Tools: Wooden Wands, Staves, and the Qualities of Different Wood

Section 1: Deals with how to use wands and staves in magical practices, and is meant to aid those who don’t know what a wand does or how to use it.
Section 2: Deals with the different qualities of various common woods, and is meant to aid those who want the correspondences of different woods.

Types of Wands

There are basically three types of wands that are of use to us as magicians. The first type, and the most important, are wooden wands, which will be dealt with in this article. There is a second type which is a piece of crystal in the shape of a wand, known as a crystal wand or energy wand. These are generally associated with the new age movement and are very useful. Lastly there’s a type of wand that is hand made by putting gemstones and herbs inside of a hollow pipe. I’ll discuss these types of wands in future articles. There are other types of wands, most notably a metal wand, which some stores are now selling. These things are next to useless and a waste of money. You’re better off with either a wooden wand or a knife.

How to Use a Wand

Wands are one of the magician’s five elemental tools and are fire associative. Wood is great at quickly absorbing and easily working with large amounts of energy, and so wands are used to manipulate large amounts of energy easily. Note the following exercises assume at least a passing understanding of how to manipulate energy. Without this understanding your results will not be as impressive.

Soak and Radiate: This is not really an exercise. Just a comment about the nature of a wand. If you watch a wand you’ll notice that, all on its own, it will very easily soak up some of the energy around it. You’ll also notice that the wood will radiate this energy from it, as if it is slowly leaking out. This is the nature of wood and how it reacts with energy and why it is so good at manipulating energy as it does.

Moving Energy: Moving energy is easy enough. If you can find it in the room you can easily wave your hand to move it, or swirl it around, or whatever (you don’t even need a hand, but these things are always easier with physical aids). Now try these same exercises with your wand. You’ll notice you’re moving a much larger amount of energy around, and you’ll be doing it a lot easier than if you just used your hand.

Pulling Energy into the Wand: Put each hand on opposite ends of the wand and hold it horizontally at chest level. Now concentrate on pulling nearby energy towards yourself and into the wand. You should notice the wand works kind of like a magnet pulling in whatever stray energy may be around.

Raising Energy (Method One): This is the same as the previous method, except this time try to pull energy from more than just the surrounding area. You can also try pulling energy from out of the ground. You’ll notice you’ll pull a lot of energy into the area very quickly.

Raising Energy (Method Two): Pretty much the same as the last method, except instead you hold the wand in one hand and move the wand in an upward motion. This is typically the preferred method for raising energy from the ground. You can also prance around the room doing this because, um, some people like that sort of stuff. Not me! But some people.

Energizing (Screw Method): Swirl the wand over an object or person in a clockwise motion to push the nearby energy into it. Swirl counterclockwise to drain.

Directing energy: This is pretty much the same as moving energy. Hold the wand vertically and move your arm down until it is at a ninety degree angle with your body. All free energy should now rush towards whatever is being pointed at. Unless the energy is specifically charged for an act, this is generally an attack. You throw enough energy at a barrier and it will break. You throw enough energy at something living and you will kill it. It helps if the energy is aggressive and malicious, but an aggressive and malicious intent is usually enough to do it.

All of these methods are more dependent on will and intent than anything else. The motions are only meant to help focus the mind and one’s intent through physical action.

Staves

Staves work much the same as wands. They’re pretty much just really big wands. Anything you can do with a wand, you can do with a staff. The advantage of having a wand is that it is easier to carry around to rituals, it’s easier to store several of them, they’re easier to charge on an alter, they are cheaper and easier to make, and some woods can not be made into staves.

Staves have several advantages. For starters, they’re more inconspicuous, if you have a small, modest staff. If you have a ten foot tall staff with feathers and bells hanging off it, no it’s not inconspicuous. If you have a cane-like walking stick, you just use a cane to walk.

Staves are also bigger. Technically this means, all things being equal in regards to wood types and enchantments, they should be able to move larger amounts of energy. It’d be very rare though, with a properly enchanted wand, to hit a point where you felt you needed more and a staff would make much of a difference.

Also, being bigger, staves can hold larger charge for longer. This is actually the biggest advantage the staff has. Wood radiates energy, and so the charge is always disappearing. The more energy that enters a piece of wood, the quicker it will radiate out. A staff can hold a lot more energy though, so a staff will keep its charge much longer.

Because of this, and the ease of carrying it around as a walking stick, many people like to take staves to places with large amounts or unique energy in order to charge them. Properly done, this can result in a very powerful and highly charged tool when used in ritual.

Adding Gemstones to Your Wand

A lot of people like to attach gemstones to a wooden wand. Whether or not to do this is up to the practitioner and largely a matter of preference. A gemstone will hold a charge much better than wood, and so it can be used as a battery for the wand. Gemstones also amplify energy (meaning the energy coming off the wand will be increased). A gemstone may make it easier to manipulate and shape energy in a finer, less broad, way. And finally a gemstone will taint the wands energy to that of the gemstone. The exact taint is dependent on the type of gemstone used, and is beyond the scope of this article.

On the downside the gemstone will have its own personality (which you much be compatible with, in addition to that of the wood), and a gemstone will have a particular taint on the wand’s energy (which the wand ideally should be compatible with).

The Personality of Wood

Remember that wood was once a living thing, and as such each plant had its own personality, and that personality is going to carry on to the wood itself. That’s why it’s important to be sure that you are compatible with a particular wand or staff.

The Qualities of Wood

Broadly speaking, different types of wood have certain inherent qualities, and these will effect how any wooden magical tools made from them operate. Listed below are some of the most common, and also some of the most useful, types of wood you’ll find in magical tools and their general qualities:

Apple – Apple is associated with love and fertility, and is good for utilizing love and sexual energies. It works well with all sorts of love spells, lust spells, marriage spells, and fertility spells. Apple is compatible with deities of love, sex, desire, and courtship.

Ash – Ash is fire associative. All wands are fire associative, but ash is doubly so. Ash makes a very good battle wand. Its best use is for direct attacks against people and entities. It also does pretty well with death curses and with destroying crops (not really that useful in this day and age though). Because of its combative nature, it’s also good at most kinds of protection magick, like casting wards and barriers. Properly enchanted, ash can also do well in aiding all kinds of creativity. Ash is compatible to deities who are fire associative and deities of warriors and battle (Mars, Aries, Athena, Tyr).

Elder - Elder wood is very good at finding and absorbing negative energies. For this reason most people will find Elder, at best, difficult to work with in any kind of magick that doesn’t involve harm, vengeance, or cursing. Elder is also a very alive and vengeful type of tree, and Elder wood should never be taken off of a tree without permission from the tree, otherwise you may have to deal with the wrath of the tree. Elder wood will often work as a ward by itself, either because entities fear the elder wood, or because they fear that which is powerful enough to control the elder wood.

Elm – Earth associative, Elm is the opposite of Ash.

Hawthorn – A fae associative wood (and surprise, you can make alcohol from it). Like oak, this is an otherworldly wood, which makes it somewhat useful for evocations, but keep in mind that it comes from fae realms and generally connects to fae realms. Hawthorn is best for magick dealing directly with fae. Fae-kin may also find the wand very compatible. The wood’s nature may also make it a good choice for fae-like endeavours. Cutting down or otherwise destroying a Hawthorn tree that fae have laid claim to will often times make them angry and vengeful.

Hazel – Air associative. Hazel is a wood of wisdom and intelligence. Because of this, in spiritual work, many see hazel wands as a general good all-purpose wand.

Maple - Generally a wood of protection.

