High John Oil

So a friend of mine who runs his own occult shop was rotating his herb stores last month (nothing old and nasty in his store). He asked me if there was anything I wanted. I told him I could really use some High John. I’ve been needing some extras to do some experimentation in the lab. He brought me an entire bag.

I figured my first task was to make some High John oil to feed the roots. So first I took all the small roots out of the bag, charged them with my intent, consecrated them, and put them in another plastic bag and took them out to the garage. Pulling a hammer off the tool peg, I put my bag of small roots on the ground and used the hammer to break them up. The first picture is them broken up in their bag.

Then I simply sat down and poured the root pieces and powder into a mason jar. I only had olive oil in the house (I usually prefer grapeseed oil since it’s lighter) so I poured about one cup of oil over the broken up roots in the jar and I’ll let it steep for about a month before I start using it to feed my other roots (also shown in the next photo).  I might keep one of these roots for grating and another root for tincture. When you get roots in bulk like this, keep the elongated ones for sex magick (they’re more potent) and the rounder ones for other things. Of course I’ve also heard that all the longer ones are more potent despite the type of magick you’ll use them for, due to their phallic shape.

Do not forget to label your jar!

High John oil can be worn when you want to be in control of your situation or seek to bend others to your will (or you simply want a positive outcome for yourself). High John is about strength and overcoming obstacles (other people type obstacles).  The roots can be used in magick along the same vein and are often a common ingredient in binding spells. I don’t throw my roots away. They get stronger with each subsequent use and continual charging. A Traditional Bend: Sometimes teachers will pass a well used root to their student(s) to start their student off with at least one really potent root. My teacher did it for me and I gave my oldest most potent root to one of my students. And so it goes. It’s the hope that eventually someone is going to end up with a very old and potent root.

 

 

 

 

Reflection

It’s been a strange month this month. Some things have hit home alarmingly hard. Earlier this month, a message came around my work place advising us of a voluntary redundancy package. I joked that I might go for it. I was told that if I was fourteen years older I could have, and probably got it ! Fourteen years and I am on the scrap heap – it seems like anly a second agao I was just finishing school. I wondered where all the time had gone and what I had achieved and what else there was left to do.

It can be very interesting to reflect on what has past and what you have achieved. For me, this included getting my black belt, degree, PhD in Relativity Theory, heart surgery, marriaged etc.

I thought carefully about my furry companions that chose to spend their little lives with me – Sheba, Loki, Little One, Arthur, Rambo, H, Smith, Wesson, Conan. Their company was so much appreciated.

Then I set about listing what I still wanted to do. After listing these things, I relisted them in order of what was practical against my personal preferences – you have to be brutal here – there is no point in letting heart rule head in the practicality list. I now have my goals set for the next year or so, and have set about making steps to achieve them.

What am I waffling on about ? Sometimes it is good to stop, think and reflect. How it will affect you is for you to decide. For me, the shock of how time has past, essentially without me noticing, has spurned me on to getting things done.

How to do a mini Altar

Ashtaroth Portable Altar
My Portable Altar Dedicated to Ashtaroth

OR most likely why should you make a mini altar?

I’ve heard before that horizontal surfaces are species of extinction in the Occult practitioners home and its true, I started to separating altars for different works to avoid mixing up any kind of conflicting energies, but my house will probably never have too much space, so mainly those altars are only for work, if you started doing that for every entity you want to work with or have a close relation with it would be too much, and even thought Spirit Houses are awesome sometimes you just want to give small offerings and make contact for small things, rather than giving complete physical abode to the spirit, now it does not necessarily mean that is disposable but if you are going to have a long term altar, you might want it to be small.

Because:

  1. Unless you work only with one spirit or pantheon altars can get unbelievably bulky with time.
  2. You might need that space later
  3.  It saves you time and energy in rearranging spaces.
  4.  If you have to move its more easy and safer having something that can be sealed shut
  5.  They are stealthy and you can hide it from annoying people or pesky fundamentalists choose to come by
  6. You can move it to your working altar or do more versatile works by carrying it with you to a designated place
  7.  You can order an arrange them nicely, even for joined rituals

The how to is simple:

Find a small box enough to put a seal or image on the inside, I usually color them in plane colors, too decorated boxes can be a call for curious peeps and kills off the discretion, then I consecrate it accordingly to the spirit I will be working with and fill it with herbs and stones usually un a total sum of odd number of ingredients, and put it in a place with seems appropriate, It’s a nice addition to devotional practices, and it is as comfortable as it gets.

