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 'lo, dear readers.
This post will be a short one: I'd just like to wish those of you who celebrate this day an enlightening Mahayana day. May the Boddhicitta grow within us all and may countless blessings rain down upon you! Tashi dalek, SE
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 Greetings once again, dear readers.
A conversation with a member over at EM finally sparked my desire to write this post that's been floating around in my brain for ages (thanks for the motivation, by the way!). As one'd guess, I get a great many contacts from people asking for help in getting jobs; its almost a daily thing, in fact. That being the case, I thought I'd create a post specific to making oneself marketable, as this is of great import when attempting to gain employment. Before I really get to the nitty gritty details, I should note that, as mentioned before, I work as a software administrator and have been doing tech work for years. I've also worked retail in the past, trained new employees for the past four years, and sat on interview boards, so I can give you a reasonably good idea of what hiring managers are looking for, as well as give you advice on how to be just that. Experience is, as one'd expect, of great import in any industry, regardless of credentials. So much so, in fact, that its more valuable than years of schooling; its becoming more and more frequent, in the USA, that people are being hired into jobs that provide 40-80k a year without a college education. If you get your foot in the door, its a great way to gain access to opportunities that will open the door wide open for you. In the conversation with the gentleman I mentioned above, we spoke on this with regard to retail experience. He had approximately 5 years of retail experience, but unfortunately, even if you're in the retail industry, that's not so valuable anymore. It seems impressive on paper, but it isn't anything special anymore, as for the past 10-15 years, its been increasingly common for kids to start working at the local mall, outlet store, home depot, or other retail outfit. They usually they start at 15 or 16 years old and stick to it through the remainder of middle school and high school. Their reasons aren't always the same, but in the case of my girl's students, a pretty significant portion of them have such jobs. If 5 children per class have such a job, with some of the medium-sized schools will have up to around 200 students who are doing this. With how many schools are in most states, that's 2000 students or more who have retail experience. If they stay in school and the retail job through middle and high school, that's 6 years of work experience, resources, and contacts. That means that these kids are essentially ahead of any of their peers that didn't have such an experience, as far as work is concerned. They essentially move to the head of the interviewer pool by default, as such work experience it makes them stand out even if it doesn't apply to what they're trying to do (if you're a parent, I strongly suggest that you make your kid start working ASAP; they might hate it at first, but it'll benefit them in the long term). This, of course, brings me to my next point of bettering your skills constantly and making sure that your resume reflects this. Every time you apply to a job they get a soft copy. If your skills haven't improved any, the hiring manager probably isn't going to be all that interested, as you're not working on anything of worth; in short, you appear lazy and your resume gets trashed. The best thing you can do is branch out your skillset. If you have aspirations of doing something techy in the future, spend time taking free classes on things like web design, using Microsoft Office effectively, understanding SQL, and so on and so forth. Those things look great on the resume, as even though they are actually outside your discipline, it means that you can work with people who do know those programs and functions intimately; that makes you a more valuable asset. It also shows that you are intelligent and have a drive to learn more on a daily basis; its hard to come by a better employee. Finally, ensure that you speak well and understand, on some level, multiple cultures. This is a widely overlooked skill, but if you know the religious views, political ideology, or cultural views of the interviewing manager, you can adjust your tactics to coincide with this. In essence, you could kiss up to that person and be mostly aware of what they might want, making your attempt to manipulate them more effectively. Keep in mind, I use the word manipulate here because that is exactly what you are doing. Once you've done those things, all you need to do is be attentive, use the appropriate magical means to make it all work according to your plans, and you should be able to land any job that's within your grasp with relative ease. Regards, SE  Ave, dear readers. Hope all's well with you.
