​Over time, success has its own challenges. It can, at times, feel like a Sisyphean endeavor. When times like this arise, it becomes crucial to endure, take care of oneself, and patiently allow the troubled times to pass.

I would recommend that you work on recovery, healing, and courage during this time of trials and tribulations. Your journey isn't over yet, so you don't want to get burned out.

Thus, as you endure, I suggest taking mundane steps too. Take care of your physical and emotional well-being.

--

On a personal note, this is a favorite card of mine, as it comes up frequently, and in different ways. Being strong isn't about being able to lift a heavy load once, but rather being able to lift that load and continue doing so. We've all seen the athlete whose in for a sprint, but ducks out of a marathon....life is a marathon, and while you might be permitted to lay down your load from time to time, that is not a common thing.

So when the going gets you down, find something that acts as a liniment for your soul, a shelter from the storm, and a  source of peace.

Regards,
​SE

I spend a great deal of time watching people.  I find it interesting to observe their behaviors because it affords me the ability to better understand what makes people tick.  In turn, I get to figure myself out and better grasp how magical things work.

That people-watching habit of mine has come in handy over the years.  Now is one such time, as I've come to notice that as a general rule, people are having a great deal of trouble, emotionally and otherwise.  Things are happening that are making folks very unhappy, with no concrete or happy end in sight.  I've found myself giving the advice "endure this, as it'll pass" time and time again over the past few weeks.

And that's the long and short of it: "This too shall pass". Pluto's movements have been wreaking havoc in people's lives.  We've seen it before, with Mercury's retrogrades causing communication problems or Mars causing folks to fight, but for some reason Pluto is so much worse....so much stronger. Observing this and feeling the strain has caused me to come to some interesting realizations, to be sure.

This post is partly to share those realizations, partly to offer comfort, and also to offer advice and services to those in need.

Pluto is something like Saturn's shadow, astrologically speaking.  It speaks of the deep mind, of the Jungian Shadow, of constraint and barriers, and perhaps more importantly of our breaking points.  Where Saturn shows us how far we can go before we are pained, Pluto illustrates where our "Rock Bottom" is.  It shows us that we are human, confronts us with our mortality, and threatens to do us and everyone else around us in.  It contributes to the breaking down of connections with others with a sort of fiery, hellish glee, and it ensures that we feel alone.  Its spirits take from you until you feel like there's nothing left, and if you let its essence do so, it will consume you.  Only the strong and endurant survive and get forged anew.  Those that persist find themselves with a better grasp of their faculties, having been hardened, toughened, and sharpened by the brush with "the Void".

With that in mind, the positive end is that this retrograde is coming to a close on 9/22.  After that, give it a week or so and things should normalize.

For those of you who are magically inclined and thus skilled enough to do the work on your own, I suggest that you work to reclaim what was lost and focus on reaping the rewards due on account of having gotten through this.  You can use the following sigil to do so:

For those of you who lack the ability to do magic on your own or wish to complement your own work with the assistance of an accomplished sorcerer, I am offering a bit of magic.  I call it the "Mark of the Bold", and it is a bit of spellwork that I have created as a result of my years of practice and study.

The Mark is a rite that embeds energy and intention into your sphere, your energy field, and your very being. Its not unlike a spiritual tattoo, and its purpose is to set you apart from the rest.  Its partially a glamour and partially a blessing, and the goal and intention thereof is to effectively make you special. The purpose is to make you look and act the part of one who is successful and able to walk his or her own path in as victorius and triumphant a manner as possible.

I will be offering this at the price of 150$ until the 27th of September.  After that date, it will be available as a one-off working at a much higher cost. I would suggest jumping on this opportunity if this sounds like something you can use.  You can purchase the working below.

Best of luck and warm regards,

SE

*Note: Special discontinued on 9/27/2014*

Over the years, I've encountered a lot of different, strange occurrences. They've more or less become the norm for me, and as a result, I've discovered that its incredibly important to keep up with both protective and purificative work to ensure that I stay in ship shape - you can't be very helpful if you're under attack, as your focus is shifted elsewhere.

