Showing all posts by Satyr Magos

In witchcraft

Cleansing Spiritual Bath Recipe

Author Satyr MagosPosted on 2 Comments

Over the last couple years, my partner Aradia and I have found it necessary to develop a recipe for a cleansing spiritual bath. It’s the sort of thing we need a little too often to buy pre-packaged (and we’re pretty intense DiY types, anyway), but we couldn’t find a recipe we liked online. Plus, most of the recipes we didn’t like were all attached to places selling something and/or choked with popup ads. So, surprising no-one, we made our own.

Almost all of my herbalism and plant magic, I learned from Aradia. She is, as I may have mentioned before, a huge fan of the practice of recipes based on 3, 7, or 13 ingredients, with a strong preference for 13 on the basis of “more is better”. I initially wrote a 7 ingredient recipe, and when the time came for the next round, she had six more things to add. Together, we combined of what (few and partial) traditional recipes we could find online and supplemented them with Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (we grew up in the 90s). The final recipe (below) leans heavily on things that we like to keep in the house, regardless, so you’ll probably have many of them already on hand, as well. The measurements are idealized and more useful when making big batches, but they give you somewhere to start. A volume of each equal to a teabag or a cigarette will do the trick.

Ingredients:

  • black salt – 5 grams
  • fennel – 3 grams
  • basil – 1 gram
  • rue – 1 gram
  • lavender – 1 gram
  • thyme – 1 gram
  • benzoin – 1 gram
  • copal – 1 gram
  • bayleaf – 1 leaf
  • tobacco – 1 cigarette
  • anise – 1 star
  • peppermint – 1 tea bag
  • chamomile – 1 tea bag

Instructions:

Measure the ingredients into a reusable teabag for use or storage.

When making multiple doses simultaneously, you’ll find it convenient to put the single-unit ingredients (cigarette, teabag, anise star, bayleaf) directly into the bag, then mix the remaining ingredients together in a bowl or mortar for consistent distribution and texture.

Store the baggies in a cool dry place if you’re not using them immediately. (I store mine in the same tote where I store the raw ingredients.)

When used, place bag of ingredients in a heat resistant container – a pyrex measuring cup, a metal pot or bowl, or whatever other vessel seems appropriate – with a mouth big enough to ladle the liquid back out of. Pour boiling water over the bag of ingredients and steep until no longer scalding but still warm.

Ritual:

This is my ritual. Yours will necessarily be your own.

I assemble the ingredients in the kitchen or my workroom. 

When I am ready to use them, I bring them and a large bowl and a kettle of boiling water to my altar, where I make offerings of incense and candles and pray over them, asking my gods and familiar spirits to bless and consecrate the materials that they may cleans and purify me. Then I pour the boiling water over the ingredients and let them steep for 20-40 minutes, depending on where my heat sensitivity is at that particular day. This produces about a half gallon of bath.

When the bath is cooled enough, it take it in to my shower with me. I ladle the bath over my head, down my back, down my chest, down each arm, down each leg, and repeat until I have used the whole volume. As I do so, I pray extemporaneously to be washed clean and purified.

Once I have poured the bath over myself, one ladle full at a time, I sleuce it off of my body, always away from my head/heart. Then I take a mundane shower, again always scrubbing down my body and limbs, away from my head/heart. (This last step is an idiosyncrasy and a favor to the people I live with who have a sense of smell.)

If I am feeling particularly benighted, I will spend the steeping time in prayer and/or meditation, including performing the Stele of Jeu. If I am feeling well and truly fucked, I may follow up the bath with another Stele of Jeu and/or an application of uncrossing oil or even a full uncrossing candle ritual.

purifying bath steeping on my altar

Use:

While I’m usually a big proponent of Chaos Magick and the benefits of fucking around in order to find out, after many years of finding out I have come down firmly on the side of “traditionalists are not wrong about maintaining a regular purification practice”. It is no more world-hating or puritanical to tell you to take your spiritual hygiene seriously than it is to tell you to wash your dick and your asshole. (Because we all know that it’s cismen who are the problem here, right?) Days or weeks of vegetarianism and/or sexual abstinence? I remain unconvinced. Regular baths, fumigations, or other spiritual purification rituals? I’ve switched teams and am now a full advocate.

So, in a more ideal world, I would be doing some version of this ritual somewhere between “every time the Moon is New” to “every Saturday” and following up with a sound-cleansing and fumigation of the house.