Oak - Oak is an ancient tree, the species is older than this world. Oak does not originate here, it originates in other worlds, and as such it acts as a sort of anchor to these worlds and their magicks. Because of this oak is a very powerful magical wood. Groves of oak trees are a preferred place for ritual because the area is anchored into other worlds. Oak also works very well when used to move through worlds (either going out via astral projection, shadowwalking, or dreaming) or bringing things in through evocation. Oak is also associated with lightning and is sacred to all lightning associated gods (Zeus, Thor).

Pine - A good wood for spells involving youth, the slowing of age and decay, immortality, and strength (when defined as resistance). Also a good all purpose wand for spells involving practical matters.

Poplar - Some confusingly think that poplar is good for protection spells, when in fact it’s that items made from the wood make excellent guardians. Your poplar wand isn’t so much going to be good at casting protection spells as it is going to be good at protecting you from attacks while you carry it.

Rowan - Rowan is an excellent absorber of energy. This makes the wood superior in all kinds of protection spells. In fact just having Rowan wood on your person may be enough to completely absorb all of the energy from a hostile spell. Likewise Rowan can absorb the radiant energy from the area and from dead spirits and stray entities, rendering them harmless and invisible. Properly enchanting and using Rowan wood will make magnify (and if done right filter) its absorption abilities making it more effective in these endeavors. Also due to its very high sensitivity in regards to absorbing energy they make superior dowsing rods.

Sandalwood – Sandalwood is a divine wood. It is associated with divinity, the gods, and all matters of a higher spiritual nature. Sandalwood is also an endangered and protected species, and there is a much greater demand for the wood than supply. Because of this most sandalwood is not true sandalwood, but of a related species.

Willow – Willow is water associative. It’s good for both healing spells and cleansing spells. It’s also good for exorcising spirits (which is technically a cleansing spell). This makes Willow an excellent choice for besoms and brooms. In actuality what Willow is good at is washing away that which is bad, improper, or old and bringing forth that which is new or a renewal. It is because of this that willow is sometimes associated with bringing the dead to their final resting place, however willow’s association is with exercising the dead and the resulting renewal, not with the land of the dead or with death energy. Willow can also work well with death spells under very limited circumstances. Due to willow’s nature of getting rid of that which is bad, improper, or old there are some legends that the tree will uproot itself and seek out and kill travelers.

(European) Yew – First off, make sure you get European Yew and not Pacific Yew (which is more common in North America). Yew is associated with the dead and the land of the dead. Yew is very good at utilizing death energy (this is the energy of the dead, not energy that kills). It’s also for bringing forth and controlling the dead. Ash is compatible with most Chthonic deities.

The Sigils of Thomas Pendragon

This is a heads up that my friend Tom has been working on channeling and transcribing a series of 84 sigils (28 sigils of the Ether, 28 of the Abyss, and 28 of Earth), these are not only beautiful, but full of symbolic meaning (some of it which is hidden and has never been published) and they’re all very powerful. Right now Tom is printing them for everyone to see and hopes to eventually publish them with some sort of scheme that will allow others to use and expand upon the work in their own publications. He’s also working on commentary for all the sigils which will incorporate his own work and experiences with them.

The binding sigil was one that really struck me because it contained a symbol which I routinely use as part of a binding spell (now that it is given away, I’ll be posting it shortly). I’ve never actually told anyone the methodology of the spell, especially Tom since I use it against him when he tries to get in magical shenanigans when I’m driving him places.

The Short History of the Sigils

Part One: Alagon.

Sometime before I met Tom, while he was living in Florida, he managed to open a lot of stuff up at once and happened upon an entity which called itself Alagon that took an interest in him. Tom began channeling the gospel of Alagon and distributing it to others. He managed to find several other people who knew of Alagon and his work. Alagon meanwhile was causing Tom headaches and some bleeding from his head. Others who worked with Alagon had the same problems, and some apparently died of aneurysm. At the time the true nature of Alagon wasn’t known. Tom was still in contact with Alagon when he moved to Las Vegas, and a local magician, Bon Necron, managed to break Alagon from Tom and partially bind him. Later Tom would give me some of Alagon’s gospel to look over, and reading it I did come into contact with Alagon and suffered a severe headache from it. The true nature of Alagon wouldn’t be known for some time.

Part Two: Adiemus

Adiemus was the magical name of a practitioner, who is sometimes also referred to as the Baron, who was active up until his death somewhere around 1920. He was a very powerful practitioner who had access to quite a bit of information and claims to have known and disliked Allister Crowley. Since his death he’s been in contact with prospective students, although his brutal and violent teaching methods typically lead his students to a gory death if they advance too far into his studies. Some of his knowledge and teachings are openly traded within some circles of the community, and stories of his unfortunate past students are out there. Adiemus had a very strong connection to Persephone and had dealt largely with interdimensional travel, astral projection, and dream walking. Tom had come across some pieces of information on Adiemus throughout his travels.

Tom eventually gave me the information he had concerning Adiemus as a curiosity to work with. I don’t intend to speak for Adiemus, and to be honest I think he might be a little off-put by me, but he has taken an interest of sorts in me. Like him a have a very strong connection to Persephone, so that may have something to do with it. Over the years I’ve gained information from Adiemus, and that is where I first learned of the gates and what Alagon, like Adiemus, truly was.

From Adiemus I learned that there were 28 gates of this world. The gates had long ago been sealed, and each gate belonged to some god. However it was an impossibility to close the gates since things must be allowed to pass through for the survivability of the world, and so unto each gate was given a guardian. This guardian, when they ascended into the gate, would gain all of the knowledge and power of the gate, and all those who had been a part of it before them. But this was only a temporary, and detestable, job. Each guardian had the power to seek out there successor, so they could move on, although in doing so they give up the knowledge and power of the gate.

In order to take a gate, a person needs to have a strong connection to the god to which the gate belongs. They also need to seek out the current guardian and undergo their trials and prove themselves worthy of the gate. Finally they need to be fully informed about what the gate is, what guardianship entails, and that it is a trap, and then still choose of their own will to take the gate.

Adiemus is the last person to take his gate, the gate of Persephone. Alagon is the name of the an older entity which guarded its gate, although it has now gone through seven or eight guardians since, but it regards itself as being all that has come before it.

Part III: Phillip

Several weeks ago after a failed magical experiment me and Tom were screwing around with automatic writing when Tom happened upon a magician known has Phillip who had some cool sigils. After talking to him for some time, Phillip claimed to know about several more sigils (the 28 sigils of the ether) and agreed to show them to Tom. Very quickly Tom managed to figure out how to retrieve the sigils without Phillip’s aid. He also happened upon knowledge of other sigils. First the 28 sigils of the Abyss. And then the 28 sigils of Earth, which he reckoned to be the gates that Adiemus and Alagon are connected into.

For a couple of weeks now Tom has been feverishly working on completing the ether sigils and his commentary on them. He then hopes to do the Abyss and Earth sigils.

A Simple Binding

Now that Tom has taken to figuring out and publishing one of my defensive maneuvers, I may as well tell the world and let others work with it.

This is a simple binding spell. Binding in this term is a spell that is meant to limit the magical ability of another practitioner. There are three ways to go about binding someone. You can internalize their magick within themselves so they can’t effect the world outside (this is the most simplest form, and it has the added advantage that the practitioner may not notice it). You can largely restrict the amount of energy they are allowed to produce and tap into thus rendering them unable to utilize magick (this renders the magician even more powerless but they’ll notice the spell right away, and it is rather difficult to pull of). Or you can completely bind them so they have no higher connection, no access to magical ability, and no way to cast any kind of spell (this is a complete binding and by far the most powerful and effective, although it generally requires quite a bit of work).