Blessings

Jadean Lazulli

Responsible Use

For June’s how-to Blog, I’ve decided to share a guide I wrote a few years ago, concerning channeling (Ouija) boards, and how to effectively use them. I wrote this guide as an informational tool to fight the misinformation I was bombarded with when trying to sell the high-end, heirloom quality channeling boards I once sold. I still do custom boards for those interested. I hope everyone enjoys!

 

The Responsible Use of Channeling Boards

How to effectively and safely employ a channeling board for divination

by Martin McGreggor

 

Channeling boards are an effective and powerful tool for divination and the art of spirit contact. There is however, a great abundance of misinformation and misunderstanding regarding the subject and this guide will hopefully shed some light on the not so mysterious world of ‘Ouija’.

The procedures and actions prescribed in this guide are designed to help the serious practitioner achieve true and gainful insight through safe and meaningful spirit contact. While effective for the author of this guide, the encouraged practices are not ‘foolproof’ and are not intended to be taken as such. Each person will have experiences of their own and this guide is meant to simply give the practitioner the best chance at safety and success, not guarantee it.

*Channeling boards are exactly that, a medium for communication through channeling a particular entity or spirit’s energy. This means that the spirit or entity is influencing the practitioner, not the board, and naturally one would want to know who or what they are being influenced by, prior to the moment it happens.

*With that being said, channeling boards should only be used during a larger working such as a seance, summoning, or other ritual intended to make contact with a specific spirit or entity. Channeling boards may also be used without a larger ritual as a way to discern spiritual activity or to make contact with unknown entities, however one should have significant experience with banishing, cleansing rituals, and other protective measures that are needed when dealing with ‘random’ entities.

*Prior to using a channeling board for the first time in a given area, cleansing and banishment rituals should be performed to cleanse the area of any unwanted spirits or entities. If the channeling board is being used to ‘randomly’ find spirits and entities, this step should not be performed, as you will banish away anything that may have been there.

*Channeling board practitioners must also be aware of the phenomenon known as ‘Astral Deception’. Just because an entity is making contact, it does not mean it is compelled to give true answers to any questions being asked, including who it is. One must use their own judgment and decide whether a particular spirit or entity is trustworthy. A good way to deal with this phenomenon is to prepare for it in advance. When summoning or calling an entity, be sure to summon or call it specifically for the purpose of answering questions truthfully, not just to answer questions. And while this makes it harder for the spirit to lie, it does not completely prevent it.

*In addition to ‘Astral Deception’, the practitioner can also deceive themselves. Negative thoughts, doubts, worries and essentially any kind of distraction can cause the user to influence their own working and damage results. Users should be experienced with some form of meditation techniques to still the mind and, if possible, enter a light trance state prior to using a channeling board. This will open the practitioner more and allow for direct channeling of the entity’s energy without negative influence.

*Never, under any circumstances, insult or disrespect a spirit or entity that is being channeled. Even if the practitioner is skilled in defense and quite capable of protecting themselves, channeling an entity allows it to have far greater influence over the practitioner and anyone else using the board. Even a spirit which would normally have a hard time influencing anything at all can cause harm if angered or provoked while being directly channeled. Always remember that a channeling board is simply a tool for a spirit or entity to make intelligible contact through the practitioner themselves, not the board.

*Channeling boards should be used alone ideally, as more hands on the planchette increases the chance for outside influence. And opposed to the popular conception that the entity needs the ‘energy’ of multiple people to ‘move the planchette, it is extremely difficult for two people to channel the energy of a spirit or entity at the same time properly. This almost always takes two very experienced practitioners, and a powerful being.

*Location matters. Especially if the user is not conducting a larger ritual and is simply ‘looking around’ for activity. Areas of extreme negative energy, or even an abundance of death energy, will attract entities that are generally less than friendly to humans. This does not even have to be some supposed ‘evil spirit’. There are simply negative things out there that feed on negativity and will try to inspire these feelings in order to feed off of them. Always be mindful of where a channeling board is being used, and what could have been potentially drawn there. This is the direct reasoning behind performing cleansing and banishing rituals prior to use.

By using the methods prescribed above, a practitioner with enough experience and skill can have extended, completely intelligible contact with spirits, entities, and beings through the use of a channeling board. Like any form of divination however, one must always use sound judgment and never take anything at complete face value. And while essentially safe to use and employ, channeling boards that are used foolishly or without concern for the consequences can be a sobering lesson in what powers are out there, and why channeling spirits is indeed a serious practice that demands respect and proper education to employ properly. The author of this guide encourages the use of channeling boards by anyone capable of performing successful cleansing and banishment rituals, provided it is being used in a greater working to contact a specific spirit or entity. Randomly searching for activity and opening one’s self up to anything in a given area for the purpose of channeling it is a serious endeavor and should be reserved for those advanced practitioners who can readily defend themselves against a strong psychic attack.

