Magical Muses

This is the Practice With Techniques Part B.  In this part I wanted to give Robert that punctuality spell he was looking for, even though it's a bit late in getting here.  I'm open to suggestions to make it better.  This was something I've constructed off the top of my head, but I thought it was a pretty good one.

You will need:

A small watch or clock, not digital.  Battery either dead or removed.

A small poppet, sigil, or other representation of the target.  Your choice.

A piece of cloth colored to represent punctuality.  I would go with a color that is NOT orange, but use your personal preference.  I'm thinking white would be a good color for this.  It should be big enough to fit around the target representation and the time piece, but it should be square to one unit.  For example, one square foot, one square meter, et cetera.

Two lengths of ribbon the same color as the cloth.  You can cut strips of the cloth if you want.  Again, each length should be a unit of one.  One foot, one meter, whatever.

A black sharpie marker.  If you're using black cloth, try a whiteout pen or white puff paint.

A prepared sigil for punctuality.

To perform:

Wind the time piece so that it displays the time the target is supposed to arrive at his destination.  On one piece of the ribbon, write the date the target is to arrive with the sharpie pen.  On the other piece of ribbon, write the following short rhyme:

I have sealed you with this time and date so that you can't be absent or be late.

On the piece of cloth draw the sigil for punctuality.  Cover as much area on the cloth as possible.

Tightly wrap the piece of ribbon with the date around the time piece and the object representing the target, tying a square knot to secure it (right over left, left over right).  Now place the bound objects in the center of the cloth, on the side with the sigil.  Draw up the corners of the cloth to make a sort of sack, then use the second ribbon to wind around the corners in order to close the sack.  Speak the rhyme as you're winding it, and also tie off with a square knot.  Do not hide it, but I wouldn't leave it sitting where the target will see it, otherwise you'd have some explaining to do.

The components of this spell are pretty much self-explanatory, but you're welcome to ask me questions about the correspondences I chose.

Avril

autumnsavril at 1:45:19 PM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

This is kinda cheesy, but I have actually wondered about this.  It's not something I'm worried about, but it is something to think through before I actually raise my son with my beliefs.

First I want to say that I am not the kind of person who feels like my kids have to have my views and beliefs.  I would demand that my kids *respect* them, though, as well as everyone else's.  I want my child to think for himself, and I want him to decide on his own whether he believes in such a thing as magic.

As far as religion is concerned, I don't intend to raise him with one at all.  When he asks questions like "Where did we come from?" I'm going to always reply with "No one really knows--what do *you* think?"  That sets a pattern right away that is letting him think religion through for himself, which is definitely what I want.

Now, for raising him with magic, I'm not sure what to do.  If he goes to school and talks freely about what he and mommy do and talk about, the other kids could taunt him mercilessly.  On the other hand, I want him to be aware that this phenomenon exists and to allow him to begin practicing at an early age if he chooses to do so.

Hence, I've reached a bit of a dilemma.  Any thoughts out there?

Avril

autumnsavril at 12:58:38 PM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 2 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Remember all that you can choose what I write.  If there's a topic you know little about, but you think I might, you're more than welcome to ask me about it.  If I know anything at all about it, I'll write what I know here in this journal.

If you know something about something, but want to know what I know about it, or want my perspective on a personal level, you can ask me to do that--just leave a comment on the bottom of this entry.

If you are in need of a spell or would like my help in constructing one, I can do that here.  If you want to donate a spell--do not leave it in the comments section.  E-mail it to me under subject line "Spell for journal," and I will pre-approve or disapprove it.  If I approve it, I will leave a copy of it here credited to your preferred name.

Want me to critique a certain web site?  Just ask, and drop a link while you're at it.

I can't promise to do everything, but you do have some say-so over what I write.  I will be leaving this entry in my "about me" space as a link and will refer to it now and then to get new topics about which to write.

Avril

autumnsavril at 5:24:10 AM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 6 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

I received two other spells to consider for the target mentioned in the previous entry, courtesy of the people on the AOL message board Spells and Incantations.  They are as listed below.  I may also choose to do all three spells, since one is specifically aimed for imprisonment of the target.  These were originally posts that I am simply pasting here.

The first is Crunchi's Jail Revenge Working, by Crunchi Dragon Chow.

"I am in the process of casting a jail spell. I have my poppet, which I will be sewing a charged Imprisonment sigil on. I am doing several nasty things to this guy which I won't get into now but the main thing is jail. And if I'm lucky, a well endowed & sexually insatiable cell mate named Bubba.