In the real world, I struggle to maintain the parts of my ritual practice between “daily offerings” and “enchantment as needed”. So in practice I end up doing cleansing baths in batches as I’m crawling out of depression holes and then maybe regularly for a week or three after. In fact, even as I write this I am winding up just such binge of spiritual purification. As such, I tend to make the baths in big batches, reducing the barrier of entry from “find where I hid the ingredients from myself” to “boil water and grab the bag”.

In art, sorcerer's workbench

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: Samhain 2023

Author Satyr MagosPosted on


Hail and well met, friends. Thank you for joining me as I finally and proudly present my inaugural Samhain Line: six new designs and three unique pieces of jewelry perfect for spooky season.

Some of these have been in the works for a long time. Some of them were designed exclusively for this line. All of them are fantastic and much-needed additions to the Sorcerer’s Workshop. Would you like a tour?

Devotional Image of Persephone

An image of Persephone embracing her three aspects of Dread Queen (the skull), goddess of spring and flowers (the flowering vines), and patron of the immortalizing Eleusinian Mysteries (the skull’s mushrooms crown).

I received this image during an oracular session this spring, not long before Beltane, and is the flagship design of my inaugural Samhain Line.

The pendant is one inch across and 3/16ths of an inch thick, solid and made to last, with a loop that can be used to attach a cord or chain or any kind of bail.

The pendant is available in sterling silver or red bronze.

These pendants are not consecrated. That is your responsibility to perform in accordance with your traditions.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1573405735/dread-queen-persephone-devotional

Devotional Image of Baphomet

A devotional image in my signature style, featuring my take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic image of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes.

To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.

* Talisman is one inch in diameter with an image on each side.

* Available as a pendant with an upeye suitable for a 3mm chain or with three rings suitable for stringing as a rosary piece.

* Available in sterling silver, shibuichi (a 3:1 copper:silver art metal alloy), yellow brass, or red bronze.

This piece is not consecrated. That is your responsibility to do in accordance with your tradition or gnosis.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1577711551/devotional-image-of-baphomet-samhain

Rattlesnake Vertebrae Earrings

Rattlesnake vertebrae earrings cast in silver or bronze with silver earrwires. The third design from my inaugural Samhain Line, perfect for goths, witches, and other lovers of dark vibes. Molds were taken from genuine rattlesnake vertebrae.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1569028490/rattlesnake-vertebra-earrings-in-silver

Tourmaline and Sterling Silver Rattlesnake Vertebrae Bracelet

The fourth new design in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line, this bracelet is made of rough tourmaline beads and cast sterling silver rattlesnake vertebrae strung on silver wire with a hook clasp. These materials and design are ideal for grounding and protection magic, and as a stylish witchy statement piece.

The bracelet is available at lengths from approximately six inches to nine inches. The pictured exemplar with eight tourmaline beads and four pairs of vertebrae is nine inches long; shorter bracelets will consist of fewer beads.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1584459135/tourmaline-and-sterling-silver

Seal of Astaroth

A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Astaroth as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 29th spirit in order is Named Astaroth, he is a Mighty & strong duke and appeareth in [the] forme of an unbeautifull angel, ridding on an Infernall like dragon, and carring in his right hand a viper (you must not lett him come to neare yu least he doe yu damage by his stinking Breath. Therefore ye Exorcist must hold ye Magicall Ring nere to his face and yt will defend him he giveth true answares of things present past & to come & can discover all secreets; he will declare willingly how ye spirits fell, if desired, & ye reason of his own fall. He can make men wounderfull knowing in all Liberall siences; he rules 40 Legions of spirits, his seal is this, wch weare as a Lamen before yu, or else he will not obey you.”

The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.

Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.

Work with demons at your own risk.

Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1571906436/astaroth-seal-goetic-coin-talisman

Seal of Asmoday

A 1 inch coin depicting the seal of Asmoday as described in the Lesser Key of Solomon, better known as the Goetia. In the words of the anonymous author: “The 32d spirit in order is called Asmoday. he is a great king, strong & powerfull; he appeareth wth 3 heads, whereof ye first is like a Bull The second like a Man, The Third like a Ram, [he appeareth also] with a serpents Taile, Belching or vomitting up flames of fire out of his mouth his feet are webed like a Goose, he sitteth on an Infernall dragon carring a Launce and a flagg in his hands, he is ye first & chifiest under ye power of Amaymon, & goeth before all others: when the Exorcist hath a mind to call him, lett it be abroad, and lett him stand on his feet all ye Time of action, wth his cap of [off], for if it be on, Amaymon will deceive him, and cause all his doeing to be bewrayed, But as soone as ye Exorist [Exorcist] seeth Asmoday in ye shape aforesaid, he shall call him by his Name, saying, thou art Asmoday, & he will not deny it; and by & by he will bow down to ye grownd &c he giveth ye Ring of vertues he teacheth ye art of Arithmitick, geomitry, Astronomy, and all handicrafts36b absolutly; he giveth full and True answares to yr demands, he maketh a man Invisible, he showeth ye place where Treasures layeth, and guardeth it if it be among ye Legions of Amaymon, he governeth 72 Legions of Inferiour spirits, his seal is thus, to be made and worne as a Lamen before [thee] on your Breast.”

