Hey there folks,

In relation to my last post on taking back control in 2019, I thought I'd talk a little about the herbs that are controlling in nature here. That's a subject that gets talked about some, but its not enough for my liking.

There are more than a few out there, so I'll be starting with a short list of herb names, their Latin identifiers where possible, and their virtues so that new & practiced hands alike can make use of the information herein.

High John

For starters, we've got the old standard known as High John Root or High John the Conqueror. Its a staple of  many hoodoo-centric conjure practices, and as a result it can be a bit difficult to find. From what research I've done, High John is a member of the Ipomoea family of herbs, though which specific subspecies tends to be a subject of hot debate. I've had really good luck with Ipomoea jalapa and Ipomoea pandurata, but your mileage may vary and you should use what you've got access to locally where possible.

These are a relative of sweet potatoes and Morning Glory varieties, so there's a fair bit to work with here. If you cannot gain access to one of the two specific Latin names mentioned above, look for a Morning Glory type with flowers that are colored according to your needs. If you're looking to straight up control another person in a general sense, pick purple flowers. If you're looking for financial growth, and thus want to inspire your boss to be kind during your reviews, go with a Blue or Yellow Morning Glory. Love? Pink and Red. 

The seeds should not be ingested, as they have a substance in them that can cause you to hallucinate. Bear that in mind if you have small children or animals around. 

If you can get the roots, they should remain whole, as its from their wholeness that they derive their power. You can place a whole High John root into an oil and consecrate it as a means of creating a Compelling Oil.

The seeds should be crushed before use, as the act of macerating them seems to wake up the spirit within and make it more compelling my nature. This is likely owed to the hallucinogenic properties thereof, and once crushed they can be mixed into a fixing powder to be used with candle magic or placed in a sachet to be worn around the neck to create the ability to compel others to do as you ask.

High John works by causing others to want to impress someone of greater perceived power. It doesn't threaten others or anything of the kind, it just inclines others to believe that you are of great spiritual weight and worth adhering to the wishes of.

For a controlling herb, it is actually quite gentle. Powerful, but not aggressive, per se. My two cents, anyway.

Rue

Next up, we have Rue, also called Ruta graveolens. Its a compelling herb that works by way of inspiring others to do as you ask because if not, discomfort will be had by all. Its not an aggressive herb, per se, but its influence is felt poignantly.

When you use this to control another person, you're telling them "if you don't do this, you will be uncomfortable". Only do this if the thing you want them to do is going to be more comfortable by comparison to the spellwork's effects. Otherwise, it will be a wasted effort and won't get you much in the way of results.

Bear this in mind, as too much Rue will seriously unbalance your work and create more trouble in the process. Used correctly, it can be used to cut some of the excess sweetness from sweetening rituals, for instance, as a means of making for longer-lasting results.

I'd recommend using it as an additive to oils and satchets, rather than as the base component of the Work.

Devil's Claw

Devil's Claw, or Harpagophytum procumbens is a controlling herb that grasps the attention of a person, place, or thing. It controls the mind and the processes the mind gets up to, and can thus be used to get someone stuck on an idea or a concept. It incentivizes the idea of going along with a plan, rather than upon resisting the idea or goal, and can thus smooth the road when used in an interviewing process or as a means of generating the attention of another.

For instance, if your crush has a hard time paying attention to you, use some Devil's Claw with Rose petals, Rosehips, and crushed Guarana seeds to cause them to be energized by communicating or interacting with you. Carry it in a sachet that contains the person's photo for best results.

Devil's Shoestring

This is another old favorite, and it is otherwise referred to as Black Haw or Viburnum prunifolium. This is a controlling herb in the surest sense of the word, but engages in this role not by controlling the mind, but rather by controlling what others have the ability to do. Its a constraining herb in this sense, and can be used to create difficulty in getting away from whatever duty or aim you seek to have this person achieve.

As an example, if you've got a partner that's trying to divorce you, use Devil's Shoestring in conjunction with a disruptive herb like Mustard seeds to keep them from being able to get the help they need to do so. You can then follow this with works meant to assist reconciliation, causing leaving to be much more difficult than staying, thereby buying you time to sort out all but the most irreconcilable of differences. 

It works beautifully in powders and oils. Do yourself a favor and keep it out of alcohol, as while technically you can extract the good parts by doing so, it creates a more War Water-like concoction that will not help you as a controlling herb.

