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@queerkitchenwitch
Still here, still queer. I definitely miss witch-blogging here lots. I've been super busy with my little business @modernmagix and haven't had too much time to devote to this blog as I used to. I'll still reblog some things here and there.
Hope everyone is well! Someday I'll be back here properly.
Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches
While we may not all be able to go for a woodsy hike to connect with our local land spirits and find wild herbs, there is always some sort of ecosystem around us. Making that connection and identifying useful plants can be done just about anywhere.
First, identify your region and find a field guide to the local flora. You’ll want something small enough to carry that has color photographs and detailed descriptions. Peterson’s Field Guides makes very good ones for the U.S. Publishers and availability will vary according to location.
Next, take a stroll! Visit your local community park or green space, or just check out the roadside weeds growing nearest your home. There’s always something. If you don’t feel comfortable lingering in one place long enough to analyze the plants on-site, take some pictures on your phone. That way, you can identify and read about them later.
Take notes about the plants you find. What are their magical uses? Is there any folklore connected to them? Were they ever used in medicine? Where where they growing? What sort of feeling did the plant give you (if any)? How do they fit into the local biome? Is it a native species, an introduced one, or an invasive one?
If you happen to find something that might be useful in your craft, you can go back and collect a small sample, provided the plant is not endangered or likely to harm you and is growing in a public space. (State and national parks do not count as public spaces. They’re great for pictures and study, but please refrain from collecting plants there.) When in doubt, leave it be.
I wouldn’t advise using roadside plants for anything you plan to ingest, but they’re still great for spells, offerings, and the burning bowl. A good rinse-and-hang-dry is highly recommended to make sure your specimens are as clean as they can be.
Make sure you label your specimen bundles and any jars you use for storage to make later identification easier. You can press leaves and flowers and tape them into your witchbook, or include illustrations or photos with your notes.
All of this will help you learn about and connect with the land around you, even if you live in an urban or highly developed area. The energy is always around us. We just might need to be still a while and look a little harder to find it.
Happy Witching! 🌿
ADDENDUM:
There are also plant identification apps like PlantNet, Plantifier, LeafSnap, iNaturalist, and SmartPlant that you can install on your phone.
If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop.
For more tips and exercise for growing your practice, check out the masterlist here. 😊
If you liked this exercise, make sure you check out the companion piece, Creating Correspondences.
There are dozens of plant species in the arsenal of the green witch. Commonly-used varieties and usage varies somewhat between traditions, b
Localise your practice. You don’t need to offer the things traditionally associated with your deity if you don’t have them. No wheat or barley to offer Renenutet? The dandelion in your garden will do just fine if that’s what fits your practice. No moonstone for Artemis? A pretty rock you picked from the forest will look amazing on her altar.
Our gods were worshipped around a wide geographical range, with diverse cultures, plants and animals. Don’t let the unavailability of certain resources stop you from worshipping in a way that is authentic to you.
I also think this should apply to other aspects of one's practice as well, not just deity worship/veneration. Especially if you have a more nature focused practice. The more you learn about the plants and creatures in your local area, the more you understand about the spirit of that land and the more you can create spiritual alliances.
Also, while the more commonly known correspondences are cool, there are a LOT of plants and types of rocks that exist in your area that could be helpful to you! (When collecting things from your local land always harvest responsibly, sustainably, and with reciprocity)
This is a great thing to do.
For some recent spirit work I needed ochre. I could have bought some but I really wanted this work to be bound to where I am and the places I steward.
I studied soil survey maps, I walked my usual places with my eyes to the ground, poking and prodding the dirt. I learned to find pimple mounds on the margins between coastal prairie and wetlands. I learned the plants that like the soil I was looking for and how to identify them.
Finally, finally, I found what I was looking for. A spot less than 2 square feet of blood red sand. I took just as much as I needed and took it home, processed it, and now I have the exact pigment I want, from the exact place I love.
Book Review: The Witch's Art of Incantation, 2nd ed. by Roger J. Horne
10/10, I'd buy again for what it is: but you should know what it is before you buy it
This is a review of the second edition, which is about 100 pages longer than the original and contains 55 additional incantations.
What's it about?
This is a book of translated and edited historical and folk incantations to be used in syncretic folk witchcraft or any form of witchcraft. These incantations are grouped into 9 categories:
Seeking the Old Ones
Calling to the Green World
Love and Spurned Love
Coinage and Prosperity
Curses and Maledictions
Spirit Flight and Second Sight
Blessings and Benedictions
Heretical Psalmistry
Miscellaneous latinate charms
Besides a brief introduction, the book is just incantations.
It's not a spellbook. It doesn't tell you to collect candles or herbs, or what day of the week to work them on, or the moon phase, or whatever. Just as it says on the tin, it's a book of incantations.
However, Horne does have a very handy section at the beginning called Approaches to the Art of Incantation.
Here he describes methods and techniques to help empower incantations (I recommend not skipping it), a framework for understanding the power of words, and folk magic actions that may be combined with incantations, such as the burning of candles with pins stuck in, or speaking over poppets.
If you've skipped Folk Witchcraft, definitely check out this section.
(As Horne explains in the introduction, the first ed. of this book was a companion book to his other text, Folk Witchcraft. Apparently, Folk Witchcraft provided a great deal of context and lore surrounding the use of the incantations themselves.