The front of the coin bears the image of the seal. The reverse may be polished or textured.

Use this talisman seal in your conjurations — traditional or modern — or as the core materia in a prosperity bag.

Work with demons at your own risk.

Each piece is hand-made to order and will include unique variations and blemishes.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1586084599/asmoday-seal-goetic-coin-talisman

Unique Devotional Image of Baphomet with Mexican Fire Opal

A one-of a kind image of Baphomet cast from a hand-carved wax, with a Mexican fire opal set over their head as the flame of gnosis. This image is, of course, a take on Eliphas Levi’s iconic drawing of Baphomet as the Goat of Mendes. It is also the product of my years of work with the god/dess, who is to me a deeply queer figure of creation – both creator and created.

To me, Baphomet is the queer and genderqueer god/dess of witchcraft and chaos magick. Their sexual and gender ambiguity is the point. Their theriomorphic imagery is the point. The fact that they are on the one hand a newly-revealed divinity and on the other hand share imagery with gods more ancient than the written word are the point. Their passage through modern Gnosticism as a vision of Sophia and/or the God Above God is the point.

The pendant is heavy, and the stone set in strong prongs.

The pendant is one inch across an eight of an inch thick.

I would be happy to add a jumpring to the arch bail at the top if you would prefer that.

It is not yet consecrated. That is your responsibility.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1577722019/unique-devotional-image-of-baphomet-with

Unique Gorgoneion Prayer Beads and Protection Talisman

Prayer beads featuring my signature Gorgoneion protection talisman cast in bronze and strung on bronze wire with jet and tiger iron beadsbeads and bronze rattlesnake vertebrae and a bronze sword. These prayer beads were made in trance according to the whims of Spirit and will never be exactly reproduced.

The image of a Gorgon’s face, as seen on the front of the talisman, was a common protection symbol throughout ancient Greece and the Hellenistic world. The back of the talisman bears the names of the three attested Gorgons – Medusa, Sthenno, and Euryale – in Greek. This particular image was done in the Attic style, based particularly the Gorgon images found painted in kylix cups from the 4th Century BCE.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1568402114/unique-gorgoneion-prayer-beads-and

Unique Hekate Prayer Beads with Bronze Talisman and Key, Genuine Rattlesnake Vertebrae, Tiger Iron, Jet, and Amber Beads

The third and final of the unique pieces in my inaugural 2023 Samhain Line of jewelry.

Prayer beads featuring my signature Eye and Six Hands devotional Hekate talisman and wardrobe key cast in bronze, strung on bronze wire, with genuine rattlesnake vertebrae and beads of tiger iron, jet, and amber. The total bead count is: six 8mm tiger iron beads, ten 10mm rattlesnake vertebrae, thirty-two 3mm jet beads, fourteen 2mm jet beads, and fifteen 2mm amber beads, for a total of seventy-seven beads.

The beads were chosen and strung as the spirit moved me: six sets of nine beads interspaced with five sets of three, with seven beads and a key hanging from the central talisman.

The central talisman is a one inch bronze circle bearing an image of Hekate on one side — “O Six Hands crowning a flaming eye,/ Extending in every direction;” and her crossroads sigil, name, and epithets in Greek — “Hekate, Atalos, Apotropaia, Soteira, Rexichthon” — on the reverse.

The key is two and a half inches long.

The beads are thirty-six inches long with a six and a half inch dongle.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1584458759/unique-hekate-prayer-beads-with-bronze

In sorcerer's workbench

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: Devotional Images of Baphomet

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Good morning, friends!

Yesterday I got the second new design for my Samhain line cast up, along with the first of the season’s three unique pieces. All three depict Baphomet as iconically illustrated by French mystic and grade-A weirdo Eliphas Levi. (He was a legit mystic, but being a Catholic mystic who does fake Christianized kabala and takes a fake Jewish name makes him a weirdo and kind of an asshole.) I’m really pleased with how they all turned out, and I’m excited to finally have some Baphomet pieces in my line.

