September 2018 – Week Long Daemonolatry Divination Intensive

Join us for this special event September 16-22, 2018

Sign-ups will be taken until the day before the course, but special divination packages won’t last, so sign up today!

(Please note that S. Grey is teaching a more in-depth 5 week tarot class, too.)

Two members of the traditional Daemonolatry Clergy –

HLP S. Connolly – is a Daemonolater, an occult author, and has over 30 years experience divining and working with Daemons.

AHLP S. Grey is a Daemonolater and professional reader, and has over 30 years experience in divination and spirit communication.
In this course we will teach you the ins and outs of everything from preparing and cleansing divination devices, preparation of the magician, Daemonic communication (including discernment), and will cover the areas of tarot, pendulum, scrying, sigil reading, ascension, and even discuss the use of spirit boards and other methods. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions in real time during FB Live videos (the class will be held on FB and students are recommended to friend Stephanie Connolly-Reisner so they can be put in the secret class group where videos and instruction will take place). Hands-on lessons will teach you how to use the various devices and why one would use them instead of direct communication, as well as methods of direct Daemonic communication.

General Class Outline:
Day 1- Preparing the tools and magician for Daemonic Divination
Day 2- Pendulums
Day 3- Tarot
Day 4- Sigil Divination
Day 5- Scrying
Day 6- Ascension + Direct Communication
Day 7- Final Thoughts
While you can watch the videos live, you will also be able to review them at your leisure, and the course material will stay up in the FB group for one year, giving you plenty of time to review it.

Students should have a tarot deck, a scrying device, and a pendulum available to them for use during the course exercises (which are not graded) to get the most from this class.

The base price for this course is $65

You can also get special packages.

There are 5 of these available for each of the following packages:
Tarot: includes class, one Rider Waite deck + Divination Oleum and Wormwood Tincture – $85.00 + Shipping   5 AVAILABLE
Scrying:includes class, one obsidian scrying ball + Divination oleum and Wormwood tincture – $85.00 + Shipping  5 AVAILABLE
Sigil: includes class, one Dukante sigil deck + Divination oleum and Wormwood tincture – $90.00 + Shipping  5 AVAILABLE
Pendulum: includes class, one pendulum + Divination oleum and Wormwood tincture – $75.00 + shipping  5 AVAILABALE
Book: includes class, signed Sigilum Diaboli & Drawing Down Belial + Divination oleum and Wormwood tincture – $95.00 + shipping  5 AVAILABLE

There are 10 of the following package:

All Inclusive: includes class, 1 Rider Waite deck, one scrying ball, one sigil deck, one pendulum, signed copies of Sigillum Diaboli & Drawing Down Belial, and Divination oleum and wormwood tincture set for $150.00 + shipping. (Please note that sigil decks and papberback copies of these books had not arrived at the time this photo was taken, and oleums and tinctures were not finished brewing.) Packages will ship in Late August and Early September.   10 AVAILABLE

SIGN UP NOW! 

 

Introduction to Tarot – 5 Week Course

Introduction to Tarot.

5 week class. 1 Hour.

Saturdays at 2pm EST beginning June 30, 2018 and ending July 28, 2018.

This class is will cover the basics needed to be able to start using tarot in your magickal practices or to help you on your path in reading cards for friends, family, and clients.

In addition to delving into the Major and Minor Arcana, we will also discuss how to choose future decks and why having multiple decks can be helpful, the importance of colours and numbers, and will go over several types of spreads.

$60 for general public, $50 for Temple of Atem members or students in the Pre-Initiate program.

Depending on how many sign up for the class, either Skype or Zoom will be used.

You do not need to have a deck available for the first class, but for the subsequent classes a physical deck will be needed. If you are new to Tarot it is recommended that you get a Rider-Waite deck or Rider-Waite based deck to use. If you have a deck and are unsure if it is suitable please contact me and I will be more than happy to let you know.

Please message Shaelyn at [email protected] with any questions or to sign up.

