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A lot of people have some strange ideas about magick. One of the most common ideas is that magick is a way of getting what you want. In a way that's true; casting a spell is an act of determining a goal, focusing your intent, and then throwing that intent out into the world to manifest itself. Yes, you can use magick to help you get what you want, but in my experience "want" is only half the picture.
My path is a rough one and my Goddess is harsh - she frowns on wasting magick on the superfluous. Does that mean I don't do magick to help me find a parking spot downtown? Hell no. I do plenty of frivolous magick, but I'm not going to bother my Goddess with it. When I do little spells to make my life easier I use my personal energy and the energy of the world around me. Sometimes these spells work and sometimes they don't; it depends on what other energies my will has to overcome, how focused my energies were, etc. When I want something but don't really need it I'm on my own for making it happen.
When I really need something - that's a different story entirely. When I have a genuine need I can ask my Goddess to give me a boost that almost always guarantees success. The tricky part is knowing what you really need in order to ask for it. For example, I was unemployed for over a year when I got out of law school and I desperately needed a job. Unfortunately, I graduated a year into the recession and jobs were thin on the ground for even the best students (which I was not). If ever there was a time that I needed every iota of energy on my side at was during that job hunt, so I did several spells to help me find employment. At first I did spells to help me find "the perfect job," the job that would pay my bills, make me feel good about myself, have a positive work environment, and have room to grow. This was what I wanted, but who actually manages to find a job like that right out of school with no experience. Unsurprisingly, those first spells didn't work too well. Then I started doing spells to help me find a "decent" associate position that would pay my bills and at least offer some challenges day to day. If those jobs were out these, they didn't find me. Finally, I just did a spell to find any job that would keep me from defaulting on my student loans and credit card bills, whether it was an attorney job or not. I got a job within a week. What I "needed" was to learn to swallow my pride and take what was actually available. Magick done to fill a need is the most potent magick anyone can do.
How do you know what you really need? The best way I've ever found to identify what you really need is the mediator's trick of asking why. Think of something you want, now ask yourself why you want it, then ask yourself why you want that reason, do this over and over until you finally find the real reason for your desire - that's the need, and if it's not a need then you probably shouldn't be doing magick for it. For example, I want an iPhone, why? - they're cool, why do I want something cool? - it's fun and would make me feel less behind the times, why is that important? - it gives me self-esteem, why do I want that? - self-esteem feels good, so what I want is to feel good. Do I "need" an iPhone to feel good, no - so no iPhone spell. However, I can do a spell to help me to know what I need to do so that I can feel proud of myself and have better self-esteem and then do it. Could that kind of spell lead to an iPhone, possibly, but it will likely lead to something much better than a nifty toy that will be obsolete in a year.
Doing magick for what you need, rather than just to do or get the things that you think might fill your needs is both more effective and can open you to possibilities that you'd never thought of. There is one caveat to doing this sort of magick: occasionally, what you really need is a swift kick in the ass. Is it what you want? No. Will you probably be better off for it? Yes. Be open to what you really need and your magick will help you more than you can imagine, just accept that what you need isn't always what you want.
Suggested ebooks:
Justin Winsor - The Literature Of Witchcraft In New England
Michael Sharp - The Great Awakening
In this post we will just be ( briefly ) discussing few methods of finding lost items, for there seems to be an ever-pending interest for such magick. And it's no wonder, really, for most of people do loses something almost every day, be it just a dropped coin. As to that, apparently to find money that You might have lost all one needs to do is to "kiss a Negro" rofl ;)
Hoodoo people will commonly seek aid of either Lord Himself, or St Anthony, to find lost items, usually in form of prayer. Now since it's a method of folk magick, rather than religious praying, prayers can be made up by oneself, honestly offered anywhere, anytime and they can even appear in form of simple rhyme! Most of folk prayers to Saint Anthony for finding lost articles rhyme, and contain but few rhymes made easy to memorize and chant. It's customary to give some sort of thanks to Lord or Saint that aided us in finding lost article.
Witches use various forms of spells, sometimes ( thought that's rarely done ) addressing to some deities to aid them in their quest, but most frequently simply using the power of symbolism and sympathetic magick. They will often invoke aid of certain deities in restoring stolen good, and compelling theft to return them or reveal themselves ( rather cunning examples of such magick appear in Heka ) but this is another type of magick, really. Stolen articles and lost articles, though each absent from us are not the same, and therefore are not dealt with in the same manner in occultism. In Middle ages, it was said that witches and sorcerers would lay a hand on their familiars ( most often cats and birds were used for this ) and would spoke some incantation that would ask the aid of animal to help them find what they have lost. The animal would then either guide them, or would occasionally even bring back the lost article.
