We've come 'round to that time of year in which the line that separates this world from the next becomes a bit fuzzy. Spirits peek on through the Veil and make themselves more known to us, and it is in this time of spiritual connectedness that we can most closely work with those who are the very reason we're here: our Ancestors.

For those of you unfamiliar with ancestral work, those that came before us have as much a vested interest in our success as we do. Their good works are the reason our respective familial lines still exist, and were our lines to terminate, they'd be without anyone to remember them. Their existence would effectively end and their stories would go untold, letting them slip loose of the World's memory.

It is in this time that telling their stories and drinking deeply of the familial well is most important. Honor them through your remembrance and give thanks for every time in which you feel like something very much should have not gone your way but did. If your life or livelihood has ever been threatened and yet miraculously saved, thank them for it, as even if they were not directly responsible, there's a good chance they've had a hand in it.

This doesn't need to be a particularly fancy affair, so if you're the broke college student magician or frugal kitchen witch, you can brew a cuppa and consider those who came before you as you sip at it. Share that warmth with those who are responsible for the warmth that pumps its way through your veins. You may find that this is a deeply emotional expereince, and that is to be expected. Should your family line pass through you to create an heir to the bloodline, you will do the same down the line when your family regards you in the same way.

It doesn't take much effort, but its worth it in the end.

For those of us who are a bit more adventurous and comfortable with our ancestors, I recommend sharing food and drink. Create a feast and share part of it with them. Share some of your kids' Halloween candy with them and tell stories about how your family took you out Trick Or Treating when you were young or share stories about what you and they did during this time of year. Celebrate their lives and what they've added to yours, and perform ritual offerings alongside this to properly thank them.

It doesn't need to be extravagant, but it does need to be sincere and heartfelt. Keep them in mind this time of year and don't be surprised if beneficial changes are had. ;)
Blessings,
Chris

Now, for the second article of our double feature today, I'm here to speak with you about Serpent Sorcery and painting the walls with your presence. Just as labels color the view others have of you, so too does your sorcery do the same in the spirit world. What you work with can often be perceived by others on some levels, fleshy beings and spiritual ones alike, so what you surround yourself with can make quite the difference.

This is pertinent within the context of Serpent Sorcery, as serpents shed their skin to create for themselves additional camouflage...In a literal way, they redefine themselves by growing a new label, and so it is that these two topics are inherently linked.

When engaging with the Naga in this way and working your way through these spiritual processes, consider how this changes you from within. Reflect upon your struggles and successes and come to realize how these experiences have changed the way you interact with the world...consider how this skin you wear changes how the world sees you in turn.

How would you like for that to change? Existence requires a kind of joi de vivre as a core animating force, so how is it that you would like for the world around you to see the skin you wear? This passion beneath the surface of your skin need not only be skin deep. All beings seek connection surfaces to engage with, so you do choose much of how you present yourself.

In engaging with yourself in this way, you'll find within your own joy and animus via meditation. When you find that fire, tend to it, let it grow and become robust. Let it flow through you to a point where you can see yourself wearing this source of passion openly. Let this change your own serpent's skin, as you already automatically wear some element of yourself as a label each and every day.

Consider how you might modify this context of self and how you're perceived by others to achieve the fulfillment of this great passion. The concept of self-definition along these lines is a continual ongoing process, and this visualized skin upon yourself labels you for the world to perceive. Wield this intelligently, as this is in many respects a glamour upon all that is you. 

Blessings,
Chris

​Following my post a week ago about the importance of both complexity and simplicity within a magical context, today we've got something of a double feature. This article focuses on a new topic of equal weight and importance, as will the next that I post in relation to Serpent Sorcery.

For now, we're here to discuss labels in a spiritual context, their importance, their relevance, and where they fail to make the mark. Societal interactions are both as complex and as simple as we need for them to be. 

When we engage with others, we speak to them about any number of subjects as a general rule. These social engagements can range over a broad spectrum of topics and an unlimited number of foci, but the specific discussions we choose to have with a specific person tend to come with a label attached. This can, at times, lead to a greater sense of community and a feeling of being more supported by those of like mind, but the opposite can also hold true.

What happens when we choose a label that's unlike anything else another person has ever experienced? When this occurs, we tend to ostracize ourselves from social engagements with this person who is equally foreign to us, and that can essentially render us "othered" by extension. That is to say that labels are as much like garments for one's personality as sunglasses can be a social statement or a Gucci handbag can be an indication of worth.

