I’ve never seen more effective use of fantasy animation to promote tourism [x]
When they say ‘slight exaggerated’ they aren’t kidding. Here, just look to see that these are real honest to god places:
Yeah. That shit’s all REAL. You guys think the video’s amazing, check out the real deal.
I’M SO GLAD SOMEONE DID THIS POST
This is so beautiful, it brought tears to me eyes! I heard about this advertisement while I was at NWC, but I forgot to look it up. So lovely!
I… Most of this was within an hour of me growing up, if not less. That feels WEIRD to see on Tumblr.
Reblogging not just because of how awesome the video and photos are, but for fact that one of the horses in the second horse photo looks like Spirit and that movie was my childhood 😂
Simply put, spirit companionship is the act of forming a consensual bond with a spirit that goes beyond superficial relations. It’s an extension of spirit work and not everyone practicing spirit work has to have a companion. You’re forming a relationship that’s potentially a life long commitment. Companion relationships can take on the form of guardians, mentors, sexual or non-sexual, friendship, etc. It’s unique between you and a spirit in what form it may take. This bond is what makes it a spirit companionship as you’re opening yourself up to this spirit based on trust. Not every spirit will be a companion and not every companion will be the same. These spirits are beings just like you and me with feelings and thoughts. They’re free to enter a companionship with a human for whatever reason they feel like yet that doesn’t necessarily make them good companionship material. It’s up to the conjurer to vet the spirit and through their own discernment make sure a spirit is safe for companionship. Anyone can be as spirit companion yet I personally don’t recommend getting into this line of spirit work without prior skills I consider basic when entering spirit work as a whole.
Why use a spirit shop?
A person may not be experienced enough to conjure and communicate with a spirit. There’s also a lot of time and effort put into vetting a spirit, working with them, get to know them personally, how they interact with humans, reasons for companionship, not trying to scam you for offerings and no actual interest in bonding, etc. A conjurer does A LOT when working with a possible companion spirit by questioning them and spending time with them. Mostly why a spirit worker may want to go through a spirit shop is to circumvent this work and/or because they’re inexperienced (in conjuring, vetting, etc.).
Do you need to use a spirit shop to get a companion?
No, you don’t need to go through a spirit shop to get a companion. Conjuring isn’t something to take lightly as it takes time and experience. However, you could conjure a spirit yourself yet it’s not exactly recommended for beginners due to the dangers surrounding such an act. There’s protections a conjurer has to take, knowledge in energy work, the ability to communicate with a spirit clearly, ability to discern what exactly is the spirit, more protections, and did I mention protections? There’s recommended simple conjures for beginners yet even then, you leave yourself open to dangers if you don’t take the necessary precautions.
Why should I set standards?
I’m trying to impress upon everyone to set high standards not only for yourself but for the spirit shops out there. When you accept shoddy work, you’re encouraging that bad behavior. It encourages people who get into spirit work to learn conjuring just to open a shop, to not take pride in their work, to place themselves onto this weird pedestal as an authority figure in a community when they may not have the experience to even be up there, and you’re becoming part of the problem. Looking into spirit shops without knowing what to expect or look for is intimidating. After awhile, you learn to keep an eye out for red flags armed with the knowledge of what exactly to ask for and about. Don’t settle for less than you deserve. You’re investing time and money into a service that’s going to affect you long term. This is serious business and not something you do just because you’re bored one day and decide to pick up a companion off the street just because.
Paid Versus Free Shops
The difference is monetary gain and legalities. There’s stigmas for each version of spirit shop and their own communities that often overlap. A shop is not allowed to sell or provide metaphysical products to a minor without parental consent. AT ALL. It’s illegal and that’s that. Generally, there is a difference in quality with their site between paid and free yet that’s not always the case. Just because a shop is free doesn’t mean you should lower your standards and expectations. Go into this experience with an idea of what you’re looking for and look around. Don’t bring yourself down because it’s free. Just because it’s free doesn’t excuse a shop from rising up to the bar you’ve set. When you pay, you’re paying for the time and work a conjurer puts into a conjure on top of materials used if bound to a vessel on top of shipping costs. Because spirit companions are listed beneath dollar signs, it’s often misunderstood you’re buying the spirit like in the slave trade. You’re paying to be matched up by the conjurer to a spirit companion. The conjurer is the matchmaker whom you’re paying for their services to play matchmaker.
