The full moon will be upon us at the end of the week, lining up nicely with Halloween and Samhain & the thinning of the Veil. It is at that time when our ancestors and their spirits will be most present with us, and it is up to us to work with and honor those that came before. 

Those that came before us are the ones who paved our way for us, and we owe a number of our strengths and understanding to them. In a way, they laid each of the stones we walk on, and it is their bones which construct much of our world as it stands today. These men and women that constructed the world for us know and understand many of the old ins and outs, and so they comprehend how to navigate this world. They are relevant to us even now.

Furthermore, our ancestors understand our personal struggles to a great extent having lived through a number of challenges themselves. They comprehend what it is to work incredibly hard to carve out a life for themselves, and they have a vested interest in our success. Our deeds define them inasmuch as their deeds define us, and this mutual interest makes those that came before powerful spiritual allies.

If you would like to take advantage of this rather special circumstance and connect with that which made you, now is the time & I'll guide you through that practice here.  

For me, ancestor worship has several different moving parts. There are different "levels" of practice, and there are many ways to go about doing this. You will need to determine what feels right for you, as your ancestors are not necessarily my ancestors & each of us have our own individual wants and needs. To start, I will give you some options and suggestions. 

The first way to go about this is pretty basic & involves providing offerings to those that came before. When I do this, I like to recall the specific people that had a beneficial impact on my life and say prayers for them while offering food, sweets, drink, incense and hell money as a means of sustaining the personally important family members first. After focusing on the big movers and shakers, it's now appropriate to turn your attention to the ancestors that you don't know as well.  Contribute light and warmth to them as well by acknowledging them, either by name or by a generalized call to each of those whose blood you share. Allow those who you do not know by name to join you as well, and focus on the act of improving everyone's mood. If you're unsure how to do this, I recommend reading this post about giving offerings.

The second practice revolves around the telling of their stories, as it has been said that stories of old warm the bones of those for whom they're written. I would recommend finding a time to say aloud stories from your childhood, and from your family's shared history. If your grandpa used to sit you on his lap and watch the birds with you, talk about how that improved your life and your disposition. Acknowledge how much of an impact that had on your day to day existence and how you see the world even now. If your mamas home cooking is what you recall most fondly, say as much and ask that your mother help you in providing nutritious meals for your family. If your aunt was the source of support for you as a kid, and it was her home they provided a refuge, acknowledge this and convey how much of a difference that made. Each of these experiences are a part of what made us who we are, and it was those people who were responsible for these actions that improved our lives and made it more enjoyable. 

Each of these things are shared experiences, and those experiences are sacred. They are, in a very real way, the underpinnings of our firmament. If you want others to acknowledge you and tell your stories, you can start by doing that for your family. Remember them and ensure that they do not fade from memory, as those that fade from our memory fade from our present too. 

The third practice is rather more witchy in nature, and it involves connecting with your ancestors for the sake of augury. After the offerings have been given and the stories have been told, you can connect with those you've honored and ask if they have any messages or guidance for you. This can be done over an oracle deck, over Tarot, over runes, or any other means of divination. Connect with the spirits and ask that they give you their guidance on the things that they understand and no. If your great great uncle was a carpenter, you can ask him how to build a better foundation for yourself as you exit 2020 & enter 2021. If one of your ancestors survived a plague, connect with them and ask them how to do so more effectively. Ask them for guidance on how to keep yourself together despite the isolation and despite the constant state of fear. Likewise, if you've got an ancestor who has a business mogul, connect with them and find out how they did it. 

This act of connection is a means of seeking guidance, and it's part of the reason that we honor our ancestors.

Each of these practices contribute energy and warmth to their sphere of existence & regular offerings keep this connection open.  By doing this, you're quite literally making your own family more accessible to you, and with it you are conjuring blessings that have passed over into the other world. You are connecting with the very foundation of your existence and improving upon it, all the while connecting with entities that are essentially your very own guardian angels. The more present they are, the stronger and more capable of action they remain. Keep that in mind and you'll find that they can act as protectors and sources of blessings. That can and very often does make a substantial degree of difference. 

Be blessed,
-Chris 

When I feel stuck and agitated, I like to find ways to exercise my mind, often through meditation and mental awareness exercises. I'd like to share a meditation technique with you. 