Another frequent method used to help finding lost items is seek of guidance through
dream incubation. Invoking aid of St. Anthony is a simple example of guidance seeking. Dream incubation might include anything from inspiring prophetic dreams or visions of lost items in dreams, to asking from guidance from Higher sources in dreams.
The best time for such magick, is really anytime, for time correspondences in such cases is often a luxury one simply cannot afford, and the urgency of finding what's lost takes precedence. If You can however, perform magick for finding lost articles in Mercury correspondent day, hours or in time of full Moon, or in Midday. Also any days and hours good for general divination will work here as well.
Now let's go through a few simple example, for this is, as I often stress out a "practical" blog :)
SPELL TO FIND A LOST ITEM
Take a new piece of paper, and draw as best as You are able, in all possible riches of detail, the item/s ( or even a person ) that You have lost. It's favorable to have a light blue candle lit as You do this. Now simply wrap the paper around a lodestone ( charged ) and carry it on Your behalf and sleep on it. Alternatively, You could sprinkle some lodestone dust or brown sugar on a paper and then fold it thrice towards oneself, place in small sachet ( preferably blue or yellow ) and also carry on Your behalf and sleep on it.
PRAYER/S TO SAINT ANTHONY
There is a whole host or, short rhyming folk prayers to Saint Anthony to help us find what we have lost, be it an item or a person. Sometimes they were "composed" by a single person and handled down to successors as a part of family tradition. Here are few examples:
St. Anthony, St. Anthony
Please come down
Something is lost
And can't be foundNext one comes from Chicago ;
Dear St. Anthony, I pray
Bring it back, without delay.
Though You can always make up Your own, that should ( in the spirit of the tradition ) rhyme, and hence could represent, sort of Your personal way of petitioning the Saint.
For example ( my own phrasing )
St. Anthony please, help me out
Where have I lost that, to find out
Guide me and lend me clarity
Or bring the item into ( my ) proximity
Or something like that, You get the idea
Finally, it's wise to note here, seems that people of all traditions and roots ( origins, nationalities ) have used this ( magickal ) mean of tracking down lost stuff, be them Christians or not. It is important however that when a Saint grants Your request, You express Your gratitude ( I feel bit silly for having to point this out, but I ought to, just in case ), and a common way of giving thanks to Saint Anthony are ex votos.
You can ask G'd, directly as described in one entry { 13161; 3rd Edition, 2002 } in anthropological Work of Henry Middletone Haytt, "Folklore in Adam County Illinois"
SCRYING
Either take a piece of paper with possible locations of the item ( start with broader categories, them go on more specific one, elimination method ) or go straight forward and take a map. Light a purple candle and ask Your higher source to aid You in finding the lost item. Around the chain or cord of Your pendulum wrap the piece of paper with the description of the item, or hold ( alongside the pendulum ) any form of link to this object in Your hand. I dress the top of the crystal ( or whatever You might use as pendulum ) with "Spirit guide oil" or "Psychic vision oil". You could use any oil associated with some specific Deity who's help You'd like to invoke. Now simply scry ( dowse ) with the crystal as You normally would.
GUIDING SPELL
On a piece of paper describe what You have lost on one side, and on the other, draw an All seeing eye, or AGLA symbol. Place it under glass of bowl of Blessed spring water, symbol side pointed upward.
Light Angelic Influence candle ( or any candle of nice, soothing pale blue color ) and place next to it a small glass with Blessed spring water. Place some Althaea root nearside as well, and preferably also place a piece of Quartz, or Amethyst alongside. Then chant
"Guding spirits/angels, I need Your assistance,
For I have misplaced something dear
Bless me with knowledge and clairvoyance,
And bring me to what I've lost, be it far or near" 3X-7X
Use just few drops of that water to dress Your third eye, and let the candle burn itself out. Wrap the paper around the crystal and sleep on this charm. In the morning pour the water outside. Carry the charm with You until You find the item. Then burn the paper, scattering ashes to the wind and giving thanks to spirits.