This type of binding is the first kind. This is a very good and effective binding because, despite being very simple to undo, it’s very strong and very deceptive in its nature, often times tricking the victim into fruitlessly expelling time and energy.

To cast the binding we draw the crossed symbol and place it upon the victim. It’s enough to draw the sigil in the air with our finger and then move it on top of the victim. The entire sigil is blessed by Saturn, who is a god of boundaries and rules and order, but Saturn’s power is only put at the point where the two lines cross.

Where the two lines cross is the only point where the sigil can ever be broken. Once the sigil is broken the binding is broken. Since Saturn’s power is only where the lines cross, the rest of the sigil will seem weak to an experienced adept who can identify it for what it is. The first instinct of the adept will be to just throw energy at the sigil until the binding is overcome and broken. However this will do nothing as throwing energy at any point other than where the lines cross won’t break the sigil, and where the lines cross are empowered by Saturn, and cannot be broken except by divine power.

To break the sigil, all that needs to happen is someone needs to grab both ends and twist them so the line uncrosses and makes a horseshoe shape. At this point the sigil will disappear and the binding will be over with. This makes it very simple for the caster to undo the binding, and the simple nature of breaking the binding is usually hard to guess.

Time Travelling Magick in Theory

Suppose we need some money, say $500. So we devise ourselves a spell that will make us super lucky so we win a small sum in the lottery. This is doable. Typically when we create and cast this spell we make it so it happens at some future point, like tomorrow or next week. But if we really wanted to we could also cast the spell so that we won the lottery yesterday or last week.

It is of course more difficult to change events that have passed than events that are yet to come (so you are better off casting your lottery spell in the future), but it’s not that much more difficult. In fact, most of the difficulty involved is due to our own ideas and perceptions about how time works, and has nothing to do with the metaphysics or the difficulty of the spell. In fact a spell cast into the past, if the practitioner is assured of their success or doesn’t know they are doing it, is not very much more difficult than a spell cast into the future.

The same way that the ideas of distance and space are largely an illusion when looked at metaphysically, so is the linear nature of time. We perceive time as constantly moving forward, as the past being a sure thing, as the future being completely changeable, and the present as being our chance to exercise free will. In reality we just happen to move forward in time at a somewhat constant rate. Things can just as easily move backwards in time. In fact this nature of time has been known to physicists for quite some time, and it’s been proven in physical experiments. We end up with only two possible realities. Either the future is already written and can’t be changed, or the past is as malleable and uncertain as the future.

Time doesn’t just move backwards either. Time, much like space, is spread out in many different directions. Most of us move through time on a single set route. We could move on completely different routes though. We could go forward or backwards, we could move from one point to another point far in the past or future, or we could go to parts of time that wouldn’t even exist on our time line. In the same way that all points of space are really in the same place, and anything in all of existence is close enough to touch if you just know how, all of time is interconnected and any point can be reached and manipulated from any other. Manipulated is a key word here. The past, the same as the future and the present, is malleable and can be changed at any time.

Take for example a manifestation spell. Suppose we’ve been looking for a book we really want. We’re about to enter a book store. We cast a manifestation spell (typically this is simple psionic magick) to make the book appear in the store. We haven’t looked in the store, we haven’t perceived what’s in the store, and so we assume we’re casting a spell into the future because, after all, by our account there is some chance the store has the book in there and we’re just increasing those odds. The same as if we were manipulating a roulette ball to make it land where we wanted to.

For some reason a lot of magicians view the universe as working like Schrodinger’s cat. Schrodinger’s cat though was an example to show a hole in theoretical physics. That cat is either alive or dead at the end of the experiment. It doesn’t exist in a transient state until you open the box. Unless, of course, the entire universe revolves around you.

In the same way that book didn’t just appear there. It was printed, and ordered, and shipped, and stocked, and all together at the very least a few weeks worth of events had to transpire in order for that book to be on that shelf the moment you walked into the store. That simple manifestation spell, unbeknownst to many magicians, actually changes the past and the events that have transpired.

So like, why can’t we go back and kill Hitler before he became Hitler?

It could be done. Hitler could die before he ever becomes Hitler. However the Nazi party will still rise in power. World War 2 will still happen. The Holocaust will still happen. Hitler won’t be the one who does it though, someone else will. You might change some of the events. When things happened, what happened, who lived and died, ect. But all of the big stuff is still going to happen.

The world seems to have its own destiny and its own path it’s following. I don’t believe this path to be unchangeable, but I believe this path to be chosen by us as a large collective and not by a single individual or even a small minority of individuals. If some event happens that would normally change the route the world is supposed to take, such as the death of Hitler, the world veers a little off course and then makes a correction. Some small events may change, but in the end everything turns out the same.

So what if I kill my own grandfather?

You’d most likely cease to exist in your current form. Your soul would probably end up in another body born around the same time. Your new life would probably be very similar to your old one. Yeah, I know you were never born now because you killed your ancestor (which makes you a dumb-ass), but your ancestor didn’t die until after you travelled back in time to kill them, which is the event that makes it that you weren’t born, so you actually were born when you killed them. Also you’ll still have accumulated your karmic debt for that lifetime including the murder of your grandfather, and it will keep as a past life that can be regressed. It seems strange, but time doesn’t move in a straight line, it’s a big open space.

So can the past be changed?

Sometimes personal changes can be made. Small changes are easy enough and can be done without a problem. Manifesting a book, getting a small amount of money, getting a girl to go out with you, ect. This is magick that, cast into the future or the past, is fairly easy to pull off. Drastic life changing events are always more difficult to get though. Making it so that you live longer, winning the lottery, getting married, and the like are typically very difficult things to do even with magick. Much like the world we have our own destiny, and we tend to move along that path that has been laid out for us. When we do veer off that path, the road seems to change around us until we’re right back on track. You might make it so you don’t die next Monday, but you end up dying next Tuesday instead. More often than not the magick fails, or the magick succeeds but then it retroactively fails. You might actually win the lottery, only to have the event erased, and then you’re left not even remembering winning the lottery.

That isn’t to say these big things can’t happen. They can. You just have to go about it differently. You have to change your destiny and then rewrite it. You may have to rewrite it for other people that are very attached to your life too. For the most part though once you change your destiny, the universe will start rewriting and work around you to put everything back into its natural order.

Noticing changes in the past.

If a magician is very aware, aware of themselves and aware of the universe around them, they can sometimes manage to remember the past how it was, not how it now is. Sometimes when things are remembered differently, it’s because they actually happened differently.

Accidental time manipulation in spellwork.

There is a common phenomena that happens during intense spell and ritual work where large amounts of time are either lost or gained. This isn’t just limited to solitary practice or situations where people may have just lost track of the time. I’ve been in a situation with two other practitioners where an hour passed in about ten minutes time (which is impossible to mistake), and the clock in the working area had only registered ten minutes passing when all the other clocks registered an hour. This is an extreme example though where it is both noticeable and provable. There are other times when it’s more subtle. It may, for instance, feel like days have past in a five hour time period.

Intentional time slowdown and speedup

One fairly simple magickal trick that some people have a good aptitude for is speeding up and slowing down time. They can make it so time passes at a much faster rate or a much slower rate.

Time travel by way of going in and out of time.

Time comes into existence in the sphere of Geburah. If you go beyond Geburah, to Chesod, the idea of time no longer exists. Chesod is a place where everything is forever and stagnant. Things don’t change, and there is nothing acting against anything to cause change. When you leave Geburah you leave the entire continuity of time. When you go back into Geburah, you can come in at any point you want to. So in this way you could travel backwards in time.

