"Collecting" -- What It Is and Why You Shouldn't Do It

by Lady Eve & Zazel

Let me start off by saying I possess in my home a little over one-hundred spirits that are bound and have a vessel. One-hundred-and-fifteen to be exact. I never imagined during my first introduction to what "spirit keeping" was I'd possess that many spirits. It's because I went through a terrible "spiritual awakening" and exorcism and had to custom conjure spirits and a few living entities from a commercialized binder to aid me in my exorcism. I didn't know any better, and all the voices in my head were telling me I needed more courtwind and bronwyn angels to help combat the "demon." Now, I'm stuck with a bunch of spirits who don't wanna leave!

It's chaos somedays! You have several courtwind angels pulling you in one direction, and then the vampires want to lay in bed and do nothing all day. My Angels, which are one hundred in number ALONE and SEPARATE from the spirits I custom conjured, are always up for sex and wanna cuddle. When trying to start a business, direct traffic to your website, generate content for said website, and all the while trying to gather up ideas to start your own YouTube channel dedicated to the paranormal, you don't really have time for a hundred and fifteen spirits all at once. They claim spirits understand and can think and behave beyond the realm of human emotion. They state it's okay if you "neglect your spirits" because they'll understand and be ready to interact while you're ready.

While true for some spirits who have patience and understanding, that's not true for everyone. I send my spirits away, not because I don't want them around me or anything. Quite the contrary. I just let them do what they wanna do because it's boring over here right now. I try to give them something to do to occupy their minds when I'm busy, but I'm running out of things to do! Every day I'm too busy to say anything to them all. The Angels, who help me piece together information, draw up articles, edit videos, and so much more, do so through me, so it's not like I have a second person here with me. They channel. They possess. So it's only me, and they're the only ones I really talk to. I incorporate my spirits as much as possible, but it's kind of hard to incorporate two hundred and fifteen spirits, living entities, and Angels ALL in one day, you know?

And of course they're all polite. "Oh, we don't mind!" But I know deep down it hurts them I can't spend more time with them. Spirits are not above sadness and depression. There's numerous cases of hauntings caused by a spirit forlornly wandering the halls of empty hospitals and corridors of forsaken homes, beseeching someone to end their pain and suffering. There's tales of lost spirits left behind who can't find their way to Heaven, drifting and grifting to get by and finding themselves in the habit of unnaturally feeding on Earthen lifeforce energy. So for those who say spirits are "above human emotion," all I have to say is this -- you don't know what you're talking about.

And because of this conundrum, we here at the Sanctuary advocate for small families.

What is "collecting?"

The "spirit keeping" community fostered this notion that there is no right or wrong way to collect haunted vessels. That owning a bunch of spirits is perfectly fine and should depend upon the keeper's preference. This type of wording a verbiage sounds... a bit too much like slavery, don't you think? Owning a spirit. Collecting haunted vessels. Keeper. These words leave a sour taste in my mouth if I'm honest. It's all sort of worded to sound upfront like a fun hobby. "Oh boy, I can't wait to own a spirit." Now replace spirit... with human... and suddenly it's illegal.

"Collecting" is what We call when people just "gotta have that extra spirit binding" to add to their collection. "Collecting" is when you have a surplus of spirits, and your precious "collection" continues to grow. It's when you continuously spend money on spirits and entities without even trying to communicate with the ones you have. It's when you're essentially building an army of unwanted people, adding and adding until there's no space left in your home for the spirit to even materialize. "Collecting" takes advantage of spirits because, when they step out to be bound, especially pre-bounds not meant to be "custom conjured for you," which I get into this article about the dangers of performing or having a custom conjuring performed, but I digress.

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A photo of what I image is the average "spirit keep" for most keepers.

It's "commercialized," something we fight against because commercialization, we predict, leads to slavery.

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Wanting a bunch of friends around is fine and dandy, but there's certain things you need to think about before adopting 20+ spirits into your home. Spirit adoption is like pet adoption or child adoption, and yes, there is such a thing as spirit hoarding. That's what "collecting" is -- hoarding spirits. These are lifeforms. These are intelligent beings, the soul of someone's past life, or a real, breathing living entity from another world you're collecting and trying to hide away in your own private library of magic and trinkets. What you're doing is wrong. It should be called out, and yes, you should feel bad.