A recent conversation with a friend got me thinking about the topic of spiritual growth and accountability. Throughout the course of our conversation, she lamented that she had been providing advice to a local friend and the individual was not getting results, despite the fact that she had used that method countless times with great success. Her informal pupil had, as a result of not having much success, begun to doubt her skills and veracity. Now, given the fact that I am a sorcerer-for-hire, as you can expect, I've had to deal with this same situation many a time; in fact, I received one such email last night. That being the case, I asked her to provide me with the same method she provided to her pupil, and told her that I would do the same work using the same method and see if I got a result. Well, after doing the preparatory work, I got started and followed her outline exactly as described... ..surprise, surprise, it worked! Why did it work? It worked because the method was sound, I followed it to the T, and I ensured that my head was in the game from the get-go. I had results above and beyond what she had described, in fact. Having said as much, this circumstance got me thinking about something that's bothered me for a long time: personal growth and accountability. Personal growth and accountability are things that you seldom see together, nowadays. Most people have the idea that their teacher is supposed to make them do the work and do it well and get results and so on and so forth; that doesn't work. One must instead be accountable for their own actions, their own work, and, eventually, the results or lack thereof. If one does not behave in such a way, and really analyze what they're doing, they won't get anywhere in the long run. Magical methods, even when provided in their most basic forms, are not guarantees of success because it is you, the practitioner, who must apply that knowledge effectively and appropriately and obtain the result. Just as you may have mixed results with the rites in a book, so too might you have issues with rites provided by another person. Ultimately, your growth is in your own hands, and you must be accountable to yourself in order to succeed. If you blame others for your lack of success, you will get nowhere. Regards, SE Greetings once again, dear readers.
Monday's rolled around again, and after having a stressful but productive weekend, I've decided to play a little game.... :) The rules are simple:
The prize will be a free blessing, and I will require your name, DOB, and location. Enjoy! SE  Greetings, dear readers.
A thread on EvocationMagic got the gears turning in my brain, and I thought that I should write up an article about the importance of perspective. To frame this post, it should be noted that the original topic at hand was necromancy and the associated practices. Necromancy, for whatever reason, has resurfaced as a topic of intense discussion and debate, as of late. As a result, interested parties have decided that it is a wise idea to seek out someone who speaks openly on the subject and attach themselves firmly to that individual's coattails as if they are the be-all-end-all source of inspiration and worthwhile information. This is dangerous to begin with, but it becomes even more dangerous when one is speaking on the subject of working with the dead, as they are not to be trifled with. Generally speaking, I am more than a little uncomfortable with discussing the subject publicly. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but one major reason is that I do not wish to offend those who have taken the time to teach me what I know about the subject. There are plenty of aspects thereof that I am, quite literally, bound from speaking of due to oaths I've taken. Having said as much, I will be speaking on it in the abstract for the sake of illustrating my point about the importance of perspective. Humans are naturally rather biased; we get wrapped up in our preconceived views due to our upbringing and whatnot. As a result, its difficult for us to seek a wider view of the information at hand, despite the fact that it is often incredibly important that we do so. I am a proponent of view that we should seek balance and view each thread of divine inspiration critically and analytically, both without the "cultural bias" inherent to the system as well as with that very bias. In doing so, you view "System X" from both extremes and can then discern where the median between those extremes is. To explain this using a paradigm most of us are very familiar with, we can look to Christianity. Christianity, regardless of the sect one ascribes to, generally contains two distinct extremes:
I'm sure my explanation of Christianity as such will draw some flak, but before the Satanists in my audience send me hate mail, you should realize that without Judeo-Christianity there is no Satanism; thereby, Satanism is an extreme view of Christianity. That said, neither extreme is all that useful at the end of the day, as both of them cause us to put blinders on. The median view between those extremes ends up being something akin to "Christ and Satan both exist, and both are necessary". If you follow me to that point, consider this, then, on a more global scale and add an element of historical research to the work at hand. Once you've done so, you can then draw similar parallels with certain sects of Buddhism, modern-day Hinduism, Islam, and even some Judaic threads of faith. In doing so, you've encompassed between 6,500 and 7,000 years of human religious history and development. Once you've done that, you can continue the trend and look back further and