The second ed. has been developed into a standalone text, but Horne still recommends looking to Folk Witchcraft if you want more context.)
Where do these incantations come from?
Horne makes it clear that he primarily sourced incantations from Europe and America (primarily Appalachia) not because they're particularly better in any way, but because these are the areas his ancestors and practice stem from. He makes an outspoken statement against any perceived Eurocentric authority, and warns people to not take his area of focus to mean there is more power within those cultures than within others.
That being given, these incantations are sourced historically from at least the first century onward, from a wide variety of sources, including Greco-Roman, Irish, Scottish, Cornish, Welsh, French, German, Appalachian, Icelandic, and more.
When possible, Horne notes where the incantation originated from, and in what manner he edited it.
All of these incantations have been edited for use by the modern reader; they are Horne's original adaptations. This is not a historical reference.
An example?
To give you an idea of the contents, this is one of the shorter incantations in the book, "A Call to Fire."
A Call to Fire Fire untamed, lustrous, and bright, power behind the sun, moon and every star. Aetherial fire, source of life, most splendid flower, heat-bringer, light-bringer, hear me, radiant fire. [Origin: 3 BC - 1 AD. Greco-Roman. Adapted and rearranged with poetic license after The Hymns of Orpheus. pg. 100.]
This incantation may be used to charm offering candles, to consecrate sacred fires, to call forth salamanders or fire elementals, to honor a god or spirit of fire, and so forth - the application is up to you.
Is the variety solid? Are they versatile enough for use even if you don't consider yourself to be a folk witch?
A big reason I recommend this book so highly isn't just because it's handy for me, but because I think it is very versatile.
The variety of what's presented is exceptional; there are charms to hail the seasons and the moons, the Old Ones and plant allies, to cure grief and wrath, to call a lover, to steal wealth, to conjure all varieties of helpful spirits, to reveal a thief, to hag-ride, to skin-change, to induce second-sight, to charm your cards for better readings, and I could go on and on.
In addition, because Horne sources everything where he can, it's a wealth to look not only at his adaptations but compare the charms to the historical originals, and thereby gain inspiration for developing your own incantations.
The best part for me is that they're all usable. It's not a spellbook where you can't get some ingredients so you can't use some spells. They're incantations that you pair with whatever spell elements you want to include, including just using them on their own.
But are they sexy? Will I feel like I'm living deliciously?
Yes. You will feel like you are living deliciously. You will feel like ye olde wytche who feeds blood and honey to their familiar, and steals the potency of men at night as you roam in your second skin; you will believe you may only be harmed with a silver bullet when you take the form of a hare to rob milk from cows.
Real quick, what's up with those 'heretical psalms' and latinate charms?
The last (and smallest) portion of the book more heavily leans into syncreticism. Horne's attitude in the book is that folk witchcraft is by practicality and oftentimes necessity a syncretic one, and that witches use what's on hand in order to get the job done. He references the importance of the influence of the Church on modern cunning traditions, including both the adoption of psalms and also of latinate language.
Twenty-three psalms are printed in the book along with recommended magical uses, along with a list of the magical uses of psalms (which you'd have to look up yourself).
Finally, Horne has a fifteen incantations in Latin. Or, latinate, as he keeps clarifying. He hasn't taken charms and translated them into Latin, rather he's edited historical folk charms that were recited in liturgical Latin by the people who used them - again emphasizing syncreticism in folk magic.
If you're not into Christian syncreticism, I doubt this section would be of use to you. This section constitutes 80 total pages out of 319, or about a quarter of the book. Personally I'd still get it for the more pagan incantations even if I didn't want the more syncretic ones, but it's certainly not to everyone's tastes.
(Be advised that there is a lot of Scottish folk magic in this book, plenty of which calls on Mary as divine authority. Obviously you can change the incantations as you please, but if you're allergic to these things, be aware they are peppered throughout the text.)
Chicken, who would you personally recommend this book to?
I would recommend this book to a practitioner who is:
Ready to start seriously investing in their personal repertoire of spells
Confident enough to experiment with spellcrafting
Sick and tired of spellbooks that recommend inaccessible ingredients, and just want building blocks to make their own full-format spells
Wanting a resource that helps with getting practical magic done within their current paradigm, without having to adopt a lot of new ritual aspects or theories
Looking for inspiration to expand their current practice without having to restart their practice
Looking for resources on Christian or heretical witchcraft
Anyone seeking resources on the power of words in practical sorcery
I'm a pagan, not a witch, and I love hymns and incantations. Would I like it?
To be honest, I doubt it.
Yes, the book starts with incantations to the Old Ones, who are ostensibly gods; but anyone with an eye to see can tell that the incantations all either relate to the Devil or the Queen of Witches. Also, one for Fenris ("darkling wolf") and one for the Sun.
Like 5 of the incantations may clearly be associated with Greek gods, but those gods are not named and the association appears to be selected based on their relevance to witchcraft.
A vast majority of all incantations in the book are related to spellwork and conjuring nature spirits. These incantations were designed for use in magic, which includes calling spirits and compelling action; not so much veneration or worship.
Readability and Accessibility
The physical quality of the book is disappointing. And that's not the author's fault and has no bearing on the actual contents, but right out of the box I was afraid the poor thing was going to fall apart. However it was cheap as hell so I have nothing to complain about, this thing was like $15 for a paperback. It has the quality you would expect from such a cheap purchase.