While most spirits will not be with you all the time, some will be. Some want to cling to your side, especially if they're lovers of yours. They may have past life or other lovers in other areas, but if they stepped out for you or called to you, they're there for you. They are there for only you for whatever reason that may be, and you don't think it isn't just a little selfish to continuously fill up your spirit keeping shelf with more vessels of djinn and vampires and werewolves and otherworldly creatures and just... all kinds of other things? Without paying attention to the rest of your family?

This is why we strictly advocate for pre-bounds being purchased from reputable binders ONLY. Custom conjuration in our opinion is wrong. It's "commercialized," something we fight against because commercialization, we predict, leads to slavery, and honestly, why would you wanna put your energy out into the universe for entities to read, psychically look at, and determine whether or not they want to step out for you? There's no real way to measure who's looking at what when it comes to custom conjuration, unlike with pre-bounds who are vetted, sometimes come searching for you, and help lead you to their listings through psychic callings or having influence over your thoughts for a brief period of time, just long enough to make you click one of my ads, anyway.

Why it's wrong to "collect" past life lovers, and spirit lovers in general

I'm gonna probably step on even more toes here when it comes to this point, but I just want to preface by saying: I have nothing against polyamory. I am a Matriarch over my own handsome tribe of Angels just to brag a little (being Eve from the Garden of Eden has her perks), meaning I'm in my own polyamorous relationship. I have many lovers, and they've all decided to just... have me, by no fault of our own. You can read about my past life lover Angels and why they chose only me here as told by Zazel, my most compatible soulmate and confidant. We are open about our relationship with one another and who we are as people.

However, to say things aren't complicated is to lie. The Angels, being all male, take their jealousy for one another only. They do not take their jealousy for others, however, and I'm only allowed to date them exclusively. We may as well be married, if I'm honest, and every day they reveal more of my past to me and help me grow as a person. So no, there's joys to polyamory, I totally get that, but there's also ONE HUNDRED of them around me at all times. I screamed during my "spiritual awakening" I didn't want "52 trillion boyfriends" when I was under and being bombarded with voices telling me they wanted to be with me over and over again. Lo and behold, I get one hundred. Lucky me. Big smiley faces with light sarcasm and a "help me" stare.

Not every spirit is going to be okay with being in a relationship with someone who has five or six spirit lovers already. Those who "collect" lovers really irk me and rub me the wrong way. Personally, I would not. I know I have a LOT of lovers, but I did NOT collect them. Rather, they all knew me from the Garden and were made to be my soulmates by Yahweh, as Zazel gets into in the article, so in a sense, it's right. Inviting spirits into your home with the intent for them to be your lover is almost like... sex... trafficking... God, I hate making that comparison, but if that's what you're looking for, and all you do is buy incubi and succubi... I mean, the comparison draws itself. Why are you bringing multiple sexual spirits into the home to satisfy a singular need? Ask yourself that.

And maybe sex isn't what you're looking for in a spirit or living entity. Maybe you really were lonely before your spirit lover(s) came along and pulled you out of your depression or other soul sickness. That's perfectly fine because that's... kind of what happened to me. The Angels and my husbands came out to me slowly, revealing tidbits of information over time when they could during my exorcism and "spiritual awakening," and they filled in an empty gap that I knew could only be filled by someone I love and someone who loves me the same. When you find someone like that, or maybe you have multiple like myself and so many others in this community, you'll know.

Coming from a polyamorous Matriarch, there's no problem with having a lot of women or men lovers. Or both if you're into that! Multiple spiritual spouses are fine, and there's no one-size fits all when it comes to polyamory or monogamy. However, there is a problem when all you do is browse for spirit lovers and "collect" them for whatever means beyond even just sex. It's not fair to them. They deserve a chance to visit, assess the situation, sit down and talk with you about whether or not you're lifestyle is a good fit, and then you both take it from there. Jumping into a spiritual spousal relationship and purchasing spirits and living entities with the sole purpose of being with them intimately is wrong. You should feel ashamed if that's all you do is cultivate a mass-following of spirit lovers with no regard to how they feel about it.