Today's meditation is inspired by Hanuman, and it represents the act of giving the monkey mind a task. The monkey mind is agitated and upset, and it can be put to work climbing up a rock wall to gain a glimpse of the other side. Each time, this monkey will slide backwards and fall, but each successful act of shimmying up the rocky edifice will give you a clearer picture of the other side. 

This does two things: 1) it forces your mind to work at something on your behalf & at your request. 2) this process allows for the cultivation of psychic faculties. This attempt at scaling the rock wall represents the act of peering beyond the boundaries of your perspective, and so through this, you develop your psychic faculties. Additionally, this tends to require therapy to focus, so it can expand extra energy in a productive fashion. 

Give it a shot and record your results. ;)
Blessings,
Chris

​Hello folks and happy Monday, I hope my post finds you well. The week before last I wrote about the topic of making offerings simple with the goal of making the practice more approachable, and now that we've got the basics out-of-the-way, we can dig in a little bit deeper into the practice of offertory magic. 

Just as one can provide very simple offerings, the offerings themselves can be quite complex. Generally, they become an art form in & of themselves, particularly as they become a part of your daily practice. We are all familiar with the idea of providing food, shelter, and warmth, and those are principles upon which these advanced practices are built. 

We making offerings, it is important to consider the nature of the spirit you are working with and your intended goal. If you are simply saying "hi", it doesn't require a lot of effort or thought. What about when you're asking these spirits to do something on your behalf? It is at that point when you need to consider what you were offering & the intended effect, as spirits can be riled up, calmed down, guided to specific experiences and moods, and interfaced with on a number of levels. 

The first level is that of materia… What is actually in the mixture that you're offering? When formulating offerings, the attitude and nature of the spellwork and that which fuels it each matter, as those individual ingredients each change the nature and intent of the whole. If your goal is to be well paid, then the offerings should naturally prime the spirits you're engaging with towards financial increase. Materials like copal, orange peel, dragon's blood, frankincense, myrrh, cinquefoil, chaparral and sassafras each have a part to play & should be mixed according to your aims and the nature of the spirit itself. 

If the spirit you're connecting with is watery in nature, stay away from fire. Stay away from the act of ignition if you can, as that naturally runs counter to their experience & essence. Likewise, if an entity is more wrathful in behavior and temperament, take that into account. There is such a thing as too much rambunctiousness, and there are times where you will want to call those entities down in order to get everyone on the same page. There is a great need for an inherent harmony & it's observance. Every act of magic seeks to work with this underlying harmony to change the balance in your favor.

This calls in the second point of importance: nature and essence. If materia can affect the emotions, disposition and manifestations of the spirit, then your emotional state can most definitely do the same. Every entity has their own disposition and experiences… They are not the same, and any attempt to pigeonhole them for your own convenience will work out badly. When you interact with these entities, you need to consider what you're bringing to the table.. if you are making offerings to a spirit with the goal of creating peace, then part of the offering is setting any warmaking behavior to the side. Choosing not to bring that into the ritual space and the area of life you intend to improve is crucial. Otherwise, that energy creates a disharmony that will not advance your hands.

Likewise, if you're working with a spirit to heal your own pain, offer that pain up. Allow that emotion to be understood and comprehended through offering so that these entities know exactly what you're going through. This act can be used to humanize spirits & help them to recognize and appreciate our struggle, thus motivating them to act on our behalves. 

We see this present in a number of magical practices, tracing as far back as both early 
Vedic & Sumerian traditions, and so there's some meat on those particular bones. It's been my experience that this creates a kind of emotional literacy with the spirits around us, making it easier for us to experience and comprehend them in turn. 

Over time, the goal of this practice is to be able to share joy as well, as the act of doing so is inherently magical and expansive. It creates and reinforces connective tissue, but that can be a very difficult place to start. Misery loves company, however, and we are very good at sharing that misery with those around us, making this a very accessible magical practice provided one can adopt the mindset that this pain is shared so that it can be appreciated and understood. It's not to be shared with contempt in your heart, as we do not wish to teach hate. 

We're not looking to turn any of these spirits into the next Tay AI. 

The third aspect I'd like to touch on is that of acting like a deity, but before I do so, I'll convey a warning here first: !!!! DO NOT TAKE THIS PRACTICE LIGHTLY!!!

