Cunning Infant

Nothing unreal can last | A newbie juggalo witchcraft blog

[metapsykhe-deactivated20190702]

Three quotes that changed my perspective on magick forever…

“The experience of a magical result will reveal something very odd about the nature of reality. This will have a transformative effect—your previous view of reality, and so yourself, must necessarily change as a result of that experience. It follows then that the more you do magick, the more you will encounter revelation, and the more you will be transformed. It must be stressed that intellectual comprehension, or explanation, reveals or changes nothing. If you want to know the truth, you must experience it. Magick is one way of experiencing truth.” — Alan Chapman, Advanced Magick for Beginners, p. 18

“Magic is a set of techniques and approaches which can be used to extend the limits of Achievable Reality. Our sense of Achievable Reality is the limitations which we believe bind us into a narrow range of actions and successes—what we believe to be possible for us at any one time. In this context, the purpose of magic is to simultaneously explore those boundaries and attempt to push them back—to widen the ‘sphere’ of possible action.” — Phil Hine, Condensed Chaos, p. 33

“Initiation means a beginning, and in the occult it is the occasion when one becomes aware that the world is more than just the material stuff within it. The stuff is merely the façade that lies over a churning sea of psychic energy, power whose currents and tides do more to determine how the material stuff will be arranged in the future than the stuff that is out there right now. Reality is the objective residue of a subjective process. The residue — the material world— has a certain inertia, to be sure; it won’t just go away. But it does dissipate, decay, get eaten up and covered over, and it is only created anew when some mind of some sort — animal, vegetable or mineral — puts effort into that creation. And so does subjectivity make the world. Magick is the art of managing that subjective process, of exploiting the flow of psychic energy to manufacture a reality that is consistent with our wills. A magician’s first initiation occurs in the moment that he or she realizes that this manipulation of psychic energy as a thing in itself is possible.” — Stephen Mace, Shaping Formless Fire: Distilling the Quintessence of Magick, p. 49

[therainshallmakeadoor-deactivat]

Hello Briar- out of curiosity, could you speak more on how you trained yourself to sleep? You've mentioned briefly hypnogogic states, the oneiric sabbat, and if I remember correctly, a gold ring. I know all techniques may not work for everyone (and I myself am in the process of experimenting), and I understand if you've already said of it everything you're willing. I hope you're enjoying the start of the year.

Have you ever read Andrew Chumbley’s works on dreams ? I know, I know, Chumbley is chumbleyesque. But as far as I am aware he is the one who coined the term « oneiric sabbat » and his practice places a lot of emphasis on altered states of consciousness, among which sleep is a cornerstone. That said, it is not just about any quality of sleep. Hypnagogia characterizes as you may have seen that mental space you are in just right before loosing consciousness, in-between sleep and wakefulness. It is a threshold proper whereas one reaches a state of particular lucidity which encompasses visions, spirits encounters, imparting of otherworldly gifts, messages and knowledge, and so on. It is a liminal place of hallucinations, the first step towards lucid dreaming. You will want to find the best ways for you to reach that state and then progress onto holding your mind and spirit there for longer periods of times which can ultimately culminate in lucid dreamings and other oneiric works such as dreamwalking, hedgecrossing, or hagriding. It’s an extremely useful set of skills to develop. Now, you either have a knack for it or you don’t, and if you don’t then it will require work - experimentation, trials, and errors - and possible assistance. Conducting research into what helps facilitate this slide out of your body is a personal matter - some need to do it outside their own bed, some need drugs, some need sleep deprivation, some need music... Luckily this is one of the most heavily documented subject matter of spirit work, shamanism, and; for that matter, witchcraft - the secrets of the witch’s flight were puzzled over by countless practitioners and academicians alike. There is an abundance of source material, both from scholars and occultists, that is all yours to peruse.

It is difficult for me to tell you exactly how I do it. I can tell you I do not need mind-altering substances and that if anything I find music distracting. I have used artefacts - my stang, a hagstone... - but at the best of time I do not particularly need anything. My mind enters a state of passive awareness where sounds, smells and physical sensations, both merge and disappear. It is all woven together to form the fabric of the dream to come. In that regard I suppose it is not unlike meditation in that it both empties and fills me out. I think being an insomniac for many years helped me in that it let me acutely aware of my own internal clock. I am now getting good at weaving the fabric of the dream myself because I have good sensory memory, meaning I can start the dream where I please and « simulate » the conditions I am seeking - a creek on the sea-side, wet grass under winter wind, the top of a mountain, the bottom of a lake. I can select locations I have been to as a sort of « background », or create some new places as I intend to. I would say that your mind needs to be disciplined in selective vacancy and that this is where the training proper happens. You can start by booking a long trip via train and stare out of the window for as long as you can without getting bored. This is why for some people, music is easier : it alters your perception of time, but it does so by coloring your thoughts a certain way, and can trigger emotional responses too close to memories for me to be able to focus properly with it. It tends to keep me anchored. I find the silent company of my own unaltered thoughts to be more effective, generally speaking, to succeed in this exercise. To hold that mental place long enough that you loose track of time, is what you are aiming at. If you think about it, I am sure you have already reached this stage at least once. I can’t think of anyone I know having never experienced those short transes. Light and movement will work to - smoke, fire, water, are all excellent conduits.

Now, the gold ring you may remember from my adventures with a certain headless gentleman. Despite my best efforts as I learnt that gold is the one thing he fears, I never managed to take my gold ring with me on the other side. I have successfully taken many objects - spiritual weapons, and in particular ritual knives for example. But this simple gold ring ? Never. There is a reason for that, but it is for me to know ;) So, how does one start training oneself in moving with equipments ? Well I would be hard pressed to recommend anything else than visualization - think imagination, but stronger. Things exist in various planes at once simultaneously. When I was very young, I read this book by French author Bernard Werber called Le Livre du Voyage (The Book of Travel) and it opened my mind to its own possibilities the way few books have done so over the years - with an emphasis on expanding your mind, and your mental possibilities. In particular I remember it encouraging you to build what is now humorously referred to as « mind palace » or sometimes even « inner temple » - a mental locus where one can return to at will. Make no mistake - such constructions are tangible things. A friend of mine has a tower they even perform entire rituals in, and this tower has been seen, perceived, and entered by outside visitors quite unaware of its existence beforehand. Now, I don’t know that this book exists in English, I am not even sure it is that good a book, but it is one that made quite the impression on young impressionable Briar. Some techniques I have learned from this book and applied to my own needs afterwards. But really, and this is the book lover talking - any book will do. The reason why video games or movies do not work as well is because they present you with the end result which means should you wish to work from it you need to rely on a memory. A book does not - a book requires you to be your own architect. So, read. Read many different things, stories in different worlds, times, spaces. But read. I promise it helps - profoundly so.

I hope this does something for you. It is quite honestly hard to think of it in a quantifiable manner and to break it down into practical steps. Thank you for your question.

[satsuti]

OCCULT PODCAST LIST

Note: You don’t have to listen to the episodes in any particular order. In fact, I recommend skimming through the archives and start with the theme or guest that sound interesting to you. Remember that this isn’t a list lof every magical podcast there is, but of those I personally have listened to.

