Note of Caution: You should be aware that even so much as writing this article has proven to be very disruptive and problematic.  If you are particularly sensitive to negativity, I would suggest that you promptly mark this entry as read (assuming you use an app like Feedly) and move on with your life. I'll be discussing some pretty negative stuff here.

You're welcome to stick around and read through this, but if you do, it may spark off some pretty noticeable changes.  Proceed at your own risk.

Still sticking 'round?  Ok, down to business....

In response to a series of questions a long-time client of mine has posed, I have decided to talk a bit about shadow work, the associated risks and implications, and the possible benefits of doing the Work. Herein will be a few methodologies that one can use to engage their Shadow and progress past their limitations.

Before I start, I must stress that this Work is FAR more dangerous and advanced than anything I've written about previously - hence the warning at the top of this post. This isn't stuff you do for fun.  It isn't something you do out of convenience either.  Its something you do when you don't have a choice.

We're complicated creatures, and there are times that we seem to be half angel, half demon.  We've got a side of us that wants to lie, cheat, steal, murder, rape, drink, and drug ourselves into a stupor.  Its dedicated, in many of us, to taking the easy way out and gets a thrill out of harming someone else in the process. We've also got a side to us that's good-natured, caring, compassionate, loving, and aspires to doing good deeds for the benefit of others. Its a lot like the story of the two wolves, pictured below.

We're all different, and some of us have an easier time tapping one of those wolves over the other.  That's natural and normal, but it just because its the way of things doesn't mean that you're doomed towards dealing with one specific side.

In the end, its a bit like dealing with the angel on one shoulder and the demon on the other. (Much like Kronk in The Emperor's New Groove)

In the Nature VS Nurture argument, the eventual realization is that our leanings are a product of Nature and Nurture, and as a result, eventually choice has a great deal to do with it.  In my experience, I have found that strength comes from being able to utilize the powers of both sides while still keeping them in balance. This is why we have rites like the Banishing Rituals of the Hexagram, Middle Pillar, grounding, and centering exercises.

Most everyone is familiar with the "Holy Self" or "Higher Self" in one form or another - some even go so far as to call it the "Holy Guardian Angel".  The other half isn't really talked about.

Your shadow, on the other hand, (also known as your Evil Genius, Evil Daemon, or doppelganger) is the part of you that's typically kept deep inside of you. It serves the functionality of a spiritually alive storehouse for all of your worst traits, your fears, your insecurities, It represents the abused, the liars, the broken, and the incomplete.  The shadow is comprised of pure, unadulterated fucked-upedness, and working with it is often one hell of an unpleasant ride......

Your shadow makes even the denizens of the Qliphothic shells look cute and cuddly - this is doubly so if you've been through extreme trauma in your past.

Working with one's shadow, however, can be very fulfilling when one's reached the appropriate stage of awareness and ability - knowledge of and communication with your HGA is mandatory. Mastering it does have its benefits, though mastery of one's shadow is an ongoing process that is repeated as one lives his or her life.  Its a set of practices that can, eventually, lead to some amazing realizations about one's self and the universe around them, and, as a result, be a major reservoir of power that can be tapped on demand.

Below is a ritual format through which one can connect to, work with, and overcome the portions of their shadow. It follows a strict flow and I would not recommend straying from it, lest you endanger yourself.  The sigils for each part of the shadow self can be found at the bottom of this article, and I would suggest that you only utilize one at a time.  Do not draw them unless you intend to use them.

1. Provide offerings to your guardian spirits
   
   By this point, you should have a pretty decent handle on the nature of your guardian spirits, both local and ancestral, as well as the allies you've cultivated through your ongoing spirit work.
   
   
2. Perform an Invocation of your Higher Self
   
   By this point, you should have your own method for getting in contact with your HGA/HS for ritual use. Proceed with it, as you will need the essence of this portion of you present to balance out the extreme negativity that will be raised as you progress through this rite.
   
   
3. Draw the sigil for the aspect of your Shadow that you intend to invoke
   
   You will need to use consecrated parchment paper for this purpose.  I would suggest that you trace out the sigil, then pray over it to empower it.
   
   
4. Prayer to the Keystone
   
   The Keystone an entity I've worked with for quite some time.  Its purpose is simple: to watch over the keys so that they are not accidentally activated through tracing them, visualizing, etc.
   
   Keystone, bearer of possibilities
   Stir, waken, hear, and become available to me
   I invoke thy name and call for thy presence
   Stand alongside me as I work through the Umbric Keys
   Face me so that I might face my Self
   
   [Seal the invocation by tracing a lemniscate in the air]
   
   
5. Evoke or invoke the Shadow's aspect
   
   How you proceed here is up to you.  Evocation tends towards being gentler than invocation, but invocation will allow you to do more than simply wrangle with that aspect of your Self.
   