Deadline to sign up June 23, 2018.

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.

Daemonic Dreams

daemonic dreams demonolatry daemonolatry daemons demons demonic satanism william briar
Available on Amazon now.

Available now in Kindle ebook with paperback following soon!

Behind the gates of sleep, await the daemons of dreams. Are you ready to meet them? We spend a third of our lives asleep. During that time, we naturally enter the meditative states many of us struggle to achieve when awake. Take back those hours and learn to recall your dreams better, plan what you want to dream in advance, and even control the very fabric of your dreams themselves. Figure out how to interpret dreams without a dream dictionary. Inside this book, you’ll also find rituals to the gods and daemons of Sumer, Egypt, and Greece, as well as the Ars Goetia, the Grimorium Verum, and the Dukanté hierarchy. Spells are included for both those who suffer from bad dreams and those who want to send their enemies nightmares.

Written specifically for Daemonolaters! Contains six never seen before sigils and enns!

Kindle: ebook 4.99 available now

Which Deck is for Me?

One of the questions that I am asked by new Tarot students is how do I know which deck is right for me?  Understandably, given how many decks there are out there. Between traditional Tarot and then all the Oracle decks its easy to get overwhelmed by the choices and drawn in by the artwork in the decks. So, with so many options how DO you pick the right deck? There are several options:

  1. You are gifted your first deck, usually by your teacher.
  2. You find one at a local shop.
  3. Hunt one down online.
  4. The deck finds you!

I. The Gift that Keeps on Giving

When I started reading, it was traditional for you to be gifted your first deck of cards by a teacher or like minded friend, and this is actually how I got my first deck.  It was nothing overly spectacular, just a simple Rider-Waite; but to me is seemed like the key that young Mary Lennox finds and uses to open the door into her aunt’s garden in The Secret Garden!  It also built a special bond between myself and my teacher, and although we lost touch over the years I still think back on her with very warm feelings. Although I love the connection this makes between the giver and the receiver it isn’t always feasible; even with it being easier to find teachers these days. Some people just prefer to keep their interests to themselves and with there being so many excellent resources on the internet these days you don’t necessarily need a human teacher.  So does this mean that you are screwed if you don’t have someone to gift you a deck? Nope, not at all; if anything you get to select what sings out to you instead of taking the deck that someone thinks is your match.

II. Shop til You Drop

The next option is to do an in person search, so its time to search for metaphysical shops in your area and plan a visit.  Some shops have decks outside of the box so that you can see what all the cards look like, which is always a plus. The most important thing here is to see what each deck makes you feel, because the right deck will make itself known to you.

Several years into reading cards I stopped into a new shop to see what they had to offer. In the corner there was an Arthurian deck that just kept pulling me back to it, no matter what I did. The owner of the shop laughed and said “You apparently aren’t leaving without that deck!” The last thing I was looking for was to spend money on a tarot deck, especially one that was that expensive; but I also knew enough to know that there was a reason I had visited that shop and after chatting with the owner we came to a deal that we could both live with. This deck is still with me, but it has a major attitude problem (I will chat about that on another day) so I don’t use it all that often, guess we can say that it is in retirement. 🙂 For a while it wouldn’t even work for me, instead preferring my then husband!

III. Let Your Fingers do the Walking

This can be a bit trickier, simply because sometimes what we see on the screen isn’t what we get in the mail. That being said, you are able to really broaden your options when you do your looking online as you are limited to what the local stores have in stock or what is regularly available in your country. I was able to find 2 gorgeous decks from Russia that I adore and I never would have been able to find these if it had’t been for an internet search. So if you don’t mind waiting a little bit, finding the deck online isn’t a bad option.