~ Glitchbottle Podcast

~ What Magic Is This?

~ New World Witchery

~ Radio Free Golgotha

~ Invoking Witchcraft

- Spirit Box

- The Red Text

- Bone and Sickle

- Southern Bramble

- New World Witchery

- The Folklore Podcast

- The Real Witches of the East End

- När man talar om trollen (swe)

- Fabulous Folklore with Icy

[trollkunnig-deactivated20211007]

It’s hard to believe that to bring about such incredible changes in your life, all you need is a piece of paper and a writing utensil. It truly shows how simple the power of manifestation is, just so long as there is a will.

Now, needless to say, writing petitions can get much more complicated than simply scribing a pattern of words. You can dress your petition in various ways, use multitudes of different mediums to write on, finalize them in different ways, and so on. Even the different types of petitions vary greatly in method. However, at the core, you are focusing your will as you write it.

This is a simple article on what can be a very detailed practice. Those who practice conjure, hoodoo, rootwork, or however you wish to call it have most likely been passed down methods from their ancestors. I can only share what was passed to me and what has worked beautifully for me. As you should know, I will not cover every single facet of this tradition.

ALL IN THE NAME

A name paper is a powerhouse of sympathetic magic, or in other words magic that affects another by using their name, a taglock, or something that bears their likeness such as a doll baby (poppet) or a picture of them. In the case of name papers, the link comes from using their name or anything that refers to that person.

Most assume that you need the full name of a person for a name paper, but in truth you can use anything that connects you to that person. For instance, if you don’t know someone’s name then you are more than welcome to put a descriptor such as, “that loud and obnoxious co-worker.” A descriptor will never be as powerful as a true name, and a true name will never be as powerful as a photo, and a photo will never be as powerful as a taglock made from the person’s personal effects or body piece, but each will always do the trick.

You can also use name papers to exert your will over another. You simply write your name over the other person’s name. Always put the person who will be in control on top of the name of the person who is being controlled. So, for instance, if a woman named Mary Smith wants to do wonderful in a job interview and she knows the person who will be interviewing her is named Jenny Jones, she will first write Jenny’s name and then put her own name on top of it. After, she will write the appropriate core of the petition around the two names, which should always be short, sweet, and simple.

When writing a name paper, first write either the situation or the person you wish to influence. When writing a situation down, make sure it’s concise and simple. The number of times you write the name or situation is up to you. Most say three, seven, or nine times, but you should write it how many times it feels right. I always say never write less than three times.

Next, turn the paper 90 degrees and write your name the same amount of times to form a grid on top of the first name or situation you have written down. I’ve also seen people write their name directly over the previous writing instead of turning the paper. Next, write the core of your petition around the grid or overlapping names. Going back to the example above, Mary Smith would write something like “hire me” over and over again. I’ve always learned that you should write this without picking up your writing utensil.

There are so many different ways to write a name paper that vary greatly from what I’ve described above. You can add symbols in the corners of your paper, add symbols in between the names, write the names in different ways to achieve different results, and so on.

PRAY FOR ME

A prayer paper goes fantastic with any kind of intercession work, because it is essentially a petition for intercession. Most often you will use Psalms or any kind of scripture that relates to your situation.

You can also use a prayer that you’ve made up yourself. Make sure it is heartfelt, yet also concise and to the point. I usually pray to saints or the angels and leave my petition underneath a novena candle while praying a novena over nine days. When my prayer is answered I give an offering or gift of thanks that is appropriate to the prayer that has been answered.

Working with the saints and angels is an entire topic that simply won’t fit within this writing. I will be sure to write more about that topic at a later time.

THIS IS MY WILL

Writing a petition paper can be the same as writing a name paper. Since I described a method above where you write your petition in a continuous loop around the name or situation you wish to manipulate, I will not be reiterating this method.

For a simpler method of writing a petition paper, simply write out your wish or desire either as a request, positive affirmation, or in a way that demands an action. Such examples include:

• “My home is peaceful.”

• “I am a full time employee at my job!”

• “Stop talking and get out of my life!”

You can include a name in your petition as well:

• “Lisa Peters, stop talking and get out of my life!”

Some say you only need to write it once, others say you should write it multiple times without picking up your writing utensil, and so on. It all depends on what you feel will work. You can use this method in conjunction with writing a name paper and write your name on top of your petition to take control of the situation.

As I mentioned above, this is only an extremely stripped down introduction to this tradition. Learning about various oils to dress your petition with, how to fold your petition properly if you want to put something into it, how to dispose of or activate your petition such as burning, washing, burying, and so on: these are all essential parts of any type of work you’re doing.

If you’d like me to write more about this subject and go more in depth, I’d be very happy to. I look forward to sharing more with you. Thank you for reading.

Image Sources:

Briana Saussy

Melissa Zupan

Heron Michelle

[spiritscraft-deactivated2025031]

Concerns of Planetary Days and Hours from

From the Greater Key of Solomon

ShBThAI, Shabbathai, Saturn Weekday: Saturday Concerns of Days and Hours: summon souls of natural death from hades. Good or bad fortune to buildings and businesses, possessions, goods, seeds, fruits etc. Have familiar spirits attend you in your sleep. Bring destruction, discord, death and hatred. Acquire learning. Concerns of hours: communicating with spirits. Concerns of hours and when in conjunction, quartile or opposition with the moon: for hatred, enmity, quarrel and discord.

TzDQ, Tzedeq, Jupiter Weekday: Thursday Concerns of days and hours: for obtaining honours, acquiring riches; contracting friendships, preserving health; and arriving at all that thou canst desire. Concerns of hours: for preparing any operations whatsoever of love, of kindness, and of invisibility, etc. Good for all extraordinary, uncommon, and unknown operations.

MADIM, Madim, Mars: Weekday: Tuesday Concerns of hours and days: regarding War; to arrive at military honour; to acquire courage; to overthrow enemies; and further to cause ruin, slaughter, cruelty, discord; to wound and to give death. Concerns of hours: good for communicating and speaking with Spirits; serve for summoning Souls from Hades, especially of those slain in battle. Concerns of hours and when in conjunction, quartile or opposition with the moon: for hatred, enmity, quarrel and discord.

ShMSh, Shemesh, the Sun: Weekday: Sunday Concerns of hours and days: regarding temporal wealth, hope, gain, fortune, divination, the favour of princes, to dissolve hostile feeling, and to make friends. Concerns of hours: for preparing any operations whatsoever of love, of kindness, and of invisibility, etc. Good for all extraordinary, uncommon, and unknown operations.

NVGH, Nogah, Venus: Weekday: Friday Concerns of days and hours: are good for forming friendships; for kindness and love; for joyous and pleasant undertakings, and for traveling. Concerns of hours: for preparing any operations whatsoever of love, of kindness, and of invisibility, etc. Good for all extraordinary, uncommon, and unknown operations. Useful for lots, poisons, all things of the nature of Venus, for preparing powders provocative of madness and the like things.