DREAM INCUBATION
While spell used to gain answers through dreams, not being a typical/specific " find lost article" spell, it should be obvious how it can be constructivel y employed in such case
There are many examples throughout classical grimoires, among others perhaps that from Clavicula Solomonis, "To get answers in/through dreams"
http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm
If You have had the badfortune to misplace something, I do hope this article and ideas presented here might help : )
NOTE: This article was written and composed by myself, therefore should You desire to use any part of it elsewhere, give credits : Shadow of Shadows magick place or Shadow-333@hotmail.com or direct link to this post
CREDITS: According to entry 13163 in "Folklore in Adam County Illinois" third edition, 2002th, by Harry Middletone Hyatt
Source of prayers : www.luckymojo.com more precise http://www.luckymojo.com/saintanthony.html, site proprietor's informants contributions
IMAGES source : Wikipedia, page on St Anthony http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony of Padua
Many Blessings
Shadow
Suggested ebooks:
John Yarker - The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
Will Herberg - The Writings Of Martin Buber
Letters to the Editors
Will and Word Winter Solstace 1990 ev
These letters were pre-Autarchy. The Charter had not been
purged of the tenancy towards power concentrating in the hands of
a few individuals who would be officially recognized as "officers".
E.G.
Editors:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law
From the Supreme And Most Holy King Of The Neo-Thelemoid Clique:
Greeting to all points of the Triangle!
This letter is an attempt at answering the charges levelled
at us by the Sorers of the Man of Earth series of sexism.
Specifically the language of our initiation rituals. Well, all I
can say to that is that that's the way Crowley wrote them for us,
so that, as they say, is that. Now, some Fraters and Sorers will
point to the recent interpretations of some of The Great One's
writings leading to revision of our initiation rituals and ask why
we can't change the wording of these rituals with regards to its
"sexist" terminology as well. All I can say is that since nobody
in any position of authority seems to be offended by this alleged
"sexist" terminology, we simply do not recognize any valid reason
to change the language. It is symbolic. It is understood that when
you call everyone present "he" you include women as well. Its just
more convenient and familiar to us that way.
Dear Editors:
Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
You read the letter from our esteemed Supreme and Holy Queen
the same day I did and I know that some of you are as disturbed by
it as I am.
Personally I am fascinated by this curious disregard of the
Magickal effects of language by our leadership, which represents
itself collectively as practicing a system of Magick intimately
connected with Quaballah; which is itself a sophisticated and
beautiful language/symbol system. To tell a quabalist that there
is no psychological, psychic, or other impact in calling all
persons present "he" (or even "she") because it is "symbolic" or
"conventional" or "less cumbersome" [translates: easier], is at
best unconscious, at worst stupid. Please. Don't insult me again,
gals.
The current Neo Thelemoid Clique leadership's position of
cringing behind Big Daddy Crowley's Authority for the sexist shit
spattered throughout Her writings (scattered amongst the
revolutionary/evolutionary messages from Liber AL like dead roaches in a chalice of communion cakes) is enough to make me laugh until
I cry. Have you people even heard about Orwell, or Korzybski, or
Burroughs or any of the Feminist thinkers at all?
This kind of unconsciousness is exactly the kind of thing that
keeps us out of the O.T.O.!
Please, guys, try to imagine the frustration of listening to
this same old male supremacist (and I use the term quite
specifically!) Old Aeon/Osirian Bhalasti over and over again from
people who smugly purport to be evolved beyond such things! You
make a mockery of your Grades. You are testament to the fact that
the people involved with leadership positions in the Thelemic Arena are just as much victims of the sexist assumptions of Crowley's
English Gentleman Upbringing as he was! Arrrgh. What you people are essentially saying is that it is OK to continue sanctioning this
attitude because Crowley did it. So, Crowley had a problem So that
makes it OK?
Even worse for the Neo-Thelemoid Clique as a whole, is that
we face the same kind of problems that our friends in the O.T.O.
are facing the worst of which are:
1) Universal lack of business administrative skills among the
leadership.
2) Disaffection of some of the members with the more dogmatic
interpretations of Liber Al and our body of Crowley rituals being
made by the leadership.
Hey, don't get me wrong, just because I got no swinging dick
doesn't mean I don't like the folks attached to theirs, but I do
object to this frustrating and tedious perpetuation of that same
ol' Osirian Ol' BOYS Network.
I listen to some of these glassy-eyed fanatics as they declaim
on the glories of the New Aeon of the Child and try not to snort
too loudly when I contemplate the deadly inaccuracy and
neuron-level self deception necessary for them to maintain sexist
attitudes in this environment of Thelemic ritual and rhetoric.
I have nothing more to say except that the Committee Charter
Revision will also involve our Clique's Charter Revision, no matter what the various officers of the Councils, Colleges and Senates
think.
Love is the Law, Love under Will
Sorer Eris
Letters To The Ed.-Post Revision
I would like to thank all you folks for the help you've given
me in the past year since the Charter Revision. The backlog of
letters has been amazing. It seems that Charter Revision has met
the approval of the membership.
Ed.
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law,
Greetings from the valley of the Neo-Thelemoid Clique to all
points on the Circumference of the circle!