June How-To

Welcome readers! Pardon the intrusion but I am introducing this month’s topic since Frank is busy. It seems a few of our bloggers got busy this summer, so expect postings to be sporadic the next few months.

This month is our June How-To (or Blogger’s Choice). That means you just don’t know what you’re going to get this month!

Hope you’re all entering summer happy and healthy! Warmest regards to you and yours,

S. Connolly

Better Late Than Never…..(Which really isn’t a true statement)

How I missed the month of April, I am not too sure.  But it seemed to come and go at the blink of an eye.  Which was not enough time, apparently, to write my due blog for the 23rd.  I do apologize for the oversight.  In light of that I guess I could say one of the things I wish I knew from the beginning would be the need for a daytimer or maybe just SIRI would work.  But on a Demonolatry note there are many things I wish I had known when I had started out.  And even a few things I am glad I didn’t know at that time.  I mostly wish I had known how to learn, and how to listen better.  I wish I had taken down more notes.  I also really wish I had learned Kabbalah.  Every time I have tried to get that as an integral part of my consciousness I get a headache.  I know it for short periods but then the “AHA!” moment seems to elude me after that.  I wish I had spent a few months doing nothing but that.  I know it’s not too late, and that is on my plate.  Along with a few other things.  I also wish I had learned faster that Demonolatry is not about going through the motions and actually being able to learn anything from that.  It was all very new to me so I spent an inordinate amount of time doing simple math over and over before I even thought about thinking beyond that.  I also wish I had understood the subtleties of worshipping Demons as opposed to being a bull in a china shop.  Which is mostly what my early years looked like.  Also wish I had understood the symbiosis between majick and spirituality.  Actually I still wish I understood that.  I am glad, however, that I didn’t know how intricate all of this is.  I fear it would have overwhelmed me.  So sometimes all things in good time is the best cliche in this instance.  There is still so much I don’t know, and I have come to the inevitable conclusion that there is simply more to know than I have time on this earth.  There are things I wish I knew at the beginning.  But this is how it has unfolded for me.  And I do believe this is how it should be.  Doesn’t stop me from wishing I knew these things at the beginning though.  But at least I can accept that this is how it is.  Mostly accept anyway.

Those things that grow inside you

So in this blog I would normally just have commented on how  I’ve been using Abyss Hyms music (check out the shop, up in the bar ;D ), I have used sea shells from store bundles  to add the water element into rituals, I have bathed with salts dipped in mint oil before rituals calling Leviathan (Fresh and cool feeling like nothing else) with a prayer from a page is no down for good and the owner never answered my new messages to see if she still had those prayers so, I’m guessing, I’m going to design something myself (no bitterness here only to avoid people asking me for page gone and prayer lost lol), I use Incenses, but I’m not really good standing smoke, I use very little since I work in small rooms and get very saturated and instead of getting in the mood sometimes I got suffocated, overall I try to build up a lot of energy around the ritual and in myself to add, I used to have lights on at first because honestly I’m bad memorizing everything so I tend to check the books and notes on the, but yeah nothing says RITUAL so loud like candle lights only, also I have various color cloths I use for different rituals, mainly elemental colors, I’m seriously considering buying tons of purple cloths lately, I also use a lot of oils anointed myself and in candles from root working conjuring, etc, I have no robe I usually just wear colors relevant to the kind of working Im doing.

I live in an apartment and soon I will be moving with friends (They are allowing me to have a whole room for my ritual work YAY!).

But this where it end on what is like I im used to work to, and this is where is starts on what is really mean to me.

Today I moved my altar into the new house I will be living in, but I returned to my apartment and saw the spot where it usually is, It was only about a year and a half I’ve been here, but in this space with that altar, I’ve made offerings to the spirits,  I’ve prayed, sent out to stop those who attempt to terrify or control my friends, set out for conquest of new possibilities, made objects of power, called upon heavens, earth, hell, made readings, for that short time things have been going on, it just was not an object in a space, it was a SACRED object in a SACRED space, and even thought I know where it is, and I know I can and will keep on practicing in the new location, it’s a special time, of a special place that will not be again, and now I’m brutally nostalgic, I can barely hold my tears, I feel naked, the energies around the place have changed so much for the first time I really feel not at home, I remember a recent conversation on “The feeling of the presence of Daemons, being gone by people desecrating sacred space”, Its like a hotel room with boxes with my belongings, the only things that keep that feeling are some of the consecrated books I have, and tools, even in faint hint coming from inside the boxes. And it’s strange and sad, but if it took just a year and a half to make this experience so special, then what I can do at the new house might be, Just magical.