The Target is a lowlife pot dealer. So I am gluing pictures of CS all over the poppet. Thank the High Times for supplying the pictures. I will then cut out the letter heads of the local police departments and wrap them around the doll to symbolize him being caught with the CS. I am then binding the entire poppet in chains and placing it in a jar, which will be filled with sand. The outside of the jar is square. I have used glass paint to put bars on the outside of the jar, to symbolize a jail cell, and have used my glass etcher to trace the imprisonment sigils on the outside of the jar as well as the poppet."

I thought this one was pretty original and nicely done, though I may decide to tweak a few things to my personal tastes, as yet undecided.

The other is Pen's Mucho Evil Death Spell, by Penelope Witchrat.

"What you will need:
      Length of thin wire.  E string wire from a guitar is pretty good for this.
      Clay for making a poppet
      Thorn, athame, or any other method your comfortable with for ritual for scribing.
      If possible a bit of the victims DNA, photograph (shredded), a sigilli representing the individual or some other "thing" that youcan use as a physical connection to the victim.


Directions:
      Roll out your clay on the table.  Place your DNA item, shred photo or what ever you have or scribe your sigilli into the clay.
      Form clay into poppet.
      on the front carve the name of victim (you can also add the sigilli here) 3 times on the poppet.
      On the back carve the word DIE 3 times.
      Take the wire and tie it around the neck of the poppet.       Every day tighten it a little.  I prefer to take a lot of days but that isn't necessary. 
      Tighten until the head is decapitated.
Dispose of the dead in a separate location from where you dispose of the body.  I like to bury one and toss the other into a body of water.
      Walk away from them and never look back."

Also thought this was nicely done, though a little less creative than the first one.  However, it still sounds good to me.

Avril

autumnsavril at 3:50:02 AM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 1 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Ever wonder about my morals?  I have decided to smite someone who has done me wrong.  You can see the entry in my other journal, or just click here, and you can see the spell I'm modifying here.  This spell was the runner up and I almost went for it, but I thought the first would be easier, as well as more fun, as well as simpler to modify.

I don't have said target's name, so I came up with a word that would suit her (no, it is nothing obscene, though those words did cross my mind a few times).

At this point in time I don't have calamus root, licorice root, or five finger grass.  I don't need the five finger grass for the properties as listed in the spell, so I am going to omit that, but I do intend to get both licorice and calamus root.  This will, unfortunately, take several days to be shipped to me, so in the meantime I am going to sit back and gather everything else I need, like a glass bottle (conveniently found with cork tops at the local Michael's and Hobby Lobby) and some poppy seed (conveniently found at the grocery store).

When I have everything, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Avril

autumnsavril at 6:23:12 PM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Okay, my first thought when I began running ideas though my head was that the target would have to say what they were going to do *after* the spell was completed, otherwise there'd be no way to backtrack.  You'd have to say, "so-and-so said they'd do such-and-such, and now they will."  In my opinion, it's much, much, much stronger coming directly from the individual, since they are saying what they will do.

On the other hand, the next thing they say they are going to do could backfire . . . if they say something in jest or bluff about something they'd never actually do, they might just do it, so then I thought . . .

If you knew what they said they were going to do, you could simply construct a very specific spell to make someone do something they said they'd do.  For example, if so-and-so said they'd fix the roof, you could simply design a spell to make so-and-so fix the roof.  On the other hand, this may be difficult considering I have no idea what Robert is trying to get someone to do, nor do I want to ask if he's not comfortable telling.  So it may be that the first option is the only one open.

Suggestions welcome before moving on to Part B.

Avril

autumnsavril at 2:44:29 AM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 2 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Previously stated are the three questions I intend to answer here.

People place varying levels of importance on magical names.  Some people think you should only practice with one, while others believe they're useless.

The most common need for a magical name is for religious purposes, believe it or not.  Some believe that the practice of magic should always involve the deity or deities of your choice, and that they should know you by this name.  Technically, only you can answer whether you need one or not, but let me lay out some logic.

Your deities knew who you were before you chose, or had chosen for you, a magical name.  They still know who you are.  However, some people believe that this name brings them closer to their deity/ies.  If that's the case, I definitely think it's a good thing, unless you don't want to be close to them.