The stock design is done in my signature style, and will be available in all four of my usual metals: sterling silver and shibuichi (both pictured above) as well as yellow brass and red bronze. It’s a one sided talisman and will be selling for $153 in silver, $130 in shibuichi, $88 in brass, and $123 in bronze.

The unique design was cast from a hand-carved wax, one of my best yet, and features a gorgeous orange Mexican fire opal as the gnostic flame. It looks so much better in person, and I’m really frustrated with my inability to get a good photo. I will keep trying, but do need to get it out in the world in the meantime. This piece is selling and shipping for $340.

You can check out the Samhain Line at my Etsy store, with more pieces to be added throughout the next week.

In witchcraft

Road-opening Ritual for Clearing Obstacles and Creating Opportunities

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Today I offer a second ritual meant to clear obstacles and create opportunities. My last post was a ritual specifically designed for someone working within the idiosyncratic framework of the Bell, Book, and Blade. This one is similar, but more universal: intended for anyone who practices witchcraft at an altar.

I have recently come to understand that the common name for this sort of ritual – “road opener” – has its origins in Santeria and Hoodoo, as does nearly everything modern witchcraft knows about candle magic. The component parts of the ritual below come to me by various and circuitous means, including the instructions of my familiar spirits, and I promise that, in the future, I will write about or provide references to the deeper history of rituals such as these.

As with my cleansing bath recipe, I am writing and publishing this in large part because, when I needed inspiration for my own first road-opening rituals, I found far more professional spell-slingers selling services than I found ritual scripts that I could pillage for inspiration, and too many of those scripts I did find various Psalms. So, being the change I want to see in the world, here is a road-opening ritual which I hope that other modern neo-Pagan witches will find useful and inspiring.

Preparation

Timing

The good time for this ritual would be in the first days after the full moon, or the last days before the new. A day and hour of Mercury, or Saturn, would also be good. An ideal time would combine both lunar phase and astrological day and hour: the Wednesday or Saturday immediately following the Full Moon or immediately preceding the New.

But needs like this do not always arise at the opportune moment. Strike while the iron is hot.

Supplies

  • Bowl and/or holder (something firesafe to hold the candle and other materia)
  • Cencer or brazier with appropriate charcoal (for burning some of the myrrh and abre camino)
  • Sand or salt (as a base and heat-sink)
  • Candle (red, orange, black, or white according to your taste or tradition)
  • Abre camino root
  • Myrrh
  • Dirt from a crossroads (next to a highway or cemetery is great, but where your driveway meets the road will work just fine)
  • A stick or cone of incense.
  • Oil for the candle (road opener oil is great, olive oil consecrated just for the ritual is also fine)
  • Pin, needle, small knife, or candle scribe

The Altar

You will need a flat space with room for all the materia, relatively firesafe, and which can be left out (at a minimum) for the time it takes the candle to burn.

Arrange your materials in a way that feels easy and holy and powerful to you, and where you can reach them all without knocking anything over. In particular, set them up so that you can suffumigate each component as you go.

The Ritual

Opening

Cleanse and purify yourself and your space in accordance with your traditions.

Cast your circle in accordance with your traditions, but emphasizing especially the powers of the quarters and the crossroads nature of the circle: the place where the worlds meet, be they mortal and divine; above, below, and between; however you arrange your cosmos.

Body

Stand or sit at your altar.

Take up your incense. In the name of the powers you honor, consecrate then light the incense. “O you creature of earth and fire, I call upon you to cleanse, purify, and empower these materials to aid in my work, to create opportunities for me and remove the obstacles that stand in my way, to open the roads, to make clear the ways.”

Take up your brazier or censer. Light your charcoal in the brazier, and suffumigate them together in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the brazier: “O you creature of fire, smoking brazier, I call upon you to serve as emisary, delivering my offerings to the gods, so that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.

Pick up the empty bowl and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the bowl: “O you creature of earth, brazen bowl, I call upon you to serve as vessel for my work, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.”

Pick up your salt (or sand) and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the salt: “O you creature of earth, pure and potent salt, I call upon you to serve as a strong foundation for my work, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.” Cover the bottom of the bowl in salt.

Pick up your crossroads dirt and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the dirt: “O you creature of earth, you earth of a place which is no place, I call upon you to bridge the gap between this place and all others, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.” Cover the salt with graveyard dirt.