Part of the problem with this method is you aren’t taking your physical body beyond Geburah. You aren’t even taking your astral body beyond Geburah. You’re taking your mental body. So for starters, you can’t just appear in Victorian London because you weren’t born then. You could go back to after you were born, but then we come to other issues.

First is the transfer from the mental body to the astral body and then the transfer again into the physical body. This process is completely doable, and you could use it to wake up and have it be yesterday. The problem is it’s very difficult to keep your thoughts and knowledge from deteriorating between each transfer. So although you may wake up yesterday, you may not remember any of the important things you needed to know for today. You may not even have any memory of the future at all. It may come as nothing more than premonitions or deja vu.

Secondly, the above example assumes a best case scenario where the point in time you’re travelling to is a point where you’ve already managed to come together in union with your holy guardian angel. If you haven’t, then once you travel backwards your connection point between your astral and mental bodies is going to be severed. You won’t have any direct access to yourself. The only access you will have is to approach your astral and physical bodies as your mental body. If you ever had a point in the past where your Holy Guardian Angel was communicating with you and trying to give you information prior to when you became one with them, now you know how that happened.

Prosperity Magick: Why Your Money Spells Don’t Work

Very few people manage to make prosperity spells work. To some, it seems to come naturally. It can take little more than a meditation to summon forth large sums of cash. For others, complex rituals, bargains with interdimensional beings, and every other imaginable route is taken and they never see any success. It’s very easy to imagine that some people are just better geared towards certain types of magick, and that, despite ones best efforts or ability in other areas, prosperity is one area they just can’t master. However prosperity is an area that is usually approached differently than any other, and this in turn leads to the lack of success.

To begin with, most people turn to prosperity magick when they’re desperate for more money. They use it when they’re broke, when they need the money, or when they’re quality of life is below their minimum standards and, despite their best efforts, they haven’t been able to change this. This is the absolute worst time to use prosperity magick. Very few people even bother to try prosperity magick when they’re finances are on the upswing, when they’ve come into large sums of cash, and when they don’t need money and have excess cash to spare. This would be the optimal time in ones life to use prosperity magick, and if you pay attention to those that can use prosperity magick, they do it when they don’t need it.

One of the basic laws is like attracts like. A prosperous person will naturally attract prosperity towards themselves. A person with lots of money is more likely to get money. This is a fundamental law of the universe. Magick is meant to manipulate the universe to our advantage, but good luck trying to alter the very basics upon which it is founded.

Secondly when we have financial issues, and when we allow those issues to escalate to the point of desperation, we lose hope and faith. Things begin to look bleak. We don’t believe things will get better, at least not in the short run. Our attitude reflects our situation, both of which our negative. Attitude is important in magick. We need to believe that our magick and our spells will give us results, or they won’t. We need to believe that things can and will get better, that our wealth will increase, or it won’t. We need hope and faith in the future, and a bright and cheery disposition about it, and we need to think positive. All of these things are very easy to do when we have enough money coming in and we haven’t reached desperation.

Lastly people who have money are the types of people who are always working on ways to make money. They’re never satisfied with their financial situation, and they always want to improve it, even if they already have enough. They don’t waste their money. They’re willing to work to earn money. These are the types of folks the universe has deemed worthy of vast sums of wealth. These are also the types of people who, if drawn towards magick, will utilize prosperity magick during the best of times. If one wishes to be wealthy, it’s best to adapt oneself to the persona which the universe has decided should be wealthy.

It may seem as if the only way to make money with magick is to be rich. That’s not the case. Everything is subjective. There is no point where the universe deems you wealthy or poor. While it’s true that the universe cannot be altered at the most basic level, we can alter ourselves to become the type of person for which prosperity magick will work.

To begin with, we must have a positive outlook on our financial situation. We need to believe that we are financially okay and that things will get even better in the future. We don’t want to have stress or anxiety about our finances.

Secondly we need to be at least at a stable financial situation. This means taking in at least as much money as is going out, and reducing our debt to a manageable level. There are two ways to do this, increase the money coming in or decrease the money going out. This may mean getting a second or third job. This may mean cutting non-essentials out of our budget. For a lot of us this may seem like too much work or too big a sacrifice. It’s important to remember that this is a temporary situation though. Once we have ourselves financially on track and our finances are on the upswing, then we can turn to our magick to increase our income allowing us to return to a single job and buy all of the things we had to give up before.

It is however important to be financially independent during these times, being able to pay for all of ones essential needs (housing, food, bills). Getting someone else to take care of us can free up money for our budget, but it also works against us by making us a financially dependent person, thus repulsing situations that would make us financially independent and attracting situations that will leave us dependent on others.

Aresian Unbinding Spells

Listed below are two spells meant to aid the practitioner in releasing themselves from any outside interference which may be hindering their true path. In general terms a binding spell refers to a spell that seals away all or some of a practitioner’s powers, and an unbinding spell is one which undoes this. These spells are not specifically meant to deal with a binding, although they may be effective in that regard, instead they are meant to eliminate anything which may be hindering or otherwise holding back the practitioner from pursuing their passions.

These spells work through the power of the Greek god Ares, and it’s important to understand what Ares is in order to use them. Unfortunately Ares was badly slandered by Homer for a variety of reasons, and Homer’s popularity and influence among the Greeks resulted in Ares being badly slandered for ever after.

Ares is a god of the righteous in battle, of justice, of love, of vengeance, and yes there is some violence in him. It would be easiest to say that Ares’ true dominion is in being a slave to ones passions, but it would be profane to say that a god is a slave to their passions. Rather Ares has dominion over following ones passions without regard for the consequences. In that regard he is both a god of justice and vengeance, as when he murdered Halirrhotius, he is a god of passionate love, as when he pursued an affair with his brother’s wife Aphrodite, and he is a god of the warrior in battle.

Aresian Short Unbinding

The short unbinding is a simple spell meant to release the practitioner from any minor outside force which has taken to changing the true course of the practitioner and moving him away from his desires. The spell is meant to target those forces which are manipulating the practitioner against his will, albeit in minor ways, and as such is generally safe to perform whenever the practitioner believes he may have been bound to a path other than his own.

I. To begin with, construct an alter to Ares if one is not readily available.

II. Undertake all necessary preparations to spellwork and presenting yourself before a diety, including any ritualistic cleansing or bathing.

III. The ritual is best performed both alone and skyclad.

IV. If absolutely necessary, any of the first three steps may be omitted, with a mental alter to Ares being built instead of a physical one, if the situation is dire and the practitioner needs the spell cast immediately.

V. To begin, light a new candle on Ares’ alter as an offering to him.

VI. Initiate a communion with Ares. This can be done by sitting in a comfortable position, meditating, and then directing energy towards Ares’ alter while allowing energy to be directed back. Allow the energy of Ares to flow through yourself and ask permission for what is about to be performed.

VII. When ready, and while feeling the energy of Ares flowing through yourself, you may begin the actual spell work, which consists of two parts performed simultaneously, a visualization and an incantation.

VIII. Visualize your body covered in straps and chains, and the energy of Ares bursting forth from every bit of your body, breaking the chains and straps. To the best of your ability, direct the energy of Ares towards this visualization.

IX. While visualizing, recite from memory the following incantation:

Lord Ares
Lend your strength
Let each strap be unbroken
Each twine unwound
Let the true heart walk its path
Unswayed, unbound

X. Afterwards thank Ares for his aid. If possible, allow the candle to burn itself out. Otherwise it may be put out and saved for later, but the candle should only ever be burned as an offering to Ares. The alter should be left up for at least a day, if not longer, and when it is deconstructed proper care should be taken as the objects its made of are sacred to Ares.