The text is sort of an artsy one? It's a serif font that's not too out there, but it's smaller than I was expecting, and my eyes don't love it. You will have to find your reading glasses for this one. All his books I bought are published in this typeface so I assume it's a choice.
Horne loves big paragraphs and long sentences. I find his writing style to be clear and easy to follow, but it's not a lower grade reading level. You may expect a maximum of two paragraphs per page in the prose portions.
The incantations themselves are broken up into much more manageable parts, always containing no more than 2 lines per paragraph break.
I believe Horne did this on purpose to compel the reader to find their own cadence in the incantations. But, it has the added effect of contributing to readability. The way each incantation is split up makes it very easy to follow and not lose your place.
6/10 for physical manufacture; I really wish the typeface was less artsy and more standard, but I could still read it through, especially once I got used to it.
I'm starting to question how much the "old" pagan costumes and festivities were indeed about fertility, sex, etc.
Ronald Hutton claims that there is no evidence in history that the maypole was saw as a phallic symbol, for example. And there are other possible meanings. But you usually just read in books as a matter of fact that it was a phalic representation and the dance around was about fertility etc
I recently read the witche's bible because I was curious about traditional wicca rituals and there is suuch a high focus on how every single costume or holiday was about fertility and sex that honestly it makes me wonder, how much it was indeed about those things and how much is just the interpretation of modern people like Gardner making it about those things
You're hitting the nail on the head without even realizing it, Anon.
SO much of what we think we know about "old pagan customs" comes from books written by Victorian-era occultists. And if there is one thing to be said about Victorian-era occultists, it was that they were horny as FUCK. (And the Edwardians weren't any better.)
These people went around rubber-stamping FERTILITY in big red letters on anything to do with goddesses or springtime or even the most passing reference to pregnancy, childbirth, midwifery, or babies. Literally any excuse for ritual nudity or a sacred orgy. And no, that is not satire. Or a euphemism.
The other thing that can be said about Victorian-era occultists is that quite a lot of them were history buffs and very prolific writers. (If you look at the roster of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and their regular guests, it reads like a Who's Who of the writers of fantastical fiction and poetry at the time.) So the result of that is a whole lot of literature about folklore and "ancient pagan customs" written by people who were filtering what little historical information they had at the time through the lens of their own opinions and those of their colleagues.
(It's worth noting that that "lens" often consisted quite heavily of free-associated ideas not supported by history or things they completely pulled out of their own asses. Leland's "Aradia" is a good example of the "Ancient Sacred Text Given To Me By A Real Witch Who Totally Exists And I Definitely Didn't Write This Myself And Make Up This Claim For Clout" genre.)
Quite unsurprisingly, a lot of these beliefs got absorbed into the roots of the modern witchcraft movement a few decades later, since those were the popular resources available at the time and the same generally-prevailing opinions and biases were still present. So this started WELL before Gardner and his coven were on the scene. They just picked up the thread.
And as we all know, once there's a generation or so of removal from the founding beliefs of a movement, people tend to take the older texts as gospel, regardless of how flawed they might be.
See Also: We Still Have To Talk About The Witch-Cult Hypothesis Because Margaret Murray Wrote The Encyclopedia Britannica Entry On Witchcraft And It Wasn't Updated Until The 1960s.
See Also: We Still Have To Explain The Difference Between Historical Fiction And The Historical Record Because Of The White Goddess And The Mists Of Avalon.
See Also: We Still Have To Talk About The Burning Times Myth Because Raymond Buckland Made That Stupid Fucking Documentary.
See Also: Why The Hell Is Anyone Still Recommending Silver Ravenwolf.
Anyway, the short answer is that yes, your impression is correct, and I'm glad you're reading Hutton and forming that practical context for the witchcraft/pagan literature and media that you encounter.
Keep honing that bullshit detector and best of luck!
Nazis will never be welcome in paganism. They have no space in our communities, we will have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to nazis. You have no right to the cultures, gods and religions you hijack to spread your disgusting ideologies. You will find no refuge or comraderie amongst pagans.
Reblog to let nazis know they’re not welcome here.
banishing (how to do it)
yeah this is like all UPG but it works good for me, take what you will and leave the rest behind.
if your response to this is "but most people never ever have to deal with unwanted spirit problems so you're probably wrong if you think it's a spirit! do shadow work and touch grass!" please let me invite you to just not interact with this post at all.
Don't cleanse. Like please don't, why do people do this??
"I am confident an unwanted spirit is in my home and I cleansed but nothing happened."
Okay, an unwanted guest is in your home and you did a bit of vacuuming and washing the dishes, so why are they still there??
Why WOULDN'T they be there?! It's nicer now??? It's better for them to stay?!?!?!
"I want to break up with my boyfriend so I did his laundry but he's still texting me :/"
Cleansing =/= banishing and cleansing should be saved for cleaning up after an unwanted spirit after they are banished, which again, is not accomplished by cleansing.
Stop raising wards that trap the spirit inside.
"I cleansed and put up a protection but that only made the problem worse!"
Yes you did a wash up and locked the spirit inside with you, of course it's pissed off. It's trapped.