We define others by and through our engagements with them, and the labels we wield and wear become an extrapolation of who we are. When we claim to be a Wiccan or a Druid or a Satanist or a Buddhist or a Ceremonial Magician, we automatically claim some manner of affiliation with others who identify in a similar way. This can be a beneficial identification or a harmful one depending on the attitudes of others.

If the group with which you're affiliated by label does something wonderful, then hooray for you, you get a social "like" and folks appreciate your presence more thoroughly. When that group does something dubious or heinous, however, the opposite occurs and those so labeled are treated with fairly equal disrespect across the board. This is the exact process by which Islamophobia became a thing here in the USA, and its for that very reason that being mindful of one's image is crucial.

Without discussing the moral quandaries associated with assumptions related to such blanket statements, its important to understand that this is how human beings work. We've grown very good at including those we feel are good for us and absolutely horrendous about othering those we fail to understand, and this happens each and every day.

Knowing this, I would urge you to consider what your labels say about you. You can be Chrissy the Gardnerian Witch or Samantha the Satanic Daemonolatrist without some circles batting an eye, but do be mindful of the opportunities you gain by identifying as such and, more importantly, the opportunities you lose as a direct result. 

If you find that you may be rejected more readily because of one label or another, I would strongly suggest you consider your brand and how you present yourself. It does make a substantial difference, and there are times where interacting with others without a label attached can be advantageous. You never know when that label will follow you into a job interview or a spiritual engagement.

This brings me to the other side of this particular coin: labels in spiritual context. Just as we might be othered because we don't fit cleanly into someone else's paradigm as a result of our own adornments, we might fail to properly interact with spirits as a direct result. This sounds ridiculous at first breath, but why should a spirit behave any differently than us? Many spirits are simply dead people to begin with, and we know how judgmental the living can be!

Our own espoused religious and spiritual views can lead to us being accepted or rejected by spirits, and when this occurs the results can be either incredibly beneficial or absolutely devastating. Some spirits will refuse to work with us if we work with another being they hate, fear, or disrespect, and there are times where they'll harass us as a direct result of that affiliation.

For instance, I had a client contact me when she was travelling through the Midwest here in the US. She'd been getting harangued by the spirits of Native Americans as a result of performing Christianized rituals in their view. These entities took it as another instance in which white folks were trying to take their land and they were none too happy about it, leading to the client in question being tormented by tricksters seeking to throw her off and send her packing. It wasn't until she dropped the Christianized flair from these rites that she was respected and treated as a regular human passing through, as the Christian trappings of the rites themselves offended these entities immensely.

This is not a one-off experience, either. Each class or group of spirits, be it defined by tribe or by location, have their own rules, regulations, social taboos and enemies. The label you wear and the spirits you work with tell them a great deal about who you are as a person, and they will most definitely treat you as such. Entreating with these beings with mutual respect and little to no extravagant airs will get you the best results, so leaving the label at the door is often significantly advantageous.

The takeaway from this is that I'd advise you to concern yourself more with the nature and skill of those you regard as brother and sister, as the labels associated with those social engagements do trap and hinder as much as they assist. There's nothing objectively wrong with having no label, and there's nothing wrong with approaching different groups of spirits to learn. Learn from a variety of different entities and let the layers of awareness they inspire within you then influence how you interact with others going forward.

Use labels as sign posts and then, once you've found your bearings, ignore them. This sounds counterintuitive, but you'll only ever get so far by following paths others have carved. ;)

Blessings,
Chris

When working magic for yourself or others, it's necessary to walk the line between complexity & simplicity - both can be seen as opposing forces, and each has its own purpose. In some respects, every single thing matters. In others, only one or two are relevant. Which methodology you embrace depends on the scenario, and truly powerful magic relies in part on being able to appropriately decide what does and does not matter at the time you're working the spell. 

As you prepare to begin a ritual process for the sake of creating a specific outcome, consider the exact nature of your aims. What are you looking to increase, direct, or change? All of that detail matters to some degree, and the specificity of your end goal directs the specificity of your magic. 

For example, let's say that you're looking for guidance in your life. Things aren't really panning out, and you seem to be hitting dead ends, so you're using magic to rectify this. That's a very non-specific goal overall, and it won't hurt to use a non-specific spell focusing on generating a clear understanding of what you need to do next. 