Aresian Long Unbinding

The long unbinding is a much more drastic spell meant to release the practitioner from any force, internal or external, preventing them from following the true desire of their heart. This spell, being as it is, can have serious repercussions, and should only be used when absolutely necessary, and only after lesser methods have been tried and failed. As noted below, the fourth candle should be lit, if it is lit at all, with extreme caution. It should also be mentioned that fire exists without form, and as such is considered a link between the physical world and the spiritual or metaphysical world. The act of lighting a flame can be considered a connection between the physical and spiritual worlds.

I. Construct a proper alter to Ares if one is not readily available. Make sure that there is enough room for several candle holders.

II. Undertake all necessary preparations to spellwork and presenting yourself before a diety, including any ritualistic cleansing or bathing.

III. The ritual is to be performed skyclad and alone, or if not alone then with an object of one’s desire only and also skyclad.

IV. Initiate a communion with Ares and allow his energy to flow through you and ask for permission for what is about to be done. If with a partner, both should perform this communion. If needed, candles may be burnt in offering to Ares in order to aid in communion.

V. Place three or four candles on the alter as shown:

——-A———-A—
—–2—3—–3—–4
——-1———1–2–

(ed. note: I’m having trouble properly formatting this diagram. I’ll look into getting something better set up soon. If anyone needs this diagram to do the spell in the meantime, email me and I’ll try to help you figure it out.)
VI. When ready, and with the power of Ares flowing through you, recite the following incantation from memory (with two, both partners may recite the incantation, or one may do so as the ritual leader):

Lord Ares
Lend your strength
May all that confines the heart be destroyed

VII. It must be understood that the first candle is meant to release the practitioner from any internal restraints they may have placed on themselves which prevent them from realizing their passions fully. These restraints may have been enacted out of fear, modesty, etiquette, safety, or many other reasons. This candle is meant to make their passions swell within themselves and overcome all else.

VIII. As the first candle is lit, visualize your body being engulfed by a white flame of passion that grows from within you and overswells eventually consuming the all of your being. Recite the following incantation from memory (with two both should perform the visualization, and one or both may recite the incantation):

Let my passions be alight
A burning flame, pure and white,
And let my heart be aright

(Or for two):

Let our passions be alight,
A burning flame, pure and white,
And let our hearts be aright

IX. It must be understood that the second candle is meant to release the practitioner from any external factors that are preventing them from realizing their passions fully. These can be thought of as the forces of society. These are parts of the mundane world which are not just obstacles to achieving ones passions, but are actively working to push the practitioner away from their passions.

X. As the second candle is lit, visualize the flame that has engulfed your body bursting forth from you and consuming everything it comes in contact with. Recite the following incantation from memory (with two both should perform the visualization, and one or both may recite the incantation):

Let my body release its flame,
Let it burn through man’s domain,
And my passions, not man, shall reign

(Or for two):

Let our bodies release our flame,
Let it burn through man’s domain,
And our passions, not man, shall reign

XI. It must be understood that the third candle is meant to release the practitioner from any spiritual forces and bindings that may be preventing them from realizing their passions fully. This would include any spells, hexes, or curses cast, any magickal bindings, any spells which have effected the practitioner’s path and destiny, any pacts or deals made with any entities, and any debts owed so long as these things are contrary to or otherwise prevent the true will of the practitioner’s heart.

XII. As the third candle is lit, visualize yourself bound by ethereal straps (or hands or chains) and the energy flowing through you moving from your body into these straps and completely destroying them, leaving you naked and free of all bonds. Recite the following incantation from memory (with two both should perform the visualization, and one or both may recite the incantation):

Let all binds break
Remove all ties save fate
And return me to my natural state

(Or For Two):

Let all binds break
Remove all ties save fate
And return us to our natural state

XIII: The spell may be completed after lighting any of the four candles, and the fourth candle should be lit with extreme caution. It must be understood that the fourth candle is meant to release the practitioner from their destiny, for use in instances when the practitioner feels as if their destined path runs contrary to their desires. If this portion of the spell is successfully performed, at the point directly proceeding the spell the practitioner will no longer have a future or a destiny, only their desires, and their destiny will then be rewrit from that point. A practitioner will be unhinged from destiny for a moment prior to a new destiny being made for them. The repercussions of lighting the fourth candle are serious and most likely irreversible.

XIV: As the fourth candle is lit, visualize your body being thrown from its current place and put into a void, visualize the energy in you white and pulsing out, destroying any remaining ties you may have to anything, and destroying anything that comes near you. Recite the following incantation from memory (with two both should perform the visualization, and one or both may recite the incantation):

Remove myself from my destiny
Rewrite what is meant to be
And untie even fate from me

(Or For Two):

Remove us from our destiny
Rewrite what is meant to be
And untie even fate from we

XV: Presumably a fifth candle could be lit, supposing the proper visualization and incantations could be figured out, and this candle would allow the practitioner to transcend the laws of the universe if it were within the will of his heart, allowing for such impossibilities like immortality and gain without loss. Perhaps the past could also be rewritten via this candle, or perhaps that would require yet a sixth candle.

XVI: After the ritual the candles should be allowed to burn themselves out. If possible, the practitioner should stay and meditate until all the candles are burnt out. Alternatively the practitioner could sleep in front of the alter until all the candles are burnt out. If the ritual was performed with a partner, the two may have sex following the ritual if they both desire to, although the act would be sacred. After all is finished proper gratitude and respect should be given to Ares, and the alter should be left up for at least a day if not longer.

XVII: A final caution, make sure you know what it is you want before casting this spell.

Of Groups and Rituals

Most people start magick groups as a means to gain instant authority within a segment of the community without having to earn this through acts and accomplishments. That isn’t everyone though. Some start groups because they feel they are bringing something that is either needed or will be appreciate into the community. Some are just lonely and want friends. And some are morally bankrupt and have questionable ulterior motives. Regardless of the motivation for group creation, that isn’t what this article deals with.

Most of the time these groups are at least partially created for some selfish motive, and even when they aren’t the group leaders rarely try to offer what their members want.

Most people don’t want social gatherings and meet-ups that go nowhere. They already have outlets for friends and loved ones to come into their lives. Groups that offer nothing but meet-ups tend to fall apart quickly, or they develop into a small but dedicated group of friends. Initially these meet-ups were meant as a means to get to know potential members before allowing them to be initiated, and to get to know outer circle members before allowing them into inner circle activities.

Although a lot of people may show some interest in classes, in practice this doesn’t usually work out too well. To begin with, most groups don’t have teachers qualified in the subject matter, and without qualified teachers classes won’t work. Even if a group does have good teachers, most of the students probably won’t be compatible with the teacher. And most students won’t have the dedication to attend classes even under the best circumstances.

Talking to various people at these groups it’s clear that what most people want are rituals. When a new member enters a group one of their first questions is usually if the group offers rituals. When new groups form the first members usually want to know if the group leader plans on having group rituals.

A ritual is something that everyone can benefit from if it’s done correctly. Generally unless a group has strict and discriminating entrance requirements, at least 90% of its membership is going to be unable to achieve results through magick on their own. It’s important to members of this segment of the group to find an outlet for rituals so that they can fully experience their spirituality. Some neophytes may be able to achieve results on their own, but they’re also interested in exploring their spirituality and group work can be a unique experience. Initiates meanwhile can learn from rituals while at the same time having access to more power than is normally available. Even adepts, who should be well versed and able to produce results through solitary work, come out ahead getting an entire group at their disposal to utilize.

