Mobility &
Magick
It
was forever ago that I put down what's in the
first
part of this commentary. But I wanted to finish out what I
started forever ago, and some of the things I wanted to be done for
the second commentary have already been shoved into the depths of the
blog...
This
was further encouraged by some of my recent entries, regarding
elementals, and the responses of Fr. Acher and others. My general
amusement was about his contrast between working outside, in the
world, versus within “the Temple,” or the personal sphere of
practice favored by a great many magicians. I'm a poor bastard, and
when I was younger I couldn't afford a personal temple... I also
lived in a house with a Southern Baptist mother, and she preferred I
do nothing at home. Thus, aside from the occasional LBRP, I never did
anything at home if it could be avoided.
Thus
traveling – particularly on foot – to perform my different
rituals has always been one of my primary means of accomplishing
various magical pursuits. It also ended up changing my approach to
ritual, because when you're utilizing mobility and practicing magick
in the middle of the night you want to avoid the attention of police
officers, not to mention the occasional 3 AM drunk. As such, I don't
dress up in robes. I have never taken my sword with me, and I've
certainly never dropped it on my foot while trespassing in a
graveyard. Obviously, few do. But someone occasionally reads about
this subject and decides they should run around looking like a
Hogwarts reject and then gives us all a bad name by mutilating
themselves. For
such performances, lean and mean is the way to go.
All you need is some incense, a piece of charcoal, a lighter (preferable wind-proof), a
folding knife that you've enchanted to work with, and a backpack or
an outfit that doesn't
stand out much
and has enough pockets to carry anything you need with you. A
protective charm, such as one that protects your house but has
retrofitted for personal use, or an all-purpose charm is also useful.
Finally,
one can also always consider performing a spell for astral
invisibility is also particularly useful. These spells tend to
mask your aura, or at the very least make you less perceptible while
you practice to both spirits – and as is sometimes the case – and
people. Obviously, drawing attention to yourself defeats the purpose
of such things. Lunar glamors can also be used to heighten such
effects, with the obvious caveat that a strong solar charge will
blast them apart and leaving you again quite noticeable.
Exploiting
the Crossways
Once
one has finished initial work and made their way out into the world –
the initial work including locating either a trivium (three-way
crossroads) or a quadrivium (four-way crossroads) – one need only
travel to that. Upon reaching the crossroads we can set ourselves up
two different ways which reach the same goals:
- We can eschew physical protections, leaving fewer traces that we were
ever there, and simply perform a means of cleansing space closer to
what we see in the PGM. To quote Tony Mierzwicki's Graeco-Egyptian
Magic:
“There
is no evidence of the Graeco-Egyptian magickians working within a
circle. They confronted spiritual energies directly, much as many
shamans still do. The Graeco-Egyptian magickians were only interested
in facing each of the four cardinal directions and not tracing a 360*
circle… Each ritual begins with a short invocation to Aion, the
ultimate god, whose protection is sought. With his protection, no
harm will befall the ritual participant.”
In
this case we want to use either Mr. Mierzwicki's version of the
Calling of the
Sevenths (beginning
on page 17) and introductory rituals found in his excellent book, or
if you prefer, the same rituals as Michael Cecchetelli has them in
The Book of
Abraxas (p.
15 – 23). This first part merely brings 'equilibrium' to forces of
the planets upon the practitioner and helps secure a location for
work.
- We can add a layer of physical protection, particularly if we find
that a lot of the restless dead are slumming the crossroad (as they
do, and seem to gather in greater number in deep winter and summer,
at least in my experience) and we're afraid that they might become a
problem. The best solution for this is a circle of salt, as salt is
both a purificatory element and will keep the dead out. This
obviously isn't a very good idea if you plan to attempt to work with
them, as it can harm them. It does not appear to harm the Cthonic
Divinities, who are themselves pure, and thus doesn't typically
hinder the ability to work with them. At least in my experience.
A
number of years ago, I asked another, more experienced witch: “why
is salt protective, and how is it supposed to work?”