Protective magical work takes many forms, can be done in a nearly infinite number of ways, and is more or less effective depending on what's going on.  Some workings provide a bigger safety blanket, whereas others only work on small things.  The jury's out on what's the most effective, as bigger workings don't usually get that specific - I find that they usually have small cracks that stuff can get through, as you're only as well protected as you are specific.

With that in mind, I thought I'd write up an article on various means of protecting oneself, including rituals, prayers, an incense blend, and some generalized insight.

These are the most common forms of protective magic that I am aware of:

• Prayers
• Sigils
• Runes/Bind Runes
• Incense blends
• Crystals
• Witch bottles
• Apotropaic statues
• Candle magic
• Talismans

In this thread, I'll be discussing sigils, prayers, and an incense blend that can be used to do different things.  My goal is to provide you with building blocks, and It'll be up to you to weave your own system from there.

To start, one of the simplest things you can do is to create a sigil for your intended purpose, inscribe it onto a talisman, and then carry said talisman. The use of the physical object will naturally ground your magical work in the physical realm, thereby making it considerably more effective here.

You can formulate sigils however you like.  Some prefer to use an alphabet of desire, others use runes, alchemical symbols, or other drawings, and others just doodle whatever feels right to them.  No one method is the best - its just a matter of what works for you.

As an example, here's a general protection symbol:

If you decide that you want to get more specific, here's a fiscal protection symbol:

As you can see from the above symbols, they are relatively simple and uncomplicated at first glance.  Trying to break them down and make sense of what each individual component means, however, will take you a fair deal of time to accomplish.

Once comfortable with the above two, you can venture in to working with and managing the energies of something like this hypersigil:

Make no mistake, the above is not for general use and would probably be rather harmful for anyone who tried to utilize it without understanding exactly what it means.  The point in showing this, however, is to cause folks to understand that there are many different levels of magical work one can do.  Some of it is simple enough, and other workings are far more intensive.

The more complex a mechanism is, the more energy it takes to power it - its simple physics, taken to a metaphysical level.

Once you've got your base sigil in hand, your next task is to consecrate it.  This can be done in any number of ways, but prayer and incense are the most common.

Prayers can take many forms. Some are brief and concise, whereas others are terribly grandiloquent and long. You could utilize the Orphic Hymns for an appropriate spirit, or you could simply write your God, Goddess, spirit, etc/whatever a letter asking for assistance while providing an offering. It is, again, up to you.

One such prayer commonly used by Christians is St. Patrick's Breastplate, which is about 1600 years old (according to some sources).  It's as follows:

Another common prayer is Psalm 91:

If you're not Christian or Jewish, and would prefer to use something that doesn't invoke the Judeo-Christian god's name, you could just as easily use another prayer instead.

For example, a common one for Muslims is from Abu Dawud 2/89:

If you are from a Hindu or Tibetan Buddhist sect, you could use the mantras for a specific Bodhisattva or deity depending on who or what you follow. I frequently use the following blurb of my own creation during my work:

In following with my own gnosis, after offering such a prayer, I almost always follow with physical offerings to attract the attention, aid, and favor of the spirit in question.

This is where incense, oils, perfumes, candles, and so forth come in.  To stick to the script, so to speak, this is one of the blends I use as an offering and protective incense:

• 1 part dragon's blood (daemonorops or dracaena/calamus genii- do not use croton!)
• 1/2 part benzoin
• 1 part lavender flowers
• 1 part copal
• 1/4 part rue
• 1/4 part asafoetida
• 2 parts rose petals

Use a mortar and pestle to grind up each part until you've achieved your desired consistency.  When done, you're welcome to add a couple of drops of rose absolute to really oomph up the mixture, but that's not necessary.

This mixture is meant to be burned on a charcoal disc like the 3 Kings brand - this can be found in your local metaphysical shop or online with a bit of searching.

Feel free to experiment and branch out as you feel inclined to do so.  Be careful and consider the properties of the herbs and resins used so that you don't include something that can be used against you. Myrrh, for example, is a wonderful substance when used properly - if you load intention into it, it tends to work for you, but if you don't, it can be twisted and used against you by someone who knows how to do so.

Now you've got the basic tools necessary to craft your own protective workings.  Mix them up and experiment.  Should you require further advice, you're welcome to hit me up and ask away.

