The Importance of a Regular Practice

As an author and teacher, I am constantly getting emails filled with questions about Daemonolatry and magick. I don’t mind this because I have assistants who help me answer the vast volume of mail I receive. What’s interesting is a lot of the questions we get can be answered quite simply, “Establish a regular practice.”

  • How can I better connect with the Daemonic Divine?
  • How can I increase my  divination skills?
  • How can I learn more about the Daemons or a specific Daemon?
  • How can I become closer to my patron/matron?
  • How can I advance in my Daemonolatry studies?
  • How can I learn ascension?
  • How do I get started?

Yes — every last one of these questions has the same answer. Establish a regular practice. Your spirituality is not a weekend hobby or something you simply do when you get off of work at night and/or when you have no other obligations. Your spirituality shouldn’t be some separate part of yourself locked away in a closet, only to be taken out, dusted off and used at your convenience.  No – it’s part of you and you should acknowledge it EVERY DAY.

Now I’m not saying dress in all black or metal concert t-shirts. I am not telling you to wear sixteen of your favorite pentagram-daemonic-sigil-magick pendants at any given time.  While the pendants may be symbols and/or reminders of your devotion (as may your manner of dress if you’re into that sort of thing),  and your talismans manifestations of current magickal works-in-progress,  I’m talking about something deeper. This goes beyond the outward aesthetics.  After all, many practicing Daemonolaters are consummate professionals who must wear suits or proper business attire during their working day. No, I’m talking about daily PRACTICE.

But, Steph, I don’t have time! I’m really busy. I live with non-Daemonolaters.  I hear these excuses a lot. They’re JUST EXCUSES to get out of doing anything tangible. Sorry, but developing relationships with Daemons and honing magickal skills can’t be done overnight. There are no shortcuts. No magick pills. No magicians or sorcerers you can pay to do it for you.

I think every last person reading this can find fifteen minutes a day for a daily spiritual practice. Take a look at the following picture and tell me what you see.

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What do you see? Let’s list the items. Shall we?

  • Simple stick incense.
  • A simple white tea light candle. Nothing fancy.
  • A clay sigil. (Make it out of paper if you want)
  • A small finger-bowl with rum in it. (Cups work just as well)
  • A prayer cord.

That’s it, and a lot of this is optional. For example, if you can’t burn incense because you live with someone who is allergic, or who will think you’re smoking “the pot“, don’t burn incense. If you live in a “dry” house – substitute juice or water for the rum. The sigil can be drawn on paper. The tea light can be ANY color. The prayer cord, too, can be any color.  All of this can be easily hidden or stowed away and brought out of hiding as needed. Or it could even be left out on a dresser or bedside table and most people wouldn’t be any the wiser. Whatever works for you.

So let me explain what I mean by a REGULAR PRACTICE.  You wake up, brush your teeth, take a shower, get dressed, have breakfast, and go to work. This is a daily practice. Now I want you to try something.

Tonight – gather all of these items (or what you can get) together and when you wake up tomorrow, brush your teeth, take your shower, then light a candle and incense, offer the wine/rum/water/juice, kiss the sigil, say a prayer with the prayer cord, get dressed, have breakfast, and go to work.

You see what I did there, right? 😉  Now – do this for a week. Then try another week. And another.

Tada! It’s magick! You’ve just incorporated a REGULAR DAILY PRACTICE.  Simple, right?

Now, take the sigil of any Daemon you wish to work with, and place it under your mattress. Draw it on lined notebook paper if you have to. Whatever works for you.  If your nightly routine is undress, brush your teeth, wash up, put on pajamas, go to bed… try this instead.  Undress, brush your teeth, wash up, sit on the bed and meditate for ten minutes (even if you’re just enjoying the silence),  put on your pajamas, go to bed. If you sleep with a partner either do this before they come to bed, or do the meditation in the living room after they’ve gone to bed. Alternatively you can lay down and do the meditation in the dark right before you go to sleep. No one even needs to know you’re doing it.