If you're looking for a better relationship, however, then there's a greater number of considerations to be aware of. Yes, you can perform a spell purely to better your relationship and you'll likely have some improvements felt, but there are also times where you'll have to think beyond that. Personality clashes, fidelity, felt interest, mutual engagement, sexual interest, communication, friction, and so forth are all individual concerns and they must be rectified differently. A simple "Improve My Relationship" spell won't do much for you if he's cheating on you, and it will do relatively little if he's just entirely uninterested. 

Thus, you must consider the nature of the relationship itself, it's difficulties, and what you'd like to achieve. Work of this kind is as much about influencing the personalities of those involved as it is about working with the other moving parts present. That's the deeper point I am attempting to articulate here: the complexity of the work you choose to do should reflect the deeper animus at work for the best results.

If you're looking for surface level gains, do surface magic. If not, get your hands dirty, think deeply, and work effectively. ;)

Blessings,
Chris 

Back to the topic of Serpent Sorcery, today we'll be talking about the polarizing nature of serpents and their magic. We've seen so many myths and stories of extreme boons granted and extreme harms caused by Naga and like spirits, and this very much underscores an extreme polarity to them.

These entities can either be friendly or mistrustful, open or closed. There's often not a whole lot of experienced in-betweenness with them until you begin to get to know them more, as the more even middle ground is created by the interactions of these two sides of the coin. When you do successfully navigate these tides, however, that's when things really start to kick off and happen in externally impressive ways.

Do take note of these extremely disparate ends of the spectrum and these matching experiences you have, as equal-yet-opposite extremes are very much their jam. Sometimes, that element of shared experience is where the magic's at, as even if you cannot perceive them with your eyes and ears, this tells you that they're present. ;)

Blessings,
Chris

As an ironic temporary departure from the discussion of Serpent Sorcery, today we're here to talk about sorting distractions out and minimizing their presence in your life. 

Life's crazy, right? Long hours, always more to do & there's often a laundry list of things that you wanted to get done and couldn't. If that sounds familiar to you, then you'll benefit from this article. 

Existence has its own chores attached & that has no small impact. It is the way of things, and that will not go away in entirety, no matter what you do. The more relevant you become in a number of circles, the greater the demands on your time will become. As these responsibilities grow, so too does your network and the extent to which you must manage all assets within your sphere. 

This management is difficult. A full dance card will have hubbub aplenty attached, and there will always be more you could do. Minimizing the time you spend on unhelpful distractions can be a huge boon, and this is something of a two part process. 

The first part of this is prioritization. I'd recommend creating lengthy to-do lists as a means of beginning to ascertain what needs to be done to overhaul your life. Write down EVERYTHING, no matter how small or how faraway it seems. As you go through your day, cross off the things you get to and add the things you'd been inspired to do. 

At the end of the day, make a list that compares what you've gotten done with what you would have liked to get done. Then, look closely at the two and see what kind of patterns emerge before you. 

How many of those things are in the "absolutely must do!" pile? What about the "oh, that would be fun!"? And the "trivial, yet emotionally fulfilling."? See how these stack up, and then make a new list. 

This list should contain the new to-do's that need to be handled as well as what you didn't get to the day before. Follow the same pattern of writing down, crossing off, then categorizing your successes at the end of the day. Do this for a week and keep your notes. 

When the end of that week comes to pass, look at everything in your seven to-do lists. What have you had to do every day this week? What extra things did you take care of? How many of them were necessary for survival, and how many of them brought you some manner of joy? This will probably be depressing at first, but it can be a useful pint to come to understand. 

You'll likely find yourself veering heavily towards one category or another, and as you find these little tidbits about yourself out, try to determine how much time you spend doing each of these things. Then look at how your day compares in leisure to work and consider how and where distractions would have cropped up to keep you from being more successful. Write all of these things down, as that's what you need in the next are. 

When you've got that list in mind, that's the one we need to pay attention to, as this tells you where you can work towards improvements. Each distraction you encounter in a given day is a point that you can focus on with magic to smooths your daily process. If there are any glaring difficulties you have, such as feeling like it takes you too long to get ready in the morning is something you can work to improve with both intelligent action and magical intervention.

For instance, let's say you've got meetings taking up all of your time at work. Why not work to increase the expediency of and clarity derived from your board meetings? Do you have a waspy boss who loves to helicopter around you & micromanage? If so, you can enchant for a bit of space in which to work more effectively. It might seem a little odd to do magical acts like that, but in all seriousness I implore you to start thinking with this in mind. 