KVKB, Kokav, Mercury: Weekday: Wednesday Concerns of days and hours: good to operate for eloquence and intelligence; promptitude in business; science and divination; wonders; apparitions; and answers regarding the future. Thou canst also operate under this Planet for thefts; writings; deceit; and merchandise. Concerns for hours: good for undertaking experiments relating to games, raillery, jests, sports, and the like. For recovering thefts by the means of Spirits.

If thou wishest to converse with Spirits it should be especially on the day of Mercury and in his hour, and let the Moon be in an Airy Sign, as well as the Sun.

LBNH, Levanah, the Moon: Weekday: Monday Concerns of days and hours: Good for embassies; voyages envoys; messages; navigation; reconciliation; love; and the acquisition of merchandise by water. Concerns for hours: good for communicating and speaking with Spirits. Recovery of stolen property, for obtaining nocturnal visions, for summoning Spirits in sleep, and for preparing anything relating to Wate Concerns of days moon is conjunction, opposed or quartile to Saturn and Mars: excellent for making experiments of hatred, enmity, quarrel, and discord. For those matters then which appertain unto the Moon, such as the Invocation of Spirits, the Works of Necromancy, and the recovery of stolen property, it is necessary that the Moon should be in a Terrestrial Sign, viz.:–Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn. ​ For love, grace, and invisibility, the Moon should be in a Fiery Sign, viz.:–Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius. For hatred, discord, and destruction, the Moon should be in a Watery Sign, viz.:–Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces. ​ For experiments of a peculiar nature, which cannot be classed under any certain head, the Moon should be in an Airy Sign, viz.:–Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius.

Moon after her combustion, or conjunction with the Sun, especially just when she quits his beams and appeareth visible. For then it is good to make all experiments for the construction and operation of any matter.

The time from the New unto the Full Moon is proper for performing any of the experiments of which we have spoken above. But in her decrease or wane it is good for War, Disturbance, and Discord. Likewise the period when she is almost deprived of light, is proper for experiments of invisibility, and of Death commence nothing while the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun, seeing that this is extremely unfortunate, and that thou wilt then be able to effect nothing; but the Moon quitting his beams and increasing in Light, thou canst perform all that thou desires.

[folkmagick]

Almanac Magical Timing Revisited

Working in Tune With the Moon

This post revisits and expands past discussions on this blog about how the lunar system of the traditional almanacs can be applied in folk magic. These texts have a long use in popular astrology, magic, and even folk medicine. And this approach to magical timing remains relevant for practitioners today, when the information is never more than a few clicks away.  

더 보기

[fair-is-foul]

Following Lady Luna

In the days when small family farms dotted the American landscape, a fruitful crop meant the difference between success and starvation. People naturally looked to the heavens for help, and the traditional almanacs – The Old Farmer’s Almanac, The Farmers’ Almanac and their cousins –  provided useful lunar information that informed a host of traditions. Farmers used the Moon’s activity as a guide not only for planting and harvesting, but for many areas of life (from the most fortuitous day for a wedding, to the best time to have a tooth pulled). In parallel to this down-home practice, lunar timing can be found in grimoires and other magical texts dating back centuries, so it should come as little surprise that the almanacs earned a place in folk magic as well.

It’s important to say at the outset that almanac-based timing is entirely lunar – not solar like popular horoscopes – and relatively simple, without the complicated calculations of full electional astrology. The two key elements are the Moon’s sign and the Moon’s phase, which you can find in your favorite almanac or online. (My favorite site for this is Astro Seek. In print or e-book form, readers might enjoy The Witches Almanac alongside the traditional farming options)

Let’s begin with the moon’s signs.

~~~~~~~

Attributes of the Signs

The Moon travels through a new sign of the Zodiac every two or three days. Each sign has four key attributes to consider:

Element: Each sign is associated with one of the four classical elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Broadly speaking, farmers who “plant by the signs” prefer to plant in Water or Earth signs, and prune or harvest in the Fire or Air signs. For magical and planning purposes, the correspondences of the elements can be used.  

Humor: The four humo(u)rs relate to the four elements. In the classical medicine of Hippocrates, they were thought to be present in the blood and rule our temperaments and health. It can be useful to think of these as part of the “personality” of each sign – as well as how we as physical creatures embody the elements – and work accordingly. Fire signs are Choleric, Earth signs are Melancholic, Air signs are Sanguine, and Water signs are Phlegmatic. (See this link for more on the humors from the author of the excellent history Passions & Tempers.)

Planet: Each sign is ruled by one of the classical planets, which provide another useful correspondence for planning. Since the classical planets also rules a day of the week, you can match the appropriate moon sign to a compatible day of the week for extra oomph.

Body Part: Every sign represents part of the human body, as seen in the curious “Zodiac Man” illustration at the top of this post. Each body part or organ was thought to be especially sensitive when the moon was in that sign, leading to a tradition that one shouldn’t have surgery done on a region of the body when the moon moved through the associated sign. The body part associated with each sign is also often used as a nickname for the sign among old-time almanac users (as can be heard in this podcast interview of Appalachian farmers), so it’s listed beside the name below. Magically, the bodily association adds a useful additional correspondence.

~~~~~~~

The 12 Signs

Now, let’s take a look at each individual sign and favorable workings or activities to pursue when the Moon is in it:

Aries ♈︎ (the Head): The Ram is useful for achieving rapid and short-term results, shoving a situation forward, boosting confidence, or confronting or controlling an opponent. (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: Mars.)

Taurus ♉︎ (the Neck): The Bull is a fruitful sign associated with matters of money and prosperity, material goods, creature comforts, long-term goals, and achieving slow and steady progress that lasts. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Venus.)

Gemini ♊︎ (the Arms): When the Moon is in the Twins, work for communications, travel, social interaction, tasks requiring cleverness, studying, and multitasking and other “Mercurial” pursuits. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Mercury.)

Cancer ♋︎ (the Breast/Chest): The Crab is associated with home life, domesticity, family, and depth of feeling. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: The Moon.)

Leo ♌︎ (the Heart): The Lion is a positive sign of courage, determination, charisma and creativity, and it’s often said to be a strong sign for love and romance, as well as work relating to children.  (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: The Sun.)

Virgo ♍︎ (the Bowels): The Virgin is associated with matters of health, employment, professional skills, diet and weight loss, organization, and day-to-day routines. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Mercury.)

Libra ♎︎ (the Kidneys): The sign of the Scales is appropriately one of balance, partnership, and justice. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Venus.)

Scorpio ♏︎(the Loins): Old-time almanacs often call the part of the body associated with the Scorpion “the Secrets” (i.e., the loins/genitals). This is appropriate, as the Moon in Scorpio is an ideal time for work relating to secrets, the esoteric, divination, research and investigation, uncovering mysteries, and sex. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: Mars traditionally, but some today link Scorpio to the “new” heavenly body Pluto.)

Sagittarius ♐︎ (the Thighs): The Archer is an expansive sign, and his arrow points to personal growth, philosophical pursuits, the arcane arts, athletics, travel, and adventure. (Element: Fire, Humor: Choler, Planet: Jupiter.)

Capricorn ♑︎ (the Knees): The Goat is a great sign for stubbornly pursuing progress in areas of life pertaining to self-discipline, endurance, and control, including financial and practical matters. (Element: Earth, Humor: Melancholy, Planet: Saturn.)