But many groups do offer rituals, and usually this isn’t enough to make the group attractive to new members. This is because most groups don’t do rituals correctly, and if a ritual isn’t being performed correctly than it has little value to most people. What follows are guidelines to performing a working group ritual. Sadly most of these should be common sense to an experienced practitioner, yet most groups will not employ these methods.

1. A ritual needs purpose – This should be a cardinal rule of any ritual, ever. A ritual is an extension of spellwork, and like spellwork it should have a purpose and work towards some end result. Most of the rituals being done by various groups have no actual purpose. Observance of a holy day is not justification for a ritual, although it would be justification for a party. Looking back at pre-Christian religions, rituals performed on holy days did have a purpose, usually something tied to that day. Likewise raising energy is not a good justification for a ritual. In a good ritual raising energy is a means to achieving some greater end, not the end itself.

With spellwork, which is typically done in solitary practice or with, at most, a handful of close practitioners, the ends are usually targeted towards the individual. With ritual work however the ends, with some few exceptions, need to benefit the entire group. When determining what purpose a ritual should work towards think about things that would generally be considered positive to most people. Examples include prosperity, good luck, fertility, and group glamors to make all members more attractive. Another good example of a ritual is to try to bring specific members or the entire group into another state of consciousness. This can mean trying to contact a divine being, channeling, mediumship, or astral projecting. There are also initiation type rituals which are meant to bring members of the group closer together through ritual, but these should be reserved for member only rituals within closed groups.

Do stay away from grandiose world accomplishments. Even a ritual composed of several hundred members isn’t going to be enough to end world hunger or war.

2. Find a private place – Rituals need to be held in private. Participants need to feel that they are safe and that they can be open with what they do. If a person feels nervous or worse humiliated it will be reflected in the results of the ritual. Meanwhile certain ritual practices, like performing skyclad and drug use (even alcohol) are forbidden in many places. Indoor rituals should be held in someone’s home, in a temple, in a private area of a magick store (ideally after closing), or in a rented space. Outdoor rituals should be held in a private backyard, secluded private property, or if on a campground far away from other campers. Public places really aren’t appropriate for holding rituals.

3. Pay attention to the day and time – Certain days hold more power to do certain things, and sometimes rituals are written to take advantage of these days. Unfortunately these days are specific and related to certain astrological phenomena, and in order to utilize them correctly the ritual needs to be performed on that day. You can’t move it to next Saturday because more people will show that day.

If your ritual begins by praising Luna or the moon, you shouldn’t be performing that ritual prior to sunset.

Planetary days and hours meanwhile are a bit iffy. It’s not a necessity that they be followed, but it helps, and not following them can result in a major hindrance. Planetary days and hours are however a whole subject unto themselves and something that needs to be looked at more in depth in a later post.

4. Know your ritual – As a ritual leader you should both know and understand the ritual completely before attempting to do it. All of your principle participants should know the ritual completely. All participants should at least know their part and what is expected of them long before performing the ritual. Everyone needs to know what they’re doing and what their intent is, and everyone needs to be on the same page. No one should be reading lines or following directions during the actual ritual.

5. Know your players and utilize them accordingly – You need to know who will be attending your ritual and what they’re capable of. The majority of the group will be their mainly to raise energy. A good ritual may be able to manipulate the energy raised or direct it to some degree. For most this is all they will be able to do, and they shouldn’t be given any greater task.

It’s the role of the stronger members to manipulate the energy, direct it, and utilize it towards the end goals of the group. They will also be responsible for evocations, protections, channeling, using themselves as conduits, and whatever other greater magical needs are necessary.

To this end you need to know what everyone is capable of. Ideally the ritual should be designed to fit the members you have and their individual strengths. You don’t want to give someone a task that they can’t possibly fulfill. If the ritual is to work with an ill-placed member then one of the other members of the ritual will have to perform that job along with their own, which will split their resources and, depending on the strength of that practitioner, may lessen the impact of the spell.

6. Keep it short - Every effort should be made to keep the actual ritual (not the prep time) as short as possible. Fifteen minutes or less is always best, although with certain types of rituals this isn’t always possible. Longer rituals tend to result in participants becoming bored and losing focus, lessening the over all impact of the ritual. At the same time raising energy and manipulating it (in other words performing magick) can be exhausting and may be difficult to sustain for extended periods of time. The ritual should seek to reach its objective as quickly as possible while all participants are still in their prime.

7. The event can be longer however – Just because the ritual is short doesn’t mean everyone has to go home right after. In fact this is probably a bad idea. People will most likely be charged and in somewhat altered states after a ritual. They should be allowed some time to cool down and also allowed access to other participants who can understand how they feel. Plan time for a general meetup post-ritual, or even a party with food and drinks.

8. Make the ritual available ahead of time – This goes along with number four. Your participants need to know the ritual and what is expected of them before hand, and they should be given all the prep time they need to get ready, which means giving them a copy of the ritual and an explanation of what’s intended to happen well in advance. At the same time participants are lending their energy and ability to the ritual, and they need to be sure that the ritual is ethically sound according to their moral and spiritual beliefs and that their deities or entities they work with aren’t being profaned by the ritual itself.

9. Disclose any objectionable material – If the ritual involves nudity, sexual contact, blood magick, drug use, evocation of deities, evocation of other entities, or anything else that may be considered objectionable or is illegal this needs to be disclosed to those planning on attending prior to arriving at the ritual.

10. Speak normally – Words have a lot of power to direct intent. However it’s the intent that matters, not what’s actually said. It doesn’t matter if you speak in old English, Latin, Egyptian, or Hebrew. And even if it did hold power, most pagans can’t speak old English or middle English anyways. They sound like a cross between Yoda and a renfair knight, and it hurts my literary senses to see the language mangled so. It is important that you know what you’re saying in ritual, and that the words flow naturally from you. You don’t want to be reading script of memorized words, you want the ideas to naturally flow from your mind into the symbolism of language as you understand it. You should feel the idea behind the words flow through you, and hopefully the other participants should understand and feel the idea too. The best way to do this is to speak in your normal dialect.

11. Don’t just say it, do it – When you say, for instance, that you want to bring forth the element of air in a ritual, it isn’t enough to just say you want to do this. You have to actually pull that element through you, and then direct it towards something. Some things can be done symbolically, but a lot of stuff you have to have some psionic ability in order to do it. Some ritual leaders don’t seem to understand this.

12. No one should break ritual – To attend the ritual is to agree to perform the ritual as it should be performed. Some minor improvisations may occur, such as a person adlibbing certain lines while keeping with the meaning and intent of the original lines, or one member covering for another member who for whatever reason, in the midst of the ritual, could not complete their given task. But for the most part the ritual should not be altered by any participant in any major way (including changing the deities or entities utilized). The offending member is attacking all participants and attempting to manipulate them beyond their will. If any major alteration occurs during the ritual the ritual should be ended as soon as possible (with all proper respects given to anything summoned forth and all raised energy properly dealt with) and the offending member should be dealt with accordingly. A ritual should never be allowed to continue after it has been altered.

13. Observers are a nuisance – This is kind of a touchy subject. For many responsible practitioners, they’d like to see a ritual performed by a group before they participate themselves. But at the same time, you don’t want people who are just watching and not participating. They add nothing, and they tend to distract participants from the ritual itself. By giving out detailed information about the ritual to all participants beforehand there is less of a need for a potential participant to watch a ritual first. If you still have some who are adamant about first observing a ritual you should plan easier specifically designed rituals for observance.

14. Protect your group – Rituals are easy prey for a lot of nasty things. People show up to rituals with the intention of vampirically draining participants, stealing the energy raised by the group, and silently manipulating the ritual to their own ends. These people need to be immediately identified, dealt with, and removed from the current ritual and banned from all future functions. This job falls mainly on the ritual leader, but stronger participants should also do their best to identify and remove these people, and the ritual leader should encourage members to report whatever they have been able to identify. This is essential to both effectively performing rituals and to protecting your participants.