further until you get to the end of the evidence and the beginning of human development in that arena. Returning full circle to the topic of necromancy, after you've done the above historical research, you can then look at the evidence of religious practices from however many thousands of years ago. In the case of necromancy, we must look back to the beginning of burial practices. As far as we know, humans first started burying their dead, in one form or another, between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago. We can assert this because one doesn't bury their dead unless there's an inherent belief in some sort of afterlife, as otherwise the ritual is useless. That being the case, we can assert, through the ritualistic behavior, that some sort of primitive necromantic practice occurred. Ultimately, this brings me back to the purpose of this post: we don't need to ride the coattails of someone else's work in order to get back to basics and figure out where a lot of this comes from. We have plenty of evidence out there that can be used to enlighten us and shape our views. Doing our own research doesn't dilute the knowledge transfer quite as much. Sure, it is still going to be diluted, as someone had to interpret the historical data, but that's one less step on the knowledge transfer train. This is important because acknowledging any man or woman as Master, Mistress, Teacher, or any such title means that you are subjecting yourself to their limitations. This goes for all forms of instruction, be it from a human, elemental daemon, deity, or any such thing. That being the case, if you're going to subject yourself to such a thing, realize that this is what you're doing and be willing to look at everything they provide in a critical fashion. If you're going to be expected to take something on faith, someone should at least have the decency to tell you as much. I hope this post has been both helpful and enlightening. Regards, SE  Ave, dear readers. With today's social climate being what it is, I frequently speak to individuals who have plenty of potential but lack any idea of how to tap that potential and use it. That being the case, I thought I'd take some time and create a seal for others to use that will help in that endeavor. That being the case, the sigil below will assist by allowing you to tap and focus your potential into something useful. As a way of imbibing this intent and making it a part of you, I'd suggest that you procure a glass bottle that you can sanitize and seal to use in conjunction with this sigil. 
After procuring the glass, ink the above sigil onto the side of it and then consecrate the glass, fill it with water, and then stick it in your fridge to charge for a day or so. Afterwards, whenever you feel as though you need inspiration, motivation, or need to tap that hidden potential, take a swig and refill the bottle. Please, as always, share your results! Enjoy! SE Greetings once again, dear readers. I hope this post finds you well. As yet another follow up to my Elemental Work post, I've got another seal to share with you.... 
The spirit in question is named Khelbir, and his sigil is posted above. He is an earthen creature, not all that dissimilar to Ghob whom he answers to. Khelbir is what some might call a gnome, defends the hearth, unveils hidden things, and empowers people whom he respects. He is not, however, very friendly towards women, as he views them suspiciously and has a tendency to pinch them and pull their hair. Its possible to earn his trust as a female (he adores my girl, for example), but to do so you must approach him gently. As a male, if you wish to earn his respect, you must handle your business and work hard. Laziness is not something he tolerates, and he'll do more than call you on it if you are the sort to lay about. Enjoy! SE  Ave, dear readers. I hope this post finds you well. Today I'm feeling a bit puckish, so I thought I'd share a few more Green Man Glyphs as a follow up to my previous post on the subject. These ones are just as varied, though admittedly a lot less finance-centered. Instead, these are a smattering of different uses, as explained below. As with the previous seals, these are for you to use as you see fit. Glyph 1: The Cube of Space  The Cube of Space, shown above, is used to claim space for the purpose of magical endeavors. I would suggest that you endeavor to use the sigil as the basis for your own magical barriers rather than simply use the sigil as a physical base, but I leave the discovery of the related mysteries to you. Glyph 2: Challenge  The second glyph is directly related to your growth. It revolves around connecting with the Green Man and receiving gnosis directly from the source. This is not an easy seal to work with, as this is information you will have to earn. I know from experience that this knowledge is hard won and is thereby transformative. Due to this, I caution you and advise you to proceed at your own risk. Glyph 3: Growth  The third glyph is used to spark one's magical and spiritual growth by and through the connection to the Green God. Through this seal, He'll manifest in both you and your life and guide you as necessary. I would suggest that you burn a candle over this seal to empower it, blood the glyph, and then sleep on it. That's all for this post. Enjoy! SE  Greetings once again, dear readers. As always, I hope this post finds you well. As of late, I have received a lot of requests to do work to reconcile lovers, fix relationships, teach exes lessons, and so on and so forth. It has become readily apparent that few people really "get" how relationships work and are more comfortable