Aquarius ♒︎ (the Legs): Despite being called the Waterman and having aqua in the name, Aquarius isn’t a water sign. (Don’t blame me; I don’t make the rules.) It is, however, a good sign for social relations, friendship, group work, and cultivating new possibilities. Some say it has an undercurrent of rebelliousness that can be tapped into to cause change. (Element: Air, Humor: Blood, Planet: Traditionally Saturn, but also the “new” planet of Uranus)

Pisces ♓︎ (the Feet): The Fishes swim deeply, and this is a strong sign for inner work of all kinds, including psychic development, dreaming, spiritual practices, and banishing negative energy. (Element: Water, Humor: Phlegm, Planet: Traditionally Jupiter, but also the “new” planet of Neptune.)

~~~~~~~

Moon Phases

Running in parallel to the Moon’s journey through the Zodiac are its monthly phases. The current phase of the Moon is the second essential piece of information for lunar magical timing. The two basic trends are waxing (when the Moon appears to be growing) and waning (when the Moon appears to be shrinking). Generally, use the waxing phases for increasing and drawing something to you, and waning phases are best for reducing and pushing away that which is unwanted.

🌑New Moon: Sometimes called The Dark of the Moon, the New Moon is a time for soul searching, personal reflection, breaking bad habits, retribution, and things to be done under the cover of darkness. It is the end of one lunar cycle and the beginning of another.

🌒Waxing Crescent: Confusingly, some refer to this phase the New Moon, as it’s when a small shining sliver of Moon first becomes visible. Whatever you call it, this is the time for new beginnings in any domain of life, setting intentions, and planning – “planting seeds” that will blossom in the future. It is also an appropriate time to begin constructive work associated with the waxing moon overall – drawing, increasing, growth, health, friendships, love in all forms, success, and positive work in general.

🌓First Quarter and 🌔Waxing Gibbous: Work for drawing and attracting success, increasing opportunities, growth, health, love in all forms, and constructive action in all areas of life.

🌕Full Moon: This is the time to pursue the most vitally important things that one seeks to manifest or cultivate. The Full Moon is Luna at her most influential.

🌖Waning Gibbous, 🌗Last Quarter, and 🌘Waning Crescent: The waning moon is a time for removing, repelling, reversing, releasing, and decreasing that which is undesirable or harmful.

~~~~~~~

Putting It All Together

As you’ve probably guessed, the almanac timing system culminates in a combination of the Moon’s place in the Zodiac and its current phase. Using the attributes of both creates the best “lunar weather” for the type of work you seek to do. For example, you might do money-drawing work when the Waxing Moon is in Taurus. And if it’s a Friday (the day of Taurus’s planet, Venus), or a Thursday (the day of expansive Jupiter) so much the better!

The possibilities are virtually endless, and this post just scratches the surface. With an almanac is your guide, each day brings new opportunities to work with the greater cycles of nature.

[ioqayin]

Do you know of any ways to make yourself more sensitive to spirits/non physical entities?

Personally, I have always found going into their domain and just sitting with them has always helped me. Which is why it’s so weird for me to live in a city! I’m used to the wilds (albeit domesticated wilds of large parks, but wilds none the less) and to spirits in forests. 

But, you have that otherness in you as well. Meditation (yes, -I know-) is one of the keys. The old Scottish seers would stare at a fixed point to access their trances. Whether you focus on a single candle flame, or upon your breath, or even just a spot on the wall, you are training your will to sit there for long periods of time, focused on one thing, or no things. 

Intuition is a muscle that must be trained. Sure, the natural power can be passed on, like in some families, but for the rest of us mortals, we have to train ourselves to see into the Otherworld. 

Daniel Schulke gives in his Viridarium Umbris one of my -favorite- exercies, which, sadly, I do not use enough (I like zoning out on a spot on the wall too much). In my copy it’s on page 442. It’s called the “Apple of the Eye”, and it concerns training the Seer’s Gaze. It is precisely the art of gazing, and training the eyes to see into liminal spaces. 

One of RA’s ploys, which I have not yet used to any great extent, is what he calls the “Amnesia Ploy”. It concerns going out into nature somewhere, and then “imagining that you have amnesia, and can not think, speak, or reply in your known language”. This little bit of method acting forces you to just use your senses, rather than words to describe things. It sounds crazy, but the few times that I have done it on the train station, I have just gone so deep into trance and have had to have people repeat what they’ve said a few times before I can understand them. RA has an entire essay on the blog “American Folkloric Witchcraft” called Forgetting Human. In his normal loquacious manner, RA takes the reader into how -he- senses the Other. It mostly is replete with little mind tricks to start thinking in a “spirits are out there” frame of mind. I know in his book The Resurrection of the Meadow he asks the reader to start seeing spirits in everything. Imagining spirits under your feet in the rocks and trees and shifting airs. Much of our “blindness” to the spirit world is because we don’t live in a culture that keeps them in mind anymore. When you start treating your life as if you have spirits around, then they will be around. Be warned: Once you see them, they see you, and they will never stop seeing you, and you will never stop seeing them. That was a bit all over the place, but I hope it helped! 

[the-swamprat]

Free books on Magick (PDF’S)

A few people have messaged me asking for my master list of working pdfs. This is what I have and its not super organized but it is in alphabetic order for what its worth. Anyways, they’re all free so please please please save them, download them, print them and most importantly READ THEM if you come across any that strike your fancy. Also, I’m not saying that every single one of these books are completely amazing, but either way, they’re here for you to make your own value judgements on.

A Modern Goetic Grimoire by Rufus Opus  Afro-Caribbean Religions by Nathaniel Samuel Murrell  Astral Doorways by J.H Brennan  Azoetia by Andrew Chumbley  Blood Sorcery Bible Volume 1 by Sorceress Cagliastro  Call of the Horned Piper by Nigel Aldcroft Jackson Children of Cain by Michael Howard Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine Conjure Codex  Creating Magickal Entities by David Cunningham Cunningfolk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby  Curses, Hexing, and Crossing by S. Connolly  Devoted to Death by R. Andrew Chesnut Diabolical published by Scarlett Imprint  Goetic Spellwork by S. Aldarnay  Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J Carroll  Lords of the Left Hand Path by Stephen E. Flowers  Mardukite Magick by M. Cecchetelli Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson Necronomicon  Obeah by Nicholas de Matos Frisvold Obeah: WItchcraft in the West Indies by Hesketh J. Bell The Candle and the Crossroads by Orion Foxwood The Grimoire of the Golden Toad by Andrew Chumbley The Language of Birds by Dale Pendell The Red King by Mark Alan Smith The Scorpion God by Mark Alan Smith The Visions of Isobel Gowdie by Emma Wilby The Voudon Gnostic Workbook by M. Bertiuax   Pacts with the Devil by S. Jason Black & Christopher S. Hyatt Psalter of Cain  Qabala, Qilpth, and Goetic Magic by Thomas Karlson  Queen of Hell by Mark Alan Smith Runecaster’s Handbook by Edred Thorsson Runelore by Edred Thorsson Saint Cyprian: Saint of Necromancers by Conjureman Ali