One of the hardest things to do is to invoke a spirit's tone and attitude so that it can guide us ***without taking us over***. The moment you lose your sovereignty, the jig is up, as you're no longer in control. Never give that over to a spirit entirely. Don't give yourself over to a spirit entirely either. That should only be done by an expert who trusts the spirit called implicitly. Otherwise, it's a big no no and you'll usually require professional help to un-pretzel yourself. 

Warning aside, this is where evocation and invocation go to die, as this practice is neither and both concurrently. When you realize that there's no functional difference between space and time, there's no difference between your space and the space of spirits. The two overlap CONSTANTLY, and so they can be permitted to occupy space in our bodies and mind. When this occurs, there's a harmony of action and the two intelligences (your own and theirs) can become seamless in nature. Think of it as being yourself +1 and you'll have the right of it. 

As you try to uphold the nature and virtues of a specific spirit, you become more and more like them. This change can be temporary or quite prolonged, and it should nearly always be the former. The latter gets into lifetime issues because we're not Gods.

As we act as these spirits do, we develop an affinity for them and comprehend their essence. As we approach the emotional space they reside in, this literacy becomes a two way street which can then allow for them to act within us as a guide. 

When this occurs to and for me, I lose myself in the process a bit. I'm always here in some capacity, but someone else is also influencing my actions and words, leading to extremely powerful acts of benediction, magic and prophecy. I've had spirits literally take my hand and guide me to places and things that I wouldn't have found otherwise. I've used them change my sight so that I could see specific features on the landscape and appreciate their meaning. I've had data dumps come through that made me grow in years. The possibilities are probably endless, but so too are the risks. 

When we approach this third kind of offertory magic, there's a very steep learning curve. It's not for everyone, and most people will struggle with this endlessly. If it doesn't jive for you, meditate daily. Start to become aware of your own patterns, because the wheels falling off on this practice is ***always* a "you thing". Our processes and the temperaments drive all of these magical acts, so that's the starting point. 

Wrapping up, if this just blew the doors of the hinges for you, GOOD. If it didn't, read it again, as magical acts like this become almost shamanic in nature and change the way you connect with the whole of magic. This is what makes offerings so powerful - you could literally do nothing but that and have a substantial increase in life. All it takes is dedication, and we have plenty of time right now. ;)

Be blessed & raised up folks. 
-Chris 

I've been getting the memo over the past week that this Lunar Cycle is a big one, and I would suggest that you get in on working with it. In the coming days, Ceres will go direct, in effect bringing a kind of spring our way before the Harvest that naturally occurs within the month of October. 

I would strongly recommend that you make offerings to match and connect with your spirits. Nourish them, nourish yourself, and take as much rest as you can from the coming weekend. The coming weeks have much to offer us, both in opportunities and obstacles, if the stars are to be trusted. 

If you are searching for a practice to embrace, I recommend brewing a cup of tea, offering it to the Dark Moon before saying this prayer:


Drink that tea following the completion of this prayer, and contemplate the cycles of the Moon and your observations over the last 15 days. Consider what comes next, should these cycles continue, and recognize what you must do in order to make full use of this auspicious circumstance!
Blessings,
-Chris

Drink that tea following the completion of this prayer, and contemplate the cycles of the Moon and your observations over the last 15 days. Consider what comes next, should these cycles continue, and recognize what you must do in order to make full use of this auspicious circumstance!
​
Blessings,
-Chris

​....as a byway to magick. This is what I'd like to tackle today. 

Magical practice is alluring and it draws in a load of attention. Fairly so, too, as who wouldn't want to be able to conjure major advancements? There's a kind of fluid awesomeness that comes with such ability, and it certainly hasn't ceased to wow me at this point!

Naturally, this inspires curiousity and interest, but what I often see forgotten is that while magic & magical practice can make your life easier, you cannot approach it with a mindset that wants "easier". Doing so doesn't really net great results in the end, where approaching it with seriousness and a willingness to study tends to create major gains. It's as though being willing to bust your ass to comprehend the nature of the universe and then learning to apply that understanding to one's day to day practices, ritual and otherwise, is what generates improvement and gain. 