IV. Left on Your (Proverbial) Doorstep

Sometimes you just happen to stumble upon a deck, with no rhyme or reason. I have come across decks at yard sales, Goodwill, and even a Salvation Army! When a friend’s grandmother passed away we helped his mom clear out her flat and I stumbled into an unknown treasure trove.  While I was cleaning out the bookshelf, behind the “proper” books; I found Rune stones, 6 tarot decks, books on tarot, magick, crystals!! I called my friend in and showed him what I had uncovered and he laughed. He and the entire family thought GiGi was a good Italian Catholic!! He simply asked his mom what she wanted to do with all the books and she asked us to bring them to Goodwill!! So I packed up the decks, Runes, crystals, and all the books and they came home with me.

I was not looking for anything that day, but of all the rooms that I could have been working in, I was in the room with all of GiGi’s hidden life. One of my finds that day was an original Aquarian Tarot that I had wanted for years!! It finally found its way home to me…. I just had to wait for it to find me.

My only bit of advice, is to stick with cards that are slightly less complex in the beginning. “But Shae, that Shadowscapes deck is AMAZING! Why shouldn’t I get that?” I’m not saying that you can’t, but as a beginner it is better to go with a deck that is based on the basics and that doesn’t have a lot of extra imagery that can pull your attention or overload you.  It is also helpful if the deck you are using is one that is referenced in any guidebooks that you are using, and if you are fortunate enough to have a teacher, ask them for their recommendations.

 

Origins

Today I thought I’d talk about the origins of the system a lot of us long-time Daemonolaters use and whether or not one’s belief in its origins invalidates the system.

So the first thing people need to know is that initially the book Modern Demonolatry was written for a SPECIFIC group of people, not the general public. We hadn’t thought members of the general public would be interested in buying the book. Then, when people outside our group started purchasing the copies, I honestly did not stop to think that because my friends, including Dukante’s daughter, had given me information from their family works – specifically for the purpose of publishing the book for our group — that I would be throwing myself into an impossible position. I never thought that far ahead. Had I, I would have most certainly edited a lot of things out and just stated “unknown origins”, for which I STILL would have been criticized for.

Sure, I could have just taken credit for everything – the enns, the sigils, the hierarchy and all the stuff that wasn’t mine, but then that would have opened another can of worms. The people who knew where the material came from, would have accused me of appropriating their family or traditional information and claiming it as my own. I imagine at this point you can see what a precarious position I put myself in.

I was damned either way. The only way to have NOT made the mistake either way would have been to not publish the work at all. What’s done is done though.

Now that said – a LOT of what is in my books comes from my group or my own work. When it comes from another source, I cite that source, even if it’s unverifiable, because I believe in giving credit where credit is due. I am not going to take credit for someone else’s work like people want me to just because we need an origin point by which authenticity is gauged. It’s dishonest and I have no desire to lose friends by not citing my sources. Not to mention, I imagine that even if the Dukanté notebooks, or other information were in a library somewhere, my critics would STILL bitch and whine that it wasn’t authentic enough because some of it comes from 20th century people. There is a certain part of the occulture that doubts the authenticity of anything less than 500 years old.

It is what it is.

I also can’t help it if some of my sources would prefer to stay out of the public occulture. They’re the ones who, ultimately, have to choose to release *their* records to the public for scrutiny and judgement of “authenticity”. While I have permissions to use “some” of it (and all of that is mostly published in my books) — I do not have access or permission to take away people’s family records, notebooks, and journals and start handing them out. That would be stealing.

But, Steph, you ask — are you sure what these people gave you is authentic and historical? Maybe you were duped! Let’s just say that I have seen some of the journals, and notebooks. They’re not published material – folks. These are hand written, personal journals of people’s grandparents and family members. Yes, I suppose it is possible I could have been duped. However, if that is the case, then a lot of people went through great lengths to dupe me. Including getting their grandparents, parents, and kids in on it, and hiring book binders and hucksters to help them age paper or forge handwriting. If that is the case – then I am one of the most gullible people on the planet. But on the other hand — I also know that what I have is authentic because I’ve used the system and IT WORKS. It has worked better than all of the systems I’ve tried. Why would I question its authenticity? Because it’s not documented in a published 500 year old book somewhere?