The Hermits Pro Temp of the Neo-Thelemoid Clique wish to
announce our endorsement of the Charter. We feel that this is a
structure far superior to the pyramidical masonic/catholic church
set up that we used that Crowley had set up for the O.T.O. We have
been using that structure too long.
Thelemoids will be best served in the context of the Committee
if we the Neo-Thlemoid Clique decentralize ourselves. It is
unfortunate that those claiming degrees within the Hermit Circle
had to be purged. Those of us formerly holding those degrees have
conceded that none of us can in fact meet the requirements for the
Hermit Degree (See the revised Charter under Blue Circle
Requirements) and although our Clique's membership received word
in the mailing following the Charter Revision, we wanted to restate the fact to the membership of the Committee at large.
Love Is The Law, Love Under Will
The Hermits Pro Temp
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Dear Editors:
An Orgonic friend of mine recently got arrested for breaking
into houses in a ritzy section of --. Now, this was not for
purposes of stealing, he was leaving copies of a little booklet
entitled A Book of Shadows behind him, each left on the pillowcases of the beds of the owners, and in the dresser drawers of any
youngsters in the house. In case they wanted to check theirs out
even if mom and dad didn't want them to keep it.
The cops and legal parasites are blown out of their pants by
this weirdness. Now check this out. One of the solid citizens who
came to the police during this spree to report her pillow
vandalized by a booklet, is claiming some mucho expensivimo jewelry was stolen. I bet its insured to the max. Now, I know the man
accused personally as a close friend for many many years. I believe him when he says he didn't steal the necklace and stuff. It looks
bad though, since none of these people can believe that someone
could actually break into 14 homes in 6 days that they know about!
for the purposes of making an artistic statement. What should we
do?
Shine On Brothers And Sisters,
Severian
Dear Severian and Co:
After everyone gave their opinions as to how to approach this,
we have a number of effective options for you to consider. We have
mailed these to you because the effectiveness of many of these
scenarios is cancelled by their being public knowledge. Please feel free to use the Security Hotline according to the procedures
outlined in the material we sent. Keep in touch.
Eds.
Dear Editors,
What this magazine needs is a comic!
Sorer N.O.S.
Dear Communications Subcommittee:
When are we going to get the Newspeak dictionary, first
edition?
Zed the Impaler
By next issue! E.G.
SEX IS PEACE
TRUE WILL NOT SLAVERY
CONSCIOUSNESS IS STRENGTH
Suggested ebooks:
Anonymous - The Prayers Of The Elementals
Howard Phillips Lovecraft - The Haunter Of The Dark
William Godwin - The Lives Of The Necromancers
Mike from Magick Of Thought was asking me some questions about the different kinds of magical links on one of the older threads. In light of that discussion, this seems like as good a time as any to go over the different kinds of magical links and how they work. Magical links let magicians to cast spells on people, places, or objects without needing to be in direct contact with them.
Magical links follow Sir James Frasier's two primary laws of magick, generally refered to as the Law of Similarity and the Law of Contagion. In "The Golden Bough" Frasier writes:
"If we analyze the principles of thought on which magic is based, they will probably be found to resolve themselves into two: that like produces like, or that the effect resembles its cause; and, second, that things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other at a distance after the physical contact has been severed."
The first principle, the Law of Similarity, states that when any two objects share a particular property that property can allow one to influence the other. The more properties the two objects have in common, the stronger the link. The stongest similarity link is going to be a current image of the target, such as a recent photograph. The second principle, the Law of Contagion, states that once any two objects have come into contact one can be used to influence the other. The closer the contact, the stronger the link. The strongest contagion link is going to be created by something that not only came into contact with the target but which was once part of it, such as hair, blood, fingernail clippings, and so forth.
A third law of magick has been proposed by some practitioners, generally refered to as the Law of Opposites. This law states that when two objects are of opposite natures one can be used to influence the other. As far as I can tell from my own work, though, this law is essentially useless in the context of practical magick. I hypothesize that The reason for this is that the meaning of "opposite" is subjective. Is red the opposite of green? Male the opposite of female? Dog the opposite of cat? Salt the opposite of pepper? When you start trying to break things down like this it gets silly pretty fast. And if you're sloppy about your definitions you wind up with a tautology - similar things influence each other but so do dissimilar things. That is, everything influences everything else. From the standpoint of ritual design this is not helpful.
The Law of Opposites does have a particular application in mystical spirituality. For the development of spiritual realization it is important to understand that when you define X you automatically define Not-X as well. For Good to exist as a distinct thing Evil must exist as well, in that Evil can also be defined as Not-Good. Furthermore, the process of enlightenment involves, among other things, the evolution of a perspective that can accomodate both as complementary rather than exclusive. When talking about properties of the physical world rather than components of consciousness, though, this utility is profoundly limited. It is telling that the last group clinging to the Law of Opposites as applying to the physical world, practitioners of homeopathic medicine, have largely abandoned it in favor of the more similarity-based "water memory" model over the course of the last two decades.