If you feel the need for immediate protection when dealing with a spirit problem, craft an amulet that serves as a personal protection for you. NOT one that seals off the entrances to your home.
Once the spirit problem is taken care of and you are confident its presence has been removed, feel free to raise up those wards sky high.
Also, if you are heavy-handed with the warding, spirits can sometimes just get trapped inside regardless. Learn how to temporarily "switch off" wards when you need to so things can leave.
Put your fucking foot down and tell the spirit to leave.
This will solve a surprising number of unwanted spirit problems. Not all of them, and come on, please stop telling people they never need to learn actual banishing skills just because telling spirits to leave works most of the time.
But you gotta do it. And I mean you don't have to be an asshole about it. You don't have to jump right into screaming in the spirit's general direction and threatening all such harm on it.
And there's plenty of good reasons to start with this step, especially if you want to be a spirit worker, but that's neither here nor there. Just tell them to leave.
Go to an area where you think the spirit is, or go where its private and speak with the intent that the spirit will hear you.
(You may also sign or write; would generally not recommend doing this operation entirely mentally)
"Hey, Dude. I know you're here, and I want you to know that you must leave. It is no longer an option for you to stay. I request that you leave immediately, and I request that you do not come back to this place. Leave now and we part ways in peace."
Do not go belly up and beg the spirit. It benefits you to behave with authority and dignity.
DO NOT try to "soften the blow" by twisting your words into something that is no longer a demand that the spirit depart. "Hey, if it's okay with you, I'm hoping you'll leave soon, or as soon as you're able... I don't feel comfortable with you here, and I'd prefer if you went." Great, now the spirit knows how you feel. So what?
Banish the spirit (or human, or whatever).
Presumably we're at this step because the prior step ("bro, seriously just leave and never come back") did not work.
Obtain correspondences heavily associated with banishing, use them to enchant a candle, burn the candle.
Can't use a candle? Try a simmer pot.
No fire at all, including incense? Try a floor wash (test carpets to ensure there will not be staining).
Can't burn things or clean the house? Try a sigil you visualize being imprinted on all the walls of your home.
Can't visualize? Consecrate something to represent the spirit, drop it in a jar of water along with banishing correspondences, swirl it around like a whirlpool, chant about the spirit being washed away.
No waterproof containers? Consecrate something to represent the spirit, stand on the edge of your property, throw it off the edge of the property.
You get my drift -- do magic. Do magic. Do magic that banishes. Use magic specifically to banish. Not to cleanse the vibrations or whatever. Specifically magic intended to yeet a spirit.
At this point, do not try to ignore the problem or keep talking it out. Do not just try to meditate or whatever. Do magic. Do magic that banishes.
Here's a banishing spell if you need it:
Basil, cloves, red pepper
Candle (ideally, red)
Paper and ink
Small offering
Draw the planetary seal of mars and the planetary square on a piece of paper, ideally in red. Dress a candle in oil (*burning your house down is an effective way to banish a spirit but perhaps too heavy-handed; dress with care) and include either one or three dried, powdered herbal correspondences to it.
Dedicate the candle to Mars. ("Planet Mars, someone on the internet told me you'd help me if I asked - I'm asking now. I give this candle to you. It belongs to you now.")
Put the candle near the paper.
Evoke Mars. ("Planet Mars, where your symbol exists so you exist. Where your planetary square exists, so do you exist. The space has been made welcoming to you through the presence of these Martian correspondences.") The martian correspondences are the basil/cloves/peppers, btw ("I ask you to bring your attention now to me. I ask you to dwell fully in this space.")
Read the Orphic hymn to Ares if you'd like a little extra elbow grease behind your evocation.
Petition Mars. ("So please get rid of this spirit, it seriously sucks so bad.")
Offer payment. ("In exchange for this help I know you will provide, I give you this candle and also this [small offering].")
Seal the deal. No, you do not need to be able to receive psychic confirmation from a planet or whatever, but do not proceed if you feel any gut-level bad feelings or suddenly get a ton of anxiety. If that happens, be like, "Mars, buddy, never mind - I get a bad feeling about this, so I'm noping out. Thanks for listening while you did. Leave in peace."
But if you feel fine about moving ahead, just be like, "now I give you Mars this offering, and I light your candle, with full and total assuredness that this spirit will be permanently banished from my space, my life, and my home."
[Light the candle, give the offering]
Cleanse
The spirit should be gone before you put up wards
Residual ickyness can make you feel the spirit is still nearby even if its been banished
Cleanse your space and see if the symptoms of the spirit return.
If symptoms return, the spirit has not been banished.
If they don't return,
Put up wards.
Ya got haunted because ya didn't have a fence up to stop random cows from wandering into the garden of your life and trampling all your hard work. Put up the wards.
Oh, but maybe the banishment didn't work, in which case:
Mitigate symptoms.
I mean yeah, maybe try at least a few more types of magical banishing, call in a priest even. But!
Not every spirit can be banished. That's just the long and short of it.
As humans we have the capacity to intertwine our lives, intentionally or otherwise, with forces that cannot be immediately removed from our presence.
Like if the grand spirit of a forest hates all humans and you build a house in the forest, you're not going to be able to banish the forest from the forest, you feel me?
Sometimes, banishing isn't the solution.