So next, I am going to tell you a few things that may come as a shock.

1. Richard Dukante only put together a hierarchy. He did not create “Daemonolatry”. Guess what? His hierarchy was HIS personal gnosis. But a lot of people liked it and started using it. That is why it is so prevalent to many practitioners of Traditional Daemonolatry. There are also a lot of people who like the Goetic Hierarchy. There are also a lot of people who have created their own set of Daemons to work with. A hierarchy alone does not make one Daemonolater more or less authentic than another. If you’re not comfortable with the Dukanté hierarchy and it’s not authentic enough for you — don’t use it. It’s that simple. You have options!

2. Dukanté was a nom de plume. Richard Dukanté did not want his family thrust into the spotlight due to his occult practices. This is no different than what a lot of modern occult authors do with regard to pen names.

3. The biography of Dukanté printed in Modern Demonolatry and the later The Complete Book of Demonolatry was based on information I was given by his daughter. I know that using Dukanté’s real name would reveal that the biography is correct, but I cannot release that real name as that was one of the agreements I made so I could publish the information to begin with. Dukanté was a popular figure WITHIN traditional Daemonolatry – the people the book was originally written for. That was why the biography was originally included in the book at all. Now that Daemonolatry has grown beyond what it started as, the relevance of Dukanté outside the traditional groups is not nearly as important as it would be if ONLY traditional Daemonolaters were using the book.

4.I have explained in The Complete Book of Demonolatry and many other places online where the Enns and Sigils come from.  This has never been a secret, but my critics would have you believe it is.  Maybe they need to learn how to read. These sigils and invocations (enns) come from magicians like you and I, who have have the ability to go into the astral (via ascension practice) to get those sigils and enns from Daemons themselves. (How do you think ALL the grimoires came to be? Someone was the first person to write it down! Every published grimoire out there started as someone else’s PG.) Not everyone will find the sigils and enns gotten “Daemonolatry-style” will resonate with them. But a lot of people do. Why do you think my books are so popular and why I write about this particular form of Daemonolatry? Because IT WORKS and I love the Daemonic Divine. No other reasons.

“To me, the validity of any system is based on how well it works. Not who started it and/or how old their work is.” – S. Connolly

Please note that I’ve ALWAYS said in all of my books that you are welcome to take what works for you and leave the rest. I’ve never preached my books as gospel as I believe all books about spirituality are merely collections of ideas. I’m not anyone’s mother. I am not here to tell you what you should believe (as I believe you should find what works best for you), and I don’t want followers like some other occult personalities might.

“People can either ignore me, walk beside me, or get the fuck out of my way.” – S. Connolly

I don’t write the books I write for people who have no use for them. I write the books I write for the like-minded people who will be inspired by them and find them useful. If you’re not one of those folks – great, go find something else.

So yes – it is true – I cannot prove my sources because some of them have chosen to not come forward or release their personal family information. Perhaps some day in the future they will, at which time I bet the critics will still scream, “Inauthentic!” In the meantime there is nothing I can do about that. For all historical purposes, I will likely go down in history as the mother of modern Daemonolatry.  While I accept that, I will still continue giving credit to those magicians who contributed, whether they or their executors choose to speak up or to release their family records – or not.

If people don’t like that – too bad. I am not going to become an unethical, thieving oath-breaker just to pacify a few vocal critics. 

Enochian and Goetia Master Classes!

Hey everyone!  I am one of the faculty for an online Goetia Master Class!

What are the Enochian and Goetia Online Master Classes? Two Seven Day Live Online Video Classes with some of the most exciting writers and teachers of Magick today! There will be a class focusing on Goetia, and one on Enochian. Sign up for one, or sign up for both! You can also add signed copies of some of their books and other additional magical items! Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity!  (For Daemonolaters there is a Daemonolatry package that includes an elemental king oleum package!)

