Sitting In Silence

Inspired by dreams and visions, I began the process of creating this new ritual tool. Where a chair serves as a receptacle for receiving spirits, allowing them to manifest in this seat. I came across this child sized rocking chair at a thrift store, and immediately knew it was the one. The people working in the shop told me this chair had been there since before they were hired, and they never expected to see it go. But for only $6 it became mine. The Seat of Spirit To consecrate this spiritual throne, it was washed with water imbued with willow and blessed under the full moon, anointed with a Serpent Oil of my own design, and dressed in smoke & powders before being fed. Finally, a spirit in my court who has dominion over gates and spiritual passages was invited to be the first to sit and empower this seat. The Seat of Spirit is foremost a receptacle for working with spirits. It allows the magician to perceive the presence of spirits in a safe and controlled way. Comparable to th...

This grimoire of Elizabethan magic is a great text for the moderately experienced to advanced practitioners of ceremonial magic. Or witches and cunning folk interested in applying some of it's prayers, conjurations, seals, and ritual methods. The edition I will be referencing for this series is the Joseph H. Peterson, Daniel Harms, and James R. Clark one. I may cross reference parts of this book with other grimoires. The Book of Oberon (or BoO) is first and foremost a text written to be used in practice. Being an amalgam of information from other occult texts and having some original works. Suggesting that the writer(s) of it were copying this knowledge and collecting it for later use. This work includes prayers and psalms, short rites and experiments in creation illusions, fantasies, acquiring treasure, angelic conjurations, ways of fumigating and blessing ritual tools, talismans, and infernal conjurations. As well as an office of spirits which is reminiscent of the Keys of Solomo...

Spirit pot made by Jake Stratton-Kent, photo from the Museum of Witchcraft      Before diving in I wanna mention the work of Rufus Opus that I encountered researching for this post. I think he does a better job explaining this concept and it's origins than I could. He also provides a method of making your own, which isn't something I'm going to be getting into much. Some of his blog and Youtube posts explaining goetic spirit pots: "Working with spirit pots" "More on spirit pots" Goetic spirit pots Spirit pots, witch bottles, and Brass vessels      I will be speaking from my own perspective having encountered the idea of spirit pots from a magical tradition I was invited to explore, with inspiration from the work of Jake Stratton-Kent's work with the Grimorium Verum (who has some of his pots now on display at the Museum of Witchcraft. One can be seen above. 1 , 2 , 3 ), with a focus on the rite I found in the Book of Oberon.      This ...

Lyla was a little girl who did her little deeds  in the woods with her friends  among the evergreens.  ~ One day she went alone,  and stayed into the night.  To see if one could raise the might  she needed in her life.   ~ To Lyla's surprise her calls were answered by a witchly woman, all rags and bones.  Who skipped across the distant hedge and sang her secret songs.  ~ Lyla hid as swift as could be,  hiding her eyes but straining her hearing.  She heard the lady dance away,  in what direction she could not say.  ~ Standing in the circle's center,  Lyla gazed into the dark.  Hoping to be find a way to follow this weird woman who left her mark.   ~ The woman's steps  puzzled Lyla,  as they led her in every way.  Going only forward, never back.  Moving straight, making 4 paths.  ~ "Which way to go?" Lyla thought,  thinking maybe to see a sign.  Yet none came, so i...

      Magic is often centered around location, especially places of power. Finding them, or making them. We do it when we follow the directions in old grimoires to go to crypts or wild places. As well as when we construct circles and sacred spaces in our homes or ritual spaces. We are setting aside a hallowed area for our work, a place to build force. A place of power. Some people find this place out in the forest, on the beach, in a church, their own personal temple, or other various locations. I found my place in a cemetery.      A few years into college I began getting more into ceremonial style magic, and the construction of a ritual space became a prominent part of that. I tried out various styles of circle casting, from calling the corners to demonic conjurations for the directions. As I was learning to cast a circle I often found myself without enough space to operate in my dorm. At home in my bedroom I could do a make-shift set up, but here at...

Introduction to the Book of Oberon This grimoire of Elizabethan magic is a great text for the moderately experienced to advanced practitioners of ceremonial magic. Or witches and cunning folk interested in applying some of it's prayers, conjurations, seals, and ritual methods. The edition I will be referencing for this series is the Joseph H. Peterson, Daniel Harms, and James R. Clark one. I may cross reference parts of this book with other grimoires. The Book of Oberon (or BoO) is first and foremost a text written to be used in practice. Being an amalgam of information from other occult texts and having some original works. Suggesting that the writer(s) of it were copying this knowledge and collecting it for later use. This work includes prayers and psalms, short rites and experiments in creation illusions, fantasies, acquiring treasure, angelic conjurations, ways of fumigating and blessing ritual tools, talismans, and infernal conjurations. As well as an office of spirits which i...

What is a Spirit Womb? A "spirit womb" is what I call a tool I use to bring spirits into this world. With the aid of this empowered bowl or pot you can give life to new beings, allowing them to be born into vessels in our realm. The bowl/pot should be about the size of a human head, or big enough to hold a small/medium doll. Smaller spirit wombs can be useful as well for birthing spirit seals, which can be put into spirit vessels, instead of whole vessels. Making a spirit womb: To prepare your chosen object wash it out with consecrated water, cleansing it of all it's pasts uses. Dry it out, and then fill the vessel with incense smoke and let it dissipate. Cover the vessel with a block cloth and let the object rest untouched for about a day. After at least a day as passed, bring out the vessel during a time when the sun is not shining or in a space where daylight can't reach. Bring the vessel to a cemetery, or bring cemetery dirt to the vessel. Fill the bot...

The blackthorn ( bellicum in Latin) is an unlucky tree; villagers in Galmpton and Dittisham, South Devon, still fear "the black rod" carried as a walking stick by local witches, which has the effect of causing miscarriages. When Major Weir, the Covenanter and self-confessed witch, was burned at Edinburgh in April 1670, a blackthorn staff was burned with him as the chief instrument of his sorceries. -Robert Graves in The White Goddess       It was recently brought to my attention that there's a blackthorn tree growing pretty prominently near where I live. It makes itself home growing a few steps away from a bustling sidewalk down by the ocean. He stands with pride, inconspicuous to those not looking for him. Its dark bark blending in the shadows cast by the building that shields it from the weather. In my search for him I walked by twice before he caught my eye, but once i noticed him there was no unseeing this bold tree.     Blackthorn has always bee...