hiring a spirit worker to fix their screw ups than they are with taking responsibility for their own actions. This is a pretty big catch 22, at that, as part of fixing a dorked up relationship is taking responsibility for one's own actions. Given the complex nature of relationships and the issues we create and run into, this post may come off as harsh or unpleasant. If you are emotionally immature and/or you're easily offended, this is not the post for you, as I intend to speak on illusions we create and whatnot. That said, to start, this post is not intended as admonishment against those who have contacted me. Nor is this intended as a slight against those who do seek such help with others. This post is simply another "helpful rant" on the subject of relationships. Now, keep in mind that I come at this topic from a totally different point of view than most. I have had my fair share of screwed up relationships, and I recently got out of a rather dead-end marriage with someone who wasn't able to digest this very information and act on it. That having been said, I'd like to preface this with the fact that I am not the norm as far as American relationships go: I am unabashedly polyamorous and polyfidelitous. That is to say that I prefer multiple partners whom I am devoted to. As such, I've become accustomed to dealing with multiple sources of drama insofar as I have often used magic to help others see where they screwed up, bettered communication, helped to resolve daddy issues and the like, and all other measures of social and romantic screwedupedness. Another way in which my experience differs from the norm is that I am also a kinkster; for the past 6+ years, all of my relationships have been Master/slave relations. That has, in many ways, complicated things and brought out the best and worse in people. Its caused me to learn, intimately, why and how people come to do what they do. Alongside my studies of psychology and sociology, this very activity has caused me to learn, rapidly, why people do what they do. You see, we are rather screwed up creatures who have a nasty tendency to become more and more screwed up as time goes on. There's so much programming and mental malware that gets imparted into us that we are kings and queens of doing stupid shit that causes us problems. So very often we spend our lives immersed in a web of lies that affords us the illusion of comfort in the idea that we are perfect, or at the very least, not in the wrong. That's where our views diverge from reality and Truth, and its also where we often get stuck and repeat the same mistakes. In order to stop the behavior, it requires self-reflection and hard work. With that said, the first area to address is that of relationships that are doomed to fail at the start. So often, nowadays, do women and men seek out partners for themselves who fit the role of a thug or a slut or some other such thing; this is a fundamental issue that will screw your relationships up from day 1. Ladies, I am speaking to you: stop going after men that you think you can change. I'll say it again: stop going after men that you think you can change. I really hope I don't need to repeat myself a third time, but with that said, you're trying to change the intimately-held values (or lack thereof) that an individual holds, and they've got too much invested in being a prick or loser. If you want to have a long-standing relationship with someone who treats you well and actually cares, look for a man who shows you respect and treats you well from day one. Science has shown that relationships wherein the woman is thinner than the male partner are significantly more likely to succeed, so while he might not look like a body builder, that silly crap does not matter 10 years down the road; he won't look like that later. Now, men, its your turn: stop going after emotionally unavailable sluts who've been used up and tossed aside. I'm sure we all want a well-meaning slut, but if you pick up a gal at a bar, she's not going to be your lady for the long haul. Look for someone who dresses modestly, is reasonably attractice, and is someone that you really care about. If she makes you laugh, turns you on, and can hold an intelligent conversation that doesn't turn into an hour-long monologue about how wonderful her new clothes softener is, she's probably the one you want to go with. This same information applies, more or less, to transgendered folks, gays, bisexuals, hermaphrodites, and so on and so forth. The secret to happiness from the get-go is simply acceptance. If you seek someone that you can grow with, you're more likely to be happy in the long term, which means that you won't need to dial me up and ask for help. That's a good thing! That, of course, leads to the topic of already failed relationships, as it is a common topic of my consultations. What to do about them? Well, in my experience, its damned near impossible to fix a relationship that's already dead and buried; which is to say that if your ex has moved on, you should too. There's a reason that everything went kaput, and while magic can certainly be used to rekindle the relationship, that's rarely a good idea. Every time I've done that sort of work and been successful, things have been great for a short while and then someone screwed things up again and life turned miserable. Magical work is all well and good, but people eventually fall back into their old habits and screw things up again. If your relationship was dorked to hell before I got involved, and then I get involved and help you fix things, go see a counselor after the fact and get help. You will need it, regardless of what you might