Working to make yourself more productive wins out by something of a landslide too, as self-improvement naturally generates greater responsibility. By becoming more in-the-know and capable of running your day to day, you generate the foundation for further growth, and so both that groundwork and the expansion must be applied in equal measure. Footing first, then outward movement. This is the way. 

Food for thought. ;)
Be well,
-Chris

Following yesterday's post on Instagram regarding making offerings, I've had conversations with a number of people about doing so. I've decided to write out a simplified instructional in the hopes of helping folks integrate this into their daily practice. 

Let's start with the basics.

When you talk about a subject like this, the first question is usually something along the lines of "why make offerings?" The answer to this is easy: do you want to be considered the favorite child or the askhole who asks for a lot but never gives anything in return?

Offerings for spirits is like money for people. Its currency and a means of sustaining their essence. If you make offerings to a spirit that is currently helping you actively, you are giving them more juice with which to work. If you give offerings to the land in the spirits on it, you are sustaining the underlying balance and quite literally investing into the very cornerstones of your day to day reality. 

It is genuinely that simple, and so for people who are paying attention and understand this, it becomes a no brainer. I've been doing this pretty much every day since I was a child, and I can attest that whenever I forget to make offerings, things tend to slow down. When I make them regularly and constantly connect with my spirits, things move more smoothly and I more fully enjoy life. 

Working with the spirits of a place naturally gives you more pull in that location. If you connect with and honor them, they know who you are, and one of the sad facts is that we've largely gotten away from making any kind of spiritual acknowledgment here in the West. This makes offertory magic even more accessible, as if only a small few people are giving offerings on a day-to-day basis, it's kind of hard to screw it up. 

More often than not, these entities just appreciate the effort. That same feel good response we have when someone considers our well-being and looks after us is the same thing they feel. That means that you don't have to worry so much about doing it right, but you do need to figure out how to do it more. 

Making an offering is the process of dedicating energy to a spirit. This is done through your intent and invitation, and however you may decide to convey both feelings, as long as you do so you're doing just fine. It can be as simple as laying out a cup of coffee & telling the land "please share of my bounty. You have been wonderful to me and I wish to give back and support you spirits that have been kind to me."

Afterwards, when you feel or think that the offerings have been consumed, you can dispose of them in the disposal or trash. It's been my experience that spirits don't much care  when they're done with the dish **unless the offering is to be used later OR this offering is to wrathful/troublesome spirits**. Both are outside of the scope of today's conversation. 

If you decide that you DO want to go expert mode with this, you can take it a step further and share the emotion of the enjoyment of a thing with the spirits themselves. 

That excitement that you feel towards a delicious meal can be shared. The experience of taste as you consume that feast can be shared. That sense of satiety and comfort and take from our stomachs being full can be shared. Each of these emotions are kind of currency, as they too are energy. If you imagine those feelings as being a kind of bounty in and of themselves, you can offer those too. 

It's all about intent, focus, and ensuring that you have goodwill towards these beings, as energy goes where the mind flows. If you chant a mantra of "feed these spirits, feed these spirits, feed these spirits", your mind is locked in on feeding these spirits & you're good. The rest is all just a matter of practice. 

Everything else is window dressing. You can modify this ritual of offering in 100 different ways & build upon your understanding and practice equally. Over time, you can even enter into transactional relationships with powerful spirits who will then watch over you, keep you safe, help you in social matters, get you paid....the list goes on and on. When you have the relationship to ask for these boons, great things happen, so offerings are the start to this practice. 

I would strongly recommend giving it a shot, as the most you have to lose has a little bit of energy and a cup of coffee. If, for whatever reason, you don't feel comfortable doing this, I am happy to provide offerings on your behalf for a fee. 

Blessings,
Chris

Recently, as I've been talking to more folks about magic, one of the more common topics of discussion has been how to tell when ones ritual works have been successful. It's only appropriate that I should talk about that here.

Magic can be a deeply personal process… In fact, it should be. How are you relate to the world through your spiritual practices is no less important than how you relate to the world emotionally or physically. Each of these sensory elements are connection surfaces through which we interface with the world around us. 

Ritual taps into one such faculty, combining a sea of passions (emotion) and one's comprehension of need (rational thought) Into an accessible tool with form and function. When successful, ritual transforms our comprehension  & felt need into an action which then interfaces and interferes with the manifest world. 