As rare as it is, it happens. Make personal protections, use mirror or other illusory wards to hide from its attention, make reparations if possible, avoid attracting attention, and get on with your life.
A lesson on Servitors
Introduction
(This article is long and subject to edits, changes and corrections as I see them. As a warning, information may disappear or appear as I try to make clarifications in the future. This article is not complete by a long shot.)
In the Chaos Magick ladder which I briefly described in a previous article we have Servitors as the next evolution of our high magick. Just to remind you we go from Sigils -> Servitors -> Egregores -> God forms. Servitors are much more difficult to put into application than sigils. They require more time and energy as well. The good news (for some) is that Servitors can still be created in private. Egregores and Godforms are almost impossible to create without some sort of extra participation or fellowship with other people (however I have some clever methods to use which will be described when I get to those subjects.) Regardless, before I jump into how to create a servitor, I need to clearly define WHAT a servitor IS.
What is a Servitor?
As servitor is a thought form of your own creation. One of the most popular occurrences (back in the day) was the creation of imaginary friends by children. The power and purpose of your servitor will be entirely dependent on you and your desire to develop it. For young children, to have a non judgmental companion to walk beside them as they learn to socially cope with other people is a common mission for some servitors. Another way to think of Servitors is as “Familiars.” Now this comes with a bit of a warning, without proper attention your servitor may gain independence and a life of its own (Thus evolving into an Egregore.) I am all about responsibility and making your magick do exactly what it was intended to do, so I will give you some tips on how to keep a leash on your familiar.
Why would I want a Servitor?
Like I said in a previous article, sigils are typically where the buck stops for most Chaotes. They are powerful, work as intended and are very accurate. You could technically stop right there and have everything you will ever need for working with magick. However, magick is more of a walk for some and an exploration of endless possibilities for others. Servitor creation is the next step into some deep waters and a step out into the wild frontier of Magick. This is where the pedal hits the metal; this is where the wild adventure begins. For many adult occultists, this is also a return to childhood which can be a very scary place for some.
That being said; familiars and their purpose are left to your imagination. A companion (friend), a bodyguard, and yes even lovers are all applications for Servitor work. However let me come with a warning, the more you feed a servitor the stronger and more independent it can become. As such I advise highly against creating servitors for sexual gratification. You may end up giving birth to a hag or a succubus (a result of uncontrolled mutation), which in the end will make your life miserable. It would be better to create a wing(wo)man to help bolster your confidence to gain a physical mate. My point ultimately is, just like sigils, there is no limit on what a servitor can do, look like or become. The only limit is your imagination. If a sigils is a magickal computer program, Servitors are magickal robots, just shy of becoming Magickal AI.
Servitors are astral constructs. Servitors can cause physical change.
Practical use for servitors include:
An assistant in solo magickal work.
A protector for your house.
An assistant for keeping your workspace clean.
To name just a few.
Okay I get it! How do I MAKE one?
First rule: Temper your enthusiasm with caution. Respect the ritual you are about to perform.
Second Rule: We do not create accidents; make sure you truly want to create a servitor. These are not toys, they are very real beings created from your energies, they are in short, your children. Be a responsible parent.
Third Rule: Always, always, always, set up rules and restrictions to keep your servitors exactly that. Without rules, a servitor has the potential to become an Egregore and no longer under your control.
Optional but highly recommended: When I create servitors I get into the habit of breaking down ones I no longer use and incorporate them into the newer, upgraded models. I had a bad experience with leaving “junk servitors” unattended only to have them haunting my dreams and bumping into me in the middle of the night. If you are down with a servitor, release the energy and let it be free. This act prevents the buildup of malice and negative energies from neglected thought forms. Keep your workspace clean, in the astral and in the physical.
Now that we have that established let me begin.
As always with Chaos Magick, there is no right or wrong way to do this. What I offer you is what has worked for me. Tweak it for your purposes. (For me) It always helps to have a template to start with, but YOUR magickal walk is exactly that, yours not mine; you are the final Judge on what you are willing and able to commit to such a practice.
Step 1: State the purpose of your Servitor
Create a sigil or series of sigils which will define the purpose of your servitor. “Protect my home,” “Keep my house clean,” so on and so forth. Make as many sigils as you need. This is the easy part, feel free to find my article on sigil making in this blog.
Step 2: Create a body for your Servitor
You have two options here.
Option A:
You can bind them to a fetish like is a doll, figurine or even a drawing of your own design. I am a naturally arts and crafts kind of person so this is my preferred method.
Option B:
However if for whatever reason I don’t not have the time or money to create a physical representation of my servitor, I use meditation and create the servitor in my mind and in astral space.
Regardless, the process requires the same amount of energy, effort and IMAGINATION. You must visualize the servitor. How tall is it? Does it have limbs? Can it speak? It can take hours to create a body for your servitor, but you need to define as many of its functions and characteristics as possible. Its body needs to be a vivid as possible. Some of my servitors have looked like Lovecraftian horrors, while one of my longtime companions is a very cute four foot tall blonde elf girl who speaks in wind chimes.
Step 3: Bind your sigils in the body of the servitor, and put in its safety protocols.
