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Aud Shaman's Tools for the Spirit, Lincoln, NE (2026)

08/06/2026

Hekate, many perceive her as THE goddess of witchcraft and magic, but who is she beyond that? Daughter of the titan of destruction (Perses) and the titan of falling stars as well as prophetic dreams (Asteria), she was truly a force to be reckoned with. To start, I’d like to point out a fact that may throw you for a loop. Hekate isn’t technically a Goddess, dot dot dot, dramatic pause, drum roll please! Hekate is actually a Titan, much like her parents. Okay, I’ll admit that was a little more build up than necessary, but I really wanted to mention this because I find it fascinating how easily various entities become deified. That’s a post for a different day though.
So Hekate is a rather fascinating read, beyond the hyper focused aspect of being the “goddess” of magic. She’s actually said to have been born as an entity with three attached bodies, each possessing a separate head allowing her to watch over the crossroads that people cross daily. Now, let’s take a pause and break down this term a little bit first. Crossroads is often viewed as a path split amongst varying directions, though Hekate takes this term as more than just a physical path. Being the patron of crossroads, she guides those who are not simply out travelling but even the crossroads of life. Yes, as cheesy as that may sound, the various decisions we must pick she’s there to guide us through those as well. One more meaning behind this is also the bridge between this world and the spirit world, no she does not guide souls to the underworld … well … except one actually. When Hades kidnapped Persephone, it naturally left Demeter distraught and worried. Searching everywhere for Persephone she was on the verge of losing hope, until she was approached by Hekate. Hekate said she overheard Persephone yell and so offered her assistance to get her back. Hekate led her to Helios to confirm her whereabouts, once they were certain of where Persephone was located, Hekate guided Demeter into Hades’s lair with her twin torches in hand and assisted the grieving mother in retrieving what was lost. After Persephone was retrieved, Hekate agreed to become her personal guide between worlds as well as her assistant. Though with the natural roles they each play, it wasn’t hard for their bond to turn from formal to a close friendship between the keeper of crossroads and the queen of the underworld.
Now that we’ve gotten that part out of the way I actually am a little curious about her role with magic. She didn’t simply offer magic to any who asked, being the patron of crossroads she offered you a light down the path of witchcraft, to learn and experience all there is to understand about the broad topic. She herself was very knowledgeable about all the various herbs. Sacred, poisonous and magical plants were at her disposal because she also held dominion over the earth, sky and sea, giving her limitless access to whatever she desired for her practice. Interestingly enough these roles with crossroads, the underworld, Persephone, the earth itself and all the other tales her time has woven actually is what turned her into the Goddess of Witchcraft. She didn’t simply start as one but instead developed the title through the evolution and growth of witchcraft itself. Just like she developed the title she has now, the path of working with Hekate is all about growth, development and personal choices that lead us to the practitioners we desire to be.
To finish things off, let’s look a little deeper into working with her but also offerings that can be made to earn her favor. Altar spaces are commonly found with candles, but in her case that’s extra true due to her being depicted wielding twin torches (so if you do one might as well have an extra). Part of her dark and guiding nature also associates her heavily with black dogs. Side note: Black Dogs are actually seen as guardians and guides for lost souls. So if you wish to add a black dog or two to your alter space, it’ll assist with calling her in for protection and guidance. As also mentioned before, she has a close connection to herbs and vegetation which means any plants offered to her would be seen as a sign of respect and an invitation to call her to assist in your own practice. Another practice you can also do while you’re not at home, is stopping at a crossroads and offering a prayer, giving thanks or leaving behind a small offering. Doing so is simple and an easy way to see things from her domain in the earthly realm.
I’m very happy that we had an opportunity to dive deeper into Hekate like this. I appreciate her popularity but naturally I feel it’s important to give credit where credit is due … and she definitely deserves the credit.