Pick up your abre camino root and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the root: “O you creature of earth, I call upon you to serve as symbol and agent of my need, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.” Sprinkle a good quantity of the root on top of the dirt and salt, leaving enough to burn throughout the ritual.

Pick up your myrrh and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the myrrh: “O you creature of earth, I call upon you to bring divine power, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.” Sprinkle a good quantity of myrrh on top of the dirt and salt, leaving enough to burn throughout the ritual.

Pick up your oil and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the oil: “O you creature of water, I call upon you to bring divine power, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.” Set the oil aside for the moment.

Pick up your candle and suffumigate it in the smoke of the incense. In the name of the powers you honor, bless and consecrate the candle: “O you creature of fire, I call upon you to serve as a the focus and agent for my work, that together we may create opportunities, remove obstacles, open the roads, and make clear the ways.””Hail Hekate, hail Hermes, hail unto you gods of the roads and the crossroads, of the below and the above, of the wide ways and of the secret ones also.” Keep your candle in hand.

Measure a bit of the myrrh and the abre camino root onto the brazier. Keep the smoke as thick as you can stand throughout the ritual.

Inscribe your candle with a crossroads sigil and/or a sigil representing your needs, then anoint your candle with the oil. Embue the candle with your power and your need. As you do so, invoke the powers you honor:

I call upon you gods and powers of the croassroads!

I call upon you keepers of the wide roads and the secret paths!

Open the roads before me and make clear the ways!

Remove the obstacles that stand between me and my desires and my ambitions!

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

Repeat the prayer at least three times. If there is a specific path you want opened, name it. If there is a specific obstacle you want removed, name it.

Closing

When the ritual is done, you will feel it. If you can, walk away from your altar without looking back, and do not clear away the detritus until the sun has set (if you performed the rite during the day) or risen (if you performed the rite at night).

Dispose of the materia by burning or burial, ideally at a crossroads, leaving three dimes as offerings.

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.

In sorcerer's workbench

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: Dread Queen Persephone

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Coming the first of October – or possibly a few days before, to catch that full moon energetic boost – I’ll be launching my first annual Samhain line. This year’s line will feature six new stock designs and three unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.

The flagship of my Samhain 2023 line is this devotional image of the Dread Queen Persephone.

This image was given to me by the Dread Queen, herself, during an oracular session where my friend Juniper served as her vessel. I asked for an image of her that I could use as the basis for devotional jewelry. I don’t remember the exact words, now – death and life and something about the mycelium – but this image is what appeared in my head, and flowed into my wax, culminating in the most technically excellent wax carving I have done to date. As an interesting note, one of the other suppliants at the oracular session had a near-identical vision on hearing those words.

Persephone is the goddess of spring and flowers, yes. And she was one of the Two (with her mother, Demeter), who oversaw the immortalizing Eleusinian Mysteries. And she was also the Dread Queen, the much-feared wife of Hades. In this image, I attempt to honor all three aspects of the goddess: the skull of death; the mushrooms that might induce visions, sustain life, or destroy it; the growing vines and flowers of spring.

If you’d like to pre-order one of these designs in silver ($171) or bronze ($125), please reach out to me to make payment arrangements and I can get it cast in advance and ship the day of the launch. Patreon supporters can reach out to me and buy their copy today.

In witchcraft

Book, Bell, and Blade: A Road Opening Ritual

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

This post is part of a series, though it need not be read in whole or in order. You can read the first post here. You can find the rest of the posts here.

There are times when the ways seem closed, when you feel that all your efforts are blocked, your vision obscured. You may know what is holding you back, but can see no clear way around, over, or through. Or you may not know what it is that stands between you and your desires and ambitions.

At those times, kneel before your altar and open your book to the appointed pages.

Road Opening / Crossroads Pages

The first time you do this rite, you will need to create your pages. The pages that you use to commune with your familiar spirits will suffice until you perfect your design.

At the center, draw your magic circle: the place where all worlds meet, this is the greatest of all crossroads. To each side, make a place for a candle. Within the magic circle, draw a crossroads sigil where your brazier can be set above it.

Preparations

Collect two candles – red or orange or white or black or whatever color is called for in the traditions of your origin. Collect oil to consecrate your candles – road opener or abramelin or whatever you can consecrate in the moment. Collect charcoal for your brazier and herbs associated with the work: abre camino root, herbs and resins of the Moon or of Mercury or of Saturn, or sacred to Hermes or Hekate, or to the gods on whom you will call.