There you go!  You’ve just added a nightly meditation practice that will enhance your ascension, divination, or magickal pursuits overall. Together you’ve only added about 15 minutes to your entire daily routine.

The sigil beneath the mattress will help enhance any Daemonic communication through dreams. (Change out the sigil as necessary.)

If you want to take it further and enhance an existing daily practice with additional magickal practice – choose one day a week for a certain type of practice/operation/ritual. For example, I do readings every Thursday and Sunday and have for years. As a result – I get a lot of divination practice and my skills are constantly being used and honed, making me a better reader and seer than I was, say, four years ago. Why? Practice.  If you want to work on a certain aspect of yourself or hone your talents for a certain type of magick, add a regular ritual to your weekly routine for a month and see what happens.  If you can’t keep up with it — try something different.

But DO something and do something EVERY SINGLE DAY even if it’s just lighting a candle and acknowledging the Daemonic within.  That is how you better connect with the Daemonic or your patron or matron. That’s how you develop your magickal skills. That’s how you advance, and that’s how you get started in Daemonolatry.

Finally, I leave you with words of wisdom from Yoda (because I’m geeky like that): “Do or do not. There is no try.”

28 thoughts on “The Importance of a Regular Practice

  1. Chris

    Great Post.
    This has been my problem for many years.
    It would be useful to have more examples of diverse and short rituals/practice that can be
    incorporated in a daily routine.

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      Really the sky is the limit. Use your imagination. I often incorporate yoga into my daily meditation, increasing my practice to about an hour. Use sigils, flames, or tarot cards during meditation. For prayers, add a daily blood offering if your Daemonic force enjoys that sort of thing.

  2. Henry

    When I offer the rum to the demon I am working with, do I A: drink it or B: offer it to Him and throw it away?? And great post by the way. Keep them coming.

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      Just leave it on the altar. It will evaporate. If you use water or juice, however, it will mold. In that case I suggest leaving it for a day, then dumping it on sacred ground outside. If you live in an apartment, keep a pot of soil out on your deck, patio, or outside your door for this. Or find a sacred space in nature you can dispose of libations.

  3. Tim Jacobs

    On the subject of libations, do they have to be spirits. For months I have been making libations of red wine, milk and honey (dating from my workings with Hecate), but it sounds as though spirits prefer spirits (certainly in the Hoodoo and Quimbanda tradtions anyway). Any advice on this?

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      You are not limited to alcohol. I use Rum because it’s something I enjoy, too, and I think giving the Daemons something a little more expensive that I would normally drink myself, is more meaningful for *me*. Notice I said you can substitute juice and water there, too. Milk and honey are also excellent choices, especially for Khemetic and Canaanite daemons.

  4. Tim Jacobs

    Thank you for this. Libations do seem to be culture specific: wine tends to be used in Hellenistic (and older Mesopotamian) rites whereas spirits are emphasised in the Afro-Latin American traditions.

  5. Marcio

    Thank you so much for your open and sincere unswear , I’ve been doing this for many years. But I wasn’t sure if I was doing in the right way. So quietly frankly . Not so perfect because my partner for the moment doesn’t think in the same way. So I tray to be as much discretely possible . Just to avoid discordance between us. But now you gave me a Hole world all for my very own. I will do the right way as you described to us all. I am looking forward to prays with more confidence . Without cause tension of discordance , !!!-;) Hail Satan!!!!!

  6. Lee Tempest

    Hello! I’ve been following this section of Demonolatry.org and am curently working my way through The Complete Book of Demonolatry. Question; where can I get prayer cords?

    Cheers.

