Since we are all human beings, each of us experience anxiety & stress. We've got quite a lot to worry about, as we're seeing very real threats develop in front of us. We're bombarded with clickbaitey media on a day to day basis, and the news parades the latest hairfire in front of us to garner attention and viewership. Its all well and good to stay informed, but there's a point at which this can all become too much to process.

I seek to discuss this point a bit and give you some tools to handle it so that what was once too much becomes manageable and well within your control. To this end, if you find yourself stressed out without an obvious cause, take some time to quiet the mind. When you've achieved that state, ask yourself "what's bothering me right now?" and listen for an answer, whatever it may be.

There are times where that fear or concern is entirely legitimate in nature, and there are times where that internal response is laughable. If its a valid reason to be concerned, the next thing you want to ask yourself is "what can I do to take steps to remedy this situation?" and again, listen for answer. Repeat this process until you have an idea of what needs to be done next so that you can make yourself more comfortable.

You might find yourself in a situation where you're banging your head against a wall because there's no end in sight, but that's going to be relatively rare. This rather simple meditative exercise gives you a tool to first determine what's upsetting you, and secondly gives you the ability to brainstorm and respond to that perceived threat in a rapid fashion instead of simply agonizing over it. As you then take the steps necessary to resolve the trouble, you should begin to notice less fear and anxiety in response.

If, however, the trouble is something that you cannot make mundane steps to resolve, can you, through magical works, begin to create a situation in which steps can be taken? If so, do that, and then begin to take mundane steps in conjunction with the magical remedies applied, as you'll then make it possible to work against what was once an insurmountably difficult hurdle.

Seems pretty simple when written out in this way, no?

If you, however, find yourself in a situation wherein the stress is neither valid nor useful, you can take steps to minimize the fear itself. To do so, calm the mind then mix together benzoin, sage, and neroli (or substitute dried citrus peels). Use a mortar and pestle to pulverize the mixture, and then place the mixture in a dish. Place upon it a candle, light it and say the words "Stress from within me, I acknowledge you and lessen the loudness of your voice. You are valuable and wanted, but I have heard your words and make this choice."

When the candle has burned down, take the herbs and place them into a jar. Fill the jar with oil and consecrate it. Whenever you find yourself in a stressful place of mind, anoint your forehead with the oil and then go back to focusing on your endeavors. This creates a mental link, a magical link, and a mundane link to the point at which you've taken action against your stress, freeing you up to use the aforementioned exercise to deal with actual stresses instead.

Just something to think through and work with. Its a surprisingly handy tool.

Blessings,
SE

A question hit my inbox this morning, and I thought I'd answer it here. The individual in question is fairly young, but lamented being bothered by demons and asked for a solution. Since this is an ongoing issue for some, I'll discuss some remedies here.

The word "Spirit" is heavily overused in our culture, mostly because we lack a cultural understanding that the denizens of the spirit world are not unified in form or function. Rather, they are different and have their own tribes, social structures, matriarchs and patriarchs. Some follow rigid rules and restrictions, while others are lawless and have no such limitations or boundaries.

As a result, dealing with their interference appropriately can take a variety of forms, beginning with the most simple of rituals and ending with brazen, forceful rites of expulsion. Which you choose to use depends most heavily upon what you are comfortable with, but also upon the nature of the entity you are attempting to remove from your space. There are times where this banishing can be achieved with a light tap, and there are times where the use of a sledgehammer will be necessary....sometimes literally.

So we'll start small and work our way up to more forceful means of responding. Of the methodologies used, the burning of sage is the least offensive. To do so effectively, procure for yourself a bundle of sage that's been ethically harvested and sanctify it appropriately. If you're Christian, the Lord's Prayer & Hail Mary will do. If not, and you'd like something a bit more sorcerous in nature, use this prayer:

"Spirit of sage, waken and hasten to me
Enchant this lovely bundle, help to set this space free.
Loosen the hold of demons and troubles dire,
As I set alight your base matter through the use of fire.
Genius Loci of various skill
Abide my laws, do my will.
Those present and of ill intent, 
Leave now, swiftly - be no longer present."

Repeat this prayer as you make the rounds through your space, ensuring that the smoke touches all that might require purification. I would recommend opening windows and letting the light into your space, as locales untouched by light have a tendency to draw near things that flee from it.

If this has worked, you'll experience a sense of peace, after which you can fill your abode with warmth and good cheer. Be mindful of this need to refill the space with pleasant energies, as ANY time you clear out a space, you've emptied liquid from a jar - it must be filled to the brim once more to ensure that nothing else takes up residence in the space you've cleared.

If cleansing with sage hasn't been effective for you, and you need a slightly more nuclear option, procure for yourself Artemisia vulgaris (Mugwort), being mindful not to confuse it with Artemisia absinthium (Wormwood), for the herbs have different affinities unto themselves.