   
6. Complete the rite and dismiss all invoked forces
   
   Dismiss that which has been conjured and ground yourself in the manner of your choosing.
   
   
7. Deal with the outcome of the rite
   
   If you did the work right, you will have stuff to deal with.  You'll learn about certain things that motivate you, how to diffuse your temper, etc.  That's the real reason behind this work, after all.  If you should need help, which you may, you'll want to reach out to me through my contact page.

If you choose to follow this path I've laid out here, good luck.  You will need it.

As mentioned previously, should you need help, feel free to contact me.

Regards,

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 and happy Monday, ladies and gents. I hope this posting finds you well, or at the very least, awake and functioning.

In my wanderings, ramblings, gnosis, and the latent digestion of such things, I've come to a greater realization with regard to how our folk affect us.  We often spend a great deal of time interacting with others and we often take more than we'd like from people.  This function is something that's programmed into us at a biological level, as evidence by the fact that we even respond to how other people's hearts are beating.  The links for such studies escape me at the moment, but sufficed to say, we are much more intimately linked than we like to admit.

We end up mirroring people we respect as a result of our focus on what they represent to us.  We instinctually try to live up to the ideal they tout in order to become better in their eyes, and that can be a dangerous tendency.  When someone is sufficiently strong-willed, they can project a great deal onto others and do a ridiculous amount of damage to that individual.

Its not at all uncommon for a mental patient, for example, to project his or her disease/disorder onto the doctor or that individual's spouse.  I saw and experienced this firsthand as a child, when my mother's erratic behavior and lack of moral limitation "infected" my father.  Not only did I witness him changing over the years, but I confirmed these changes with my family after the fact. Apparently, before he married my mother, he had a slight "bad streak", but it was never particularly volatile or violent.

We see the same tendency in schools, as noted by my significant other (she's a teacher); when a smart kid hangs out with the would-be thugs, the smart kid's test scores and schoolwork suffers.  If that same student suddenly starts hanging out with a bunch of nerds, his scores improve.

In short, our values are ultimately set by the clan we interact with. If your friends, wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, or some other such individual or group is intensely negative, you will behave the same way as a result of your interactions.  This may not be true initially, but eventually your Will will break down and you will fall in line with your pack.

The same interactions and changes occur with those of us who are religious, spiritually inclined, or to those of us who practice some form of magic involving interacting with spiritual forces.  Our very interactions with those spirits, for weal or woe, changes us on some level.  They, very literally, become a part of  our life and our worldview, changing us from within even if we don't expect it.  Its not particularly abnormal for a practicing mage's IQ to be raised as a result of working with planetary intelligences, for example.

I've personally experienced this over the years, as working with Zazel, for example, has helped me to become better at discerning limitations, exposing them, or strengthening weaknesses, even if this wasn't the goal of the work.  It fits perfectly with His Saturnine nature.

That being the case, we can respond to this external stimuli in a couple of different ways; we can either use this to our benefit, or we can try to run from it and become a hermit. I would suggest that we should use this tendency to our benefit rather than pursue the goal of shielding ourselves from influences from others.  It is, ultimately, futile to do so, as we're trying to escape biologically-programmed functions which help us to interact.

I would recommend that you surround yourself with successful folk that you can look up to and interact.  I'd also recommend that you take it a step further and actually work with spirits that will benefit you in such a way.  If you're looking to cultivate a sense of inner peace, either work with Shiva and Ayra-Tara-Ma or have someone else do the work for you. Just bringing an entity into your sphere can have far-reaching effects for the same reasons listed above.

Furthermore, cut the bad apples off the tree.  Make the sacrifice and move on with your life if someone isn't benefiting you.  Don't sit their and stew; it WILL come back to bite you if you don't heed this advice.  Compassion is great until it drags you down; if it does, it needs to be managed like any other emotion or instinct.

The TL:DR version of this is illustrated pretty well by Hopsin in the following music video:

The long and short of it is that in order to grow, we have to cut loose the anchors that hold us down.  If you want to get somewhere in life, make whatever sacrifices you need to, so long as they'll actually get you somewhere.  If that means that you need to ask for help, realize this and then make it happen.

There are plenty of resources, spiritual teachers, spirit workers, teachers, therapists, business contacts, and potential friends who can help you to change your life for the better.  All you need to do is reach out and work to make that occur.

If you should desire such assistance, contact me and we'll talk. If you're not sure what to do about your situation, but just want to do something general to help fix it, I can probably assist.