  • David R. Jones, founding member of the Center for Enochian Studies , the John Dee Society and a central figure in Enochian practical research since the 1970s.
  • Aaron Leitch, author of the Essential Enochian Grimoire, The Angelic Language volumes 1 and 2, and Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires.
  • Scott Michael Stenwick author of Mastering the Great Table and Mastering the Mystical Heptarchy.
  • Jason Augustus Newcomb, author of the New Hermetics, Practical Enochian Magick, Conjuring the Goetia Spirits and many more books.
  • S. Connolly, author of Daemonolatry Goetia, the Goetia Workbook and many other books on the daemonological.
  • Frater Ashen Chassan, author of Gateways Through Stone and Circle and Gateways Through Light and Shadow.
  • Frater Barrabbas, author of Spirit Conjuring for Witches, Mastering Ritual Magick, The Disciple’s Guide to Ritual Magick and many more works.
  • Frater Rufus Opus, author of Seven Spheres and the Modern Goetic Grimoire and many more works.

Sign up right away! The sooner you sign up – the better the deal! 

Each class will take place over seven days, with the teacher’s covering their unique takes on:

THE HISTORY OF PRACTICE
THE NATURE OF SPIRITS
SETTING UP THE TEMPLE
PRAYERS AND CONJURATIONS
SKRYING AND EVOCATION
PRACTICAL MAGICAL OPERATIONS
INDIVIDUAL ADVICE FROM EACH PRACTITIONER!

Early Registration is rewarded with a lower price, so the quicker you sign up, the less you spend!

Check it out HERE! 

Daemonic Prosperty Magick

It’s finally available to the general public! Daemonic Prosperity Magick!

Written exclusively for experienced Daemonolaters, in Daemonic Prosperity Magick, learn how money magick with Daemons works. This book gives you  PRACTICAL Daemonic magick to bring more prosperity into your life! Included are the six best Daemons for wealth, prosperity, and career success – including Clauneck – and formulas on how to double your cash, or take your career to the next level. Included in the paperback and hardcover editions is a bonus section on Sorath to catapult your work into the spotlight. From basic traditional witchcraft to shadow work and meditations, to more ceremonial rites and petitions – it’s all in this book and it all works! The author personally tested every ritual in the book multiple times and only included formulas that were successful every time. Results may vary based on talent and work ethic.

Paperback and Hardcover include over 35 additional pages of BONUS CONTENT including a whole section on Sorath, all sigils, and 11 MORE rituals!

Amazon: Paperback (154 pages)  $15.99

Lulu: Hardcover (154 pages, black linen cover with white lettering on spine, includes dust jacket) $29.99

Kindle: eBook  $7.99  (Releases January 21, 2017, available for pre-order now.)

Ask A Daemonolatress: Does the order in which I invoke matter?

Dear S. Connolly: Do I invoke the demon I’m working with before Satan in the circle or after Satan? Someone told me to do it before, while I understand some articles say after. This is very confusing.

Answer:  In the standard, elemental ritual construct, in my tradition at least, Satan is the 5th element and comes after the first 4 elements invoked. Then you invoke the Daemon you are working with. Or, in some cases you might skip Satan (or your equivalent 5th element) and invoke the Daemon you’re working with.  The entire point of the standard construct is to create a balanced space in which to work with Daemonic energy.  So there is a reason for calling on the four (or five) elemental kings to begin with.  It’s not just because “I said so”.

See, Daemons are intelligences of pure energy. How you mix them matters in the alchemical/magickal sense. They’re not sky mommies and daddies, or invisible humans with super powers, which is how a lot of people treat them. So imagine the elemental circle like a battery. You activate the battery in a sequence. If you throw something new into the sequence, it changes the charge.  If you want Asmodeus (for example) to be the focal point of your ritual, he’s not part of that elemental sequence construct.  The circle serves the purpose of balance. The actual Daemon you’re working with is the purpose – the focal point – of the ritual.