As far as magic is concerned, I find a magical name useless.  I worked with the fluffy name Echo Nymph for a long time (and strangely enough, I chose the name before I knew about the Greek story of Echo the Nymph), but I steadily broke away from it as I learned more about magic and more about religion.  I find I'm a better practitioner now, but that's not to say I couldn't do just as well with it.  It could be coincidence that as I was learning I broke away from it, and the learning has made me better with witchcraft, but who's to say?  I know several skilled witches who use magical names.

Do I think a magical name would make me a *better* witch than I am now?  No, not really.

Think about this, also:  do you have trouble getting into the mood to do spellwork?  Slipping into that state of mind?  Then a magical name may just be what you need to do that.

As for how you get that name, opinions vary here as well.  Some say it must be chosen for you by something like a dream, or a tarot reading, or maybe it will just come to you.  It won't be any necessary length or of any specific motif, like animals or colors.

On the other hand, youmay be happier making your own magical name, like I did.  Unlike me, however, you should definitely make your name personal to you.  If you choose an animal, pick one that defines you.  Are you cat-like?  More like a puppy?  What about a color?  Does red suit you, or is the gentler yellow more your style?  Is there a trait many people say you have?  Work with that.  Is there a physical feature that people notice about you?  Is there a magical adeptness you have?

Get creative and find something that helps define you as an individual, don't just pick something that sounds mystical, cute, or pretty.  Definitely pick something you like, though.  Your parents gave you a name you couldn't help, but you can choose a name you really like.

Avril

autumnsavril at 4:11:41 AM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

Enchantment is something often used, but rarely used effectively.  Even the beginners' spells often require that you say something in your native tongue, or make up a poem to your love and burn it in some mini-ritual.  Enchantment can be a fine additive to any spell, but to use it as a central symbolic piece is difficult when attempting to achieve results.

Why?  Because words in themselves are just words.  Words spoken in command, despair, anger, or some other spell-related, underlying feeling are better, and it's a good rule of thumb to combine what you say with the way you say it.  For example, if I were to compose a spell to dominate someone, I would likely include an incantation where I would then use a voice of command.  In a spell caused to make someone miss me I would fill my voice with longing.  And so the list goes on.

Another way to make enchantments more productive is to rhyme them.  This is highly arguable, and IME not absolutely necessary, but it can help to lull the mind and put it into that altered state it must be in for spellwork to be completed.  Rhyming your incantations also makes them easier to memorize, especially if you keep them short and as much to the point as possible.  As a general rule, I try not to make my incantations more than about four lines long.

Another good method for incantations is to scramble them.  For those who haven't seen the method:

1.  Write down the goal of your spell in as short and as accurate a sentence as possible.  For example, "Win my insurance case."

2.  Now remove repeating letters.  Using the previous example, I would be left with, "WINMYSURACE."  At this point you can do one of three things.

     a. First, you can leave the letters as they are, all smushed up together.  Sometimes, however, this can be rather long and very unpronounceable,

     b. so you could try breaking up the letters as they are into new words.  "WINMYS URACE."  Still, sometimes the combination of consonants can make this impossible, so your final option is

     c. to rearrange the letters until you have pronounceable words.  "Nyms wira suce." 

You now have a usable incantation.  This is good because it makes something easy to remember in a single line, it's to the point, and it's foreign enough that you can let it lull the brain.

Finally, when composing your incantations, if you are creating a poem, don't forget your correspondences.  Incorporate as many of them into your incantation as possible.  For example, when creating a love spell, you may choose to work with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the goddess of love.  Use her name and anything she is associated with to compose your love spell.  Aphrodite rose from the green sea, so the color green and the ocean would be viable correspondences to use in your poem.  Say you're composing a lust spell.  You may choose to use fire, the direction south, and red and orange in your enchantment.

Again, enchantment is difficult to use effectively as a central symbolic piece, but no one said it was impossible.  Think on it for a moment:  you complete a series of actions while performing a spell--maybe you make a circle, invite some spirits to watch or aid you, inscribe something in a candle and say a few words of incantation.  At this point you light the candle.  This, and only this, is the central symbolic piece in your spell.  When you light that candle, you are using an action to complete that spell.  Being that it's my firm belief that symbolic action is the power behind a spell, I find it difficult to use words as that action.

