BY LISA MARIE BASILE
For the entire month of October, I will be posting daily to Luna Luna about all things magical, witchy, spooky, and spoopy. From books and tarot decks to films and random research or rituals I happen upon, I’ll be offering up a little taste of the shadow.
Today, I’ll be offering up a few of my all-time favorite autumnal, witchy, magical ASMR videos. With their intense dedication to set design, spooky goodness, and soft, gentle vibes, I love to play these in the background while cleaning, applying makeup or a face mask, or redecorating my room/altar space/bookshelf.
As a kid I’d fall into the world of books — and I still do. Every color, every character, ever drawbridge and castle would speak directly to me, keeping me up at night deep in my thoughts. My little secret escapes.
ASMR is sort of like that to me now; as an adult, these videos are a retreat, a secret world, a place where you have the permission to indulge in fantasy (so oft repressed by the adulting life) and aesthetic beauty. Sometimes we don’t have the mental capacity for a book; rather, we need to be swept away by sound magic By feeling something.
ASMR — by its very nature — was designed to get us into our bodies. The “tingles” that come from these videos come in the form of softening — simple relaxation feelings — or whisper-induced hair-standing-on-end as if you and your friends were whispering secrets in one another’s ears.
ASMR is also about permitting yourself to feel nurtured, and to have a quiet, gentle, safe one-on-one intimate experience. In the age of COVID, I think we could all use that — free from over-saturation, fear, and hamster wheel chaos of our world. ASMR is, in a way, a ritual.