What aren’t conjurers supposed to reveal and why?
Full names
Energy Signature
Manifestations
Offerings
Some personal information
The exact nature of how they conjure
Exact protections used
There’s a reason for all of that and it’s not only for your safety but for the spirit as well. With a full name, someone can force conjure a spirit. The shop doesn’t know you or your intentions. You could force a potentially harmful binding onto a spirit or harm them in some other way. You also don’t give the keys of your house to some stranger and expect your house to be 100% safe. A spirit’s bio is being listed publicly which leaves them open to perusal from good and bad people. There are people who will try to contact a spirit on their own and even try to leave offerings when they feel called. That’s not right. It’s like trying to send someone flowers because they found your profile online. It’s creepy. Generally, all of the above are details a conjurer won’t share at all or only share with you if you become a spirit’s companion.
Conjurer Experience
This is a common thing I’ve seen when you ask a conjurer how long they’ve been working in spirits in general or conjuring. They get defensive or feel the need to build themselves up, often saying they’ve been working with spirits since they were small. Ok, that’s nice to know. That doesn’t answer how long they’ve been ACTIVELY doing spirit work. Commonly, these ‘since childhood’ experiences are more like moments they’ve experienced yet they didn’t know what it was they were doing or what was happening. It’s nice life experience yet you want to find out how long a conjurer has been actively practicing spirit work, diving into it with the intention of exploring and learning instead of just experiencing. There’s a difference. Don’t let yourself be intimidated or brushed off if you don’t get your answer. It’s also important to find out how long they’ve been conjuring. Again, this has to be active and not one of those, ‘Oh, I accidentally called on spirits since I was small all the time!’ That kind of answer comes off very shady and again, like they’re trying to build themselves up to be more experienced than they are.
Why is this important to know?
It’s important to know because you don’t want to end up with a conjurer who actually doesn’t know what they’re doing, just started spirit work a few months ago, or even learned how to conjure for a few months then decided to open a shop. Ideally, you want your conjurer to have at least a year experience with conjuring added on top of advanced spirit work, which means actively practicing spirit work for longer than six months. It’s why you should push for details instead of accepting answers avoiding specifics or dodging approximate dates.
Vetting
Vetting times should be long and extensive. At minimum, I would personally say they should be eight weeks for shops that don’t specialize in a limited amount of species. If it’s a shop that specializes in a limited amount of species, then three months minimal. The vetting process needs to be intensive. Conjurers are interviewing and studying a spirit that’s going to be trusted within a person’s personal wards. They’ll have direct access to a person which can be dangerous. The longer the vetting time, the better.
There’s also the detail of how conjurers perform vetting. Are they treating a spirit ethically? Do you want to perpetuate wrongful behavior if they aren’t? When vetting a spirit, if they won’t tell the truth and nothing but the truth without say… a drug or something equally as drastic, then they’re not ready for spirit companionship and should be dismissed. Again, these spirits are beings just like you and me who must be treated with respect. They’re trusting the conjurer to not do anything that’d harm them just as a conjurer is trusting in their abilities and the spirit to not harm them or their clients.
Quality of a shop in their work reflecting onto their shop practice
When you’re first scoping out a shop, always read all their pages. They don’t write them up for fun. That information is for you and if it doesn’t answer your questions, drop them a message to find out. If you’re not comfortable with the shop even after all that, then don’t use that shop. A shop’s FAQ should answer all the common questions you may have about the shop itself and about the conjurer.
At face value, you’re initially making a judgement call on their shop based on how their shop looks and the quality of their posts, services offered, information on the conjurer, etc. Like it or not, how a shop presents itself reflects their work ethic. The more effort they take to maintain their shop and the time they take to publish quality companion profiles, etc gives you an idea of how much effort they take in their work. You don’t want to settle for bare minimum work. You want the best even with a free shop. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean you should accept things as they are. A shop should take pride in what they’re pushing out there for your perusal.