[satsuti]

My personal list of [beginner friendly] texts worth reading

.. and even spend $$$ on:

Protection and Reversal Magic, Jason Miller

Strategic Sorcery, Jason Miller

Financial Sorcery, Jason Miller

The Elements of Spellcrafting: 21 Keys to Successful Sorcery, Jason Miller

Miller is fantastic just read his shit

Masks of Misrule, Nigel Jackson

Craft of the Untamed, Nicholaj De Mattos Frisvold

Besom, Stang & Sword, Christopher Orapello & Tara-Love Maguire

The Call of The Horned Piper, Nigel Jackson

The Black Toad, Gemma Gary

The Devil’s Dozen, Gemma Gary

The Charmers’ Psalter, Gemma Gary

A Cornish Book of Ways, Gemma Gary

Six ways, Aidan Wachter

Pillars of Tubal Cain, Nigel Jackson & Michael Howard

Honoring Your Ancestors, Mallorie Vaudoise

A Century of Spells, Draja Mickaharic

Magickal Formulary, Herman Slater

Trolldom, Johannes Gårdbäck

Eternal Egypt, Richard J Reidy  ☥

Temple of the Cosmos, Jeremy Naydler  ☥

Magick in Ancient Egypt, Geraldine Pinch  ☥

Seven Spheres, Rufus Opus †

Saint Michael the Archangel, J Alexzander & S. Aldarnay †

Saint Gabriel the Archangel, S. Aldarnay † 

Saint Raphael the Archangel, Vanessa Irena & Alexander Cummins †

These are all books I’ve gone through myself, I will not list anything I haven’t personally read. Additions will be probably be made later on.

[crossing-sun]

Commentary on scrying

The following are my impressions of how one progresses towards success in scrying, as well as the methods I currently use in evocation.

Scrying is not dependent on ritual. It’s a skill in itself, for which there are records of people who aren’t even practicioners of magic doing it, sometimes by accident, sometimes intentionally only to be scared of the results and then never attempting it again.

The rationale for working on your scrying skills is simple: nailing the communication aspect of our dealings with spirits is paramount. It does us no good thinking things cannot be subtle at times, but an even greater disservice lies in thinking that’s all there is, and with that, reducing our acts of magic to uncertainties.

Scrying with and without a medium

Scrying can happen mentally or with an object. Contrary to what some say about the former coming with a risk of self-delusion, that is only the case if the practicioner is inclined to believe things without being certain. The things you voluntarily imagine do not constitute a vision. Period. While there may be a few nuances to that which I’ll get to, it’s best to persist until you get to the point where visions are unquestionably taking place.

When it comes to scrying, it would be negligent not to mention Benjamin Rowe’s A Short Course in Scrying. I wholeheartedly recommend it for being an invaluable essay on mental scrying as well as the art of meditation in a manner that’s conducive to obtaining visions. Here is the first nuance for my earlier statement: the visualisations suggested in there ultimately result in scrying once the imaginary constructs become real enough in time, but as Benjamin suggests, one shouldn’t try to see anything since that results in voluntary products of one’s own imagination.

It’s difficult writing concise instructions for what is quite likely a path which is different for each of us, as what’s possibly happening is one is “untangling” whatever is in the way of the visions that would otherwise come naturally. We all have our own barriers to first acknowledge and then tear down.

The method for mental scrying

The method, as I have it nailed at the time of this writing, consists of the following steps, in order:

Sit with a straight spine. It’s not important which posture you choose insofar as scrying successfully goes, but obviously, choose what you can do with a good level of comfort. For the average westerner, keeping a straight posture without moving at all for even half an hour is a decent feat.

Stay absolutely still. That will take practice. Don’t rush through this. Like proper warm up defines your performance prior to martial arts training, this is also of great assistance.

Turn your attention to a combination of the wholeness of your body, and the rhythm of your breathing. Speaking of which, keep a steady, slow rhythm in it, similar to the movement of a pendulum, easing out at the end of each inhalation/exhalation, and pushing it slightly beyond your usual comfort zone.

At the mark of around 10 minutes, with practice, both your posture and your breathing should be cemented in, and require little or no effort to continue.

From hereon, your attention should only partially remain where it was before (on your body and breathing), but now point most of it towards contemplating the darkness right in front of you. It’s a kind of stare that goes without strain. Very still, and without visualising anything.

The method for physical scrying

Having undergone my own training mentally scrying first, I’m inclined to believe this was a big part of the reason for my success in then using an obsidian mirror. Though several writings out there (See Northcote W. Thomas ― Crystal Gazing) indicate that people have succeeded by starting with a physical medium first, so it may be entirely possible to start from it.

The attentive will notice that what’s happening on step 5 of the previous instructions is I’m suggesting you use the darkness behind one’s eyelids (much facilitated by a dark room) as a medium. This is also not new. Jonn Mumford in his Magical Tattwa Cards: A Complete System of Self-Development suggests it is the ultimate scrying medium, but I digress on grounds of finding it difficult using it efficiently in the context of evocation.

The medium of choice does not matter, and I’ll wait for more consistent proof of otherwise before I change my opinion. Once the right mental state is obtained, there seems to be very little difference between a fire lamp, a water bowl, a black mirror, or a crystal ball of any kind. Picking what you have handy and getting started now trumps finding a more specific kind of medium.

The steps are, unsurprisingly, as the ones above, but replacing the fifth step with staring at the medium you choose. Frater Ashen Chassan in his excellent Gateways Through Stone and Circle suggests being expectant of visions happening yet without visualising anything. I found that frame of mind useful, to the extent that you don’t let that get in the way of relaxedly focusing on the medium itself.

What to expect

I debated adding this section since it’s easy getting trapped by expectations about the order in which things happen. But in the interest of allowing people to recognise any indicators in case that’s their experience, here it goes.

In no particular order, and by no means exclusively, the following will happen:

Sleepiness, to a point that you dose off and that ruins the exercise.

A feeling of losing your balance, despite being stably sitting down.

A feeling of being in motion, as if being pulled backwards by gravity. You may at times be entirely convinced that you are travelling astrally. I haven’t ever found that to be the case, though.

What I call the “limbs backwards” feeling. For instance, as if your hands are attached to your arms in reverse, palms facing outwards.

While mentally scrying:

Dreams in short bursts.

Longer dreams, consisting of nonsensical images.

Dreams becoming sufficiently lucid that you can speak and move around, yet you know you’re fully awake in your body.

Some beings that appear in these dreams are legitimate “visits” of spiritual entities. It may be hard at first discerning which, but a safe bet is relying on repeatedly seeing the same ones. The usual methods of spirit identification apply here.

While scrying on a medium:

An impression that the medium is shrinking and/or growing in intervals. That is, pulsing.

Tiny particles flying very quickly across it.

Flashes of images that appear very quickly then slowly fade away.

Scenes in motion, not necessarily anything that has happened, but note that past memories can occur.

Turning your head away from the medium and back does not interrupt the vision, especially in the context of ritual when requesting spirits to manifest, once it happens, them being visible in the medium doesn’t hinge on staying focused on it.