Solomon's Seal

Solomon's Seal is a member of the Polygonatum family, and I've had best results with the multiflorum and biflorum varieties. This herb is consumed as tea in places like Korea, and its works wonderfully as a controlling herb when used to seal access to things. In essence, it acts as a kind of ID card, imprinting your image and intent into things.

If you use this, for instance, with Dragon's Blood (Croton lechleri), it creates a kind of sticky insistence that the person abide your wishes. When appropriately blooded and applied, it essentially acts as a "Read Only" effect on your spellwork, making it more difficult to undo or muck about with.

Combined with High John seeds and Frankincense, it can be used as a manifestation base for spirits and inclines them towards fulfilling your aims provided they are realistic. No spirit's going to be willing or able to do ridiculous things if they're outside of the realm of possibility, so bear that in mind.

When mixed with crushed Copal and Palo Santo, Solomon's Seal works wonderfully as a negativity-dismissing concoction, either sprinkled or burned. Its a kind but firm way of claiming a space as yours, and works wonderfully as a floor wash.

Calamus

Calamus, otherwise known as Sweet Flag or Acorus calamus is a domination herb that works by bending the mind towards a specific task. It must be accompanied by other herbs that guide its process if you want the ritual work to be stable and effective over the long term. 

It causes the target to obsess, slightly, over their directed focal point, creating neurosis and a fixed need to achieve that aim. It can be ignored, but its influence creates substantial anxiety, meaning its not a very kind herb in this respect.

Its stubborn and insistent, overpowering other herbs used alongside it, so bear that in mind when portioning out ratios to use. If its outnumbered, it'll start to tame ever so slightly. Otherwise, expect that the person will just be dominated and left without real direction, meaning that a set and forget spell can often be a bad idea with this herb.

There are more controlling herbs out there in the world, but this is enough to get you started.

Enjoy,
​SE

​Hey folks, its wonderful to have you here as always.

I apologize for the month long interruption in these Servitor-related posts caused by the holidays. Now, we can get back to it. We've covered what they are, what they do, and the personality traits that go into making them, so now we can talk about actually MAKING them. Put this knowledge to the test, so to speak, and tweak these until you can start using 'em to get paid, to grow, and to start setting your lives in order.

Today I'll share with you a method of making them. For starters, the goal I am setting for this particular entity is to "create business opportunities", and that can be part of its name: CreateBiz (or CB for short). Once you've got a name, you need to envision a form, so the frame that comes to mind for this, for me, is the Laughing Buddha.

Hotei being a broke Buddha to be, he's always going to be looking for a new place to stay, things to do, and ways to assist, so this imagery appeals to me. It rather feels like he's a sensible Buddha whose happy to be religious, but unwilling to turn away from the real world. I'm clothing him in red because the color draws to mind a hard-working demeanor, and his prayer beads are made from Black Onyx and Lapis Lazuli. The former speaks to the willingness to be alone, protection, and and strength of character, while the latter speaks to his compassion, awareness, and willingness to connect with others to find these opportunities.

His sandals are black, and of the Geta variety of Japan. They are worn, but comfortable, of good repair, and have many more miles left.  His eyes are bright green, and of a soft seafoam variety, both piercing and inviting. CB is joyous and mirthful, yet resilient and unwilling to let the world get him down. Furthermore, he knows a good deal when he sees one and delights in sharing those opportunities with others, for he knows that doing so can allow him to take on the jobs that he does best, all the while making friends and connections wherever he should go.

If you'd like to garner his blessings, chant "CB, See Me" and visualize the swaying of his prayer beads as you make offerings of plums to him, as those are his favorite fruit. Failing this, asian pears and citrus are a good way to go. He digs sandalwood incense in particular, but just about anything from Morning Star will do. 

For those of you who will inevitably ask, the sigil for CB is the visualization of his Lapis & Onyx mala. ;)

Enjoy!
-SE

Hey everyone, good to have you here.

Following my last post about Servitors, today we can talk about attributes and how they overlap with what we're looking to use these manufactured entities to achieve.

In a nutshell, the point driving this post is found in the question "how do you program a servitor to be helpful?" When you're looking to create such a being, you're responsible for how it responds to the world around it. What attributes you give this creation of yours will impact how effective it can be at the task you set for it. Done properly, you can create for yourself a loyal friend and confidant, but done improperly, you'll get yourself into a world of hurt.

For instance, if you're looking to create a lust-generating entity, it should be strong willed, watchful, lusty, potent, and forceful in nature. A demure, quiet little thing isn't going to serve your needs in that situation.