Regards,

SE

Greetings, dear readers.

A thread on EvocationMagic got the gears turning in my brain, and I thought that I should write up an article about the importance of perspective.  To frame this post, it should be noted that the original topic at hand was necromancy and the associated practices.

Necromancy, for whatever reason, has resurfaced as a topic of intense discussion and debate, as of late.  As a result, interested parties have decided that it is a wise idea to seek out someone who speaks openly on the subject and attach themselves firmly to that individual's coattails as if they are the be-all-end-all source of inspiration and worthwhile information.  This is dangerous to begin with, but it becomes even more dangerous when one is speaking on the subject of working with the dead, as they are not to be trifled with.

Generally speaking, I am more than a little uncomfortable with discussing the subject publicly. There are a multitude of reasons for this, but one major reason is that I do not wish to offend those who have taken the time to teach me what I know about the subject.  There are plenty of aspects thereof that I am, quite literally, bound from speaking of due to oaths I've taken.  Having said as much, I will be speaking on it in the abstract for the sake of illustrating my point about the importance of perspective.

Humans are naturally rather biased; we get wrapped up in our preconceived views due to our upbringing and whatnot.  As a result, its difficult for us to seek a wider view of the information at hand, despite the fact that it is often incredibly important that we do so.  I am a proponent of view that we should seek balance and view each thread of divine inspiration critically and analytically, both without the "cultural bias" inherent to the system as well as with that very bias. In doing so, you view "System X" from both extremes and can then discern where the median between those extremes is.

To explain this using a paradigm most of us are very familiar with, we can look to Christianity. Christianity, regardless of the sect one ascribes to, generally contains two distinct extremes:

1. Christ is the one and only son of God.  He died for our sins and Satan/Lucifer/The Devil is the "Bad Guy" who wants our souls.
2. Christ is a fraud, God's a jerk, and Satan/Lucifer/The Devil is around to enlighten us.

I'm sure my explanation of Christianity as such will draw some flak, but before the Satanists in my audience send me hate mail, you should realize that without Judeo-Christianity there is no Satanism; thereby, Satanism is an extreme view of Christianity.

That said, neither extreme is all that useful at the end of the day, as both of them cause us to put blinders on. The median view between those extremes ends up being something akin to "Christ and Satan both exist, and both are necessary". 

If you follow me to that point, consider this, then, on a more global scale and add an element of historical research to the work at hand. Once you've done so, you can then draw similar parallels with certain sects of Buddhism, modern-day Hinduism, Islam, and even some Judaic threads of faith. In doing so, you've encompassed between 6,500 and 7,000 years of human religious history and development. Once you've done that, you can continue the trend and look back further and further until you get to the end of the evidence and the beginning of human development in that arena.

Returning full circle to the topic of necromancy, after you've done the above historical research, you can then look at the evidence of religious practices from however many thousands of years ago. In the case of necromancy, we must look back to the beginning of burial practices. As far as we know, humans first started burying their dead, in one form or another, between 80,000 and 120,000 years ago.

We can assert this because one doesn't bury their dead unless there's an inherent belief in some sort of afterlife, as otherwise the ritual is useless. That being the case, we can assert, through the ritualistic behavior, that some sort of primitive necromantic practice occurred.

Ultimately, this brings me back to the purpose of this post: we don't need to ride the coattails of someone else's work in order to get back to basics and figure out where a lot of this comes from.  We have plenty of evidence out there that can be used to enlighten us and shape our views.

Doing our own research doesn't dilute the knowledge transfer quite as much.  Sure, it is still going to be diluted, as someone had to interpret the historical data, but that's one less step on the knowledge transfer train.  This is important because acknowledging any man or woman as Master, Mistress, Teacher, or any such title means that you are subjecting yourself to their limitations. This goes for all forms of instruction, be it from a human, elemental daemon, deity, or any such thing. That being the case, if you're going to subject yourself to such a thing, realize that this is what you're doing and be willing to look at everything they provide in a critical fashion.

If you're going to be expected to take something on faith, someone should at least have the decency to tell you as much.

I hope this post has been both helpful and enlightening.

Regards,

SE