Category Archives: spirits

To Silence Slander

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A spell to stop the mouths of those who gossip about you

What you will need

  • A stock legal letter for a cease and desist of spreading slander and libel (you can find one here)
  • A picture or names of the targets
  • A black candle
  • An oil for Stopping Gossip
  • An oil for cursing
  • Slippery elm or Chia seeds
  • Black Salt
  • A tool for carving into wax (pin, needle, coffin nail etc..)

Suggested timing: this spell is preferably done at night, either on Tuesday, Wednesday or Saturday.  Some suggested times may be during the hours of Mars, Mercury or Saturn on those days.  Another beneficial timing is during Mercury Retrograde. These timings are not required.

Take the stock form of the legal letter for cease and desist of libel and slander.  In the appropriate spaces write the names of the target(s) into the listed areas on the stock form.  If you know of their location (address) employment and employer and any further specific information, include that into the form.  At another point in the form, include the type of action the target(s) are taking, who they are spreading it to, and what methods they are using (social media, office gossip, etc…)  When you are complete, put a pinch of herb and black salt and than fold up the letter, putting the picture (if you have it) into the letter, folding it up soundly.  You may want to tie up the paper with black thread, or black tape.  Black Duct tape may work well for this also. Place this on your altar, and place the candle holder on top of it.  

Take the black candle, and write your targets name in a spiral, like a barber’s pole, from the base of the candle going up to the tip.  The look you’re going for is that when you put the candle in the holder, the target’s name will be upside down, going down into the holder.  After you have carved the name into the candle, dressing the candle with the oils, going up from the base to the tip, away from you.  As you dress the candle, you may wish to pray imprecatory Psalms, or just vent your emotions of anger and vengeance, cursing the targets to shut their damn mouths and to cease speaking about you.  If they continue to speak, only evil will befall them, and everyone will seem them for the frauds they are, and their life will turn to shit.  When you have completed, fix the candle into the holder so it is steady and will burn clean without a mess.  Light the candle, and pray or continue to cuss out those gossiping, slanderous, libelous muthafuckas until you feel you have vented and expressed your emotions satisfactorily.

You may also wish to repeat this simple incantation:
I call upon you, Aniel (AH KNEE EL) and Chaamiah (KAH AH ME AH) to close the mouth of (target[s] name) who maligns and speaks evil of me.  Visit them while they sleep, plant fright and dread in their mind and dreams.  Torment them while they wake, leaving them with no peace or rest, until such that they no longer slander me. Grant me your swift and terrible aid, you wrathful angels, in the name of the Most High. Amen.

Than focus your gaze upon the candle. Focus your mind as you gaze, upon silencing these bastards who are maligning you, that their slander only ruins them.  Do this for anywhere to 5 to 15 minutes or until you feel satisfied.  Relax, step away, knowing that the work is done.  Let the candle finish burning out, collect any remnants of wax along with the paper, and either keep it in a freezer, place it into a vinegar jar, or dispose of it at a crossroads, without looking back as you do so.

Do you like this spell?  please feel free to follow my blog, or look into my services.

5 reasons not work with local spirits

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Recently I came across this post

My post is not a rebuttal, but an ad joiner to the possible undesired experience that come from seeking connection with local spirits.

5) Just because a spirit is there, doesn’t mean it wants to “work” with you.

For one thing, let me clarify a term. In conversations I have had with other spiritualist minded folks and people who get into trying to chat up spirits, there is a difference between veneration and “working”. Veneration can be very simple, is pretty much devotional, and doesn’t expect much between the two parties except for a simple exchange of “pleasantries” and expressions of good will. Of course, if you get a negative feedback, it maybe because you have offended said local spirit, but we’ll get to that later. Generally veneration is just a way to say “hi” and “thanks for all that you do” and “lets be friendly and polite with each other”. Venerating ancestors, venerating local spirits, venerating Gods, and heroes and every thing else. It’s all just a way of making nice. This niceness can lead to “working” and help build relationships that can be quite beneficial in the future, and possibly even buy you a Free pass when you make a mistake, but don’t always count on it.

“Working” indicates that there is a request being made of a specific variety and purpose to a specific end for your benefit. Whether it is protection, wealth, love, knowledge etc…, what makes it different is the specificness and that you are making a specific request for something you want accomplished. Often it will entail behavior on your part that reciprocates to the spirit that you are willing to work for them. A number of spiritual beings are known to be workers, who are quite open to requests for things. Gods, Saints, Angels, Demons etc… and there are books quite busting at the seems with them. But local spirits, you’ll notice, don’t seem to function that way universally, for everyone in the same way that say, St. Expedite can for so many people. One person can have a great relationship with a local spirit, and another person may get bubkis. That’s just the way it seems to go. Just because you are aware of spirit that is tied to a certain local, doesn’t mean it wants to work with you, and it will often make that perfectly clear as soon as you attempt to connect with it.