To provide another example, if we're stepping up our game to create a servitor to help us with information gathering, it will need to be highly observant, analytical, intelligent, and endowed with knowledge of how to use theory of mind to your advantage. It would need to be stealthy when observing others, and rather communicative when relating that information back to you. 

Consider, if you will, that you are building a real being. Contemplate what behaviors coincide with what you're looking to achieve, as you could otherwise have phenomenal magical ability and a total dud of a servitor on account of creating a personality conflict.

Be granular in your approach, as that will improve your magic considerably.

Blessings,
SE

Hello everyone, hope the day is treating you well. Following the previous post about Servitors, I'd like to talk further about their creation today.

Given the flexibility of the tech, there really is no one right way to do so. As such, you're free to get creative and do things however you like. Some methodologies will appeal more to you than others, so making this work for you requires a fair bit of personal flair.

The hardest part, for me, is coming up with an idea of what to do, and then the fun starts. As such, the brainstorming part is essentially the most important, since it creates the foundation for the work that you're seeking to do.

Here are a few ideas of what you can achieve using servitors:

• Reconnaissance.
• Create subtle behavior changes in others.
• Generate better luck for yourself.
• Glamours.
• Generating traffic and interest.
• Augmenting one's abilities.
• Create opportunities.
• Situational transmutation: turn love to hate and hatred to love.
• Create fascination.
• Spark your creativity.
• Inspire sexuality.
• Resolve minor issues.
• Load balancing.
• Obstacle removal.
• Protection.
• Warding.

Consider these, as you'll want to have a pretty good idea of what you're seeking to create before starting properly.

Enjoy!
-SE

​Greetings folks, hope the day is treating you well. Glad to have you here as always. :)

A student of mine asked me about servitors and their creation, so it seemed appropriate to talk about this here. His query revolved around my experience and tips - we'll discuss both here, working from the ground up.

This in mind, some of you may be unfamiliar with the term.... A servitor is a manufactured spirit. They can be made by just about anyone, and they must be created with some manner of intention at the core of their being. They can be spun up  with the goal of doing pretty much anything you're looking to have done, but that thing you're looking to have done is essentially the animus behind their being. Without it, they have no life purpose, and thus no reason to be created. 

This "life's purpose", as it were, serves as the backbone behind their being and acts as the motivator in life long enough for them to achieve your goal. This can be self-focused, as in instances where you want this being to serve you, or it can be created with the goal of doing things on a much larger scale. The choice is yours, and the fabricated entity will be limited, at first, by your creativity and skill.

This is both the reason for their efficacy and use and the cause of failure for many of the magically-inclined who wish to use this tech to their benefit. If you're creating it, your limitations become their limitations until/unless the spirit in question is allowed to learn and grow.

This is where we find the rub: if you limit its ability to learn, it stays limited, but its also more likely to remain loyal and true to its original purpose. Being able to expand its programming can lead to AI-like situations wherein the entity decides that you're part of the problem its trying to solve, and then your life can become a mess in a hurry. Properly created, however, they're fantastic.

There's an inherent complexity to them, however, and that means that I'll have to split this post up a few times.

Stay tuned to learn more about 'em.
-SE

Greetings everyone & Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are in the US! I hope the day is treating you well & that you'll have a fabulous time with your family and friends. 

This in mind, we've talked about pre-Thanksgiving offerings and a similar ritual, but what to do on the day itself? We've covered giving thanks in advance, as well as enchanting to have a good time, but what to do about actually enjoying the event?

Well, since you've already prepped for the event itself, I would suggest that you carry something with you as a means of reinforcing what you've already done.

I recommend finding yourself a piece of rose quartz that you can comfortably carry on your person. Consecrate it, then place it on this sigil:

Greetings folks.

To follow my Pre-Thanksgiving Offerings post and further contribute to the mini-series around Magic for the Holidays, I'm here to talk about a pre-holiday working meant to improve upon the time you spend with family and friends. After a year like this one, I expect some tension and frustrations to come out all at once when we're finally with those family and friends whom we love and/or tolerate (LOL), so I like to preface these interactions with a spell.

Procure four candles of any color of significance to you, olive oil, bay leaves, basil, and thyme. Purchase incense that feels appropriate to the season (at least two sticks). Consecrate each of these things in the manner of your choosing.