As before, you will make the rounds, but this time your attitude should be less peaceful in countenance. Instead of asking others to depart, this time you're demanding, gently yet firmly, that the entities who have taken up residence take their leave of you.

Use this oration:
"Spirits of place with ill intention,
This before me is due prevention
Of all ill and harm one'd seek to create,
And with it I send you elsewhere to seek your fate.
Leave now, gently and without trouble or harm,
For I seek to reclaim this space, making it safe and warm.
Leave now, for you are unwelcome here.
This space is reserved for those I hold dear."

Mugwort is suggested, in this instance, as its temperament is more aggressive than that of sage. Spirits are generally rather offended by it, and it can be a useful means of warding off their influence. That is the reason for it being chosen for this purpose.

To speak on offensive herbs, from a folk magic perspective, the most potent among them is rather easily recognized: Asafoetida, or Ferula assa-foetida. Its considered to be an "aromatic", and its commonly known as Devil's Dung. It smells awful to us and worse to spirits.

If sage is a gentle "please leave", mugwort's a "You need to leave, now." Asafoetida is in a class of its own, and it could be seen, accurately, as an herb that says "Get thee the f*** out of my house!" There are accounts of it being placed on coals to ward off the dead, demons, and other intrusive entities, and I can personally attest to its efficacy.

Just be mindful of using it around the house, as it stinks to hell and upsets everything around you...often to a visible extreme. This is what you use if you want to tell everything within a mile radius to go away, so bear that in mind.

You can couple this with a prayer, but its not needed. Such is the nature of this herb. 

In addition to the rootwork means of sending spirits packing, there are plenty of invocations that can be used to this extent as well. For instance, procuring for yourself a Medal of St. Michael and saying over it these words can provide a strong charm against Evil:
"St Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Spare us the wickedness of the Devil and his Horde.
Act as a shield between the Righteous and the Fallen,
Vouchsafing us before the Lord and granting us his fury."

Play with this and get creative, as there are a great number of ways through which one might safely remove encroaching entities without an insane amount of work. 

Good luck,
​-SE

I received an email some time ago questioning the potential pitfalls of walking the paths I laid out when talking about working with the Shadow and Luminous Selves, as well as reconciling the two. I've debated on what to write here, and even whether or not it should be posted, for quite some time. Its a sensitive bit of work, to be sure, and its something that people, as a general rule, have to sort out for themselves due to the nature of the beast.

Even still, it seems appropriate to talk in further detail.  That said, to start, this is the email I sent to the individual in question:

As indicated in my email, posted above, when you do this sort of work, you're effectively looking to face reality from two diametrically opposed perspectives, then trying to reconcile the two and find Truth. Consider, for a moment, what that actually means....

You're looking to effectively combine Fire and Ice and learn to make something from it.  This is no small feat. Its a hell of a lot like going for a magical Big Bang....and of course, work like that is going to attract attention; some of it'll be good, some of it'll be bad, but rest assured, if you want to make some waves, that's one way to get that done. This isn't just some casual, simple, clean cut line of work that you can light a candle for and be done with...that's not the way this works.

When you do start down this path, you're in it for the long haul.  There aren't any oaths to consider, really, or even any pacts, save for the one that you are making with yourself.  If you get stopped up and scared, you're going to be fucked until you decide to make a change and either regress or push through.

There are very real dangers of delusion and the use of magical workings that will befuddle you and cause you to do stupid things.  You're going to be setting the wheels of fate in motion, and you can't just exclaim "stop the world, I wanna get off!" and be done...it doesn't work like that.

Even still, the rewards are crazy, unthinkable, and sometimes downright strange in a happy sort of way.  Serendipitous events occur like crazy, you can start getting some really interesting and quickly-manifesting results, and you will look at things differently. You're not going to be seeing the world with the same eyes anymore, but that is a blessing and a curse.

You're not going to be the same old [insert your name here] anymore.  Your relationships will change, and you will be put on a different path. This isn't something for the faint of heart, so if this is something you're drawn towards, proceed carefully.  If the burden gets to be too much, you will need outside help to get you back up on your own two feet, but even then, it'll be a matter of things being your responsibility.  You can't be the king or queen of your domain and expect autonomy from the servants, and this gets to be strikingly true when you're managing the denizens of both heaven and hell.

Best of luck.

Cordially,

SE

There comes a time in our lives where we make bad choices, meet shifty people, and wind up in dodgey places that make our lives more unpleasant than interesting. When we finally wake up and see the person(s) or situation(s) for what they are, it can be a cruel realization, but once you've moved past it, it's a fabulous time to celebrate.

I find myself in such a celebratory mood today, and would love to share my joy and good will.

