When endeavoring to work with spirits, self-development becomes a substantially important concern. How are you to perceive or work with them if you've failed to put yourself into a mode that allows for this kind of awareness?

We've discussed mindfulness via meditation many times over in the past, but how does one apply that to their day to day lives? The answer is simple, but the act isn't quite so: work to remain aware of what's occurring in your periphery at any moment in the day. 

When you're in your cubicle and responding to emails, take out your headphones, quiet the music, and keep your eyes and ears open to hear what's occurring in your immediate vicinity. Become aware of both the little and the big things, and simply take a mental note of them so that you can reflect on those details later in the evening. This might seem incredibly mundane, but spirits tend to interject between the words others speak, and they do so in moments of silence or pause. Sometimes this will manifest as a disembodied voice, or other times you'll mishear what others say in a way that actually gives you more information.

Its easy to write this off as a hallucination or a misdirect, but this is where the mindfulness comes in. If that information you've "misheard" ends up being correct, continue to follow it. If you do so correctly, you'll find yourself stepping-stoning your way into success with both the mundane and spiritual worlds, increasing your grasp of the conceptual knowledge needed in both. 

Magicians work in this world and the next. Thus, you should endeavor to do the same if you wish to be more readily able to conjure and work with spirits to advance your position.

Regards,
SE

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

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

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

Good morning ladies and gents.

For those of you who are involved in the Group Working I posted here  I thought I'd provide an update on our status and my game plan.

For those of you who are not yet involved, I'd suggest that you pay attention and get involved post-haste, as the more people we can get involved in this, the better.  I'm looking to bring down the forces of the Arbatel in each one of the participant's lives to revamp them and shape them for the better.

The game plan, up until E-Day (Evocation Day, not something illicit ;) ), is simple: I am gathering excess energy that each of the participants are putting out.  As I write this, 10 people are deciding to get involved, so after 24 hours, we've already gotten a pretty substantial amount of energy stored.  This holding pattern will continue for the next 8 days, and on the night of Wednesday, 11/21, I will be proceeding to the second and final step.

The Work, upon that date, is no longer simple or gentle.  When the hour of Mercury is upon us, I will lock myself in my study and proceed to conjure, concurrently, each of the spirits from the Ars Arbatel (also known as the Arbatel de Magia Veterum) in the following order:

1. Phul
2. Ophiel
3. Hagith
4. Och
5. Phaleg
6. Bethor
7. Aratron

The aforementioned spirits will then be set upon the task of getting involved in the lives of each of the participants, setting them on the path that they need to be on, clearing obstacles, etc. etc. ad nauseam.

The last time I did something like this, I didn't sleep for a week; the energy was THAT intense, and I was just doing the work for me.  So sign up, get involved, and reap the benefits! 

To sign up, click the "Buy Now" button below and provide me with your name and location. The cost to get involved is 25$, so its a small price to pay for work like this. :)

Be sure to keep an eye out on the blog for updates!

SE

Ave friends, confidants, and tresspassers (Kidding!).  I greet you again with Lunar tidings, this time 'round.

As a result of my work with the group "Seven Spheres in Seven Days" and La Luna, I've graced the silvery slip of the heavens and come away with an interesting tidbit that I thought I'd share.

As with the past three days, my gift to you, this Monday, during Hekate's sliver, is the following key. It is, as one'd guess, a lunar key.

The key, pictured above, is particularly intricate and temperamental, energy-wise, as a result of it being tied to the Moon.  The energies will wax and wane with time, so don't be surprised if you have totally different effects from using this at different times.  Of all the keys I will be presenting, this one is one of the trickiest.

Have fun!

SE

A client of mine, whom I worked with a couple of months ago, messaged me today with a pleasant, well-written testimonial that I thought I'd share with you folks.  It brought a smile to my face.

"I had a Job Sabotage done on a very troublesome employee who was hateful and disrespectful toward me after I was promoted. After divination, it was decided to use troll magic and poison the heart of this person if she didn't change her ways. (She was given the option to improve or go in the spell.) 

I slept very late on the day the spell started, which is not like me at all; usually I'm up before the sun. I also felt very relieved when I finally did wake up. That was on a Sunday.

The very next day, the hateful employee's behavior had done a 180. Her behavior continues to be one of respect towards me now even though it's been over a month since the working. 

I am completely satisfied with this spell and I will use SE again. SE is a very effective Sorcerer and well worth the money."

Thank you for your feedback, Jeff!

Regards,

SE

Greetings once again, dear readers.   I hope this Sunday morning finds you well.

As a result of some of the magical work and the associated studies that I've been doing, I've been learning some interesting things about fate that seem to be worth sharing.

