Did you have any experience with spirits before you discovered Spirit Keeping?

[Banapis]

I think I am one of the older folks here and I am a long time Pagan. My path is pretty eclectic, although these last few years, it's leaned more toward the Egyptian pantheon and quite a few shamanic techniques (A lot of Michael Harner, plus others I've found useful over the years.)

Through those techniques and journeys, I have gathered quite a family of spirits who help me, quite like the ones I have gotten from CH, though they are not bound. They are mostly animal spirits, although I have encountered elven folk, plant spirits, divine entities, and ghosts among others. Let me tell you, I had some serious questions when a friend introduced me to Spirit Keeping - after my experiences, it just didn't seem right to tie spirits down like that! lol I think it's pretty obvious that I've come around and changed my opinion.

Has anyone else here had experience with spirits before you discovered Spirit Keeping? Did that experience color your first impressions of it?

[lutece field]

I did, yes. My earliest clear memory of sensing a spirit was when I was six years old, when my family lived in a farmhouse with a haunted bedroom. That was a particularly dramatic, negative experience, though I also remember being surrounded by friendly spirits who wanted to keep me company and encourage creativity. Throughout the years, friendly spirits came to me in disguised forms, and I believe I was guided by them to check out topics such as parallel universes/alternate dimensions, astral travel, spiritual love/intimacy, energy work/frequencies, etc. Mostly, though, I think they wanted to comfort me. I had a difficult start to life, and looking back, I really needed the help. It is kind of a long story, and recently, after a long, intensive period of healing, it feels like I'm starting over.

I actually don't remember how exactly I came across the idea of spirit keeping, though I do remember it was a rant made by a younger witch claiming that spirit keeping was a scam at best and a form of slavery at worst. I thought the idea itself was odd at first, but back then I didn't think it would be wise to jump on the hate train right away just from that one post. I did check out a seller's shop out of curiosity (I can't remember who it was), and they seemed friendly and had happy customers. So I was mostly just skeptical. I didn't practice any form of magick, and my knowledge/practical experience was limited to what I had casually read in books/articles and my own personal relationships with spirits. I didn't actually buy a binding until several years later, and I think I was sort of "nudged" to do it. It was a spontaneous decision on my part. What I'm finding is that individual spirits who have been around me for quite some time (we're talking at least a decade) have been coming forward to be bound.

[draco_star898]

I was 14 when I experienced what a spirit can do, though I'm pretty much positive it was a living entity due to the strength of the manifestations happening at the time, because of using a ouija board with my friends. Me and my best friend at the time were very attuned to the spirit world in different ways, since she was a teen she has been a magnet for human spirits and sees them everywhere and I can sense energies so the whole thing wound up being insane, but it opened my eyes to the paranormal and I've been studying the meta ever since.

In my early twenties I started really digging into my studies involving several different meta topics and internet searching led me to finding the haunted section of eBay and to be honest even though I was fascinated I really thought it was a scam, but it always kind of stuck in the back of my mind as a thing, I just wasn't ready for this path yet. I'm honestly glad I had ten or so years of study under my belt before finally becoming a companion to spirits in my early thirties. Even with those years due to my experiences as a teen, and a few other not so fun encounters over the years, I was very leery of spirits in the beginning and it wasn't easy for me to adjust at first. I needed those years of skill building to know how to adjust my energies to the spirits, and even then it was rough going for months. I underestimated how energy sensitive I was.

The meta has been a part of my life in some foundation for years and spirits have played a big part of it. Looking back it wouldn't surprise me if I wasn't led here for years by spirit, and they patiently waited until I was ready to begin. Its been a wild ride, but one I'm glad I have been able to experience, even the not so fun encounters bc I've learned something from even those

[Jessalynn]

I'm very new to spirit keeping, but as a small child had experiences with spirits. The house I grew up in was haunted by I believe my great-great-grandmother (she passed away in the home). I was 'seeing things/hearing things' most of my childhood and my dad has had plenty of experiences and still has what we call his premonitions. Well, I must have blocked that ability out because as I got older that all went away. Only now as an adult in my 30's I really want to explore that again and stumbled across spirit keeping on tick-tok of all places. I was immediately drawn to it and started learning more and found a legit seller and started with my child spirits...and now I'm here. I wanted to learn about it and have more positive experiences because it was kinda drilled in my head that dabbling with spirits is bad and can have poor outcomes...evil I guess. I honestly don't know why it was presented to me that way, but that's a big part of why I want to learn about spirit keeping and open my life up to spirits. I'm also hoping that I will be able to open myself up again, and working on that as well.