Regardless of how this goes, one thing is certain: if you’re wondering whether you scried successfully, then it hasn’t happened. It may be of little use saying it, but it took me close to a year of at least half an hour daily for the clearer phenomena to take place on a regular basis.

Notes on breathing

For people with poor breathing habits (I’m one of them), the act of ritual breathing comes hard. There are several micro-pauses in the course of inhaling/exhaling which are indicators that a lot of effort is being necessary for keeping the rhythm flowing smoothly.

Think of the movements of a ballerina. What creates what we perceive as the perfect motion is a mix of constant speed (or constant variations of thereof) and easing in and out between motions. Ritual breathing executed in perfection is no different than that, and similarly, it will take practice. But once achieved, one can go for long periods of times doing it stably without any effort. This is desirable as it then requires no focus, allowing for attention to be then given to the medium.

The approach I found most favourable is breathing from the belly. Much has been written on this topic alone, and I’ll refrain from going further than that, instead referring you to the work of Jason Miller.

Notes on helpful circumstances

Thus far I haven’t mentioned consecrating the physical medium, and that’s intentional as I’m only inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt due to magicians I respect vouching for it, but personally I don’t think it is in itself key to succeeding. My own experience a consecrated mirror has only taken place after having already succeeded at scrying semi-reliably without any medium, so I can’t vouch for what really changes once you do that.

Well-conducted ritual, however, definitely changes the equation more than a little. I find the visions on the mirror will come significantly quicker (counting from the start of the gaze to vision) during it, and be a lot more vivid, often protruding out of the mirror and taking over its space. There’s likely an element of meeting us halfway that is real, after all.

Last, I had the privilege of taking part in an experiment with a well-known magician in using hypnosis as means to enhance one’s ability to see and hear spirits. This was hugely helpful in getting me past the tipping point between semi-reliably and very reliably being able to scry. I’ve since done a few more sessions where I played back recordings of my own voice with conducive suggestions, until things got to where I wanted to.

Best of luck!

[this-isnt-magic]

you always talk about casting spells and looking for unfalsifiable proof afterwards, so i was curious what have been occasions in your personal practice or just any examples you could give of casting a spell and being proven 100% right that it worked?

In terms of operative magic specifically, here are a few from recent years:

Target A was extorting Friend B for a large sum of money. He had been hounding him daily asking for the money which B absolutely did not want to pay and frankly had no reason to owe. B asked me to make A forget about the money. Within two days of the ritual, not only did A completely forget him calling B, the cash, and the original situation that arose that made him go after him in the first place, he also randomly sent B the same amount he had been asking for over PayPal just because he felt like he owed him money, though he couldn’t remember why. He never contacted him again. 

Someone had been harassing a good friend of mine. Through a series of well-timed curses taking advantage of immigration bureaucracy, his own lawyers and closest confidants within the system began to ignore him past every deadline and he was unable to renew his visa. Needless to say, he was Hot Footed out of the country. The list of residual misfortunes that waited him upon his return is extensive

I had an extremely specific list of characteristics, personality traits, ambitions, qualities, etc. in a romantic partner which I included in a petition to draw an ideal lover. I met my now-boyfriend out of the blue shortly after enchanting it under the guidance of a guardian spirit and the archangel of Venus, and he checked off every single one.

I have also repeated this working for a friend, who met his now-wife the week after. They now have two children as well. 

I conjured a demon to bring me the monetary resources and personal connections to knowledgeable and powerful adepts of a particular tradition I knew was obscure and difficult to initiate into, whose personalities I would get along well with, respect, and genuinely care for. When the individuals were made known to me, I confirmed their validity with a corresponding angel. I have since then become close friends with these people and have learned secrets and ingress far beyond what I had initially even hoped for. 

An abusive landlord was trying to evict a friend of mine who lives in Nigeria. He had hired men to intimidate him and tried to bribe other individuals to testify against him as well. My friend asked me for help, and I began my court case work, targeting the judge, the landlord, the landlord’s lawyer, and my friend’s lawyer all separately. The landlord didn’t show up for all three court hearings, his own lawyer began to give advice to my friend and advocate on his behalf, the hired thugs disappeared, and the case was decided massively in my friend’s favor. 

I personally do a lot of weather magic, which is a really easy way to test for results. I check to see report so I know what’s likely to happen, and then do something radically different. Pulling hail in the summer, sudden rain, precise winds up to a desired strength, etc. are all possibilities to practice with. 

There are a lot of asks floating around this blog that essentially repeat the same question: what is the most powerful spell for X goal? I would offer that it is more helpful to consider operative magic along a spectrum of factors far beyond recipes. The actual structure and technique of the ritual is one aspect, but so is the divination done prior to working magic to see potential outcomes and how they would change if you adapted the spell differently; which targets you focus on and how (who do you charm, who do you curse, who do you bless, what do you do to which area first and in which order?); the physical links you have (hair, nails, spit, etc.); and most importantly the relationship you have with the spirits you are relying on. 

If a stranger asks me for $500 on the street, I’m not going to give it to them. But if my best friend did, I happily would. Look at who you already have relationships with and ask them - if you needed to manifest this result, how would you do it? I would caution anyone from shopping around for different spirits for every single ritual, and similarly to not over-assign roles to spirits. You can conjure for money using every single planet, not just Jupiter. Sol can make you outshine all your competitors for the job, garbing you in brilliance so bright only you remain visible in the eyes of those who have the power to award you what you seek. Venus can sweeten all parties to your favor, while Mars grants you victory and expels all opponents. Absolutely do explore other spirits and powers you’re interested in cultivating working relationships with, but do not forget how nuanced and deep your existing alliances go. Always divine on what you are missing, what information you need that you lack, how your working would be improved upon, etc. Where is there room for what you are looking for? Oftentimes I’ve enchanted directly for the financial success and prosperity of my bosses and academic advisers, so that the new money and grants they received would both relieve them of stress (making them more useful for me in the long run) and have more resources immediately on hand to pass on to me in the form of raises, new opportunities, projects, travel funding, and so on. 

Now with that out of the way (and I’m aware I’m giving way more than what the OP was asking for, but I do hope it will be helpful for people!) - there’s an implication in questions like these that relates to more than just verifying spells, but rather about proving that magic itself is real and tangible. I would offer that the possibilities of spirit contact described in both literary grimoire magic and among traditional oral lineages of witchcraft and sorcery are most definitely not being exaggerated in their testimonies. What follows are examples I have either personally seen or facilitated through conjuration:

A spirit manifesting visibly so that everyone in the room could see and hear it. It could also catch objects thrown at it and suspend them in the air plainly for all to see. 

A spirit physically manifesting an object from thin air that I to this day keep as a powerful amulet. It can move on its own and never rusts or tarnishes. 

A spirit manifesting to fill the sky with its body, with numerous witnesses who did not believe in any kind of non-physical entities witnessing it. 

Spirits manifesting as physical, concrete shadows that could be picked up with the hands and manipulated plainly for all to see. 