This process can take some around time to perfect, but fielding less distractions can lead to an increase in productivity and directly effect your sense of satisfaction derived at the end of a day. Everything in your life fits together like cogs in a machine, and sometimes that means that you need to add a little bit of lubricant to make things move more smoothly. 

As these processes begin to smooth themselves out and work in your favor, you can then begin to handle the things you've wanted to do and needed to do but couldn't. Sometimes, these things take time and need to be adjusted for, but it's well worth doing. Being less distracted and delayed is a serious blessing that most folks overlook until they're mired in friction. 

With that in mind, work to decrease this friction and amazing things can happen. ;)

Blessings,
Chris 

Serpents are rather notably associated with protection, the establishment of barriers, the creation of sacred space, and their ability to assist one in weathering a storm. These qualities have largely been overwritten in life & stories produced over the past thousand years, but it's something of a forgotten trait. 

One that can be accessed and worked wish to a great extent, should one be astute. 

To invoke their protection on a specific task, you will need a green candle, preferably large and something that will burn for many, many hours. Carve into the wax a serpent wrapped about it, with the serpent's tall nearest the bottom and its head at the top. Between those coils, carve your intention, including what you seek to be guarded from. 

Then, ritually dress this candle in ingredients of your choosing, taking from either your own understanding of herbs or from the details shared in this post. As you do so, consider that you are bathing this candle in essence and adding to its form, and when you've completed this process, anoint it in your blood. The prick of your finger will do. 

Place the blood on the wick and base, then set the candle alight on a fire proof base, letting it burn either for short durations each day or as one long ritual. When the candle has burned to completion, save a portion of the remaining wax. 

Next, you will carve a sigil into this wax representing the goal in question. From there, place the inscribed wax into a cloth bag and begin to carry it with you each day. This will form a protective talisman that can be put to use. 

This technology can be used in a number of ways, and the ritual provided here is simple enough to be widely applied. ;)

Blessings,
Chris 

Greetings folks & Happy Friday. I hope the day is treating you well and that you're gearing up for an enjoyable weekend. Today, I'm here to speak with you about Serpent Sorcery in Practice, rather than as an abstract or as exercises which can be strung together in meaningful ways. While these rituals I've shared are potent, they are in some ways window dressing. They shine a light on the subtleties of Serpent ritual as  a means of helping one to more fully understand the nature of the Universe & its flows.

In this way, Serpent Sorcery has a paradigm shift attached to it. The act of coming to see the world differently through the practical application of these rites is where the heart of this magic lies, as that state change has both internal and external boons attached. I've long discussed how growth is a prerequisite for the achievement of external change, and this is essentially even more true within this particular paradigm.

When you begin to grasp where the coils of serpentine spirits lead, you begin to understand the nature of Flow & how it can be used to create substantial change in the world around you. By working with these ritual processes, you are learning to spot change as it occurs and, with sufficient self-development, before they occur so that you can make use of them or otherwise guide what unfolds. This is about being ahead of the curve before the curve is made manifest so that you can be first in line to the show of your choosing. 

Knowing this, I would urge you to attempt to consistently view the world through both your own eyes and that of a serpent. Compare and contrast these viewpoints every time you meditate, and attempt to understand how these flows will affect the different aspects of yourself, your day to day life, and those around you & you will come to better understand how you can make a greater difference. There's a great deal of personal accountability that comes with this, but that willingness to take ownership of your own existence taps into a particularly important tenet of survival.

In becoming so aware, you strip away the excess layers and peel away the dead skin in order to get to a place of real healing, real help, and objectively real spiritual development. This is meant to become a praxis which lasts a lifetime, not just a spiritual motel that you stop at every so often. Commit yourself to this exploration and the practices related to it, and you'll begin to more fully understand spirits, their nature, and what they can do for you. This develops the soul & spiritual bodies to allow for greater achievements in both the manifest and unmanifest worlds.

This sounds strange and esoteric, and it very much is, but this is out of necessity as we're spiritual beings driving a physical shell. We exist as spirits first and as manifest beings second, so it is that the bodies we've been graced with are our second skin. This second skin and what it is attached to can be defined and redefined as a means of pushing our envelope, pushing our boundaries, and eventually developing a substantial radius of influence which which we can exert to achieve what we want within reason.

Blessings,
​Chris