His
response was that prior to the discovery of microbes, it was assumed
that physical decay (particularly in meats) was caused by “demons”
or malign spirits, and since salt preserves meat, it was seen as
keeping them at bay. While the above certainly isn't scientifically
valid, the tactic still works to hold spirits at bay – which is, I
suspect, the primary reason some of us use it today. You can either
use granulated salt, or salt rock. The key is distinguishing between
which to take with you; gravel roads aren't all that great for
tracing salt along, but paved roads are perfect for it. Obviously,
you could even take some blessed chalk and use one of the magical
circles from the Grimoires – but good luck making the damn thing in
the dark. I find that a circle of salt may not be elegant, but it is
simple and works. In my experience, sometimes pragmatism simply
trumps elegance.
Next
we want to bless the incense and fumigate our secured zone, which is
also a means of protection. I rather like the first hymn in the
Orphic
Hymns for this, and as a bonus you get to call on Hekate. You can
either perform the full hymn (#0, To
Musaeus)
or limit to what I've selected:
“And
to my holy sacrifice invite, the pow'r who reigns in deepest hell and
night;
I call Einodian Hecate, lovely dame, of earthly, wat'ry,
and celestial frame,
Sepulchral, in a saffron veil array'd, leas'd
with dark ghosts that wander thro' the shade;
Persian,
unconquerable huntress hail! The world's key-bearer never doom'd to
fail
On the rough rock to wander thee delights, leader and nurse
be present to our rites
Propitious grant our just desires success,
accept our homage, and the incense bless.”
This
is where we either put our folding knife, or a pair of tongs (helpful
on a windy day – but sometimes just as obnoxious!), to a use that
isn't your standard protection fare. Place the incense for your given
working (frankincense, or Three Kings Incense which includes it, work
great
for general purpose rituals) on a single charcoal and fumigate the
area while walking widdershins
three times and reciting the above. Afterwards, it can be set aside
on a rock or the ground and left burning and tended to as needed.
For
protection, we can call on Aion
– the Alexanrian God of Eternity – or Ogdoas
as Mr. Mierzwicki suggests, or we can make use of the traditional
divinities. When using the trivium, Hekate works best. When using the
Quadrivium, Hermes Kthonios works best. Lacking a hymn to Hekate
herself, I'll be stealing a section from a PGM spell. If you have
something you perfer? Feel free to use it.
Hymn
to Hermes Kthonios, Or the Terrestrial Hermes
(Fumigation from
Storax):
“Hermes
I call, whom Fate decrees to dwell in the dire path which leads to
deepest hell
O Bacchic [Bakkheios] Hermes, progeny divine of
Dionysius [Dionysos], parent of the vine,
And of celestial Venus
[Aphrodite] Paphian queen, dark eye-lash'd Goddess of a lovely
mien:
Who constant wand'rest thro' the sacred feats
where
hell's dread empress, Proserpine [Persephone], retreats;
To
wretched souls the leader of thc way when Fate decrees, to regions
void of day:
Thine is the wand which causes sleep to fly, or lulls
to slumb'rous rest the weary eye;
For Proserpine [Persephone's]
thro' Tart'rus dark and wide gave thee forever flowing souls to
guide.
Come, blessed pow'r the sacrifice attend, and grant our
mystic works a happy end.”
As
noted above, the following comes from PGM
IV. 2785 – 2890.
(Betz, P. 90 – 92) I have taken out a few lines and shortened it,
so consult the spell for more details. Furthermore, the spell is
calling upon a lunar Daimon that is heavily syncretized to multiple
lunar goddesses. Thus, there is a fair bit of mish-mash when it comes
who is being called upon. Feel free to edit it, if you feel up to it,
so that it focuses solely on Hekate. Given that Hekate ended up often
being syncretized with other lunar and Cthonic goddesses, the
multiplicity of the spell doesn't bother me and I quite like it.
Obviously, we're changing the reason for our praises and going to ask
for protection versus an amulet to acquire any spell at the end, and
thus no need for procuring the blood of one who has died a violent
death.*
“Come
to me, O Beloved Mistress, Three-faced
Selene,
kindly hear my sacred chants;
Night's
ornament, young, bringing light to mortals...