Blessings to you, dear readers. May your lives be fulfilling, joyous, and enjoyable.

Regards,

SE

Greetings, ladies and gents.

Its been a bit since I last posted, as I've been plenty busy with client work and the like, so I thought I'd post an interesting bit that doesn't get spoken on much.  The topic at hand is that of barrier magic: what it entails, how to use it, and the whys and wherefores.

Barrier magic is, in a phrase, preemptive banishing.  That means its put in place to keep things that mean you harm from showing up to begin with.  Its something that shows up in every magical culture that I know of at the time of writing this, and really can't be overvalued (though its frequently dismissed and undervalued).

Barrier magic is useful because of the fact that it prevents most of the things one would be forced to deal with from showing up in [X] area.  While we tend to carry the related charms on us in the forms of protective amulets and talismans, this form of protection generally is specifically-related to one's abode, place of work, and so on.  The closest thing one can really get to mobile barriers, in this sense, is in one's car, so bear this in mind when coming up with ideas on how to enact the methodologies herein.

In ancient times, one such related practice was the erection and use of something called an omphalos, or barrier stone.  Traditionally, the word translates to "navel", but I tend to look at this through different eyes: the word breaks down into "Om" and "Phalos", the latter of which is remarkably similar to the term "Phallus", interestingly.  In various Eastern religions, the term "Om" has a great deal to do with the creation of something, and the phallus serves as a masculine boundary in many ways.  Lingams, as a phenomenal example, are used in protection and healing rites.  Keeping this in mind, one can reasonably assert that creating a phallus, in this context, speaks to the creation of a boundary.

Incidentally, the omphalos also demarcated points of spiritual interest, so the use as both a boundary stone and journeying stone is quite established and useful, though a topic for another post.

This is, however, only one example of a magical or spiritual boundary; we see the same ideas amongst the Pennsylvania Dutch (Hex Signs), the Finns (similar to the PD Hex Signs), the Norse (Aegishjalmur, rune staves), the Japanese (Torii), and so on.

We can, as one might imagine, use similar signs in today's world, so I thought I would share some of my own methods. The symbols, ways of showing/hiding the symbols, the methods of erection, and so on and so forth are really endless. You can inscribe these sigils on the astral with incense or another magical tool, woodburn them into a charm (feel free to contact me if you'd like this done), carve them directly into the wall, bury an object with the sigil on it in a planter, nail it to the door frame, and so on and so forth.  Its a very flexible method of magic, and that's a good thing, as you may or may not want to advertise that an area is off-limits to one thing or another.

Above, you've seen four different sigils that can be used to create protective barriers over a place.  There are literally hundreds of different symbols and methods one can use, so I hope this motivates you to work with these and create your own.

Enjoy!

SE

Greetings once again, dear readers.

This, I'll admit, has been a long time coming - I've been intending to write about some of my experiments with Geoff Gray Cobb's "The Miracle of New Avatar Power" for quite some time, but never got around to it 'til now.

Now, some of you might be aware of this book and what it contains, but by and large, the majority of you probably have no idea what the heck I'm referring to. The book (linked above) is a smallish modern grimoire that is, largely, filled with a smattering of hype and magical praxis that is surprisingly effective in today's day and age. The trick is filtering through the sales pitch and finding the gooey goodness that is made from distilling each of the methods therein.  Coming to understand the reason for the simplicity is strikingly beneficial.

That said, I've been experimenting with it, on and off, for the better part of a few years now with varying degrees of success, depending on the arena.  I've also got my ass handed to me by the spirits therein - Elubatel is, admittedly, a bit of a prick, but she's a prick because that's what I wanted.  To illustrate this point, I felt it would be a good idea to cross-post an excerpt I penned over at EvocationMagic.  I also discussed this previously in my blog post titled Depression when working with Elubatel:

"Well, as the title indicates, this thread is about insight I've managed to glean that has everything to do with depression caused by work with Elubatel. For those interested in reading my blog post about this, click here. I am posting it here as well, as it seemed to be plenty important.

The long and short of it is this: Over the past 2 weeks I've had several very odd, instant-karma-like things happening. Its been incredibly frustrating, and probably has everything to do with the work I do for clients. My girlfriend ended up getting exposed to a material she's incredibly allergic to, so I had to take her to the hospital. A day later, my passenger-side front tire had been punctured, so I had to replace two tires. The day after that, more car trouble...I had to take the car into the shop to get an oil change and whatnot. Later that day, I found out that the company that replaced my tires broke the TPMS sensors. And later still, my puppy had to be put down because she had distemper. All-in-all, its been a royal pain in the ass of a couple of weeks, but that got me thinking.