Set up the space where you will do the ritual: your home altar, a crossroads in the forest, the onramp of an empty highway, the room of the conference hotel where you are struggling to make connections. Set up a candle on each page of the book, just outside the circle you have drawn, and set up your brazier in the center of the circle. Light your charcoal before you begin.

The ideal timing of this ritual is the shortly before the new moon on a day of Mercury or Saturn in an hour of Saturn or Mercury. The first day of a calendar month is also good, as is the 31st of December.

The Opening

Wash your hands with cinnamon.

Ring your bell to the four quarters to purify your space.

Draw your blade in a circle around your space to cast the circle and define or affirm the temple.

Light a candle to illuminate the temple.

Burn incense to consecrate the temple.

Make your offerings to the keepers of the quarters and the dwellers on the threshold, to the gods and spirits of the land, to your guides and allies and familiar spirits.

Stop and take a deep breath. Wait for your charcoal to be ready, focusing on gathering your power as you do.

The Invocation

Put the road opening herbs on the charcoal. Keep the smoke as thick as you can throughout the ritual.

Anoint your candles with oil. As you do so, focus on imbuing each candle with power. Pray in your own words if you can find them. If you cannot, something like the following will suffice: “I consecrate this candle to open the roads and illuminate the paths to my ambition.” or “Open the roads before me; make clear the ways.”

Call to your gods of the crossroads, to the psychopomps and saviors to whom you make offerings.

Hail unto you O you Keepers of the Quarters and Dwellers on the Threshold!

Hail unto you O Hekate; Hail unto you O Hermes; Hail unto you O Hermekate,

Hail unto you, O you gods of roads and crossroads, of the highways and the byways and the hidden places in between!

I call upon you gods and powers, friends and allies, guides and familiars. Open the roads before me and make clear the ways! Remove the obstacles that stand between me and my desires and my ambitions!

Redouble the road opening incense and light the candles.

Repeat the prayer at least three times. If there is a specific path you want opened, name it. If there is a specific obstacle you want removed, name it.

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

Open the roads, make clear the ways!

The Closing

When you are exhausted, when the candles burn low, or when you feel that the work is done, stop and sit quietly for a moment. Be open to omens and visions. Throw one last round of incense on the charcoal and thank the gods, your allies, your friends and familiars. Close the circle in accordance with your tradition. Turn your back on your altar and walk away. Do not clear away the detritus until the sun has set (if you performed the rite during the day) or risen (if you performed the rite at night).

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.

In witchcraft

Book, Bell, and Blade: Adding Pages

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

This post is part of a series, though it need not be read in whole or in order. You can read the first post here. You can find the rest of the posts here.

The first pages of your book obviously and inevitably represent a highly idealized vision of your practice. For me that was the Stele of Jeu, followed by a triangle of art for each of the seven traditional planets. What followed were a handful of rituals that I had done and more that I wanted to do: the prayer for a vision from the Serpent-Faced God(dess), aTyphonic Initiation, a pair of scrying spells, and a handful of herb-gathering rituals, all from the Greek Magical Papyri.

No matter how settled you are in your practice when you begin the work of the Book, Bell, and Blade, no matter how confident you are in your organization of those first pages, a time will come when you need to add more. If you have anticipated the particular need that arises – as I anticipated that I would need room for new circles and other images beyond my initial planetary circles – so much the better. Eventually, a need will arise for which you have not prepared. For me, most recently, that has been road-opening magic.

I’ve done road openers a few times over the years, of course. (We all have, haven’t we?) But my familiars recently informed me that I should be doing it more often – specifically, at the beginning of each calendar month. For the first round (July), I got my Lunar Shenanigans Crew involved, and we devoted a whole moon ritual to removing obstacles and making opportunities for ourselves. The second round (August), I brought my Book to bear, using the same pages as I use for my daily offerings. It was very free-form, but it was also very effective. I wish that I’d taken better notes.

For this month (September), I sat down and added a new pair of pages for the work, which I will be doing … if not literally every month, probably more than not. I started with the pair of circles on the outside (each around one of the burn marks from my altar fire at the beginning of the year, and the Circle of Art/Triangle of Conjuration just a little up from center for a nice visual balance. I wanted to cover the page in seals and sigils, but in that moment I wasn’t sure what was called for.

After the ritual (which gets its own post), I was given a crossroads sigil to add to the circle.