Binding your sigils can be as simple as drawing them inside your picture, carving them into your doll, or imagining the sigils being put in place of where its “heart” or “battery” may be. The point is to make sure your sigils are part of your servitor. Once this occurs, and you are convinced the two have become one, a safety should be put into place. As I said before, without a leash or restrain, your servitor has cart-blanche to run amok and out of your control. You have again, to options here: A command word or a counter sigil. The command word can be: “Stop!” “Sit!” “Go away!” It is best to keep it simple; although I know a few people who used poetry for particularly devious machines to make sure not everyone can shut them down. That is the key to command words however, anyone can use them. A servitor must be compelled once a person speaks a word or command phrase to abide by its programming.
Safety Method A: Command Words
Creating a command word is as simple as touching your servitor (if you used a fetish, this is easier) and speaking plainly to them “When I say <x> you will do <y>” (X and Y are your phrase and its action.) Repeat this as many times as you need to remember or until you feel you servitor is ready to comply. You can put as many command words on your servitor as you want, just be careful not to use the same word to do multiple things, or that they words are counterproductive to its mission. You could confuse the crap out of it.
Safety Method B: Counter Sigils
The second method, counter sigils, are kind of a fire and forget method. It lets a servitor know where it is or isn’t allowed to be. This requires you to name your servitor and upon naming it, creating a sigil of its name. You must decide if this sigil is a ward or a summoning upon its creation. You do not need to commit much thought to this nor does it change the method of how the sigil is created, the intent is good enough. “This sigil means you are welcome to work in this place,” or “This sigil prevents you from going into this place,” Is good enough of a declaration for this method to work. I have seen people bind servitors in boxes with this method and let them out when needed, while others have put the symbols on doors and the like to let servitors know where they should go.
Step 4: BRING YOUR CREATION TO LIFE!!!!!
The ritual can be as elaborate or mundane as you want. However I will tell you, the more elaborate the more powerful your servitor will be in the long run. I have used a simple hand flick gesture (like turning on a light) to activate some, they only lasted a few days before the broke down. My longtime companion servitor had entire weeks of music and food dedicated to her and if she didn’t have any safety protocols in place, probably would have become an Egregore by now. Still, perform a ritual that lets the servitor know it is born. Throw it a birthday party, show it around the house, get silly, get childish. There is no right or wrong way to invite this new entity into your home, just know, the more gnosis you feed it, the better.
Step 4:
Regular maintenance of your servitor is a must. Your servitor must be in your mind from time to time. If you forget about it, it loses energy and dies. While, just thinking about it is okay, offerings or rewards are much more potent. For my lesser servitors I give them a drop of life force when they have done well. For my companion, I have treated her to donuts and milk. The key is to understand the relationship between you and your servitor. Unless you set them free, they cannot live without you. If you forget them, they will die. Woe to the chaote who creates a servitor with no restrictions and then neglects them, you may create a vengeful spirit to infest your house. So reward you servitor when they have done their duties and let them know you still care about them.
Dismantling your Servitors:
I include this part because all good occultists know the value of banishment. Some servitors outlive their usefulness and thus need to be released back into the cosmos. This is not a cruel thing to do, as a matter of fact; actively releasing your unused servitors is very humane. It is cruel to leave a bound servitor unattended to die an agonizing death of forgetfulness and neglect.
Dismantling is simple. Take the abject or thought of you servitor and tell it “You are free” or “I set you free” Imagine all of the bindings and words leaving and falling apart into harmless light. If you have a fetish, set it ablaze or destroy it in some gentle way. Make sure that the object can no longer physically house the servitor. IT is a very good practice to tell it, that it has performed well and it is time for it to move on. If the servitor doesn’t seem to want to leave then you may have to perform this a few time. My companion didn’t want to leave me when I tried to banish her the first three times, she was so fiercely loyal that I gave her a second birthday and still keep her to this day.
That is servitor making in a nutshell.
I am sure many of you have questions or will want me to elaborate. So feel free to ask questions if you need help. This is a basic outline, I am vague for a reason to encourage you to go out there and find what works for you. Just be safe and Chaos Magick responsibly.
~M.A. Hargrove © 2014
“How do spells work if there are so many different spells to cause the same effect?” one might ask. The answer that witches give is often, “Well, the intention is what really matters,” in which cause you might wonder what the point of ingredients is at all. Can you really replace every herb with rosemary and have the exact same result as if you used what was called for? People may have different answers to this, but here’s what I think. The rules of magic don’t really follow logical structures that we are used to. Magic in particular tends to be difficult to quantify, difficult to study in a laboratory setting, and the effects are difficult to reproduce. That doesn’t make it definitively not real but it means that we have to look at it through a different lens than we are used to. I am a programmer, and I make analogies to programming a lot. When I was first learning to program, I had an incredibly difficult time with the learning curve. Of course I know now how consistent the logic of programming languages is - but despite the consistency, it is an entirely different way of thinking than the way we think about problem solving in human languages. Both ways of thinking about data have their own structures, but learning to think a different way can be incredibly difficult. People may also encounter this difficulty when learning a human language with a wildly different grammar.