Once consecrated, mix the olive oil, bay leaves, basil, and thyme together: I recommend using a pinch of each (or in the case of bay, break off a few pieces of a leaf) in about a shot glass' worth of olive oil, since you want it to be relatively thick, but not so thick that you cannot use it to anoint your candles.

Let this mixture steep for one to two days. You'll be able to smell it when its ready.

When you are ready to roll, anoint each candle in your ritual oil. Arrange these in the shape of a square, with your two chosen sticks of incense to the left and right of this square. Light each candle, then light each stick of incense. Follow this with a prayer:

"In the harsh chill of winter, I seek to commune with family and friends. May they greet me with open arms, may they be overjoyed to see that I am well. May their warm intentions be returned a hundredfold, and might each of us take, from this time together, a greater sense of health & wealth."

Bask in your work and enjoy the effects. ;)
-SE

Hello everyone.

Fantastic to have you here as always, and your readership is much appreciated. To honor that, and in toast to the spirit of the holidays, this is part of my "Magic for the Holidays" mini-series.

To start us off, for those of us who are in the US, Thanksgiving is in a matter of days. We've passed Samhain, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day, and now its about time to interact with family. For some of us, that's a blessing, for others a curse, and in either scenario I present to you some magical tips that can be applied; I hope these tips bring about meaningful improvements that won't have you reaching into your pocket or purse for social lubricants. ;)

Without touching on the controversy around Thanksgiving, the name of the holiday centers around giving thanks for what one has. I have found that offerings go over particularly well during this time of year, and as such I would recommend doing so for the few days between now and the holiday proper.

Procure for yourself orange candles (you're welcome to go all-out and grab pumpkin spiced stuffs, if you like), egg nog, your alcohol of choice (if you or your ancestors drink), and a holiday treat of one kind or another (pumpkin pie, apple pie, gingerbread cookies, cheesecake, carrot cake, etc.). Pour a drink for yourself and then one for the landvaettir, your ancestors, your friends, and your family, be they with you physically or in spirit. Do the same with your snack of choice, light a couple of candles, and proceed to have a bite to eat and a nip to drink.

Bask in their presence, and if you feel moved to do so, tell stories about these people you're thinking of. It might seem silly at first, but I find that I become very comfortable with it within a manner of minutes. In doing this, you are providing offerings of sustenance and mirth, lore and imagination. All valid things to each of us, and an appropriate way to start oneself off in getting out of the work mindset and into that holiday spirit.

Enjoy,
SE

​Greetings folks, hope the day is treating all of you well. 

In light of the holidays coming down the pipe, it seems appropriate to discuss holiday rituals each of us can use to better our enjoyment of the times ahead. I'll be running a mini-series to discuss everything from holiday offerings to full blown magical operations that can be done. 

Stay tuned.
-SE

​Greetings folks, it's great to have you here & I hope the day is treating you well.

Now that the dust's settled and I've got a bit of time to write, I thought I'd jot down a bit about an approaching holiday....that's right, Samhain's just about upon us. Next Tuesday, in fact.

We've all heard the stories about this time of year & how the veil gets thinner and spirits go bump in the night. For me, that's been an every-year occurence, and it always gets the mind whirring around what to do when this opportunity rolls around.

Now's a pretty good time to work with one's ancestors, so I thought I'd share an ancestor-centric rite focused on getting their attention and thanking them for their continued efforts. We are here thanks to them, and they can be a powerful source of support, magically and otherwise.

To start, you'll need a pen, a piece of paper, a plate, a candle holder, and some materials: Horehound, grave dirt, tomatoes (or another Nightshade), Benzoin, and Camphor.

The sigil to be drawn looks like this:

​Once you've created it, place the sigil on your altar, with the plate over it. Place the candle in the holder, on top of the plate, and then gird it with tomatoes (or another Nightshade of your choice, as noted above).

You will then form a quincunx with the remaining materials. Horehound shall be placed to the bottom left, grave dirt to the upper left, Benzoin to the bottom right, and Camphor to the upper right.

After you've finished the arrangement, say the following prayer & light the candle immediately after:

"Spirits of my past, present, and future, I ask that you open the byways so that I may commune with the blood who walked this earth before I. Let them speak clearly, to me, so that I may honor them & their memories.

My name is [N.N] and I ring the bell for thee."

I recommend following this with an unguided meditation wherein you allow a permeation of self to occur. Let these family members speak to and inspire you, guide you and heal you. If you feel as though some of those spirits are unhappy, you can later take steps to right any wrongs.

Doing so will help you in the year to come.

Blessings,
-SE