I've spoken on Karma previously, but didn't really go into much detail about how that cause and effect can play out with regard to magical work that has been started, then cancelled, or started, then left to fizzle, and so on and so forth.  Over the past few weeks, I've had a few clients opt to not follow-through, and unfortunately, their decisions have left them in a troubling mire with some distinct, problematic consequences.  This worries me, so I'm talking about it here.

Now, fate, wyrd, and karma are three words that are often used to describe happenings that seem to be destined to occur.  Some of this reference, in the West, is incorrect, as the systems associated with these terms are ill-understood or are simply being manipulated to empower the person speaking on the subject.  A lack of basic understanding of these forces is, in my opinion, grounds for someone to have their "magic card" taken from them, as we sorcerers, witches, shamans, and so on can do some serious damage if we're not careful.

Part of the trouble here is that its a bit of a catch-22 when doing the Work, especially if we're doing work for clients who don't understand the contingencies.  When we do Work, whether its to get a new job, get a promotion, get a new lover, fix an old relatioship, or some other such goal, we are binding one or more people to a certain path as far as wyrd/fate are concerned.  

Every step we take, every breath we make, every person we meet, everyone we hurt, everyone we have sex with, and so on are part of our ongoing wyrdic development.  Literally, every time we do ANYTHING we create a connection with someone else that either pushes us further in one direction or restrains and constricts us; the same can be said for every action we DO NOT take. Realistically  there's no way we're going to adequately manage all of those little interactions; we're human, and we don't have the awareness necessary to really be able to understand each and every step.  Divination certainly helps, but there are times that even asking a question is enough to bind us to certain things. I've had many a time where I asked a question that I wasn't supposed to and had to deal with some nasty consequences as a result.  Last night, in fact, was an occurrence of me being obstinate and asking too many questions....

That being the case, we really do have to take steps to ensure that the big steps we take in our lives, such as getting married, having sex with a man or woman, taking a new job, having magical work done, and so on are steps that are carefully considered.  Learning to divine or having a skilled diviner do the work for you is pretty much mandatory, lest you strand yourself up shit creek in the future.

To further illustrate this point, I should note that I get a lot of clients who want me to do love-related work for them.  Usually, this happens when someone is either unable to woo a girl or they have a dysfunctional relationship with another person.  In situations like that, 99% of the time, I elect to divine, as starting a relationship with someone combines emotional forces as well as combines two distinct streams of luck into one pool; better understanding the effects this will have is all but mandatory, and more often then not, I have to tell clients that they don't want to proceed with the work.  If, however, they elect to proceed, it always changes their life in one way or another.

So, for example, let's say that Abby contacts me because she and her ex boyfriend split up.  Abby's completely distraught because she thinks the world of him despite the fact that he's clearly an abusive ass.  That being the case, despite the fact that I tell her she doesn't want to return to him, that she needs to move on, etc. etc., she decides that she still wants him back, and I do the work to get him back.  In doing this, she either delayed her ability to find happiness with another man or killed the chance completely.  When she does wind up with this jerk of a boyfriend again, he now starts back up with the same nonsense that was going on before, only it gets worse.  Now Abby's got scars from a broken nose, chipped and missing teeth, and she has severe sex-related PTSD because the boyfriend was not a kind man and only liked things a certain way.  What's the likelihood, in that state and today's world. that she'll meet up with a kind, loving man whom she feels attracted to, who supports her, is willing to overlook her blemishes, AND help her through her PTSD?  Really, its not going to be so likely, so her taking the easy route just made her life that much more difficult, and it bound her to the fate of having pretty miserable relationships.

When you think of fate and wyrd in terms like this, it becomes at least a little easier to understand, even though that understanding is far from perfect.  The point, herein, is that we have, as magical folk, the ability to make some really crazy shit manifest. That being the case, we have to use those abilities wisely, lest they come back to haunt us later.

I hope this has been enlightening.

Regards,

SE

Greetings once again, friends.

I hope this post finds you well.  As I'm certain you are aware, as a result of my work with "Seven Spheres for Seven Days" I've received some phenomenal gnostic insights that are worth sharing.  As a result. each of these keys are being propagated through this blog over the course of seven days.  Now that we are on Day 3, Sunday, it is time that I share the next keys: the Solar Key.

As with the previous examples, it is hand drawn through my use of Paint, so please forgive me if it seems sloppy.

Be aware that this sphere, not unlike Saturn, can be unpleasant to deal with at times, as it is, in many ways, a manifestation akin to the Seraphim.  If you attempt to fly too closely with manmade wings without respect, you will crash and burn.  I leave it to you to discern the finer points as usual.

Enjoy!

SE