Expectations You Should Have With Your Conjurer
Communication is key. When purchasing a companion through a shop, you’re establishing a relationship with them that will continue even after obtaining your companion. The shop should be easy to contact in case you have questions or concerns with your spirit. You don’t want to end up with a thoughtform or something serious happen with your companion without a point of contact. When contacting a spirit shop or conjurer about a problem with your spirit, DO NOT DO IT ANONYMOUSLY. They need to be able to troubleshoot with you in private to figure out the problem. Hiding yourself away because you’re afraid isn’t going to solve the problem.
Experience! Don’t roll with a conjurer who doesn’t know what they’re doing. There are experienced conjurers out there running spirit shops. It takes a bit of digging on your part. Inexperience leaves you too open to possible dangers that could have been avoided through the vetting process.
Customer Service is important. Expect your conjurer to be professional, to answer your questions to the best of their abilities, to treat you with the respect of a paying customer, and to be mature to not start drama or otherwise threaten to take away a companion just because they personally dislike you. A spirit shop is providing you with a service which they are at discretion to refuse you within reason. This goes both ways though. Don’t be immature or a dick towards a shop and conjurer. Like dealing with anyone on the internet, you don’t want to add to the assholery because you’re hiding behind a screen. Don’t add to the problem.
They should be interviewing you just as much as you interviewing them. When a conjurer is asking you questions, it could be for a myriad of reasons. They could have a spirit companion on hand that could be a good fit for you that feels called yet want to get into specifics. They could want to learn more about your experience, who you are, etc to feel out the best companion to match you up with. A spirit shop can be best likened to eHarmony, a place to match up spirit companions with their human counterparts. When you’re submitting an application to a shop for a spirit companionship, this is why it’s important.
The conjurer needs to be of age, especially if they’re adopting out sexual spirits (which should only be adopted out to people of age). This gets into ethics and also them being knowledgeable of metaphysical products being sold in different states. They have to know the law as well as you yourself. You don’t want to participate in something illegal because saying you didn’t know isn’t going to excuse you from the repercussions. It’s not a proper defense.
First Time Working With a New Species
If a conjurer happens to conjure a spirit of a species they’ve never worked with before, the vetting times should take longer than a species they’ve worked with often. This is because the conjurer should familiarize themselves with a species itself on top of vetting a spirit for companionship. A conjurer should study a species off more than just the one they’ve conjured. You don’t look at one person and assume that’s the whole human race. It’s alarming if a new species is listed super quick instead of taking the time to study the species while vetting a spirit. What if this spirit has specific needs due to its species that could make it unsafe as a companion or need some sort of disclaimer before being adopted out? A single species trait can bump a spirit companion from being fit for beginners to advanced only.
Thoughtformy Spirits
Read those companions’ bios that’ve been published. Do they tend to all sound the same? Where a spirit is all cuddles and love, sound more like the stereotypical people you find on Tumblr itself than a plausible spirit? It’s posts like that which come off very thoughtformy instead of legitimate spirits. They have no personality or substance which is easily rectified by the conjurer taking more time to fill out a spirit’s bio.
Customer Service
There’s a degree of professionalism that comes with customer service and what’s expected of you as a customer approaching a shop. It’s a two way street that’s laid its foundations in courteous language, timely responses, and open truthful responses between parties. Professionalism is key.
🚩 Red Flags 🚩
Rushing out spirits for sales purposes or in general; in other words, low vetting times
Publishing drama in public instead of handling it privately
Low quality posts or little to no effort taken to answer questions
Refusal to answer questions to the best of their abilities or giving minimal answers without expanding on it where appropriate
Inappropriate procedures in a vetting process
Absurdly long time to get back to you or answer questions for no reason
Little to no info on a conjure
Shops that adopt out to spirit hoarders
Lacking a legal disclaimer or refusing to list one on their site for whatever reason
Cultural appropriation
Offering child spirits
Listing spirits who’re unsuitable for companionship
In the end, it comes down to trust and discernment. You’re the one who’ll end up making the decision to go through a spirit shop or not for whatever reason. You’re making that leap of trust in the shop and the conjurer you work with. These standards are my personal recommendations based on my personal experience working with a variety of spirit shops. I know when I first delved into it, I was overwhelmed and had no clue about what to look for. By making this post, I’m giving you the tools to protect yourself and better inform you of the spirit shop experience. No one can stop you from doing what you do, only reason with you to sway your decision.
💜🎵GlowLite🎵💜 