Whatever you may feel about this, it is an act of rebellion against the status quo. Thus, the action and be freeing. When you've done your Works correctly, it feels like a piece of you has taken flight and become more real in a sense. When this occurs, that once urgent need that you want felt fades into the back of your mind, becoming less poignant and less pressing by comparison. 

This active transformation is magic, and it's that innate function which then powers external change. Think on this, as while this might sound insignificant, it's a building block. 

Blessings,
Chris

This weekend was a strange one. Saturday, I got word from a client that he saw an apparition in front of him, and after some investigation, we found that this was a legitimate entity. He wanted to wait until today to do anything to disperse the spirit, and come Sunday, he was not in a terribly awesome state. The culprit? His mind had been invaded by a spirit, causing a kind of total system collapse. Mental breakdown, extreme anxiety, panic attacks, and an utter inability to cohesively address his thoughts were just the tip of the iceberg, and this entity was basically looking to throw him off of a cliff.

Someone felt that he'd wronged them, and they decided to take this man to task. This spirit that I aided my client in contending with was the end result of that hatred and malice, and it properly overtook him. The process of addressing this took three hours and required further work at 0 Dark 30 this morning, as that is the sheer level of hurt we're talking about and dealing with in spiritual form.

I don't say any of this to fearmonger, but rather to put the spirit world and what's in it in perspective. What y'all need to understand is that these entities are real, they have weight, they have merit, and they have their own capacity to create change. Sometimes that effect is beneficial, and other times the effect can be quite toxic, and it is up to YOU as magician/witch/conjurer/sorcerer to dictate what occurs. Be sure to do so, as if you're angry with someone and want them humbled, say that. If you want them to make reparations, be sure that's actually a possibility before you give that command. Make your intent abundantly clear, else you might wind up like this man & have a truly terrifying evening.

These spirits that choose to interact with and/or inhabit us aren't always our friends.

With that in mind, I want to break down how one might start to address these issues if they arise. First things first, a pinch of kosher salt in water is step 1. Bless the everliving and literal hell out of it. I don't care how you do it, as all you need is __Faith__ in the non-denominational sense. If you believe in a Creator or like responsible party that cares for you, recognize that they've got your back and channel their essence into the kosher salt before its mixed with water.

Have the afflicted party drink this and watch their behavior afterwards. If they can't keep it down, either its too salty or you've legitimately got something terrible going on. Seek additional help from a pro if its the latter - I recommend reaching out to me or going to a local church/temple/mosque/whatever-resonates-with-you.

After the afflicted party has consumed salt water, create joy. Make laughter. Funny movie, funny jokes, or absurdity you create themself. For the love of cheese and crackers, get them laughing, as joy and love counter hate and fear in a very literal spiritual sense. Then, keep an eye on them. If you see any further funny business, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help.

I write this here because I've had to perform three exorcism-like ritual processes in the past week alone. I'm hearing the same from contacts of mine, so this is an extremely present concern and something to keep an awareness of. Be mindful of what you let take up residence within.

Blessings to you and yours,
-Christopher

This post is rather more operative in nature than the last have been, as today I am here to talk about the magical uses and merits of ash.

Functionally speaking, ash is the leavings of fire. Its what isn't consumed by a burn, and those things that remain are always transformed by flame. This act of transformation leaves an imprint, both in the literal sense (scorch marks, soot, embrittled material) and in the magical as well as we hear and understand through the axiom as above, so below.

When something has been reduced to ash by and through the act of magic, that which has been consumed by flame becomes an extension of your intention and will. Your magic and your essence have fused with the material as it has been caressed by flame, and so what remains should be seen as the culmination of your efforts so far.

Thus, if you perform a ritual of blessing and goodwill, the ash that remains is naturally attuned towards this frequency and can be used as an ingredient within following works. Likewise, if your works intend to make something fruitful, then the ash that remains can be seen to have a like capacity and intention. 

Put that back into your magick.
That's literally a gift you've made for yourself, so be sure to use it in rituals of like intention and aims. ;)

Sit with that this Full Moon weekend and contemplate how else to use this advice in your Works. There are many ways to get clever with this!
Blessings,
​Chris