It’s simple -bordering on bitch basic – but that’s alright. A crossroads sigil probably should be simple. I also suspect that I will add to it after future rituals. I also suspect that I will be adding other seals and sigils in and around the Circle of Art (itself a crossroads of sorts): keys and torches of Hekate; Hermes’ messenger wand; the road-opening sigil from Aidan Wachter’s Weaving Fate; some weird shit I chanel in the moment.

I don’t know, exactly, what I will next be adding to my Book. There are a few candidates, half-formed visions of rituals that I need to flesh out and then write down. Protection sigils. A consecration spell. The care and feeding of a Third Lunar Mansion talisman. But I know that, in time, a new need will arise, and I will have the tools to fulfill it.

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.

In witchcraft

A Group Ritual for Clarifying Visions

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

Over the last couple months, several of my friends and I were struggling with divination. We were getting answers, but they weren’t making sense. So, for the last dark moon esbat (we try to celebrate on the last day before the new moon, which I recognize is a very 21st century sort of timing, but I like it) I wrote a ritual that I hoped would help us all out.

Like some rituals we’ve done before, each of us took a turn as the passive center of attention while the rest of our group worked on their behalf. In this instance, we each took a turn articulating our question that we were struggling with, then sat and waited while the others performed their divinations.

The writeup below is nearly identical to the outline that I provided for my ritual crew. I have changed the pronouns (we -> you), and turned some of the outline into complete sentences, but have left most of the idiosyncrasies intact for your amusement. Honestly, I feel like too many people idealize their ritual scripts when sharing them, and while I definitely do that sometimes, too – because the high dramatic language is entertaining to write as well as read – that’s not the vibe I’ve chosen for this particular post.

For our vision oil, I added a few drops of Quadrivium’s Revel Oil to a jojoba base. You could use anything, including plain olive oil or baby oil. Just be sure it’s skin safe and/or cosmetic grade, particularly if you intend to anoint your eyelids.

The clarity of the oracular chorus will wax and wane. Ideally, each oracle will be on their own wave and each suppliant will have enough oracles on point to have their question answered, but it’s very likely that the first suppliant will get the weakest answers.

Dark Moon Shenanigans Clarity of Vision Ritual

n-1. Pre-prep

Dinner & touch base. (Our lunar rituals always start with dinner. Your group rituals should, too, unless you’re fasting for a reason.)

Confirm that each of you have a set of divination tools and a question that you haven’t been able to answer for yourselves.

Decide on order of divinations in advance. This will save you stress and chaos in the ritual. The order in which you are seated is perfectly adequate.

0. Preperation

Finish setting up temple room, and make sure there are seats for everyone plus the “hot seat”. (Because, between making dinner and cleaning house, I can’t get this done before people arrive. Kudos if you can.) Ideally, everyone will be within arm’s reach of the altar.

Finish setting up the altar. (I drew an ouroboros on a mirror and put the vision oil in the center between two candles.)

Start playlist (I have been using a generic witchcraft music playlist for most of my workings for the last month.)

Exit temple room for purification.

I. Opening

Purification and procession into temple room. Everyone washes their hands in cinnamon and lustral waters. Have a towel handy.

With everyone standing around the altar, invoke your oracular gods and spirits (let people freeverse for a minute), and make offerings of incense and whatever else your tradition demands.

Mix and consecrate your vision oil, telling it “each of us shall approach you and offer up a secret; in return you shall grant all of us clear visions with which to answer our compatriots’ questions.”

Everyone takes their seat.

II. Body

The first suppliant kneels before the altar, whispers a secret truth to the oracular oil, and takes the hot seat.

The oracular chorus anoints themselves with vision oil.

The suppliant speaks briefly on their troubles and asks their question.

The oracular chorus performs their divinations singly and together, answering the suppliant’s question. Tarot. Runes. Scrying. Whatever.

The suppliant thanks chorus, and the gods and spirits, then steps down from the hot seat and purifies themselves before (re)joining the chorus.

Next suppliant steps out of chorus and everyone repeats above steps until everyone has had their turn in the hot seat.

III. Closing

After last suppliant has purified themselves, oracular chorus kneels around vessel of vision oil.

Everyone thanks the oracular gods and spirits for their aid.

Final offerings are made.

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.

In sorcerer's workbench

From the Sorcerer’s Workbench: 2023 Saturn in Aquarius Consecrated Talismans

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

At the end of February, I had the opportunity to catch one of the last talismanic elections for Saturn in Aquarius.

My memory of the ritual is, at this point, a little vague. The preverb vibes were raucous. I barely slept the night before, and in the process of not-sleeping an intense vision of the Saturnian spirits coming toward me and my temple in a crackling storm cloud. When the spirits came through, it was in a rush.

