Category: Animism

Blessing a Knife

7/13/2017

Greetings folks, its wonderful to have you here.

Some time ago, I was sought out by client to discuss the subject of blessing a knife to make it safe & ready for ritual. I've been meaning to write about it here for quite some time now, so I hope this information is useful to you.

Knives are, without a doubt, a much maligned tool, and they are illegal in some areas. In others, you have to pick the right tool for your locale. It does and doesn't matter what you pick, here. I'm not going into that today, as there's too much to talk about in that arena.

Once you've selected your chosen tool, its time to imbue it with energies and intentions that work for you. There are many manners of doing so, and thus I provide you with one.

Procure water from a local stream, rainfall (assuming its not illegal to collect rainwater in your area), or a river. If you don't have access, use tap water instead. Mix one cup of water with a teaspoon of kosher salt. Over that salt, say the following: "I bless you according to the merits of your ingredients & the rightful benedictions of your Creator."

As you do this, think about the process of this mixture being infused with essence and import, of significance and heart. Feel it come alive in your hands.

When this life has been imbued and the associated state achieved, place the blade of your chosen tool in the concoction and say "Tubal-Cain, lord of the Forge, I ask your blessing of this, my tool that is cousin to what you've made in your Shop. Let this steel come alive in my hands and be made useful to me."

Afterwards, light some incense that you believe would be appropriate. You're free to choose what works for you.

Then on, each time you sharpen your knife, be sure to offer the iron filings up. They might not seem like much, but that's incredibly important to a spirit of craftsmen: its a sign of use of the craft they chose to master.

Blessings,
-SE

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Magical Systems & Their Potency

4/29/2016

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Greetings folks!

So a really cool topic came up out of a long-dead one over at StudioArcanis, and it led to a damned good question being asked. I'm going to share both the question and the reply here, so as to record this for my readers who don't tend to hang out on forums.

The question:
"Wanderer are you suggesting a theory of magick that the older a symbol is and the more that it has been used, then the more efficacious it is?[...]"

-Amind

My answer:
"Sort of, but not quite so directly as that.

In my experience, three things matter when doing magic:
1) How established is that current?
2) How easy is it if for [b]you[/b] to get into that current?
3) Just how potent is that current capable of being?

And they really do matter in that order, for the most part.

Runes are ancient. We don't really know how old, but I suggest that you read Jan Fries' Helrunar, as it would indicate that there are some runic forms that go way, way back. Some of 'em were painted all over the world to boot, and usually that's for an unknown reason. Take what you will from that.

Age is only one factor in establishment of a faith, though. There are plenty of old systems that clearly didn't work all that well, as the cults did not survive. Those that were potent had pieces of themselves adopted by other, newer religions that still kept enough of the old ways to make it work (Sun Worship, anyone?). The fact that Christianity has survived and thrived may well be an indicator of just how robust it is as a religious system, even if its one I don't find particular resonance with.

Establishing a faith/system and keeping it going for thousands of years requires quite a bit of human interaction with said system. Furthermore, one could argue that it would require a fair deal of deific interaction too, so as to keep its tenants from being forgotten. When that happens, "grooves" are formed along human consciousness, and what your ancestors did is often easier for you to do. We can posit this theory because mice have been proven to inherit fear-based responses to stimuli like the smell of cherry blossoms (link).

The more something was done before, the easier it is to do again (theoretically speaking, anyway). This is why the status & establishment of a system matters.

Next up, we've got the point of "well, just how easy is it for you to get into that current?", and that goes along the lines of what I mentioned above. If your ancestors did it and you inherited genes that have those spiritual tendencies of theirs locked away therein, then it should logically be easier for you to get a sense of what they did and do it yourself. Likewise, your practices could well be inherited by your kids, provided you got into those practices before they were born.

If this is indeed true (and it appears to be, per science), then those whose families have practiced magical work for generations are going to have a leg up on others, so long as they follow the same line of study.

Finally, we've got the matter of power. How powerful can that system actually be? We've all heard stories of people levitating, crushing others under the weight of their psychic blows, and so on and so forth. These 'miracles' are said to have occur, but hearsay doesn't matter at this point; what matters is actualization. And whose to say how powerful a system is at the end of the day? That's a matter of crafting theories based on tons of resarch.

And here's the particularly important part about the 3rd piece of this puzzle: the pinnacle only matters if you can attune yourself to the system so effectively that you can actually utilize and channel the current at its full potency. If you can't do that, the glittering peak of power-in-a-system means nada to you.

.....and then you get into points of contention like "does this deity still exist?" and "is this accessible?". Some deities & spirits just won't like you regardless of what you do. Its not "fair", but "fair" is bollocks.