Let Us Bring Some Evil Into This World (A Call to End Inaction)

Within the realm of my blog, my book, when I speak with people, when I write people through email, I’ve been rather free about the magickal information I give out. I am very much aware of the danger this information can pose to the practitioner if it’s put to use. I’ve been hurt badly in the past, and I’m no doubt at least partly responsible for injuries that have occurred to others. Still, I continue, and will continue, as I have been, offering what information I have to anyone who truly wants to learn.

There is a disgusting trend that has emerged where information is being hidden away in fear that it may be used in such a way that the practitioner is hurt. Books are being burned or otherwise taken off the market, stores refuse to carry certain titles and authors, people are being told not to read certain works because of the ideas discussed within them, and some are asking, or even demanding, that people stop teaching spellwork, astral projection, channeling, mediumship, and the like to just anyone. Meanwhile practitioners are being urged not to practice. They are being told that they aren’t strong enough or learned enough yet to protect themselves if they chose to utilize magick. In some instances practitioners are being urged to give up magick completely as it’s far too dangerous to ever be used and instead to just be a part of a neopagan religion.

Change is upon us. If you can tap the energy of this place, the vast ocean of energy that exists around us, and fall into it, and follow it a bit into the future you’ll notice that it starts to twist and turn, that it’s twisting and turning right now. We’re heading towards an apocalypse of sort, this world is going through a great change. I can feel it, my teacher felt it, my peers feel it, and almost a hundred years ago Allister Crowley felt it. This isn’t something new.

A lot of people like to talk about this change. I’ve become certain that most can’t feel it, they’re just repeating what they’ve heard from others. They have no understanding of it. A common belief is that, once this change occurs, the veils will break and we’ll all be blessed with magickal and psychic powers. Another belief is that this effect is generational, we won’t gain these powers, but our children or grandchildren or whenever this happens will be born with it.

The truth is this change isn’t something that’s going to happen. It’s happening right now, and it’s been happening for some time. Those waiting to just wake up with their magick powers one day should give up now. It isn’t happening. No new power is coming into this world. The power has always been there, and it will always be there. Having power is a matter of grasping that power which has always been there to be grasped. What has changed is an increase in opportunity.

In the 19th century Levi’s works were only available to those who could speak French. In the early 20th century translations started appearing, but these translations along with their French counterparts were still difficult to find and treasured among those who owned them. By the 1970s increased interest in the metaphysical and cheaper printing techniques meant that Levi’s works were now more widely available, assuming you knew who he was and knew of a place that sold good occult books or a good mail order company. Today Levi’s works can be found at the local bookstore, they can easily be downloaded online, and even if you don’t know who he is typing magick into a search engine along with a week studying online should lead you to him.

Nearly all of the most famous magickal and spiritual works are available online. Every year more works are translated and better translations appear (compare Mather’s Sepher Yetzirah to Kaplan’s superior translation). Finding the exact book you want isn’t much harder than typing the name into an Amazon or Ebay search, or asking your local bookstore to order it. Meanwhile inventions like the Internet, HTML, and cheaper and more efficient POD techniques make publishing and distributing ideas, techniques, theories, and teachings easier.

Right now it is easier for a neophyte to find the information they need to begin solitary practice or work towards initiation than it has been in thousands of years. It is taking less and less work to find the necessary information, and more and more the information is simply presenting itself to people, no work required. And the situation is only going to get better, or worse depending on your perspective of it. No one is going to be gifted with magickal powers. Rather we’re being gifted with a better opportunity to acquire those powers.

This world is in the process of shifting. It’s moving towards some unforeseeable end, and currently it’s ripe to be influenced. I’ve seen factions of otherworldly beings forming. They’re parties that have an interest in where this world is heading and the final outcome of these events. They will take what they can by influence and they will take what they can by force. Wars will be fought between these powers that be, actually the battles have already started, and in the end their strength will determine the fate of this world.

Humanity has been castrated and robbed of the right to determine its own destiny. They’ve taken from us our gods and angels and heroes and villains and demons and old ones, the very things that were meant to show us what we could aspire to become.

And now the world shifts, and the power long ago taken from us is offered to us again. Some believe that we’re destroying this world, that we are a parasite to it, and that it seeks to expel us. This world clings to us and I hear it pleading with us to realize our potential and again become masters of our destiny and determine this world’s fate.

We are among the elite, and we are growing. We are those that have chosen not to cower behind a higher force, but rather to throw ourselves into the universe allowing our strength, our talent, our merits, and our character to lead us to our salvation, or our damnation. We are supposed to be the strong and the powerful who walk the path to enlightenment unhindered by fear, not the cautiously weak who chose ignorance out of fear.

A time will come when these battles come near to an end, and they will have taken what can be taken by influence, and they will have taken what can be taken by force, and the victor will determine what fate befalls all of humanity, and the only hope humanity will have to determine its own fate will be to prove themselves stronger and uninfluenced and take back by force what is rightfully theres.

Inside each of us is the potential to achieve power beyond that of even the gods. Those incarnate here have a greater right to determine the fate of this world than any other entity, and with that right comes the power to claim and defend it if we chose to.

This world does not need caution. It does not need fear. This world needs strength, and it needs practitioners that are practicing and growing in power so that they may face what is yet to come against them.

Power can only be achieved through experience. Risk is an essential element of progress. Read books. Read everything. Don’t be swayed from a particular author because they have been labeled as evil or dangerous. Look at their ideas and determine for yourself their validity. And cast spells, astral project, summon things, channel, in other words practice magick. Get into fights and mix it up with entities. Yes, all of this is dangerous. Do it anyways. Don’t wait to do things because you doubt your abilities. Your abilities will only grow through experience, and doing things now is the only way to grow your abilities. Time spent waiting for your abilities to develop from an armchair will only be time wasted.

We need to walk our paths fearlessly. We need to allow ourselves to grow spiritually. We need to have confidence in our abilities and faith not in higher powers but in our own power to protect ourselves and find salvation.

When we see ourselves as weak, we become mastered by our own limitation. When we believe that we our strong, strength tends to manifest within us.

The true master teaches empowerment, not subjugation. The true master preaches of the strength of his disciples, not their weaknesses. The true master sees himself not as having ascended to a point above others, but of having reached a higher point that others will hopefully exceed.

Tips and Tricks for Your Next Seance

Some time ago I figured my next little post would be an intro into past life regression considering how popular the topic seems to be. Unfortunately the post has proven more time consuming than I initially thought it would. Add to that my real life issues and that I had a very nasty flu this last month and it seems as if I’m never going to add another post to my blog.

So to add a post in here I’ve decided to write about something just as popular as past life regressions, but far more dangerous! Whether your looking to add a bit more realism to your next Halloween party or you just like the idea of living in a haunted house, these tips can help you show results at your next seance without having to move the planchette across the ouija board and claim it was a ghost. Unfortunately I’m not joking about the dangers involved here, and I take no responsibility for what might happen if you decide to make use of any of this information. You may end up with a very big mess to clean up. But there’s no danger involved in just reading this article. So, on to the tips:

1. First off, just because something is non-corporeal doesn’t mean it’s a dead person. It should be obvious, but a surprising amount of people don’t get the idea that there are other things roaming around with only astral bodies that never had an incarnate form here. So just because you’ve contacted something doesn’t mean it’s a ghost.