Within the context of mounting/spirit possession in ATRs, mounts (or horses, aka possessed persons) when incorporated with spirits have: spoken languages fluently they have no knowledge of but which the spirit speaks; been cut with knives/stabbed/had their hands placed in boiling oil/hot peppers rubbed on their orfices and so on without any injury, pain, or wounds/blood; defied gravity; suddenly healed major diseases and illnesses; caused all the animals in the room to die suddenly at the same time upon possession, physically transformed in skin and eye color; and more.

Not every working requires physical spirit manifestation. Not every magical goal requires the same amount of effort. But it is always possible to push deeper, as we are inclined to do. For as occultists, we pursue the hidden, especially what is hidden from us, no matter how practiced we are. That hunger for knowledge and ingress into the unknown defines magicians of all skill levels. Whether you end up initiating into a living tradition or working a grimoire that promises visible spirit manifestation by the book, there are myriad ways of discovering just how viscerally tangible and “real” magic is for yourself, if you’re willing to put in the time and exercise the diligence and cunning for it. 

- Mod D

[trollkunnig-deactivated20211007]

It’s hard to believe that to bring about such incredible changes in your life, all you need is a piece of paper and a writing utensil. It truly shows how simple the power of manifestation is, just so long as there is a will.

Now, needless to say, writing petitions can get much more complicated than simply scribing a pattern of words. You can dress your petition in various ways, use multitudes of different mediums to write on, finalize them in different ways, and so on. Even the different types of petitions vary greatly in method. However, at the core, you are focusing your will as you write it.

This is a simple article on what can be a very detailed practice. Those who practice conjure, hoodoo, rootwork, or however you wish to call it have most likely been passed down methods from their ancestors. I can only share what was passed to me and what has worked beautifully for me. As you should know, I will not cover every single facet of this tradition.

ALL IN THE NAME

A name paper is a powerhouse of sympathetic magic, or in other words magic that affects another by using their name, a taglock, or something that bears their likeness such as a doll baby (poppet) or a picture of them. In the case of name papers, the link comes from using their name or anything that refers to that person.

Most assume that you need the full name of a person for a name paper, but in truth you can use anything that connects you to that person. For instance, if you don’t know someone’s name then you are more than welcome to put a descriptor such as, “that loud and obnoxious co-worker.” A descriptor will never be as powerful as a true name, and a true name will never be as powerful as a photo, and a photo will never be as powerful as a taglock made from the person’s personal effects or body piece, but each will always do the trick.

You can also use name papers to exert your will over another. You simply write your name over the other person’s name. Always put the person who will be in control on top of the name of the person who is being controlled. So, for instance, if a woman named Mary Smith wants to do wonderful in a job interview and she knows the person who will be interviewing her is named Jenny Jones, she will first write Jenny’s name and then put her own name on top of it. After, she will write the appropriate core of the petition around the two names, which should always be short, sweet, and simple.

When writing a name paper, first write either the situation or the person you wish to influence. When writing a situation down, make sure it’s concise and simple. The number of times you write the name or situation is up to you. Most say three, seven, or nine times, but you should write it how many times it feels right. I always say never write less than three times.

Next, turn the paper 90 degrees and write your name the same amount of times to form a grid on top of the first name or situation you have written down. I’ve also seen people write their name directly over the previous writing instead of turning the paper. Next, write the core of your petition around the grid or overlapping names. Going back to the example above, Mary Smith would write something like “hire me” over and over again. I’ve always learned that you should write this without picking up your writing utensil.

There are so many different ways to write a name paper that vary greatly from what I’ve described above. You can add symbols in the corners of your paper, add symbols in between the names, write the names in different ways to achieve different results, and so on.

PRAY FOR ME

A prayer paper goes fantastic with any kind of intercession work, because it is essentially a petition for intercession. Most often you will use Psalms or any kind of scripture that relates to your situation.

You can also use a prayer that you’ve made up yourself. Make sure it is heartfelt, yet also concise and to the point. I usually pray to saints or the angels and leave my petition underneath a novena candle while praying a novena over nine days. When my prayer is answered I give an offering or gift of thanks that is appropriate to the prayer that has been answered.

Working with the saints and angels is an entire topic that simply won’t fit within this writing. I will be sure to write more about that topic at a later time.

THIS IS MY WILL

Writing a petition paper can be the same as writing a name paper. Since I described a method above where you write your petition in a continuous loop around the name or situation you wish to manipulate, I will not be reiterating this method.

For a simpler method of writing a petition paper, simply write out your wish or desire either as a request, positive affirmation, or in a way that demands an action. Such examples include:

• “My home is peaceful.”

• “I am a full time employee at my job!”

• “Stop talking and get out of my life!”

You can include a name in your petition as well:

• “Lisa Peters, stop talking and get out of my life!”

Some say you only need to write it once, others say you should write it multiple times without picking up your writing utensil, and so on. It all depends on what you feel will work. You can use this method in conjunction with writing a name paper and write your name on top of your petition to take control of the situation.

As I mentioned above, this is only an extremely stripped down introduction to this tradition. Learning about various oils to dress your petition with, how to fold your petition properly if you want to put something into it, how to dispose of or activate your petition such as burning, washing, burying, and so on: these are all essential parts of any type of work you’re doing.

If you’d like me to write more about this subject and go more in depth, I’d be very happy to. I look forward to sharing more with you. Thank you for reading.

Image Sources:

Briana Saussy

Melissa Zupan

Heron Michelle

[secretworkings]

Pentacles of Venus

source: The Veritable Key of Solomon - David Rankine, Stephen Skinner

[coyote-696]

Creating and Using Planetary Pentacles

(Part one of the Talismans, Pentacles, and Sigils series)

The Greater Key of Solomon contains numerous planetary pentacles for use in magickal operations. When properly constructed they are quite potent and require little additional input from the magician aside from periodic maintenance making them an excellent method of low energy spell casting. Rather than reproducing all of the pentacles here, please refer to this excerpt from the Greater Key before beginning. 

Construction

Choose a pentacle appropriate for your working. In general Saturn pentacles deal with destruction and baneful magick, Jupiter with wealth and protection, Mars with war and domination, Sun with spirit control and status, Venus with love and emotional/sexual domination, Mercury with knowledge and acquisition, and the Moon with freedom, divination, and water. Note that these are not hard and fast classifications and the realm of influence for each planet varies widely so choose your pentacle carefully to ensure you receive the greatest effects. 

Gather your materials. Traditionally pentacles were engraved on a disk of metal corresponding to the planet however this is a huge pain in the ass as well as expensive and toxic in many cases. Using metal is not strictly necessary though if you plan keeping it around for long term use, it can be beneficial. Paper works perfectly well and I suspect other materials would also be adequate so feel free to get creative. You will also need a Bible and a means of calculating the planetary hours (please see the “planetary correspondences” and “calculating the planetary hours” sections below for more information). 

On the day and hour associated with your planet (day and hour of Jupiter etc), draw the pentacle in an appropriately colored ink. While it may be tempting to print out your pentacle, avoid doing so because the process of drawing it by hand is the majority of the casting method. It doesn’t matter how the end product looks - a shitty pentacle will work just as well as a beautiful one, it’s the process that matters. You may start later than the planetary hour or finish drawing after the planetary hour has concluded but take care not to start early otherwise your pentacle will not be infused with the correct planetary energies. If you plan on drawing pentacles regularly, a compass and ruler will make your life much easier. 