Its also worth noting that new systems can be damned powerful if based enough around old systems. I'm convinced that's why New Avatar Power works so damned well...our ancestors wouldn't have had the time to run around with a special dagger, tiger skin belt, and so on. They would have used the down, dirty, and quick way so as to fire their magics off quickly, without fanfare. Hushed, rapid whispers make more sense over grandiose conjurations if you look to history."

Continuing on, this is a topic I've asked spirits about, researched endlessly, and obsessed over for years and years and years now. Its a curious question to posit, but one with a potentially incredible impact. If we're being honest, doing magical work is about results. Would you agree?

If that is the case & success is your goal, adopting a system most prone to get you results is key. And no, I'm not recommending blindly following someone purely because they have the oldest magical system on the books - that would be idiocy. Instead, I suggest that success should be thy proof a la Crowley.

To that end, constantly tinkering with and trying new-to-you systems would be wise. As would integrating truths you find from different places and things.

We would be foolish to believe that these old systems have survived unmolested, and so piecing them back together and distilling them until we've found the absolute heart of the practice is incredibly important.

That is what I do, day in and day out. It is a passion of mine. Maybe it can become a passion of yours. ;)

Be well,
SE

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Magical Grids

5/31/2014

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I've realized I've been a bit lax in sharing pertinent ideas and practices here, over the past few months, so I thought it time to post a bit. With that in mind, I've been contemplating & experimenting with the idea of using magical grids, mandalas, and so forth when doing work for quite some time now. The idea first struck me many years ago, and I lazily pursued it at the time, only to have my interest rekindled by Gordon over at Rune Soup when he talked about Sigil Shoaling. This pattern of pursuing the idea, then losing sight of it, then pursuing it again has repeated on and on for many years now, and so I am making a conscious effort to put it into practice once again.

As I do so, I am finding that several things happen. Firstly, the vibrational feel of the working picks up considerably. Secondly, this causes results to manifest more quickly. And thirdly, it just feels right; something clicks into place and suddenly the individual workings that felt very much alive to start rapidly develops palpable depth and breadth. The workings begin to dance with each other, develop their own music, and then go on to live as if they're villagers that have shuffled out into the world.

Incidentally, since I started doing this, I now get asked if I'm a musician every other day or so. I love and adore music, but lack the aptitude to create it outside of the creation of sung or whispered charms and such.

Getting back to it, grids, as I'll call them here, can be crafted and shaped in any number of ways with whatever materials you so choose. You can use numerology, sacred geometry, aesthetic balance, elemental associations, astrological meanings, tarot cards, playing cards, bones, runes, psephoi, colors, and so on and so forth until you've built up a truly impressive and massive magical grid (how's that for a tongue twister, eh?).

Above is one such grid that I use in my home alongside other workings. When inclined to do so, I often elect to branch out from what you see above and connect this grid to smaller gridded workings like you see below.

The possibilities, potentialities, and arrangements are pretty much limitless in theory. In reality, they are limited by space and materials. In my case, I limit the size of the workings to 2 altar tops' worth for the sake of not making too much of a mess. :)

When setting up such a system, its useful to take the intention, available materials, and available space into account. Don't go above and beyond what you can feasibly control, lest it bite you on the rear end at a later date.

I suggest starting small, first by considering the numerical value you want to utilize. I am partial to letter-based systems of divination a la psephoi (aka the Greek Alphabet Oracle) and the runic Futharks, planetary, and elemental magic, so I tend to arrange grids around those ideas.

If I were to make a fire-related grid for spiritual illumination, I would utilize the numbers 3 and 7, as they strike me as being active and relatively fiery in nature. I'd utilize 7 different types of materials, be they sigils (Fire symbols from various books, the tattva for fire, picture of a salamander), oils (Fire From Heaven, Bend Over, Commanding), vegetebilia (Cinquefoil, ash, Blessed Thistle, Devil's Claw) mineralia (obsidian, glass, tempered metal, or fire agate), candles (red, orange, jet blue), charms (against Evil Eye, dragon pendant, all seeing eye), animalia (lawfully and humanely harvested bones, sinew, misc. viscera from salamanders, geckos, fire-bellied toads, coyotes, rattlesnakes, vultures, scorpions, mountain lions), uttered or written prayers, energy work, and so forth. I tend to use whatever is available to me - you may or may not have certain limitations, so use whatever you're comfortable with.

Were I to utilize Lunar magic, I'd do the same thing with the numbers 5 and 8. For Jupiter work, I'd use 4 and 7, and so on and so forth, mixing and matching to my heart's content.

With any luck, this post will have provided you with plenty of ideas for magical workings that you could do in the future.

Enjoy your Saturday, folks!

SE

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Blessing a Knife

Magical Systems & Their Potency

Magical Grids

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