07/30/2026

Guan Yin, or I mean Kwan Yin … No! Quan Yin! Or wait, is it Kuan Yin? MIAO SHAN! Let’s start by understanding where these different spellings come from. The simple answer is, it’s all based around the various dialects across China and how it translates to English. Now the proper answer starts with Romanization, now if you’re like me and aren’t familiar with what that means … well good news cause google exists! I’m joking. Essentially romanization is the general process of giving A-Z letters to various languages, thus to make it easier for foreigners to pronounce said words and have a better chance to learn the language. This is the original cause for Guan Yin’s name to come out with so many different spellings for a singular entity. Now if we want to get deeper into the various versions of her name, then let me know if you're interested in part 2 and I’ll do some more digging. Until then … moving on!
So who is Guan Yin? She’s the Bodhisattva of compassion to put it simply, but because we’re going to be taking all the detours with this one, so let’s learn more about the term Bodhisattva first. A Bodhisattva, is a being (often human) who has managed to reach enlightenment, but instead of continuing towards Nirvana, they actively choose to stay in this world until all other beings have reached enlightenment themselves. In doing so they have not prevented themselves from reaching Nirvana, instead they find a unity between the eternal peace and the work they continuously are reborn into to complete.
Now, back to my previous question, who is Guan Yin? Well … she was actually originally a he, believe it or not. His name was Avalokiteshvara … what a mouthful! Despite the gender swap, they both carry the credit of being the most compassionate of all the Buddhas. He actually gained this concept, because it is said that he made it his goal to relieve all beings of their suffering to where no one would have to be reborn again. Unfortunately this task was not possible, even Buddha taught that suffering is an unavoidable part of human life and it cannot be taken away but simply released through The Four Noble Truths. Coming to this realization, Avalokiteshvara shattered into thousands of pieces from the overwhelming grief and despair, it was too much for him to withstand. Seeing the result of his suffering, Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Life, gathered all the pieces and put Avalokiteshvara back together. Only when he was pieced back, he was also given eleven heads and a thousand arms, this way he could reach out to all who were suffering and continue the task he gave himself.
Next I’d like to get back into the history of Guan Yin and answer how she came into existence. To start, remember what I said before about Romanization? This was true translating Sanskrit into Chinese. What was originally Avalokiteshvara became Guanshiyin, and then as we know was shortened to Guanyin. So we’ve got the name change, next is the gender swap. There’s actually two points attributing to this, first being cultural relevance and the legend of the princess Miao Shan. During the Tang and Song dynasties (907-960 CE), the virtues of Avalokiteshvara were actually seen to be more feminine in nature than masculine, thus to match the cultural formalities they slowly transitioned He into She. This grand transition was backed up through the story of Princess Miao Shan. Miao Shan was the third born girl of King Miao Zhuang, side note if you know Chinese history it’s common practice to want a son in the mix so having three girls wasn’t something they were ready to celebrate, she was a kind and gentle and devoted her life to the teaching of Buddha. As it were, her father decided the only way he could benefit from his daughter was to marry her off to a wealthy lord, she would agree but only under one condition. This condition was impossible because she wanted the marriage itself to cure the sufferings of aging, illness and even death itself. Naturally her father told her there was no such man who could grant her wish, she defied his order and chose a life of celibacy. Enraged he punished her by sending her to the palace garden to endure harsh labor with very little food, still she refused to bow to his order. Furious with her defiance he sent her to a remote temple and ordered his own men to guard the building after setting it aflame, killing her rather than attempting to change her mind any further. She walked out unscathed as both nature and the spirits protected her by putting the fire out and allowing her to escape to Fragrant Mountain. Many years passed and her father grew ill, with a disease that could only be cured with medicine made by a being who carried no anger toward the man. The King sent an envoy to Fragrant Mountain in hopes of reaching the holy hermit who resided there and gain their favor. This holy hermit, little to his knowledge, was his very own daughter Miao Shan. When word reached of her fathers condition, she made a sacrifice of her own arms and eyes so the miracle concoction could be properly made and save the king’s life. Once the king had received the medicine, he was cured immediately and spared no time to reach the Hermit of Fragrant Mountain so that he could thank them in person. To his surprise though, once he reached the Mountain he found no man, but instead his daughter, maimed and bleeding on the floor of a cave. Touched by his daughter's sacrifice, especially after all he had put her through, the king repented for his wrong doings and devoted himself to a life of virtue. Miao Shan’s sacrifice gained her immediate rebirth into the being now known as Guan Yin, with many eyes and arms so that she could continue to help those who are suffering and lead them to enlightenment of their very own.
I gotta say, this piece took so many more turns than I ever expected it to. However I must say the story of Guan Yin and Avalokiteshvara are certainly ones I will look upon fondly. I hope you enjoyed this longer look into the Spirit Realm and I’m excited to see what you all think of next week’s post.