One way of using incantation as your central symbolic piece in spellwork is to enchant a flower or other gift you intend to give someone else.  In doing so you can't make a person love you, as accepting the gift only accepts something; it will not make that person give something in return.  But let's say you wish to give someone courage.  Choose your words carefully, speak them into the center of a tiger lilly, making sure to include the clause that by accepting one gift they must accept the other, then give the flower to the person of your choosing.

Speak an incantation into a box with a twenty dollar bill, then mail it to someone if you want to curse them.  Include the clause that by spending the bill and accepting something in return for it they are also accepting your curse.

One of my favorite methods of spellwork is to chant an incantation, at first quietly, into my cupped hands, using the appropriate voice inflection.  I then gradually get louder and louder, using more and more voice inflection, until I'm almost yelling into my hands.  When I can get no louder without screaming, I open my hands and blow the incantation into the air, releasing it to do its work.

One could argue, I suppose, that the blowing is the symbolic action, but I still see the incantation as the central symbolic piece in the spell.  This is good for manifesting something, and if you wish to diminish something, you could work it backwards, from speaking loudly with a great deal of emotion, to whispering until your voice is flat, to mouthing the words silently.

Enchantment can be a rather powerful tool if used correctly.  If you feel you must use it as the key to your spell, there are ways to do it, but I think using it as a helpmate in your spell is the very best way to go.  Symbolic action is a much more forceful and more direct way of accomplishing a spell's goal.  Happy enchanting.

Avril

autumnsavril at 6:03:23 PM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 8 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

I promise a new entry will be coming in the near future, maybe tomorrow!  I've actually sat down and started writing three different entries on three different subjects, but each time I've found something else to do, or got kicked off by my computer.  So another entry is coming soon, I promise.  But for now, you can vote on what to read next (guess that's you, Robert).

Enchantment

Teens practicing at home in their parents' house

Selecting an instructor

Beginners and adepts

Magic names, whether you need one, and what they can do for you

Also, I'm willing to rehash any of the topics I've previously discussed in my other journal.  Write more soon!

Avril

autumnsavril at 9:32:11 PM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 5 comments: Show Recent | Add your own

I rarely get a chance to divine much of anything, but when I do, the pendulum is my favorite divinatory tool.  Asking the right questions, you can just about come up with any answer you're looking for.

I got the chance to use my pendulum yesterday.  I'm pregnant, and my husband and I are having a little bit of a war over what it's going to be.  I'd like a little girl, but my husband wants a boy.  I know, it's an awful cliché, isn't it?  Anyway, I pulled out the poor old rusty pendulum (actually, I just got it about five months ago after my other one got stolen) and practiced with it some, asking questions to which I already knew the answers.

For the most part, it went like this:

Me:  Show me yes.

A:  Yes.  (distinguished by a left-to-right motion)

Me:  Show me no.

A:  No.  (distinguished by a forward-and-back motion)

Me:  Am I pregnant?  (Here I'm testing it by asking questions for which I already know the answers.)

A:  Yes.

Me:  Did I get pregnant in October?

A:  Yes.

Me:  Am I due in July?  (I'm easing into questions I don't know about--I'm pretty sure I'm due in July.)

A:  Yes.

Me:  Am I going to have a boy?  (I have no clue.)

A:  Yes.

Me:  Am I going to have a girl?

A:  Yes.  (Drats!  What am I supposed to do with this?  I had to think about it for a while.)

Me:  Am I going to have twins?

A:  No.  (What?!  Now I'm getting frustrated.  I had to think about it even longer, but the only thing I could come up with [::gulp!::] was more than twins.)

Me:  Am I going to have more than two babies?

A:  No.  (Whew!  But now what?  Ah!  A light bulb lights up in my head.)

Me:  Am I going to give birth to a boy in July?  (The difference being that last time I simply asked if I would have a boy.)

A:  No.

Me:  Am I going to give birth to a girl in July?

A:  Yes.

See how I had to pinpoint exactly what information I wanted to know?  Now I guess I'll see in a few months whether I'm good or not.  But yikes!  It mentioned a boy, so that means I would have to get pregnant again.

It's my personal opinion that the more one practices with a pendulum, the more adept one becomes with it.  And that goes for any form of divination.  The more you practice, the more likely it will be that you can learn to push aside thoughts of what you want to happen and focus on the answers given to you.  It's also a good idea to practice for other people, where your desires are less likely to influence things like which way the pendulum swings.

Avril

autumnsavril at 10:13:15 AM CST Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 3 comments: Show Recent | Add your own