Take care and thank you for reading.

Regards,

SE

Ave, my friends.  As always, I hope my posting finds you well.

A couple of weeks ago, I got word from a client and friend of mine that some recent work I had done for her led to some striking paranormal manifestations.  Here are her words on the subject:

"since you did the ritual work for me, i've been seeing things in my room. it's difficult to describe, but it's like i'm seeing glimmers of spirits or whatever they are all over in here. no audible sounds, just visual. sometimes it's in the form of a light, sometimes a shadow. i'm a little confused, didn't know if it might be related to the ritual. this is something that is completely new. the most prevalent was something small (and a light form) move across the keyboard of my laptop while i was using it. it was very clear and made me jump when i saw it."

Given her reaction to these manifestations, I thought that I should share this information; these sorts of things do happen.  Sometimes they're striking or startling, so if you're going to study and practice the Art, expect that this can happen to you.  This result was simply from doing a bit of work to bless her; more potent rites have even more potential for this sort of thing.

Take care,

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

As of late, I've found that I am becoming more and more interested, once again, in working with the spirits of the dead.  In saying this, I feel as though I should clarify that I am not speaking on the subject of ancestors: No, I am referring to those shades and revanents of those who share who no relation to me, who may well be dangerous and unsightly.  They range in form and function, cause and effect, and furthermore, they vary in temperament.  Yes, I am indeed speaking of necromancy.

Our ancestors have viewed the dead with a strange mixture of reverence and fear for thousands of years, and leaned more towards one end of the spectrum or the other depending on the culture.  For some reason, they "knew", through some channel, that the dead weren't always happy-go-lucky and willing to pass on peacefully.  That, of course, follows us into modern times where now we don't necessarily have more death and more violence, but its generally a bit more shocking to us than it was during the Dark Ages. This naturally leads to some rather unhappy geists.

That being the case, those of us who do decide that working with the dead is an appropriate praxis are soon confronted with the task of discerning the nature of a spirit and learning to protect ourselves from it if something goes awry and the feces hits the proverbial fan.  As indicated in previous posts, I've been doing this sort of work for many years, I've had my fair share of really nasty things show up, and I've got many scars from it: nightmares, scars from being cut, a scar from a gunshot wound, etc. so its not something for the faint of heart.

In the Norse cosmology, one protected himself by scrawling containing runes on the barrow in which one (who was thought to be aggressive or restless) on the tomb.  When the dead showed up, the thought was that light would take their power away, but other than that, silver was of import, as were runic charms.  In my practice, I've found that using the appropriate galdrar, or projecting the appropriate rune(s) at a target would bar him or her from manifesting, thereby negating the threat.  Other practices involved lopping the dead guy's head off and putting it between his feet, burying the individual face down, or simply burning the corpse. Those methods, while effective if we're dealing with zombies, aren't going to cut it when dealing with a disembodied corpse.

So, I'm sure, at this point, that you're asking yourself "well, if those methods aren't going to work, what can I do?"  It is at this juncture wherein we meet the meat of this post. If the spirit in question seems aggressive, your first line of defense can be prayers, projected sigils of intent, blasts of energy, or countless other methods.  Here are a few of my favorites, escalating in force:

1) Trace the rune Stan, pictured below, and project it at the spirit in question. The rune Stan is a boundary stone, and can be used to block a spirit's manifestation.

2) Trace the rune Hagal, pictured below, and project it at the aggressing spirit.  The rune Hagal is useful for breaking up energies in an area, as its essentially "chaos in a bottle", so to speak.  This can well be combined with the use of Stan for an even greater push.

3) Appeal to the Gods presiding over the dead, and ask that the spirit be dragged back to its resting place, forcefully if necessary.  My go-to Goddess, in this case, is Smashan Tara-Ma, pictured below, as She presides over the Shamashan, which is the crematorial grounds upon which bodies are burned and dumped.

If you find the need to appeal to Her, you may do so using this prayer:

"Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha (repeat thrice)

Homage to you, Smashan Tara-Ma
Whom presides over those who are dead and gone
Whose TURE destroys the Great Fears,
Those deathly shades and demons, 
With a wrathful frown upon Your face

Homage to You whose powers of invocation
Call upon the local protectors,
Removing all threats with the letter OM
You bring peace where there once was none

Lay these shades to rest
Remove their burdens
Give them peace

Om Tara Tara Trey Pey Om (repeat nine times)"

In these rather iffy times, having such an arsenal, however small, is never a bad thing.  I do hope these words have been helpful, and if you have any other ideas for banishing the dead that you'd like to discuss, please comment on this post.

Regards,

SE