Jadean Lazulli

Sometimes It Chooses Us

I know this month’s topic is supposed to be about ritual atmosphere, but I have something else weighing heavy on my mind and I thought today I’d do a little soul baring and tell you about something that happened to me this week.

Now mind you my intention in sharing this story is not to “climb upon the cross”, but rather to share an interesting milestone in my own spiritual path.

So several months ago I went to my OTH temple priest and asked him if we could strike the “Lector” off of my “title” in the group because the truth is I’ve never wanted to be a teacher. I’m kind of bitchy and I have no patience whatsoever. If I do teach, it’s through my books.  The temple priest told me no. No explanation, no discussion, just no. I was kind of pissed off about it at first because I had done my share of teaching to meet the requirements of the degree and position I was working toward, and through all of it I learned that I just don’t like teaching.

Then last month I completed my LoKIR and placed myself in service of Tahuti, Seshat, and Delepitorae (pardon my non-standard spelling) and took on the role of Sesh in our temple. It seemed after this happened that suddenly I began having more Daemonolatry traffic than usual in my mailbox and in my reading and working requests.

Over this past weekend, after a particularly hectic week filled with many Daemonolatry to-do’s I complained to a fellow OTH member how overwhelmed I felt. That’s when she gently reminded me that this was, in fact, the job I signed up for. I was now in service to the Daemons of magick and knowledge and part of that job is to use my talents to help others. She also pointed out that no matter how much I fought it, I would always be teacher whether I wanted to be one or not,  just as I would always be sought after to help others due to certain talents.

You know how sometimes when you knew something all along but you were either in denial or you didn’t think much of it and then that 2×4 of reality comes back and smacks you upside the head, really driving the point home? That’s exactly what happened to me.  For the first time in 28 years I finally feel like I really “get” what it means to be in service to the Daemonic and other Daemonolaters  –  not just myself.

Sometimes, as a priest, that sacrificial offering that you make on behalf of others is yourself.

And when this realization hit me I thought, I’ll be damned. So it is.

It’s an interesting contemplation and I thought I would share it.

Sure, several other revelations followed, but this was, by far, the most profound one and I have to admit, it’s much more interesting blogging fodder, for me anyway, than ritual atmosphere.

Atmosphere within the ritual space

The atmosphere of a ritual can vary greatly from one ritual to another, but it is always of great importance. Atmosphere is a fluid thing; It can be changed in order to fit whatever working or goal is being attempted. It has a strong effect on the psyche and a person’s confidence, which can strongly influence the effectiveness of a working. There are several ways in which atmosphere can be manipulated.

In ceremonial magic, among other forms, there is often a lot of importance put on specific tools, symbols, methods, and actions. Everything must be done in a precise manner, at a precise time during the ritual, using precisely the right materials. What most magicians don’t understand though, is that the adherence to these principles is more about the atmosphere they create within their own minds, than it is about fulfilling some magical recipe that will guarantee success. It is through them knowing that they have done everything correctly, exactly the way it should be done, that the needed confidence and surety of purpose is instilled. They know they have done everything right, so they know the working should be a success. Confidence and strength of will is what breeds magical success, not staunch adherence and conformity.

In other types of ritual, the correct atmosphere can often times be achieved through much less effort. Music is usually one of the most effective, and most commonly used, due to it’s versatility and inherent ability to influence and affect mood. You can almost always find a piece of music to put you into a particular mood, regardless of what it is. But even common ritual tools are sometimes nothing more than items designed to alter the atmosphere and mood of a working. The symbols and icons one uses, the candles and the incense one burns, are often really just props that induce the correct kind of atmosphere for that particular working. Because regardless of path or “color”, magic comes from within. Everything else, is just fluff.

May Musings

Sorry for the delay in any posts this month. I got off to a bad start and offline life kept me offline. It seems if I forget my first of the month post, which I did this month, no one else posts.

This months posts are supposed to be about ritual atmosphere. Creating it, relishing in it, and how it effects us psychologically.

There’s really nothing else new this month, please correct me if I’m wrong, so enjoy the posts (if our bloggers would be so kind as to post something even if they missed their scheduled day) and we’re always looking for dedicated bloggers so if you’re interested, drop me a line at [email protected].