In this construct, the elementals (including Satan) and Asmodeus have separate functions in the construct of the rite. By putting Asmodeus before Satan, you place him in the balancing construct, and Satan as the Daemon for the focal point.  The last Daemon you invoke should always be the one you’re seeking to work with — in this particular ritual construct. I hope this makes sense!

S. Connolly – Is it true you actually said to use the Christian bible to force demons entities into submission? 

Answer – That’s not what I said at all. Though I can see why someone who is very inexperienced and/or new to magick,  or one who cannot see beyond Christianity might think that. What I was saying, and perhaps I wasn’t clear, is that if you look at Christian magick, like in the grimoires, the alleged Names of God are “stolen” from Canaanite and other pre-Christian sources, so technically by using those names or vibrating them during ritual, what you’re doing has nothing to do with “Jehovah” “Yahweh” or even Christianity etc…  You’d actually be vibrating the names of deities older than Christianity (of which many Daemons ARE the deities of older-than-Christian religions, EL included) and drawing their influence into the ritual.  You’re not constraining or binding anything against its will. (Trust me, if Daemons want to kick your ass, they will, whether you shout Jesus at them or not.)

The idea that names of deities can constrain other deities is about “tempering” influence.  Magick is a lot like cooking. So look at every Daemon you bring into a ritual as part of a recipe.  You add specific things at specific times to your recipe to produce the desired result. Some things you add sparingly so it’s not too strong. Other things you add in excess because you can spice it up with other influences. When you’re done, hopefully you have something wonderful and effective for your purpose. That’s probably a labored metaphor, but spirit/energy influence in magick works much the same way. It’s an alchemical mixture of energy meant to manifest in a way that coincides with your will.  Sometimes it needs to be precise for the most effective results. Sometimes you can get by with a general mixture. It’s the precision of how it’s mixed that separates the great magicians from the so-so ones  (just like cooks – not everyone is a master chef, but you could learn to be one by minding your recipes and experimenting).

Of course there will still be people who choose to believe I’m secretly a Christian. Haha. I assure you I am not.  While I have experimented with vibrating some of the “God Names”, it’s not part of my regular practice.  I have also been known to occasionally work with angels (which I see as a type of Divine Intelligence, i.e. Daemon).  I’m a magician and it would be foolish of me to poo-poo or admonish a technique or paradigm if I haven’t tried it. That amounts to hubris IMO.  And yes, in a GENERAL magick book I wrote called Curses, Hexes, & Crossing, (which was not a Daemonolatry book) I did include the Psalms for cursing.  In case some of you didn’t know it, a lot of the Psalms in the bible were hijacked from older traditions, too. A lot of magickal traditions that combine Catholicism and magick use the Psalms in magick. And since the book was a general book about magick I included curses from ALL traditions and from various cultures. Everything from Traditional Witchcraft, to Daemonolatry/Satanism, to Khemetic, and, of course, Christian.  Magick is a practice that spans all cultures, traditions, and centuries. I study magick as a whole, not just a tiny area of it. So writing a general magick book in the area of execration magick was only a matter of time for me. Hate me for not being biased if you must. The Daemonic doesn’t give two shits one way or another. No – really – they don’t. They don’t have the same petty, emotional, ignorant hang-ups that people do.  We project our own personal hang-ups, ignorance, and pettiness onto them. We create them in our own image because we cannot fathom them in any other way.

 

So that’s it for this post! I hope you’ve found my answers helpful.

 

 

November’s Daemons: Verrine and Verrier

Like love, daemons crop up in unusual places. Take the origins of the daemons of Verrine and Verrier, both traditional Daemonolaters associate with the month of November.

In the early 1600s, the hunt for witches which was sweeping Europe had yet to grip France, but a seventeen-year-old girl named Madeleine would soon change that. Madeleine de Demandolx de la Palud had not done well during her time at an Ursuline nunnery and was sent home to her parents due to a bout of depression. During her recovery, she grew close to a friend of the family, Father Louis Gaufridi—so close the two became lovers.

(more…) “November’s Daemons: Verrine and Verrier”