07/23/2026

Sekhmet, daughter of the Sun God Ra, her creation though was not one to be celebrated. Sekhmet was actually created from the fire of her fathers eyes as a punisher for those who disobeyed him. To say Sekhmet was excellent at her role would be an understatement unfortunately, her bloodlust became so intense that she threatened to take her punishments to near apocalyptic levels. Naturally seeing this outcome as problematic, he needed to think of a solution quickly. Funny enough it took beer to settle her, no, I’m not joking. Ra offered her thousands of jugs of beer dyed red from red from pomegranate juice, thus tricking her into thinking she was drinking blood. After consuming such a godly amount of alcohol she fell asleep peacefully, and once she awoke her bloodlust subsided and was reborn as the cow goddess, Hathor.
Hathor was truly the opposition of Sekhmet. Fertility, joy and love, she gave Ra’s people hope after the wrath of the lioness. She was a protector of pregnant women, keeping them safe during birth thus allowing future generations to replace those that had been slaughtered. What do you think? Do you think this is a fair balance?
Now back to Sekhmet, she transforms back from Hathor once she becomes enraged and goes into a fury. Although a force to fear, she can be appeased with simple things like pomegranate juice, beer or even red meat. Offerings to her can actually attract her favor for protection or even ironically healing. Being a goddess of destruction, death and plague, she also knew how to reverse said punishments. So my advice is behave yourself and keep some leftovers available in the fridge.
Since we’re at it though let’s talk a little bit more about Hathor. Simply put, to start her offerings include beer (much like her counterpart), milk, honey and sweet perfumes (as she is also the goddess of makeup). Isis, is the real reason why I wanted to continue with Hathor though. Nowadays, Isis and Hathor have been confused as one in the same (more specifically Isis actually overshadows Hathor), when in reality they both carry their own unique attributes as goddesses. As mentioned before Hathor is the goddess of fertility and birth, while Isis represents a step beforehand. Isis is the main goddess of marriage but more specifically wifehood. As for who attributes to what role in what mythology, I fear the information has either been lost or overruled as Isis being the head goddess. Reason being that no matter what source you find nowadays, it’s simply a matter of who the source favors to write about.
Sekhmet, Hathor and Isis. Three lovely goddesses all devoted to protecting the innocent, loyal and good intentioned people of this world. No matter who you choose to ask for assistance from, I carry no doubts in my mind that you will indeed receive exactly what you need.

07/16/2026

Ok! For today I wanna try something different! There's a lot of guides out there that we can run through, so I'd like for you to tell me who you wanna see more information on! Leave a comment about any God, guide, angel, spirit, etc you'd like to learn more about and I'll be sure to create a post for them in the future and I'll tag you during it so you can be the first to read about them!

07/09/2026

Osiris, is a God with a rather heartbreaking, but also heart warming story. I feel it’s only fair to start with his story. Starting with a fun fact, Osiris was said to once be mortal and was the first rightful King of Egypt. Despite being a kind and just ruler, his brother Set (God of Chaos) despised him for many reasons. The main reason found was that Osiris laid with Set’s consort, Nephthys (Goddess of the Dark). Now diving deeper into why all of this happened, is actually rather simple. Nephthys simply desired a child and Set was infertile, unable to give her what she desired, Nephthys seduced Osiris while he was intoxicated (and possibly disguised herself as his wife and her sister Isis) and conceived the Jackal headed God Anubis. Enraged, Set murdered his brother and disposed of his body accordingly. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of solid information as to how Set did any of these things, because according to Ancient Egyptians, inscribing something can actually bring to truth. So to avoid repeating Osiris’s fate they avoided directly documenting this information. Although there isn’t a solid understanding of his death, we’ll just continue with one of the more common versions for the sake of progression. In some cases it was believed that Set transformed into a wild beast and tore his brother apart with his sharp teeth. Afterwards he dumped each of the pieces into the Nile river in hopes he would not be found.
Reassembling and reviving Osiris. Once hearing of Osiris’s fate the sisters Nephthys and Isis went out to the Nile and collected him one piece at a time. Side note to add to all of this, it is believed that the Nile was a bringer of life in more than just giving life to the desert. Khnum, the God of creation, formed the Nile and is believed to offer his life giving power to all that touch the sacred water. The waters offered what life it could to his decaying body, thus allowing him to be revived. Once collected Nephthys and Isis received help from his son Anubis, the God who invented mummification, and Thoth, God of magic, to wrap him up in bandages thus creating the first ever mummy. Once the preparations were in place Nephthys and Isis turned themselves into Kite Birds so they could fan living breath back into his body. Once finished Isis quickly added her own magic to the mix so that she could conceive a child with him and later birth their son Horus.
Unfortunately, though he was brought back to life, he was no longer able to walk among the mortals he once ruled. Instead he made way towards Duat (the underworld) where he presided over the dead as their supreme ruler and judge of the afterlife. Taking over the rule of the Heart Weighing Ceremony, he dictates a souls final verdict. If a soul was balanced or righteous by name, it was granted eternal life and could live out its eternity with Osiris in the Field of Reeds. However if it was full of darkness, then it would be devoured by a horrific beast and cease to exist.
Thus ends the story of life and death. Love and jealousy. Destruction and rebirth. I do hope you enjoyed this story and hope you await the next tale of the Gods among us.

07/03/2026

Come check me out! I'm all set up and ready to clear things up!