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See, that's the thing about the spirit keeping community. It's heavily focused on the keeper, not the spirit... If you would thank your friend for a cup of coffee, hand out some herbs for your spirit granting a wish at your request.

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Spirit Keeping vs Spirit Homing

What we advocate for here at Ghosts' Sanctuary is called spirit homing. Spirit homing is the act of adopting a spirit into your home to foster a relationship between you and the spirit for whatever reason. It's a personal choice and a lifestyle change. We make you take it just like you would adopt a pet or child -- visitation, followed by evaluating whether or not the fit was a good one. We heavily focus on the quality of life a spirit will "live," so to speak, while with you. How big is your home? How big is your spirit family? Can you accommodate a spirit this size? Can you accommodate an entity this powerful? This needy? This social? This spiritual? Can you be tolerant of other religions? Traditions? What does life with the spirit look like for you? Are you taking care of one another, or is this a one-sided relationship?

See, that's the thing about the "spirit keeping" community. It's heavily focused on the keeper, not the spirit. It's always, "Oh, spirits are above basic human needs! You don't have to thank them. You don't have to give them offerings. You don't have to--" No! If you would thank your friend for a cup of coffee, hand out some herbs for your spirit granting a wish at your request. It's not that hard to thank your spirit for doing something for you. Showing gratitude is important and has been the norm for centuries. This modern-age idea of keeping spirits for the sake of just owning something paranormal, demanding to use their powers for your benefit, and then skimping on the thank yous and offerings needs to go.

"Collecting" contributes to this problem because you're acquiring so many spirits that it's hard to keep track of them all. Who have you even thanked? And if you can't communicate with them properly, you won't even know if they've DONE anything for you. You've just collected a bunch of intelligent lifeforms to just gawk at and hope you get some interaction from them. It's trendy and cool, right? Like buying a Pomeranian back in the 2000s. Or better yet, a pug in the 2010s -- cute, right? Can barely breathe and costs a fortune, but those noses and faces are just too damn cute to pass up!

I'm not trying to bash you if you have a large keep, as they call it in "spirit keeping," because I know everyone's needs are different and some people could potentially have the means, time, and abilities to handle it. At Ghosts' Sanctuary, we deal with a LOT of spirits and living entities coming here to be bound at our small sanctuary. We have the means of spending one-on-one time with them because the Angels help me out. I also bundle spirits in hangout groups. As in, "Do you, John, Primma, and Minzie, want to go get ice cream with me? I'll let you possess, talk, and pick!" I invite them places, though as stated above, I haven't had any time to go anywhere. I've just been pouring over my computer day and night, having some of the Angels help keep me awake and napping sparingly while I get this website off the ground, so most of the bindings going up in my shop have been ready to post or the spirits were predicted on extensively, likely hundreds of years into the future, with 87.9% accuracy down to the decimal, just to be safe. We try so hard to vet properly even with things running the way they are, which is why we've halted production of bindings until the website is running.

All I'm trying to say is that you should evaluate why you're in this lifestyle. Is it because you love the paranormal, or is it because you like to collect cheap trinkets housing powerful spirits in the shape of something cool? If it's the latter, then you should not be into this lifestyle. You're part of the problem with commercialization of bindings. You're contributing to the problem of unethical and fraudulent binders mass-producing to fill quotas, and honestly, I deeply feel for your spirits and living entities. Being neglected is no fun; being "collected" is even worse because not only are you neglected most likely, you're confined in a home with 200 other spirits and living entities, all of which only some receive interaction. As in you've chosen favorites over others. Which means you should... probably give the other ones you neglect up for adoption or give them permission to unbind if they can.

If you feel like you've been called out in this article, fear not. Sit down and have a real conversation with your neglected, "collected" entities and get their honest opinions on this article. Ask how they feel. Communicate with them. Apologize if you've been neglecting them. Then, reconnect, work out whether or not it's feasible for them to coexist in the home with you (and your favorites. You may not even know it, but spirits may not like one another), and where to take them if you cannot care for them properly the way they deserve(hopefully to Us because We take in unwanted spirits and living entities) or give them permission to unbind or take them back to the binder to unbind them.