Pareidolia or a Sign?

Let’s talk about 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗮 (par-i-DOH-lee-a).

As a witch, I am all about signs, spirits, and messages. However, I also like to exhaust all other explanations before presuming it is something metaphysical or of the other realm. I think it’s a good practice. It helps me distinguish actual signs from just making up my own interpretations. It helps the path be more clear because I’m not taking a jumble of random personal interpretations, but I try to truly listen for my guides and deity when they have something to say.

Many times I see posts in witch groups about “seeing faces” and some members will presume a face in mundane objects instantly means it’s a visiting spirit or something malicious, based off of the appearance. Or they will see an animal or something else in a photo and ask “what does this mean?” However, there is actually a psychological reasoning behind most sightings of “things within another thing”. Human brains are hardwired to see familiar objects, namely faces, in things and our brains quickly associate what emotion the face might be feeling. This is called pareidolia, and it’s actually quite common. It’s like seeing things in clouds. We know the teddy bear we see in the clouds isn’t actually there, but it’s fun to point out what our brains see. The Rorschach test is based off of this psychology.

Why am I mentioning this? Because I think it helps to recognize when our brains are doing this vs intuitively feeling energy. Close your eyes and feel things out more than using your eyes. You might see things a bit differently!