What magical links conduct is probability shifts. When you cast a spell on an object linked to a target, any influence cast on the object will also surround the target. The strength of the transmitted shift will be directly proportional to the strength of the link. This may be modeled as a simple percentage, in which we for example would define a link that transmits 80% of a shift a link of.8, a link that transmits 50% of a shift a.5, and so forth. This is essentially how the L (Link) variable is used in both my operant equation and Peter Carroll's original equation on which mine is based. Direct contact is always a 100% link, or 1.0, whether you are casting a spell on yourself or on someone or something that is physically present in the temple. What this means is that most of the time casting over a link is going to be at least somewhat less effective than casting directly.
A trick that Hoodoo practitioners commonly use to get around this problem is to enchant powders, oils, or other substances and place them strategically so that they will come into direct contact with the target. This results in the creation of a 1.0 link due to direct contact even though the spell itself was performed earlier in a different location. The ceremonial schools raely teach or work with this method but it is easy enough to adapt using a resource like "Liber 777", which lists various herbs, incenses, and materials associated with particular powers. Any material appropriate to a particular power can be used to contain a shift related to that power, which provides the ceremonialist with many different options. As long as the target comes into contact with the enchanted material the spell's probability shift will be transferred optimally.
Mike's first question was in regard to the use of names as magical links. Essentially a name can be used in two ways, as a weak similarity link and as an identifier. You can cast a spell giving only the target's name as a link, but this is not a particularly effective method. You generally want to augment it with a better similarity link like a photo and/or a better contagion link like hair clippings. As an identifier, though, names are much more useful. For example, let's say that you enchant a powder to dump across your target's doorway and they live in an apartment building. You don't necessarily want everyone walking in and out of the building to be affected by the spell, just the individual you have targeted. So in your enchantment your statement of intent would include the target's name. That way the shift will only transfer to the named individual, not to anyone who touches the powder. This also renders the powder safe for you, the magician, to touch without risking exposure to the spell's probability shift.
Mike's next questions were related to whether or not links could be used to target "energy work" based magick, such as Qigong healing. In my experience the answer is yes, but there are some limitations involved. Chinese researchers have proposed that Qigong's healing effects may at least in part be produced by infrasonic waves emitted from the hands of Qigong masters, and such waves cannot be transmitted by a magical link. However, energy work also seems to include a probability-shift based component and that can be transmitted just like any other magical effect. I will say that I have been able to produce distance-healing effects that incorporate Qigong, but direct contact has always worked better. I suspect this is due to the absence of infrasonic waves when performing a distance-healing, not necessarily just because the shift degrades when passing over the link. If that's the case there's going to be an upper limit to this sort of effect and direct contact is always going to produce the best results.
The best way to build a strong link is to exploit the two basic rules to the greatest possible degree. In other words, you should have a current image that if at all possible is augmented by something that has come into contact with or come from the target. In theory, one of the best possible links you could have to a target is a Polaroid instant photo, seeing as the photons from the target will have made direct contact with the picture, representing both a similarity and a contagion link integrated together. This may mean that magicians could be a new market for Polaroid cameras, which are unfortunately being replaced by digital cameras that only create similarity links.
The image accompanying this article shows how these principles are applied in radionics - that is, magick performed by an electronic device. The TARGET LINK is what I'm talking about in this article. The TREND is the term that radionics practitioners use for the probability shift. The TREND LINK doesn't really have a correllate in ceremonial magick, but in radionics it represents the connection to the probability shift that you are creating, which is envisioned as being related to a particular energy frequency. The LIFE FORCE FIELD is what I refer to as the general field of consciousness, which may be represented as consisting of information, energy, or both depending upon one's model of what consciousness is made up of.
UPDATE: It seems I spoke too soon about there being no real equivalent to the radionics "trend link" in ritual magick. As I replied to Frater Barrabbas in the comments, a device like a planetary tablet or some other symbolic representation of a particular magical power or vision would seem to fit the bill. So for a Jupiter ritual, my usual go-to example, the magical qualities of Jupiter would correspond to the Trend and a device bearing the symbols, characters, and names of power associated with that planet would correspond to the Trend Link.
Suggested ebooks:
Jarl Fossum - Seth In The Magical Texts
Peter De Abano - Heptameron Or Magical Elements
Aubrey Bell - The Magic Of Spain