2. A person doesn’t gain intelligence, precognitive ability, or even spiritual insight through death alone. Dead people tend to be as smart as they were in life (and many happen to be insane and Ignorant too). Most don’t have much in terms of spiritual insight, because generally the people that do don’t get stuck as a disincarnate spirit for long. And being dead doesn’t magickally make one able to see into the future. I don’t understand why so many people tend to think the dead have this power.

3. People don’t remain as spirits forever after their death. Some move on to other things, some reincarnate, ect. Some may be around but able to resist being summoned forth. But there are also a lot of ghosts and a lot would be happy to show up. You’ll find you get better results at a seance if you try generally summoning forth the dead rather than trying to bring forth a specific person.

4. When summoning a specific person, time is very important. The less time they’ve been dead, the better the chance that they’re still around. Spirits that are more than a hundred years dead are rare. There are however lots of spirits that are several decades dead. But they’re still only a small fraction of all the people that have died. Most people will be unreachable before six months. Even among those that last beyond the six month mark, most will be gone within eighteen months of their death. Six months isn’t when the dead start departing either, it’s just your last good chance of reaching them. Many will leave long before then, and some may become unreachable immediately after they die. The sooner you try a seance after someone’s death, the better your chances are.

5. Just a note, it can be very detrimental to a dead person to continually summon them forth and to keep them here long after their death. There is a good chance that by bringing them forth you’re keeping them from their spiritual path in the afterlife, and every time you summon a person you risk creating an attachment to yourself or some other aspect of this world that could keep them here decades after you’ve finished with them. If you care about a person’s well being, it’s best not to summon them too long after their death, or to summon them more than once or twice. Actually, it’s probably best not to try to summon them at all.

6. Many things are reliant upon permission to do things, even to enter a home. A lot of times you can manage to haunt your house just by giving a general invitation for anything to enter it. You can also be more specific and only give permission to a specific type of entity. But remember anything that has been allowed into your home also has the ability to grant permission. This includes the people you live with, your pets, and the entities that may already be in your home.

7. Your body works a lot like your house. A lot of times the only thing stopping you from being a medium is you giving permission for an entity to possess you. This is very dangerous though, and the thing that makes a good medium isn’t getting the spirits into their body, but being able to get them out. Even then this is something that you’re probably better off not practicing.

8. Things may also need permission in order to manifest, do tricks, possess items, ect. If you use a ouija or spirit board, or if you have a spirit knock so many times, what you’re really doing is limiting what the spirit is capable of doing by giving them very specific limitations on how they’re allowed to manifest. This method is far from full proof, but it is a lot safer than simply asking a spirit to come forward and manifest. Likewise if you’re using one of these methods you have to be careful not to grant something permission, either by accident or because it asks you to.

9. As always, a free lunch will attract things. If you want entities, a good way to get them is to bring forth a lot of energy. Something will show up to eat it. Some things may be indiscriminate of what they eat, but a lot of the times you’ll find the rule of ‘like attracts like’ holds, and what you get is related to what kind of energy you put out. This is why if you’re depressed or scared you’ll tend to draw forth a lot of negative entities to yourself. Other energies will attract other kinds of entities. The more energy you can manifest, the more likely something will show up. Large amounts of energy act as beacons for many disincarnate beings.

10. In the same vein as #9, power alone will be enough to attract entities. Powerful practitioners tend to have entities around them simply because a lot of things tend to be attracted towards that power. One should be cautious when dealing with these entities however. A lot of these entities may be harmless and not malicious in any way. But some will no doubt try to manipulate the practitioner’s power for their own uses, or simply destroy the practitioner.

Works of Art and Energy Imprints

Humans are naturally empathic creatures. We can easily understand the emotions of others without claiming any ESP ability. When someone around us is upset or depressed, often times we can just feel it on them. Likewise when someone is happy that emotion just seems to flow off them and into us. In fact if you lack these abilities, the psychological community labels it as an anti-social disorder.

The entirety of art is based on the strong empathic ability of humans. The goal of art is to create a piece that can continually express what the artist intends, and manipulate the empathic ability of the audience to make them feel certain emotions.

Because of this art usually has an energy signature of their creator. A good artist will put a certain intended emotion into their work. However it’s possible for an artist to leave an entirely different energy signature than what was intended. And it’s possible for thier to be very little or no signature where an artist was just going through the motions.

Weird Al is interesting because sometimes his song parody has a much stronger energy put into it than the song being parodied. This was the case with Star Wars Cantina, and it’s especially true of his new song White and Nerdy.

Between different mediums the method of tapping into the energy signature differs. It’s a bit different with a song than with a book, and neither are like a poem, or a movie. The mudane method of empathically being effected by these works only taps the surface of what is possible, and is rather simple to do. Still many people may have trouble achieving an empathic connection to certain mediums, but may be quite adept at doing it with others.

A practitioner can go quite a bit further though, twisting themselves into the work and pulling energy out. The true energy of the work can be found, and with much greater ease and a much greater intensity by a practitioner. A practitioner is also able to find thoughts and ideas which the artist may have, usually unintentionally, buried inside of the energy signature of the work, since energy can carry ideas inside it.

This method can also be used to establish a link between the practitioner and the artist. A practioner, if they wanted to, could utilize a living artist’s work to establish psychic contact with them, walk into their dreams, or direct magick at them. Although most of these things would be considered immoral by most.

If the practitioner is dead but still exists in that same form, the works can be used as a means to contact their spirit. If they have moved on, it can be used to find the remnants of who they were within the Akashic record.

Channeled works present another interesting, and at the same time dangerous, use of this power. A practitioner reading a channeled work (or looking at one in the case of pictures) can tap into the energy of whatever the work was channeled from, and if it still exists that energy can be used to form a link into it and open up the channel. This can help the practitioner to better understand the channeled work, and it can also be used to gain new channeled information from the same source.

This is, however, very dangerous. Many of the channeled works out there were created with the intent of finding those who would be able to restablish the link, and then utilize the person for their own ends. The things on the other side of the channel may wish to decieve or mislead the practitioner, harm or destroy them, drive them insane, or any number of other nasty things. Some of it may be done intentionally. Some of it may just be a neccessity in achieving some end. Once the link is established, some may become violent and/or harass the practitioner until they get what they want. This is an area where the practitioner should be cautious.

At the same time though, it’s very possible for an adept practitioner to accidentally reopen a channel just by reading a work. This is one of the reasons why just reading a grimore can be very dangerous. A practitioner, when reading a text on magick, should always be prepared for the possibility of channeling something they don’t want.

It’s not strictly art that carries the signature though. Emotion is the key, not the act of creativity. Personal letters, emails, and blog and message board posts can easily hold an energy signature, especially when the author was strongly moved by the ideas behind the words. Home movies can capture the energy signature too if the emotions in the room are strong enough. The same goes for a photograph. With home movies and amatuer photography the energy signature may not be connected into the creator, but rather the people on the film and the subject of the photograph.

This is why photographs are useful in working magick against someone. They give the practitioner a means to either form a link or strengthen an existing link via the signature of the photograph. The same can be done with film, although it’s less common.

Once again I’ll go back to the point that I’ve brought up several things that a person can do with this ability that would be considered very immoral. The most important reason to do this is that a practitioner needs to know about these things, because there is a strong possibility that someone else will try to use these methods against them, and they need to be prepared for that eventuality.

Secondly, none of these methods are evil in and of themselves. They are tools, and by having these tools at their disposale, even if they’re never used, the Magus is more versitile and thus more proficient. These tools can very easily be used for some immoral end. But they can also be put to some good purpose. It’s the same as any physical weapon. It’s neither inherently good nor evil, it is the act in which it is used that makes it so.