Three-headed,
you're Persephone, Megaira,
Allekto,
many-formed, murky lamps, who shake your locks
Of
fearful serpents on your brow, who sound
The
roar of bulls out from your mouths, whose womb
Is
decked with the scales of creeping things,
With
poisonous rows of serpents down the back,
Bound
down your backs with horrifying chains
Night
crier, bull-faced, loving solitude,
Bull-headed,
you have eyes of bulls, the voice
Of
Dogs; you hide your forms in the shanks of lions,
Your
ankle is wolf-shaped, fierce dogs are dear
To
you, wherefore they call you Hekate,
Many-named
Mene, cleaving air just like
Dart-shooter
Artemis, Persephone,
Shooter
of deer, night shining, triple-sounding,
Triple-headed,
triple-voiced Selene.
Triple-pointed,
triple-faced, triple-necked,
And
goddess of the triple ways, who hold
Untiring
flaming fire in triple baskets,
And
you who oft frequent the triple way
And
rule the triple decades, unto me,
Who'm
calling you be gracious and with kindness
Give
heed, you who protect the spacious world
At
night, before whom daimons quake in fear
and
gods immortal temple, goddess who
Exalt
men, you of many names...!
Hail,
goddess, and attend your epithets,
I
burn for you this spice, O child of Zeus,
Dart-shooer,
heavenly one, goddess of harbors,
Who
roam the mountains, goddess of crossroads,
O
nether and nocturnal, and infernal,
Goddess
of dark, quiet and frightful one,
O
you who have your meal amidst the graves,
Night,
Darkness, broad Chaos: Necessity
Hard
to escape are you; you're Moira and
Erinyes,
torment, Justice, and Destroyer,
And
you keep Kerberos in chains, with scales
Of
serpents are you dark, O you with hair
Of
serpents, serpent-girded, who drink blood.
Who
bring death and destruction, and who feast
On
hearts, flesh eater, who devour those dead
Untimely,
and you who make grief resound
And
spread madness, come to my sacrifices,
And
lend me protection and guidance!”**
The
spell states that for work in which one wishes good, to use storax,
frankincense, and other such purification related elements. I totally
recommend it. You're on your own for turning around and fucking
someone's world up, though. Worry not! Jason Miller's Protection
and Reversal Magic
has you covered for counter-hexes and such using Hekate and such
things could be applied following the above quite easily.
At
this point, what you do is up to you. When I began writing these two
pieces, I imagined it would help with performing the Stele
of Jeu. I imagined that something like the above would allow for
a fully fleshed out night of ritual, culminating in meeting a proper
Daimon. As such, I suggest it. And I suggest the Stele of Jeu being
performed before you do any crazy work, or in the event that you run
into trouble. It has been my experience that the Headless God (or
Headless Daimon) can sort problems very, very
rapidly. That said, with the above you can probably follow it up with
whatever you want – including dedicating a supper to Hekate herself.
Incidentally,
you can also simply call on either deity at the crossroads and then
proceed to a vineyard for the Stele's Performance, simply setting up
space there instead (you can always call on the divinities again, but
they'll respond from the crossroad, period). It has been my
experience that the Stele, when performed in a vineyard, will
strengthen the syncretic elements of the Agathos-Daimon and lead to a
slightly different, far more serpentine and potent,
manifestation of the Headless God. This is because one is increasing
sympathy with the Agathos-Daimon by entreating a deity it's
syncretized to, and then being possessed by that Daimon, while in a
location that is sympathetic to the A.D. itself. The manifestation
and communion was so potent for me that for a long time I insisted
that the Headless God was just
the Agathos-Daimon.
I was
wrong. But I've at least come to understand how I made that mistake.
Anyway,
I hope this rambling entry is of use to someone who wants to take
their rituals out on the town.
To close, make sure to re-walk your circular area deosil if you began with a widdershins movement, and
remember to give your license to depart.
;)
Be
seeing you,
Jack.
* I'm working on circumventing that
altogether for the spell itself, but have no results yet. Maybe I'll
write another entry about that at a later date!
** That last line is 100% from me.
Instead, the spell asks for one's wish.