Casting - this is the easy part. During the correct day and planetary hour, light some incense and hold the pentacle over it while reciting Psalms 8, 21, 27, 29, 32, 51, 72, and 134. Next read the Bible verse associated with your pentacle over it. If your pentacle has any special instructions (such as the 6th pentacle of the Moon), do them now. Using the correct hour is more important than the day so you can fudge this if necessary but it will not function as reliably. 

You’re done! If you want to keep it around feel free to though I personally find that paper pentacles are only good for one or two uses or as a component of a planetary talisman.

Calculating the Planetary Hours

Every day is ruled by one of the classical planets and each hour of the day is also ruled by a planet. These combinations of planetary day and hour can serve to either strengthen or weaken the planets effects depending on how the two interact with each other which in turn effects the outcome of planetary-based spellwork. For example Saturn (the great malefic) and Jupiter (the great benefic)  don’t play well together so curses cast on the day of Saturn in the hour of Jupiter will be weaker than normal or may not function at all. Conversely, Saturn and Mars serve to strengthen each other so a curse could be made more aggressive by casting during the day of Saturn, hour of Mars. The nitty-gritty of choosing the correct combination of planetary day and hour is outside the scope of this post so for our purposes we will be focusing on matching day and hour as this is when the planet’s influence is strongest. 

Planetary hours are calculated from sunrise to sunset and from sunset to sunrise so though they are based off a 24 hour cycle, they are not one hour long nor does their duration and starting time stay consistent throughout the year. Instead the time between sunrise and sunset is divided into 12 equal parts as are the hours between sunset and sunrise. Each day begins on it’s ruling planet - the first hour of Sunday is the hour of the sun, the first hour of monday is the hour of the moon, and so forth. The following chart is useful for illustrating the procession of the hours but remember: these are not the times in which the planetary hour occurs 

Quite frankly, manually determining the planetary hour is a pain in the ass. The good news is there is literally no reason whatsoever to do this by hand (unless you’re a masochist I guess). There are a number of programs, apps, and websites that will determine them for you based on your geographic location. ChronosXP is a good option for Windows and there are numerous free apps in the Android and iOS stores.  This is a good option for those of you who prefer to use your browser. 

Planetary Correspondences

Sun - gold, yellow, Sunday

1st Pentacle - “Behold His face and form by Whom all things were made, and Whom all creatures obey.”

2nd Pentacle - Angels: Shemeshiel, Paimoniah, Rekhodiah, Malkhiel

3rd Pentacle - Daniel 4:34

4th Pentacle - Psalm 13:3-4

5th Pentacle - Psalm 91:11-12

6th Pentacle - Psalm 69:23, Psalm 135:16

7th Pentacle - Psalm 116:16-17

Moon - silver, silver, Monday

1st Pentacle - Psalm 107:16

2nd Pentacle - Psalm 56:11

3rd Pentacle - Psalm 40:13

4th Pentacle- “Let them be confounded who persecute me, and let me not be confounded; let them fear, and not I.”

5th Pentacle - Psalm 68:1

6th Pentacle - Genesis 7:11-12

Mars - iron, red, Tuesday

1st Pentacle- Angels: Madimiel, Bartzachiah, Eschiel, Ithuriel

2nd Pentacle - John 1:4

3rd Pentacle - Psalm 77:13

4th Pentacle - Psalm 110:5

5th Pentacle - Psalm 91:13

6th Pentacle - Psalm 37:15

7th Pentacle - Psalm 105:32-33

Mercury - mercury, mixed colors, orange, Wednesday

1st Pentacle - Spirits: Yekahel, Agiel

2nd Pentacle - Spirits: Boel and other Spirits

3rd Pentacle- Angels: Kokaviel, Gheoriah, Savaniah, Chokmahiel

4th Pentacle - “Wisdom and virtue are in his house, and the Knowledge of all things remaineth with him for ever.”

5th Pentacle- Psalm 24:7

Jupiter - tin, blue, Thursday

1st Pentacle - Angels: Netoniel, Devichiah, Tzedeqiah, Parasiel

2nd Pentacle- Psalm 112:3

3rd Pentacle- Psalm 125:1

4th Pentacle- Psalm 112:3

5th Pentacle- Ezekiel 1:1

6th Pentacle- Psalm 22:16-17

7th Pentacle- Psalm 113:7

Venus - copper, green, Friday

1st Pentacle - Angels: Nogahiel, Acheliah, Socodiah (or Socohiah), Nangariel

2nd Pentacle - Canticles 8:6

3rd Pentacle - Genesis 1:28

4th Pentacle - Genesis 2:23-24

5th Pentacle - Psalm 22:14

Saturn - lead, black, Saturday

1st Pentacle - Psalm 72:9

2nd Pentacle- Psalm 72:8

3rd Pentacle- Angels: Omeliel, Anachiel, Araughiah, Anazachia

4th Pentacle- Deuteronomy 6:4, Psalm 109:18

5th Pentacle- Deuteronomy 10:17

6th Pentacle- “Set thou a wicked one to be ruler over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.”

7th Pentacle- Psalm 18:7

For an explanation of the meaning of the symbols contained in the pentacles, please see SonofBel’s excellent post on the subject

[witching--kra]

Does anyone know any substitutes for reading the psalms? It’d make me really uncomfortable

[coyote-696]

Don’t do Abrahamic magick then.

[satsuti]

Prayer While Using The Hands To Remove Evil

This prayer is spoken aloud while making slow downward stroked on the afflicted person’s body (it may be used against nightmares as well.)

Before my spirit,

two hands and ten fingers,

Twelve angels of God,

all evil shall shun and flee!

In the name

of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

(Sweden, 18th century)

[zivyx-deactivated20200628]

Witch Tip

the-eye.eu is a huge public database that has countless free PDFs of all sorts of occultist books and grimoires. Go forth and read.

[mahigxn-deactivated20200629]

It’s a really good source for lots of older occult texts, in multiple languages too.

[aur-ochs]

Hi there! I don’t know if you’ve ever run the Seven Spheres ritual, but I wanted to try it out. I was wondering if you knew if it mattered to have the different kinds of alcohol for each planet? I’ll do it if I have to, obviously, it just will take me longer to save up for that then, say, a single bottle of good whiskey. Thanks for your help and your time, I really appreciate it!

Oh you don’t need alcohol for seven spheres any more than you need a cigar. that’s just Opus being Opus. You sure can, but it’s not required in the slightest.

If anything, his recommendation for those things is only useful as an idea of what kinds of things are associated with the planetary spheres and not as actual ritual process.

[cardiochitinous]

When working through the Seven Spheres, read Agrippa. Together these will provide the practical and theoretical foundations respectively for some very good work.

[aur-ochs]

Agreed. As much as I sell 7S as a beginner grimoire, I really really think anyone interested in planetary magick to any serious degree should read agrippa - at least the most well-known parts of agrippa. His chapters on planetary correspondence are the backbone of all planetary magick.