07/02/2026

Lelenhoya vs Kokopelli
Many of you know the figure of Lelenhoya, but the name of Kokopelli. These two figures are prominent spirits in Hopi mythology but have been falsely confused by modern cultures to be one in the same.
Let’s start with Lelenhoya, he is the actual flute playing figure a lot of us grew up seeing all over the place. A cicada spirit, he’s very fond of music and plays a huge role in the transition of nature. Kokopelli actually initiates the planting of seeds and bountiful harvest (more on that soon) while Lelenhoya actually uses his music to drive the snow away after winter, bringing life back to nature and the vegetation all around allowing the land to be utilized once again.
Now according to legend due to the great work that Lelenhoya did for the villages, the people would dance and sing and celebrate in his name, afterwards it was said that the women of said villages would all find themselves to be pregnant. Praise of this wonder was given unto the name many know of but a figure not many recognize as Kokopelli.
Now I want to dive deeper into the mix up that started all of this confusion. To start, Kokopelli is not a flute player and does not have antennae like Lelenhoya. However there are many depictions of him being hunched similarly to that of the cicada spirit. Though there is one very important detail that helps differentiate him from many others. That is his er****on. Yes, I said that correctly. This is the feature that clearly depicts him as a fertility spirit. Due to the surge in “appropriate” behavior as the Natives began to lose control of the land, it was pushed that Kokopelli got censored. Naturally without his signature figure, the hunch backed figure became commonly confused among historians. Due to the similarities in appearance (with the exception of the flute) it became common belief that they were in fact one in the same, just different poses. Soon with that popularity of Lelenhoya’s figure and Kokopelli’s name became mainstream. Between alcohol, juice, incense, statues and figures, etc. the name of Lelenhoya slowly began to drift into history, until recently when people began to educate those lost among the ignorance that was a censored God.
Below is a picture of Kokopelli (left) and Lelenhoya (right)

06/25/2026

Baron Cimetiere, the Vodou Loa that guards cemeteries and the dead. He’s a very important member of the Gede family, which are known for their roles watching over the spirits of those who passed. However despite their grim roles, they’re rather boisterous and energetic, especially for a good party, for most at least. While Cimetiere does enjoy a good time, he is one of the more proper Gede’s. Appearing in a nice tuxedo and a top hat, he definitely carries the traditions of dressing the dead for their final viewing.
If you wish to make an offering to him it’s safe to say that he has a high preference for high quality items. Specifically ci**rs, loose to***co, coffee grounds and fine liquors. If you wish to dress an altar for him, be sure to offer up a nice top hat for him while you’re at it, or even a doll dressed in a tux, top hat and skeleton-like features. A less traditional but still appreciated offering you can do is simply touching your local cemeteries. Nothing major of course, but simply leaving fresh flowers for various graves or picking up debris and trash, keeping his domain clean and looking respectable.
While admittedly there isn’t a lot of information about the Baron, he’s still a figure that’s earned praise and deserves respect. So whenever you’re out visiting those who have passed, be sure to tell him hello, and offer him a drink while you’re at it. He works hard and I think we can all agree he’s earned it

06/18/2026

Inanna, also commonly known as Ishtar is quite the story as far as her reach goes. Originally a Mesopotamian Goddess of war, love and fertility she eventually grew amongst most nations under several varying names. For instance her name to the Mesopotamians, is in fact Inanna. Ishtar actually became a more commonly used name by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians as her influence began to spread amongst varying countries. Even more interesting is that she's even believed by scholars to be the original Aphrodite of Greek Mythology. Due to her common placements as a Goddess and her attachment to Venus. Although, despite her numerous counterparts, I feel Inanna is one of the most fascinating due to how much influence she carries beyond her main attributes. Point being, is that she’s also known as “The Queen of Heaven” and much like Zeus, she’s also a Goddess of political power and law. Really giving Zeus a run for his money on that one I’d say
Let’s continue into the turning classic section of offerings. So being a woman of high stature it’s safe to say that her tastes a touch more refined. Wine, dates and figs are often a good offering for her due to the popularity they had in Sumer. Although she wouldn’t mind a beer if you yourself are feeling more relaxed and simply just want to enjoy a drink with this Goddess. For obvious reasons if food and drink are out of the question for you, then Incense that carries the smell of Cedar is a wonderful option for her as well or if you’re musically inclined she does enjoy the sound of instruments dedicated for her pleasure.
In the end though it’s easy to say that Inanna isn’t as complex as a Goddess to work with than you’d expect. Connecting with her can be done as simply as a prayer to her and even a nice conversation. Also next time you’re outside at night maybe give Venus a little love as a sign of appreciation towards your new favorite (maybe) Goddess of love and war.

06/14/2026

I don't about you but the last few days have been a drag! We're getting close though! Everything is going to fall into place soon for all of us! Pick a number between 1-5 and let's see what we can learn about what's next!

Aud Shaman's Tools for the Spirit

08/06/2026

07/30/2026

07/23/2026

07/16/2026

07/09/2026

07/03/2026

07/02/2026

06/25/2026

06/18/2026

06/14/2026

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