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      Lee, generally people make their own. Using a nice thick piece of leather strap, or colored cloth cord, simply go into your “temple” and tie nine knots into it. You can also say something for each knot because each one represents one of the nine Daemonic Divinities. For the first knot, “This knot is for Lucifer, grant me the enlightenment I seek.” 2 – “This knot is for Flereos, the great flame of my desire.” 3 – “This knot is for Leviathan, grant me wisdom and empathy” 4 – “This knot is for Belial, may I remain grounded.” 5 – “This knot for the spirit (Satan/Atem), may I find myself connected to all that is.” 6 – “This knot for Unsere of life, may I live to the fullest.” 7 – “This knot for Eurynomous of death, may I weather change eternal.” 8 – “This knot for Amducious, the destroyer, that I may crush all obstacles that oppose me.” 9 – “This knot for Verrine, the healer, that I may have good health all of my days.”

      And there you are. You have a cord of nine. Or – if you are afraid to screw it up and you want one — contact me at [email protected] and I’ll make you one for $25 + shipping, any color. I can probably do black leather, too.

      1. S. Connolly Post author

        Oh – some modifications — you can change each Daemonic name to correspond with your appropriate 9 Daemonic Divinities, and you can switch around Leviathan and Belial if you work in with alchemical/Khemetic elemental progression. Hope this helps!

  7. Igor

    Hey, I have the same question as Lee Tempest, what are the Prayer Cords? Is it possible for you to explain to me how to make one?
    Thanks

  8. Vile

    I work a job with constantly changing shifts, and a daily practice is difficult. And to be performed on a certain time daily, impossible. An easy way is to devote everything you do to your God/daemon of choice. A prayer cord, string of beads, talisman or small idol is easy, and mostly invisible to carry and use anywhere.

  9. John

    Why do some author’s make out demons are dangerous, and to use protective measures when working with them, but you encourage working with them, within the circle that’s cast? Wouldn’t the demons get out of hand, or try and possess you or is that just bull-shit?

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      Different authors have different views of what Daemons are. Most have a very Christian perception. I, on the other hand, view the Daemonic as Divine Intelligence. Which pretty much renders all that Christian clap-trap complete bullshit. Here’s a link about “Banishing” and circles (see comments for circles commentary) – https://demonolatry.org/2017/03/15/on-banishing/

  10. Steven

    Just tried to order a Black Power Prayer Cord, and it says you don’t ship to that address?

    1. S. Connolly Post author

      For orders overseas, I have to invoice you. That’s to keep people from ordering oleums for overseas. It can get tricky with customs. I’ve had customers get their orders confiscated or gone through.

  11. Bruno

    Hello little question about directions and elements, I would like to invoke Astaroth and Belial, both are terrestrial,
    Is the next question about the North or the West? In the book of J Thorp, says that the north is the water element, and the west is the earth element, while the opening rite says the opposite. Can you enlighten me on this question thank you.

    1. Steph Post author

      Water and Earth are interchangeable, based on the system you’re working with and based on the alchemical combination you want to make. So that means sometimes Water is North, and sometimes you’ll want it West, and sometimes you’ll want Earth to be North, and sometimes West based on what you’re doing. So some systems, like the Khemetic, put water North. If you’re working alchemically, it makes more sense to put water North. If you practice traditonal craft or certain forms of Western Ceremonial magick, however, Water would be west. IMHO though — it really depends on the operation. IF you’re looking to stabilize emotions, strengthen wisdom, or manifest greater clarity through divination or intuitive cues — Water North. If you’re looking to spark creativity, explore your passions, or destroy someone else – Water west. So hopefully you can see what I’m saying here.

      1. Kris

        This is incredibly fascinating to me, because I have a horrible sense of direction and often mix up the elements associated with them! Despite this, I only seem to have trouble when I try to change and make certain I’m using the associations of whatever instructions I’m following.

        Off topic but… What is creolin? I can’t seem to find an explanation in the books or online even though it’s listed as an ingredient for some things from the books (specifically thinking of Curses, Hexes, and Crossing, since that’s the one I’ve read the most).

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