Ask A Daemonolatress (Complete with a Rant)

Admittedly I’ve been slacking on Ask A Daemonolatress and for that I apologize. I had a ton of deadlines from November until now, so I will try to answer as much as I can in this blog post.

Q: Why do traditionalists have so much disdain for Modern Demonolaters and refuse to hang out in online communities?

A: That’s probably more of a societal, age, or a personal preference thing, and not so much about having “disdain” for Modern Daemonolaters. There are a lot of old timers who do lurk in the larger, public communities, but as for why they don’t speak up – that’s anyone’s guess. My guess is it’s probably more of a time factor than anything else. It could also be due to the modern occulture.  Which leads me into a bit of a ranty rant about what really chaps my hide about a lot of modern magicians in general, and not just Daemonolatry — (and by no means are all modern magicians like this, but a large number of them are.)  These things could be why a lot of traditional Daemonolators opt out of the public conversation more often than they participate in it.

1. The lack of willingness of modern students to do the work. A lot of modern magicians just want to do a spell and have a million dollars fall into their lap. Or they want to petition a Daemon and suddenly be imbued with a gift for something (like the ability to communicate with spirits). They only approach the divine when they WANT something, instead of cultivating a working relationship.

2. The sheer number of folks who have Daemon lovers/spouses in place of real human relationships. A lot of that, I believe, is young magicians misunderstanding what it actually happening. But that’s another post. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just Daemonolaters who are guilty here. I’ve met 7 women in the last year alone who all claim to be Loki’s wife. It’s rampant in the pagan community in general. Back when I first started out — god-spouses and Daemon lovers weren’t a “thing”, so this is yet another trend and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

3. Daemon/Spirit Trends (aka – god/goddess/Daemon of the moment) Everyone starts working with a spirit because everyone else is, because it’s trendy, and everyone wants to stay in the loop so they have something to talk about around the online water-cooler. This is probably how Loki ended up with 7+ human wives. That, and the Thor and Avenger films.

4. The idea that having read a book, or having access to the google, makes one an expert. There are a lot of 20-year-old experts who haven’t been practicing more than five years running around telling everyone else how to practice. It’s really funny when they don’t know who you are and try to parrot your own book back at you to prove you inept and under-educated. That happens to me at least once a year. Back when I started out – we didn’t have the sheer number of books people have available to them today. If you wanted to learn — you had to apprentice under a teacher and DO magick. And you couldn’t just jump into the astral and do it either, nor could you lie. Your teacher stood there and watched you do it, and corrected you as you went. That may be a HUGE part of the answer to your question. A lot of those in the traditional camp — most of us did some sort of real-world apprenticeship under a teacher or multiple teachers. We weren’t allowed the luxury of shortcuts or pretending to do the work. We didn’t have the books available today, and we didn’t have Google. Back then people spent entire weekends at the library or at their teacher’s house apprenticing. It was about field trips to the mountains to identify and cultivate herbs for use in magick. None of this “I’ll just order it off of Amazon!” LOL I suppose that’s where the “tradition” part of it comes in. Also, nowadays anyone can don a robe and declare themselves a priest. That’s not how our traditional priesthood works. But again – another story for another time.

5. Disdain for, and bullying of, anyone the magician has a disagreement with. This is a huge problem throughout the occulture, traditional or modern. Actually, it’s more of a societal issue.

6. The whole idea that magick and spirituality are a competition. I mean, magicians are egotistical assholes anyway, but some of them are the type of egotistical assholes who don’t think they’re assholes. LOL

7. The folks who declare themselves the “occult police” and spend all their time judging and criticizing other people’s practices and beliefs and declaring what is authentic or legitimate, and what isn’t. Oftentimes because they feel they’re “protecting” everyone else (plus numbers 5 and 6 are strong with them). Newsflash to those people — most occultists do have brains and can think for themselves. Second – “occult police” need to mind their own Great Work and get their noses out of everyone else’s. It doesn’t concern them.

8. People who have NO sense of humor and take themselves WAY too seriously.

Q: In your book Wortcunning for Demonolatry, you say that one of the ingredients for the olumn of Ipos is one teaspoon powdered cedar. But did you mean the leaves of the tree or the bark? And if it’s the bark how do you powder it? Also I was wondering if you could tell me some of what offerings Ipos likes? I’ve looked around but it is quite difficult to find information about him.

A: The bark is usually what is used. You take a grater (like the one you might use with fresh nutmeg or ginger) and you rub the bark against it, which pretty much powders it. Some people use coffee grinders to further powder the powder or pieces gained from the grating.  As for offerings for IPOS – try incense, candles, and cups of water. Those work well for him.

Q: I’m wondering what’s your take on physical interaction from the demonic that leaves marks or other physical effects? These days I’m starting to expect to feel sore, weary or achy after a session in my temple (ritual) space with demonic. Like the feeling of having the flu or a cold without a cough or runny or stuffed nose. I’ve also been punched or knocked. Everything I read online about the phenomenon just doesn’t feel right. Most of what I read starts from the paradigm that demons are evil and want to destroy you and go downhill from there. As amoral entities, I don’t buy into the moral/immoral dichotomy to explain it, nor do I buy the ‘parental-discipline’ notion either.   It also doesn’t feel abusive or with ill intent. I’m pretty clear about that kind of thing.  I’d like to know what you think.

A: So first let’s talk about getting punched or knocked. The only time I’ve heard of this happening with actual Daemons (if you’re sure it’s Daemons and not something else), is when they need to get someone’s attention. So either you’re not getting what they’re trying to tell you, or you’re ignoring something obvious. Might be time to look at everything from a different angle. See what you’re missing. The exception to this is Eurynomous and some of the other Death Daemonic. I’ve heard knocks in the walls and gotten taps on the shoulder from that, and that’s just usually an indication of “Hey, I’m here.”  But seriously – if you’re getting punched or knocked, they’re trying to get your attention. Or it’s not Daemonic at all and you have an “Other” problem. That could even include someone else’s servitor. Now let’s move on to the feeling you’re getting in your temple. For some rituals it’s to be expected that you’ll get tired afterward, or feel achy or weary. Especially if you’re older. I have to use meditation cushions now that I’m in my forties, or risk my knees hurting when I leave the temple. You can’t get past that. It could also be that you’re tense and stressed a lot during your day and you relax in the temple – releasing your aches and pains.

My recommendation there (as I believe these are likely separate issues) is to give it a good cleansing (of negative energy) and clean it out. Also remove any elements that disagree with your attributes, scents, colors, etc… If this doesn’t clear the negativity, next remove anything made by anyone else. You may have either gotten a healthy dose of someone else’s negative energy, or someone has given you a bonded object and is using it to send negativity to you. If they really hate you, they could be sending their own servitor through the object to you to smack you around and suck the life from you.

If all of that fails – you might consider that you are bringing negativity on yourself somehow, or – more likely – that all of these symptoms can be explained by lack of exercise, or a poor diet resulting in a vitamin deficiency. Including the sensations of being hit or knocked. A solid muscle twitch/spasm caused by a vitamin deficiency can actually feel like someone kicking you or punching you (I know this from personal experience). So maybe try science first, then shoot for a supernatural explanation?

That’s it for this round of Ask-A-Daemonolatress and by all means, keep those questions coming! If I think you need an answer sooner rather than later, I may email you my answer and put it in the blog later.