[Lewk]

I think I am one of the older folks here and I am a long time Pagan. My path is pretty eclectic, although these last few years, it's leaned more toward the Egyptian pantheon and quite a few shamanic techniques (A lot of Michael Harner, plus others I've found useful over the years.)

Through those techniques and journeys, I have gathered quite a family of spirits who help me, quite like the ones I have gotten from CH, though they are not bound. They are mostly animal spirits, although I have encountered elven folk, plant spirits, divine entities, and ghosts among others. Let me tell you, I had some serious questions when a friend introduced me to Spirit Keeping - after my experiences, it just didn't seem right to tie spirits down like that! lol I think it's pretty obvious that I've come around and changed my opinion.

Has anyone else here had experience with spirits before you discovered Spirit Keeping? Did that experience color your first impressions of it?

Hi. I'm one of the older members here too and an eclectic.

Thank you for asking. It's nice to look back and reflect.

My experiences of spirits began half a life time ago. It began with an unexpected and un-looked for contact with an unbound, who became a companion. From then on it ranged from learning to contact my spirit guides, then Egyptian & Greek & Celtic deities and nature spirits to, 7 years ago, shamanic journeying (Sandra Ingerman-style) and astral travelling.

That has brought with it long term relationships with both shamanic and astral beings.

In 2013, I came across - and kept - sentient guardian servitors. Keeping them is quite like keeping spirits.

I only discovered spirit keeping in 2017. It seemed strange and I was wary of cons. But I was able to sense whether certain pre-conjured spirits listed would be okay for me. It took me ages to work out just what is going on in this whole field. I'm very glad I did. It all makes so much sense to me now. And I feel privileged to share my life with my bound spirits, who willingly help & support me.

[Syrah]

My experiences were all with unbounds for as long as I can remember. And they weren’t pleasant ones.
I thought I was okay with spirit companionship but deep down I wasn’t and this has created a lot of issues so I stopped in 2017.
But I couldn’t just forget about spirit companionship so I took my time this time working on my mental health. This time around I’m more understanding and accepting of spirits and I’m more successful in connecting and seeing results from the tasks.

[lolaberry]

In a word yes, I've seen entities and spirits for my whole life really, except the years I blocked it out, dulling my abilities right down lol.

[PrincessKnight]

I think I have been led here by one of my spirits, the only one who is actually bound to me, since I wanted to learn how to better communicate with him. All the other spirits I have with me are unbounds, since I am not exactly a spirit collector, but I've always been interested in metaphysical studies and magick.

[cairngorn]

I kept typing up answers and deleting them to this one because I kept wanting to say "no" but it's more like I haven't dealt with spirits *beyond a shadow of a doubt*.

I've had a sense of presence before I knew about the meta. I've seen a painting fall and got a huge sense of a god entering the room during an invocation. I've had attachments removed that resulted in a real and positive impact on my state of mind. I've seen sparks coming from blooming plants though I keep wanting to tell myself that was just my imagination. So yes, signs point to experience with spirits.

[Whyme]

As a child, I had imaginary unicorns, R and J, and a black dragon, S. At the time, I never considered them to be spirits/living entities as I believed it was just for play.

Fast forward a few decades. I got involved with crystals, meditation, chakras and discovering my psychic abilities then working to develop them. During meditation, I met my guardian angels, Ascended Masters, archangels and Deities who helped me develop telepathy.

Some years later, I eventually made a black mirror. One time when I was scrying, I saw a purple mist cover most of the glass. According to what I read on the net, the mist was supposed to be a whitish grey. I ignored the colour which I kept seeing. One time I heard telepathically, mirror mirror, which kept happening every time I gazed into the mirror. The words were a clue which kinda bugged me enough to stop and figure out a jinn possessed my mirror. Still not knowing that spirit keeping was a thing, I googled for answers. During that search, I found out about spirit keeping which lead me to CH.

Looking back, R, J and S were no longer a figment of my imagination so I can call them my first spirits. The jinn is A and since that discovery, more spirits/living entities entered my life.