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

In response to a request from a long-term client of mine, I have decided to share a means by which one might reach and commune with their "higher self".

Without going into the specifics of just what that is, as its been rehashed all over the interwebs, this post is to serve as a brief how-to....that is all.  You, as with all magical work, assume all risk, liability, etc., as connecting with one's Self isn't exactly an easy path.  It will shake things up - if it doesn't, you've done something wrong.

The sigil you see below is a key of sorts.  Its purpose is simply to rend the veil such that you have the ability to connect with and perceive your Self as a separate entity so that you can work with it.  You will need to have a basic understanding of sigil magic, astral projection, creating sacred space, etc. to use it effectively and safely.

You will need to claim the space around you, make it sacred, banish all of the larvae and the like that typically hang around, invoke whatever Gods make you feel safe, and then utilize the sigil as a key to the astral.  Project into and through it to connect and commune.

I would recommend drawing it on a piece of cloth using your own blood, or perhaps a scrying mirror.  The former method will allow you to reuse it as you see fit.

This will likely stir strong emotions and desires in you, so be prepared and don't undertake this if you're troubled, unwilling to do the work, given to bouts of megalomania, or any other such sociopsychological malady. Be aware that this working will attract attenton from spirits, so you may have spirity nasties show up and try to siphon your energies after the fact, so diligence is required. This isn't something that you do out of curiosity and then give up on, so bear that in mind.

Happy Hunting.

SE

Greetings, dear readers.

Recently, I had an incident that occurred with a client which prompted this post alongside a slight change to how I do things with clients. In short, this was a situation wherein there were too many hands in the cookie jar because the client in question decided that it was pertinent to hire three or four other workers alongside me, despite our conversations about how it was better to avoid complicating things.  It dawned on me, as this was occurring, that he had little to no idea of why this can be an issue, so I thought I'd talk about it here.

To start us off, think for a moment about working in a  kitchen with others, as that's something we've all done.  What happens when you add another person to the group working on cooking a meal? The room gets slightly more crowded with each addition of a new body.  Even when doing prep work, each person needs between a foot and a foot and a half of elbow room, not counting the counter space, to say nothing of the cook, whose likely wandering around the kitchen.  When you've only got 6 or 7 feet of counter space on each side of the kitchen, with an aisle that's ~3 feet across, that space gets damned crowded.  You've got people running around with knives, spices, meats, veggies, hot pots, boiling water, and Gods know what else; the area quickly becomes a hazardous sight.

Magic's really not all that different.  If your life is the stew and the sorcerer's the chef, its up to the chef to season the stew to provide you with what you ordered (the magical result).  If I am seasoning the stew, I have a pretty good idea of what spices I need to add, and what prep work I need to do. If you start adding other chefs to the mix, soon its going to become an incomprehensible mess, as I don't have the slightest idea what the hell the chef to my right is doing to the stew.  He's probably adding spices I'd never thought of with impunity, totally unaware of the fact that the meat in the stew is intentionally flavored a specific way.

To drop the metaphor and get down to brass tacks, in essence, when there are too many folks doing magical work at one time, the situation can get incredibly complicated.  The fact is that every working I do changes fate ever so slightly...when I'm the only one fiddling around, I can do this with a fair deal of control.  That's no longer the case when you have one other spirit worker doing work concurrently. Adding more to the mix only further complicates the problem.

That being the case, its not an issue if you hired someone to do the work prior to getting me involved, so long as they've already done their work.  Its also not an issue for you to hire someone a few months after I've done the work if the case is not, Heavens forbid, resolved.  But for the love of all that is holy, do not hire someone else while you're having me do the work. It'll likely become a convoluted mess and have really crappy repercussions in your life.

Granted, with that said, there's some flex to this "rule".  The fact is that some magical work is incredibly touchy, and other types are really rather cut and dry, for the most part.  Love work is naturally a pain, and everything's a balancing game, so that's a terrible time to add confusion to the mix.  Uncrossing and blessing work, however, is very direct...its simple, and generally, there's not a heck of a lot of confusion that can be caused.

Just do bear this in mind when you're either doing work for other people or having work done for you, as I'd hate to see your result get dorked up because of impatience or indecisiveness on your part.

Cordially,

SE

Greetings folks.

Over the past few days, I've found myself deep in thought after going about my usual client work, personal practice, and devotional work.

It's occurred to me that spiritual work is often a cosmic game of "Telephone".  "Telephone", for those of you caught unawares, is a childhood game wherein the party at the front of the line comes up with a sentence or phrase, tells it to the person next to them, then the recipient does the same and so on and so forth down the line.

Those of you whom have played the game I speak of know that the sentence or phrases starts out as something as simple as "Johnny's mom is also the doctor" and ends up as "Mom's Johnny is also the proctor" at the final person of the game. So too is this the case with client work, I find.

I am frequently approached by folks who either do not speak English or speak it as a second, third, or fourth language; frequently, they encounter the same troubles shared by their brethren from English-speaking countries - they are unsure how to put their concerns and wants into words which will then be clearly understood by someone like myself.

This brings us to a rather awkward point in a relationship, as its difficult to understand just what it is that we're being asked to do when we miss important contextual clues.  This is doubly true when it comes to interacting with spiritual entities, as not only do they not speak our language, but they also tend to sense our emotions, our sense of purpose or lack thereof, our thoughts, our confusion, and so on.  With this truth being as present as it is, we encounter a new difficulty; not only must we understand the goal of our friend, client, partner, spouse, or ourselves, but we also must be able to communicate those goals and intentions effectively to the spirits we conjure.

Language, being a finicky beast at the best of times, is something we must strive to understand intimately if we are to do this effectively; furthermore, we must also understand the language of the spirits we intend to work with.  Sometimes the language is verbal and literal or it can be written and symbolic or any means and methodology in-between.  Each of us is different in how we best perceive and understand the world around us and the spirits we work with, command, and/or serve are no different.

Not only we must understand how to communicate ourselves effectively, but we also must learn to listen to the people and the world around us.  Perception is the key to greater and deeper understandings, and that starts at home with the ones we love.  We must hear them out first if we wish to understand what the Gods and spirits tell us through speech, song, dreams, movies, games, situations, and so on.

With that said, happy hunting and blessed learning.

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