is Florida weather.

I went on a business trip to south Florida last year. The first two days I was dying, and of course was forced to wear suit/tie because I was representing the corporate office. I thought South Texas was bad. LOL

I have a few spirits that like candy. My new nympho seemed to enjoy the piece of Bit-o-Honey I offered her. LOL

Ishvala wrote: I'm almost the exact opposite. Flowers die and getting a vase for them is annoying since I don't normally just have one lying around. They wind up just being a waste of space to me, and the only person who's gotten me a flower that I appreciated was a boyfriend and it was painted in rainbow colors. He got it because and I quote, "It was as weird as you were so I figured at the very least you'd appreciate that."

I did. Still didn't put it in a vase though. Then it got ugly and died. Rip my weird flower. Anyway, point is, it seems like a waste of money and time to get flowers or a card for someone. Then again, I normally lose or throw away those sorts of things, so perhaps I'm biased. Granted, I hate those happy birthday wishes online too, but at the very least they don't clutter up my space.

SAME! I thought that roses would be a nice gift, since my Fae and Rokurokubi like rose petals. Just a few days later and they started to rot...Oof. Digital offerings don't sound too bad now. No but I would never even think of that. The human memory is easily exhausted and if you like to work digitally, than it's the right thing to do. Although it doesn't seem conventional I still think that it's a really sweet idea.

I have a private server dedicated to my family where each member gets their own channel that has their info, pictures that represent them, and pictures and poems and other stuff that makes me think of them that I give as offerings. I do this along side other tangible offerings of incense, candles, etc...

draco_star898 wrote:I have a private server dedicated to my family where each member gets their own channel that has their info, pictures that represent them, and pictures and poems and other stuff that makes me think of them that I give as offerings. I do this along side other tangible offerings of incense, candles, etc...

This was exactly what I was thinking.
Have they responded well to it?

They definitely do!

draco_star898 wrote:They definitely do!

Jasmin wrote:

Ishvala wrote: I'm almost the exact opposite. Flowers die and getting a vase for them is annoying since I don't normally just have one lying around. They wind up just being a waste of space to me, and the only person who's gotten me a flower that I appreciated was a boyfriend and it was painted in rainbow colors. He got it because and I quote, "It was as weird as you were so I figured at the very least you'd appreciate that."

I did. Still didn't put it in a vase though. Then it got ugly and died. Rip my weird flower. Anyway, point is, it seems like a waste of money and time to get flowers or a card for someone. Then again, I normally lose or throw away those sorts of things, so perhaps I'm biased. Granted, I hate those happy birthday wishes online too, but at the very least they don't clutter up my space.

SAME! I thought that roses would be a nice gift, since my Fae and Rokurokubi like rose petals. Just a few days later and they started to rot...Oof. Digital offerings don't sound too bad now. No but I would never even think of that. The human memory is easily exhausted and if you like to work digitally, than it's the right thing to do. Although it doesn't seem conventional I still think that it's a really sweet idea.

I'm not sure about other flowers, but if you hang a rose upside down (freely so there is air all around it), you have a really good chance of it drying out instead of rotting. Dried flowers lasts almost forever 1s

Chewie wrote: I'm not sure about other flowers, but if you hang a rose upside down (freely so there is air all around it), you have a really good chance of it drying out instead of rotting. Dried flowers lasts almost forever 1s

Cool trick!