We don’t really know a lot of things about magic or why it works, and that is why there isn’t a really good, logically consistent answer to these kinds of questions. Maybe intention matters, but maybe the proximity of intention to certain ingredients matters. Maybe the timing matters. Or maybe these are all just dressings to active some force - of the universe or of our own minds - that we don’t know we don’t know about yet. Maybe some things are just coincidences, and we can’t separate out which things are coincidences and which things are meaningfully caused. Some things are demonstrably placebos - but to most people it will not matter anyway, so long as they get the effect they want. Witches end up feeling things out. And part of the reason everything is so individualized and non-straightforward is because different things seem to work for different people. But we don’t necessarily know why that is. So witchcraft becomes a craft of sifting through information, trying things, discovering things, and alighting on different things that seem to work for the individual practitioner. And as their magic becomes more advanced, it becomes more difficult to articulate hows, whats, and whys. A lot of my magic is based on wishing superstitions. I have no idea why, but the trappings of those things work for me. If I ask for something while blowing all of the seeds off a dandelion, it will happen. I can’t just make that seem wish at nothing and have it come true. Does it activate some power in me? Is it based on my own belief? Is it because I was born in February? The reason why this works for me and not for other people could be any number of reasons, but I don’t have a good way of studying those reasons. Meanwhile putting herbs and stones in a jar really seems to work for some people, but doesn’t seem to do much for me at all. So the answer to the questions I asked at the beginning is basically: no one really knows. People have guesses that are hard to prove or disprove. But plenty of science-minded or skeptical people like myself still engage in the practice of magic because there are discernible patterns to some things - and witchcraft is a search to discover one’s own patterns.
“I attract people of like minds.”
This was a sigil request for silverpond, for finding people similar to them to possibly start a relationship with. I hope it works out for you!
Sketch sheet:
Noisy Neighbour
To put a stop to loud and thoughtless neighbours who cannot be reasoned with. You've asked them to stop and they haven't. Now it's time for some witchcraft.
MATERIALS
Fabric Scraps - enough to make a poppet for each member of the family
Dirt from their property or trash they've thrown out
Small Cardboard Box
Permanent Marker
List of Grievances with a big STOP at the top of the list.
Make a poppet for each member of your neighboring household with a bit of dirt from their property (or trash they've thrown out) and their names inside. Sew the mouths shut on the poppets of the noisy neighbours and throw them in the little cardboard box.
Then, decorate the small cardboard box to look like their house and make sure to add their address. Read through your list of grievances:
STOP
1. shouting all the time
2. Playing loud music every day till 11pm. Etc.
Put the list of grievances in the box and tape it up. Give the box a good shake anytime your neighbours get annoying and if one in particular will not be quiet, feel free to pull out the pins and start poking their poppet in the head. A headache will follow and they won't feel like shouting or playing loud music anymore. Such a shame.
- Marci
Spell Project: Day 15 - Quiet (make up) Okay let's start from the absolute top of this whole thing.
THE FUCKING LIST OF GRIEVANCES.
Like, I love a little list of fuck you for your shit, and one more thing, and one more thing, and also, fuck you one more thing. Love that, love that for this spell. This is great. A lot of spells that I saw which had poppets and sealing their mouths shut did not also include a list of grievances.
I also love that we're making a box.
But I think as part of a whole thing here with regards to storage and living in a small space myself - one of the things that might need to be adjusted is making these poppets out of paper (ala Paper Dolls) and the house out of paper (like a paper envelope where you stuff the people from the other place and their dirt or trash or whatever, like for instance if it's an apartment complex you can take a rubbing from their door number (or swab it with a tissue)).
This might get into the big of trying to use a pin to give them a headache, but you can always just transfer your headache to them (from the previous spell) right to their poppet/paper doll. OR You could chip clip their head. Yes, I did in fact mean the chip clip. that you use to hold your chip bag together. Yes, yes that's exactly what I mean.
Or some other clip that wouldn't necessarily damage the construction of the paper doll (or if you want you can use cardboard that's also possible). And yes, you can still sew their mouths shut, by the way. Thread is possible, but you could also consider stapling it shut. Or gluing it shut. Or gluing an X (or marking it) or some blocker to shut them the hell up.
Now this spell, unlike the others, does not include a reversal. Now as I have warned before, sometimes you reverse a spell on someone and then they go right back to them doing whatever the hell it was that was annoying from the start. So I recommend some caution in releasing neighbors who are assholes.
But, it is entirely possible to release them from their poppets, especially if you used the rubbing or some other mechanism and pull away the identifying content dispose of their dirt or trash, etc. Beyond just unsewing their mouths shut.
And you can do this for other purposes because it's a list of grievances.
So if you have something like a coworker who you need to SHUT THE HELL UP. You can do the same thing except the building is the work place that you go to with that coworker. So like for instance, you can make it so that they shut the fuck up whenever they are at work.
Do you see what I mean?
Love the idea though in it's original structure, just giving you some specific things. I might even say out loud to the poppet while I'm preventing them from speaking / being annoying, why I'm shutting them the fuck up.
Beautiful.
I'm glad you like it!
Your paper poppet is a good alternative to fabric. I just used fabric because I had scraps around from my mending.
Admittedly, I didn't include a reversal/release from the spell because my neighbours are annoying, and I keep pulling the box out to add to the list of grievances. Though, that being said, you can always tack on a "once you can behave yourself, this spell will be broken" at the bottom of the list.
When I was making this, I kept thinking of that scene from Lilo and Stitch where Lilo is shaking the pickle jar with the spoon poppets in it: "My friends need to be punished..."