I went through the protection and upkeep checklist I keep, and I found that the one thing that really needed to be done again was a success rite. So, that said, I did my usual preparations and conjured up Elubatel. Mid oration, I realized that I had better backtrack and ask Her a question (yes, She appears to me as a female...dunno why that is, as others seem to have a different view). Specifically, I wanted to know why every time I worked with her, I suddenly got depressed after the fact. Every time, I'd be a whiny little bitch of a man for the next few days for no apparent reason, and I'd always be in a funk that I just couldn't shake myself of. Well, in talking with Her, I discovered that She's granting us success, in open-ended requests, by giving us what our subconscious wants the most. In some people, that just happens to be a reason to tear ourselves down. No idea why it is, but apparently I have that deep-seated masochistic urge, which is rather interesting.

That, of course, leads me to two realizations and boons:
1) I know myself a bit better.
2) I basically just got thumped and told to be more specific.

It certainly made for an interesting reminder, and I thought I'd share it with you folks."

Having said as much, this is one of many such mind-blowing realizations that I've had from working in the system.  That being the case, I am, going forward, hoping to perform more experiments from this book on behalf of my clients, and for my own reasons.

For a limited time, I will be doing the workings from NAP for clients at the cost of 100$, regardless of the spell.  I will choose who I do these workings for, as always, and I will be posting the results here after removing any of the personal data.

Below are the names of the various applicable workings per GCC's Compendium:

- Astral Bomb Attack Ritual
- Psychic Guided Missile Ritual
- The Etheric Shrapnel Ritual
- The Occult Judo Ritual
- The Theurgic Booby-Trap Ritual
- Exorcism to Repel Evil Spirits
- The Attack Cancellation Ritual
- Incantation for Winning Contests
- Invocation for Money
- Chant to Bring Success
- Win a Legal Action Invocation
- Invocation from Protection From Evil
- Chant to Excite Love
- Rekindle a Mate's Interest Incantation
- Invocation to Bring Secret Knowledge
- Chant to Bring Health
- Incantation to Give Power Over Others
- General Purpose Invocation
- Vital Bring-Me-Wealth Spell
- The Enterprising Ace-King Spell
- The Terrific Win-It-All Spell
- The Tantalizing New-Strength Spell
- The Occult Seduction Spell
- The Psychic Sex-Appeal Spell
- The Tremendous Beauty-Is-Mine Spell
- The Stupendous Young-Again Spell
- The Exciting Brilliance-For-Me Spell
- The Haunting Horror-Producing Spell
- The Crushing Disharmony-Exercising Spell
- The Staggering Return-Evil-to-Source Spell
- The New Opposition-Begone Spell
- The New Shattering Partnership-Disruption Spell
- The Mighty Attackers-Confusion Spell
- The Instant Business-Success Spell
- The Ancient Fame-and-Honors Spell
- The Fantastic Win-At-Law Spell
- The Glorious Move-Up-In-Life Spell
- The Wonderful Money-Aid Spell
- The Startling Come-From-Above Spell
- The Expansive Bring-Me-Excitement Spell
- The Certain Danger-Stay-Away Spell
- The Brilliant Travel-Safely Spell
- The Reliable Know-the-Unknown Spell
- The Protective Magic-Away Spell
- The Rewarding Ticket-Come-To-Me Ritual
- The Overwhelming Good-Luck-is-Mine Ritual
- The Great Money-Spinning Ritual
- The Miraculous Gold-Creating Ritual
- The Titillating Nature Ritual
- The Irresistible Bring-A-Lover Spell
- The  Stimulating Partner-Enslaving Ritual
- The Supreme Back-to-Health Ritual
- The Secret Disease-Banishing Ritual
- The Fast Unwinding Ritual
- The Explosive Eye-Glance Ritual
- The Magical Win-in-Battle Ritual
- The Volcanic You-Will-Submit Ritual
- The Titanic Enemies-Vanquished Ritual
- The Astounding Change-Opinions-of-Others Ritual
- The Powerful Take-Me-to-the-Top Ritual
- The Forceful Buy-Sell Ritual
- The Automatic Test-Success Ritual
- The Delightful Tell-Me-My-Powers Ritual
- The Thrilling I-Can-Wow-Them Ritual
- The Unique Know-What-Comes Ritual
- The Marvellous See-Where Ritual
- The Ideal Change-My-Home Ritual
- The Flashing Cause-Discord Ritual
- The Arcane Invisibility Ritual
- The Genuine Bad-Luck-Banishing Ritual
- The Mysterious Enemy-Repulsion Ritual

The process for this is simple.  Use the "Contact Me" page and drop me a line letting me know what you would like done. I will send you an invoice, and then do the working on the appropriate day and time.  From that point forward, you will report your experiences to me, and I will record them here on the blog.

Thanks for reading!  Take care,

SE