Then I cocked up an unrelated ritual the next day, and it took me a while before I felt sufficiently fortified and clear to finish processing those talismans: cleaning up the sprues and divining their names and sigils and purposes.

But, at last, with Saturn all the way into Pisces, I have done that final work. Of the nine talismans, two failed to cast and one I kept for myself. The rest of the spirits are ready and available for purchase.

These talismans are all cast in lead in my home studio. Most of them are my original Picatrix Saturn design. One is my new triangular talisman. For the moment I have chosen to include exemplars, rather than pictures of the individual talismans.

The first spirit is a round pendant. She teaches secrecy and discretion.

The second spirit is a round pendant. He says that he, “holds fast the door”.

The third spirit is a round pendant. He grants the favor of kings and judges.

The fourth spirit is a round pendant with a famous name. He cultivates the wealth of and for generations.

The fifth Spirit is a triangle pendant. She offers the favor of Saturn. Sold.

After six months of working with my own talisman, I can offer this advice: these talismans promise and deliver much, but they require clear communication on your part and demand that you meet the terms of your agreements.

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, to get first dibs on my elected talismans and fine art jewelry, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.

In witchcraft

Book, Bell, and Blade: Keepers of the Quarters and Dwellers on the Threshold

Author Satyr MagosPosted on

In my magical youth I was taught to call the quarters by element: Fire and Water, Earth and Air. There was some … disagreement as to which came from which direction. I quickly learned that, though some people would protest when you didn’t do it their way, every element would answer from every direction. I even learned – for the joy of argument – to invent a rationale for every possible attribution.

As my magical education improved, I learned that before modern witches called elements to watch the edges of their circles, others had called upon archangels. There was not much better agreement of which archangel ruled each direction than there was which element, but one could see certain similarities between the two, and how the one had clearly grown out of the other.

And then I learned that before certain magicians, too “pure” (or too afraid) to sully their circles with anything less, called angels to watch over their rites, their predecessors had called upon four demon kings. And these kings had no elemental associations – though that did come later. No, they were rulers of the sublunary world, each believed to have dominion over certain regions of the earth. One – Oriens – did not even have a proper name, just a foreign word for “East”.

From there, it seems clear to me how the evolution had happened: how we came from demon-kings to elemental gates. And, at every step of the path, it all worked. And, because it all works, tracing the lineages is a matter of academic passion, and I will leave you to do so if and only if it amuses you.

Today, I still sometimes call upon the elements for certain rituals. For others, I call upon certain stars which relate to the directions relative to where I stand. But, for the most part, I simply call upon those who keep the quarters without names:

“Hail unto you, O you keepers of the quarters and dwellers on the threshold.”

I cannot tell you who it is that rules the quarters in the part of the world (both physical or magical) where I have erected my temple. I have, once or twice, called upon them to reveal themselves to me. I have seen hints of faces – human, animal, other – but nothing clear. Not yet. Some day soon, it will be time to call upon them one by one, learn their names and their seals.

The dwellers on the threshold are more mysterious. It was a Theosophist who first wrote of the Guardian of the Threshold. I think that I read of it – of them – in some work of the Golden Dawn.

They are best known for hovering at the edge of the circle, and for looming in the face of the practitioner as they prepare to step into the unknown. They are the spiritual embodiment of the question, “Are you ready?” And when you tell them, “yes, I am ready”, and they believe you, they step aside.

There are those who say that the question they pose is, “Are you afraid?” And to the fearful and unready, those questions are the same. But fear can be rational. Fear can by holy. You can be ready and still be afraid.

I call on these powers at the start of each day because I … feel that it is appropriate.

I do not know, precisely, who they are. I know that I have had visions in which Lucifer has claimed the title of Dweller on the Threshold (the image of which I have included above). But I suspect that he is not the only one to bear that title.

Beyond Lucifer, himself, I have as yet made no effort to contact these powers more directly. Perhaps I will, some day, but – for the moment, at least – that does not seem to be their role. For now, I acknowledge their place and their power: the edge of the circle, keeping me from stepping out into unknowns for which I, on some level, know that I am not ready.

Thank you for reading Journey Through the Obsidian Dream.

If you want to get my posts a week before everyone else, to see the magical experiments that I don’t share with the public, or just want to support my work, you can do so through patreon. If you’d like to make a one-time donation, or don’t want to deal with all the non-occult content I post on patreon, I also have a ko-fi.