Witchcraft 101: Sympathetic Magic
Unlike a lot of witchcraft-centric terminology, you don’t particularly see “sympathetic magic” thrown around a lot. This is because sympathetic magic is an umbrella term with lots of magics under its hypothetical umbrella. That doesn’t mean it’s not important to know what sympathetic magic is, however!
WHAT IS SYMPATHETIC MAGIC?
Put simply, sympathetic magic is an old type of magic in which an object that is associated with a target is used to seek influence over said target.
An easy example of sympathetic magic is magics that use poppets. Poppets are powerful forms of sympathetic magic as they are a physical representation of a human target of the witch’s magic. Poppets are considered to be powerful because they often contain a taglock(s).
Sympathetic isn’t limited to just people, however. It can be used to influence events (an example being that if you desire a monetary gain e.g. a raise at work, you may want to include money in your spell), or even weather.
HOW DOES SYMPATHETIC MAGIC WORK?
There are two factors that make sympathetic magic work. Some magics involve both factor, some magics only one.
“Like-attracts-like”: an example of this, may be that should you wish to bring someone happiness, you can craft a poppet in their likeness and dress it in yellow. You could leave it in the sun with the intent of channeling the connotations of happiness from the sunshine. You could anoint it with an oil made to promote happiness, or you could tie a yellow ribbon around its head or heart. The idea of “like-attracts-like” is pretty self-explanatory —the method of the magic reflects your desired outcome, or to use the words of Sir James George Frazer: ‘that an effect resembles its cause’.
Items once in contact, retain a bond despite distance: this factor is one that states that once someone or something has been in contact with someone or something, the essence of the object/person will forever be bound to the object/person that touched it. This is why things like hair and nail clippings can be used as taglocks —it doesn’t matter where or when the hair fell out or the nail was clipped. It carries the essence of its former owner, and always will. This can work when influencing events too. For example, if you wish to bring about a storm and can find a tree that is scarred from lightning, you’ve hit the jackpot. A bit of charred bark would be the perfect proxy object for a spell to bring about a storm.
Sympathetic magic can be subtle, or it can be a grandiose display of awesomeness, but that’s entirely your prerogative. I quite like the idea of standing on a heath in a cloak, waving a lightning-charged branch in the air to summon a storm, but I know that my limits are closer to changing my thinking by writing down my negative thoughts and literally eating my words (on sugar paper with edible pens! Be safe!).
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Witch tip: Be sure to distinguish which correspondences are social constructs (for example, associating roses with romance), and which are informed by nature (for example, associating the color red with life, because blood).
This isn't to say that social construct correspondences are bad or lesser - they aren't! But distinguishing between the two helps you develop a better sense of what you can play around with, and how.
Witchy holiday correspondence tip
Historically, foods, decorations, and so on depended on what was available around certain holidays. If you got something like dried peppers because you grew 'em, you can put those on your Samhain altar if you want! If you want to grind your dry peppers and use them in your Yule foods, go for it!
The Importance of Salt in Witchcraft
Image credit: www.saltinstitute.org
In witchcraft, as in biology, you cannot survive without the use of salt. Salt is the ultimate purifying agent, and it has extensive ritual and spell usages that every single magick-using culture has come to recognise and use. Everything from Terry Pratchett to Supernatural has used salt in their work related to magic lore, and this is because it’s extremely common in real-world customs, traditions and rituals.
Important Witchy Facts About Salt!
Salt is a cleanser. Salt is used when we cast circles and bless items; it is used when Sumo wrestlers purify the ring before a fight; it is used when a kitchen witch scrubs down their tabletop; it is used when a Christian priest wishes to cast out demons; it is used when a butcher wants to kill germs. Salt is the ultimate cleansing agent, killing not just microbes but malicious or negative magicks, holding them at bay and driving them out.
Salt is a barrier. Salt lines around doors, windows, beds and even houses have been used for thousands of years as methods of driving back dark forces and keeping bad spirits at bay. Negative magick and bad spirits cannot cross a line of salt, and often touching it is said to be enough to kill them (or at least burn them). Scattering salt grains before a fae will force the fae to stoop to count every single grain, because they’re a bit obsessive and can’t leave it alone.
Salt is cheap and safe. This is actually pretty important, because whilst some magickal items (like candles, pentagrams and athames) are kind of indisputably witchy, salt is not only cheap, safe and generally useful, it’s also something that you HAVE to have because humans NEED salt to survive. So, for those secret witches who might live at home with unaccepting parents, or in a country that does not permit witchcraft, it might be the only tool you can always have access to that won’t be questioned.
Salt is versatile. You can use salt in all kinds of different rituals and practices, everything from cleansing a circle to blessing a wand to calling down a curse. Salt is something that has many potent ritual properties, and it’s an essential part of almost all magic.
Mineral salts:
Look. I’m not gonna judge if you want to use fancy pink salt or whatever. That’s your call. All I’m saying is, it’s really expensive and it’s literally no different to the cheap table salt you get from the shops. Magickally speaking, salt is salt. Magick doesn’t care if it’s Himalayan mountain salt or if it’s Woolies Homebrand table salt. Don’t waste your money! Honestly, it’s not worth it unless there’s a very specific reason to do so.
So, keep a stash of salt in your house! It’s an awesome thing to have for magick, and boy is it good to eat too!
– Juniper
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