Lately, an increasing number of people have been coming to me for assistance in pacting with spirits and I've had to turn them away. I'm certain that in each case I have been viewed as being uncaring and, well, a bit heartless, but I thought I'd write a post for folks here to both explain why and give others something to think about.

Pacting is an interesting and difficult subject to speak on without dredging up a strong response from both naysayers and folks who are all for it. Unfortunately, it is my experience that very few people on either side of the aisle actually have any idea what they are talking about, as they haven't been through it themselves. As a result, they end up spouting off at the mouth, using hearsay and paraphrases from some friend of a friend or some author that may or may not have actually been in the trenches.  It keeps the mystery of the subject alive, but it doesn't actually cut through the minutia and get to the heart of the matter. I will, in this post, attempt to provide a bit more insight on that front.

Those who are drawn to pacts are often the disillusioned, dejected, and desperate; they feel as though its a quick fix for their world weary minds and hearts that'll suddenly alleviate their fears and concerns. They're willing to gamble everything when they feel that they have nothing. This devil-may-care attitude, while often understandable given the individual circumstances, is the worst position one can be in when working out an agreement.

Just as the advice of "don't shop when you're hungry and don't date when you're horny" is appropriate, so too is the idea that one should not make deals when desperate.  Its incredibly tempting, and it seems like the quick fix, but its also a surefire way to get the short end of the stick and the raw end of the deal.  This is just as true in the mundane world as it is in the spirit world.

Instead, I would recommend pacting when in a position of relative balance and power. Do it with a clear head, and do it when you know what you can and cannot count on so that you can forge an agreement that won't be quite so likely to come around and bite you in the ass later. If you don't follow this methodology, you're, in my experience, merely deferring the pain and discomfort to a later date.

Cowardice is its own punishment and you can't avoid taking your lumps.  It is far better to rip the bandage off quickly rather than set yourself up for another unexpected failure later on down the road.  Learn your lesson and then fix your situation through less grandiose means so that you can get a better deal later on down the road.

I have, in my life, made a lot of pacts. I've evoked a fair few spirits, both for myself and for clients, and I've spent a lot of time in the trenches with things that'd make a "normal" person's blood curdle. I've, as a result, had plenty of results that were exactly what I asked for but not at all what I wanted, and when that's been the case, its because I acted out of desperation.

My advice to you, as a result, is to fix the situation with frequent offerings and small microenchantments that lead you towards the fix you seek.  Don't try to pull out the big guns with forces you don't know well.  Even when I am the intermediary for folks who want pacts, the spirits know exactly what the client wants and what the client is willing to give - that makes it very difficult to work out a deal that isn't one-sided.

I hope this post has been helpful and illuminating, and I wish you the best of luck in these troubled, uncertain times.

Cordially,

SE

Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

It's come to my attention that some folks still have further questions about pacting with spirits, so I thought it would be pertinent to discuss the subject in greater detail. When you set out to make a pact with a spirit, there are certain skills which are definite prerequisites and a few that are simply handy to have.

Necessary Skills:

• Hear and understand spirits
• Evoke them
• Talk to them and be understood
• Constrain them
• Divinatory prowess
• The ability to confirm the nature and disposition of the conjured entity

Useful Abilities:

•  See spirits
•  Understand the culture of the tribe the spirit is from.
•  Ability to form meaningful relationships
•  Ability to negotiate
•  Ability to read between the lines

If you have those skills, practice makes perfect. If you do not possess those skills, I'd recommend that you work with a professional...otherwise, it's relatively certain that things will get messy for you.

My advice would be to start small with local spirits target than grimoiric heavy-hitters, as then damage control is easier if you screw up. If you should mess up, I'll be happy to help sort your life out for a fee.

That said, happy conjuring.

Regards,

SE

Greetings folks.

Over the past two days, I've spoken about the benefits and drawbacks of pacting with spirits and physical creatures.  Today, I intend to speak on the subject of how one tells what is a pact and what isn't, as the lines are pretty blurry. While something may not technically be a pact, not holding up your end of the bargain can still screw you over majorly. In this way, its a damned important subject.

Here's a short list of things that are usually considered to be pacts in the spirit world:

• Official agreementsa
• Unofficial agreements
• Promises
• Payment-related agreemens
• Debts
• Implied agreements
• Favors

Here's an even shorter list of what isn't a pact:

• Gifts
• Services rendered without strings attached

As you can see, its pretty muddled and convoluted, but just about everything one gets involved with, in the spirit world, is a pact on some level.  As a result, you've got to be damned careful with your language.  If you're not, it can come back to haunt you. Its for this reason that working with spirits you know and have a good working relationship with is important and preferable.

Even gifts can be provided in such a way that makes them something that can be used against you, so I'd be hesitant of accepting gifts from folks you don't know well.

Regards,

SE

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen.

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on pacts, at the request of a long-standing client, I thought I'd talk a bit about pacting with humans; a rather under-discussed topic.  Given the nature and importance of pacts, it stands to reason that the same issues and considerations would apply when dealing with human beings.

Pacting with spirits isn't terribly different from pacting with humans, as humans are just spirits in a corporeal form.  As a result, the dynamics involved are very similar, only the person can smack you physically if you don't hold up your end of the bargain.