think going into that relationship again. Once-failed relationships always have left over hurt, anguish and pain from losing or almost losing the other partner, and that's the sort of stuff that really does need to get addressed before it rears its ugly little head again. Tackle those problems before they become giant, fire-breathing hydras with attitude or otherwise those problems are going to take a hell of a lot of magic and counseling to fix. That said, the above leads me to speaking on the topic of failing relationships wherein one or more parties are unhappy or frustrated. In times like those, a structured approach is necessary. You have to learn to communicate your needs, desires, and frustrations fairly. Don't turn your girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, or wife into your enemy and whatever you do, don't be an adversarial jerk about it! If you are, you won't actually fix anything; instead, its highly likely that you will cause more trouble rather than resolve anything. This may well not be a palatable topic, but sometimes its really as simple as giving your man a blowjob from time to time. We all have our perceived needs and wants, after all. Men, generally, want more sex, wish to have their ego stroked, and, all-in-all, just wish to be recognized for their efforts. Women, usually, want the same thing, but instead of sex, they crave massages, attention, and really, just want to matter to their partner. When you think about it, our needs really aren't that different; we just need to endeavor to communicate effectively, sans insults and other nonsense of that nature. Once your partner's needs have been communicated, act upon them. This is incredibly important, because if you don't, you will cause further damage and frustration; doing so doesn't help anyone. As an aside, finally we come around, again, to getting into new relationships by and through magical work. Really, this is not something I see any issue with doing, though I would suggest that you cast a wide net to ensure that the Powers That Be can bring to you an ideal mate that can help you to grow. Relationships are not always meant, however, to be lifelong things. Sometimes that's a quaint idea that we cling to because we, secretly or not, hate change. In today's global climate, its becoming fairly rare for people to stay together for 30, 40, or 50 years. We all think that'll happen when we get started, but realistically, if that occurs, you're the odd couple out. That being said, protect yourself going into the relationship. Ensure that you and your SO sit down and discuss prenuptial agreements and other such things to ensure that the split, if it occurs, is amiable and something the both of you can live with. Divorces are nasty business, so if you get married, be prepared for it. Given the experiences I've been having on that front, I can't say that its something I would do again. That is what's right, at this time, for me, however. If your partner pressures you into getting married, sit down and discuss it, as it is a major life choice. Be certain that you are getting married for the right reasons, and not just because he or she is afraid that you're going to leave. If that's the motivation behind the choice, its probably a bad decision. Finally, I'd like to thank you all for reading this and reward you by posting a usable working to help you to figure out what you're doing both wrong and right in your relationships. This working is intended to help you and your partner so that everyone's happy and pleased. So, to use this method, print the below sigil out and place in front of you in a way that is conducive to using it as an appropriate mental focus. On the left and right sides of the sigil, light one red candle and one pink candle, respectively; you may anoint these with oils that center around love and learning. If you feel the need to use herbs, do so. 
As you sit comfortably and stare at this sigilic focal point, breathe in and out slowly and comfortably, and when you feel situated, begin to focus on taking nine slow breaths that cleanse you and prepare you for the working. Once completed, repeat the following thrice: "Above and below, around and round I call, command, and conjure: love abounds Spark within me self-knowledge and growth For the benefit of me and mine, both Show to me my problematic traits Such that I may address them at my pace Bind me to my necessary evolution And help me achieve my love solution" Meditate quietly upon these words, allowing the digestion of this verse. Once complete, quietly and calmly stand, say a prayer of thanks, and offer water to those assisting you. Let the candles burn down as you go about your day. I do hope that this assists you in finding what it is that you need and seek. Regards, SE 'lo my dear readers, I hope this post finds you well.
In an effort to continually improve the services I offer to the public and ensure that the media herein is readily accessible, I've been working to revamp the site. While it is an ever-developing entity that nearly has a mind of its own, Sorcerous Endeavors now has some new clothes! Alongside the new template, I've also connected my blog and website to Facebook and Twitter. If you haven't already, please get online and like/follow me therein; those who do will be entreated to special offers and rewards that those who simply read the blog won't get. Furthermore, I intend to use Twitter as a more hand's on form of publishable media and will share pictures, methods, and other such goodies. I hope you like the new look, and please feel free to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend! Regards, SE |