As with purely spiritual forces, pacting and oathtaking are experiences which build our community inside of our homes as well as outside of them. We take oaths when we marry folks, and we make promises regularly; both are good examples. Having an agreement regarding the repayment of debt is an oath and agreement with spiritual implications as well.  It doesn't take much magical knowledge or spiritual awareness to use such a thing against another person.

The simple fact is that breaking pacts causes one to lose power and, as a result, it causes one to give power to another person.  The question isn't so much "what do I have to lose?" but instead "can that person use it to harm me?", and truth be told, it doesn't take much to use such a thing against another person.  Plenty of spirits will congregate around and pounce upon someone for breaking an oath without a good reason, and even more will give you a beating even if you had a good reason.  Hell, I've had spirits release me from an oath and take me to task nonetheless.

This is important to realize, as you could, unintentionally, sell off a piece of your soul, so to speak, to someone who wishes to take advantage of you.  In the case of one client, his pact with a woman has led to her having a direct line of sight to him regardless of where he is, and she has repeatedly used that against him.

So, my advice to you is that you should beware one-sided pacts with humans as well.  They can be advantageous or they can also be dangerous and problematic.

Regards,

SE

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen.

The topic of this post is pacts & their importance, as I've been receiving a great number of communications on the subject recently. Its a greatly misunderstood practice, so I hope that by discussing it here, people will begin to understand some of the mechanics inherent in the process.

Pacts are a "spiritual technology" which bind one to a spirit, in a matter of speaking.  The spirit gives the human something, and the human gives the spirit something in return.  Its an exchange of energy which should be equal on both ends.

They come in the forms of promises, oaths, bargains, deals, ultimatums, and so forth.  Even an act as simple as "God, save me from this crisis and I'll do [X]" is a pact, albeit a hasty one done without a great deal of thought.

Pacts serve as communal building blocks, in a number of ways, and can be used to deepen your connection with a spirit via physical means and actions.  They, in a very literal way, are meant to improve your life AND the spirit's life, as they are unique and have needs and wants just like we do.

You can get most things from a pact, provided they're realistic.  You can ask for assistance getting a job, getting a raise at a job you already have, being given part of inheritance, getting a girl, getting a boy, getting a dog, getting a cat, and so on and so forth.


The trick is that the thing you are bargaining for must be in the realm of possibility and within the power of the spirit. If either of those requirements are not met, you will either have a one-sided pact on your hands or nothing (good) will happen.  Ineloquently wrought pacts are, very literally, dangerous, but I'll discuss that in a few minutes.

Anything that is of use to a spirit can be given in a pact, so long as it is something you have the right to give.  If you are to give it, you must own it.  Giving up another person's life, for example, is generally an issue.

<<<If the spirit is willing to take that as part of the bargain, BEWARE!>>>
Spirits that are willing to take such a bargain know more than you do about a situation and will use it against you at a later date (don't ask me how I know this...).

Generally, a spirit's not going to be all that interested in your soul, however.  Instead, offerings of incense, sexual energy, light, darkness (a bit trickier), food, drink, or other tangible forms of energy that are important to you are enough to win their interest.  Blood is something that can be given, though to do so as an offering can be more than a little hinky, so do so cautiously.

Even actions, such as donating money to a charity named after the spirit or one that has a purpose similar to the spirit's function can be powerful motivators.

In a word, carefully.

Before you start looking into making a pact with someone or something, divine, divine, divine.  You need to first find out if the spirit'll be willing to work with you, if the thing you're going to ask for is within their power, what it'll cost you to get it, and whether or not the spirit is going to play games with you and try to screw you with the pact.

So firstly, do recon and figure out the specifics.

Secondly, you have to formulate the language and verbiage of the pact. A language that is not your own is great for starting and sealing a pact, but a terrible thing to use when actually creating and executing one.  Its a pretty sure bet that the spirit'll understand a foreign language better than you do.  The words you use in creating the pact must be specific, direct, and limiting.  Do not leave anything you should have control of up to the spirit, and do not, under any circumstances, leave what you're to do for the spirit out of the pact.

The more specific you are, the better, for reasons I'll get to in a moment.

Finally, we come to one of the biggest curiosities folks have about pacting: are pacts dangerous?

In reality, they can be. If poorly executed on your part, the spirit gains power over you that can be used to make your life a living hell or worse.  Obviously, not all spirits are inclined to do that to you, but many will just for the sake of gaining the upper hand.

Elves, fae, and dwarves, for example, will generally try to pull the wool over your eyes and get the better end of the deal because its a cultural tradition for them.  Its only a good deal to them if they are getting more from you than you're getting from them.  Demons, on the other hand (as in the infernal, not land spirits/daemons) are the same way, but they like to get the upper hand so that they can wreak havoc in your life if they don't like you or want/need something you have.

Its also worth noting that pacting with a spirit you don't know well is generally a bad idea.  You give that spirit more of a foothold in your realm, so its possible that some ill-natured entities will use that foothold to coerce you into making more pacts with them by making your life more difficult.

Its something to bear in mind.

Pacting is an exceedingly useful exercise, but its something that should only be done by folks who know what they're doing.  If you don't fit that bill, hire a sorcerer, witch, etc. to do the work for you, but only do so if they know the spirit you wish to pact with well.  Well-known spirits aren't always the best choice, so again, do your research and work with the spirit to find out what they'd be open to.

You're always welcome to seek out my advice on the matter, and I hope this has been illuminating for you.

Best of luck & warm regards.

SE