4) Just because a spirit is there, doesn’t mean it’s going to know a lot of about anything in the area.

Or for that matter, be able to communicate it in a useful or intelligible way. A spirit of the tree is mostly going to know about Tree things, and if it notices if someone stole your bike or not, will have more to do with if that bike thief happened to interact with the tree shortly before or after. If you happened to have your bike chained to the tree, it’s only thought maybe “heavy earth thing was leaning against me and now it’s not” and that’s about it. Of course a larger local spirit (say of the park) might notice, but unless your bike was important to it for some reason, why should it even care. Unless you interact with a local spirit that has vested interest in human affairs and a reasonably intelligible way to understand and communicate it, you’re really not going to get much. It is for this reason that you’ll notice a lot of cultures often have a greater spirit of a particular thing (plants, animals minerals etc…) that is often more understanding of humanity and better able to connect with it. Most people, in my experience, are usually connecting with the larger overarching spirit then the much more limited spirit of the specific object, plant, mineral, animal or place and those spirits are not “local” per se.

3) Most local spirits could give about two cents to you and your issues

this of course, ties in nicely with my last point. While the various local spirits might be quite appreciate of offerings, veneration and devotions done to them, and thus you might get them to be more favorable inclined to you, which could generally make your going about in the locale easier over all, when it comes to specifics (theft, health, wealth, love, etc..) you know, all those things that humans value in interacting with other humans, local spirits quite literally don’t understand, or for some of the larger ones, don’t care. If there is some kind of human pandemic experience going around, it might peak some of the larger more understandings ones interests (like high murder or suicide rate, or a larger number of clinically depressed) because being that we are part of their environment that they govern that might be somewhat invested in it being harmonious for everyone, but the local tree spirit, rock spirit, spirit in the park, is going to be completely uncaring to your issues, if they understand them at all. If they are even open to working with you, they might still not understand something, unless you explain it in as naturalistic terms as possible (literally think birds and bees and pollen and trees people) otherwise, you’re going to get a kind of shoulder shrug, if anything at all.

2) They have needs that you can never provide for.

Do you know how to pollinate a flower? Probably not. Even if you do know, do you have the time and patience to do it for every flower during a 3 month period? I’m guessing not. What about trees? Or, the local watering hole? Maybe you could organize a community event to help clean it up if it was dirty or only barely polluted with trash, but if the spirit is telling you it wants to flow over there, and not there, I think you’re going to have a problem convincing those people in their nice homes to make way for the creek you feel ought to build. Generally, if you’re getting a quite possibly impossible request from a local spirit, it’s politely telling you to Go away! Because it doesn’t have time for your nonsense, human.

1) Just because a spirit is tied to specific locale doesn’t mean it’s smaller.

There is such a thing as Local Gods. These being are Gods, Divine beings in their own right, who don’t need to be worshiped or venerated because their divinity comes from their locale. Perhaps a shrine might exist to them (like in Japan, or China or places that have long standing animistic spiritualist traditions) but generally there won’t be one, and they don’t really need it. You might be able to identify it with some dowsing, but it could very well be very hard to reach, and the local god may not want you to reach it in the first place. So, they being a local God can really make things miserable for you if you offend them, much like any god, and more then likely, they will be much more easier to offend and will stay offended longer then a more transcendent Divine being that is not tied to specific location. The Spirit of the The City you live in, the spirit of your neighborhood, even the spirit of your building (which in very large apartment buildings can be quite powerful) and of course, there could be more natural spirits of ecosystems and environments that are quite mighty and powerful. If you ever notice that when you enter into some areas that you get lost easier, seem to have ongoing problems with minor nuisances (insects, muddy puddles, bumps in the road, tripping over roots) is probably because the local spirits find something about you vaguely offensive. You could try to clear it up, make an offering and appease them, and can work, but some people just don’t like some people no matter what. You just plain smell bad to them, and they will never like you and they have no compunctions about making their dislike and displeasure known. You may not experience this if you only visit, especially to a major city or tourist area, but if you try to stay and settle in, is when the problems start to occur.

Of course, there are other smaller beings, but they are often in league with the larger beings of the area, and will tend to take directions from the “top” on down. They might be willing to work with at first, but after some time, will be less friendly and sociable if your general essence is just not compatible with the local area. If that is the case, you’re probably better off moving, then trying to make a go at it. Good luck explaining that to your friends and family who moved with you, or the cost of the move in the first place.

It is also my experience that smaller spirits are far more dramatic and showy then the non-time space fixed transcendent beings. Most hauntings are caused by smaller spirits, not by gods and actual major demons (despite the name they toss around). To make a ready and known comparison, think of a Midsummer’s night dream. Oberon doesn’t do the dirty work himself, he sends Puck, a servant, to do it for him. A similar situation will apply in naturalistic settings. Most major local spirits won’t do something directly if they can avoid it. They will send a representative to do it for them. Of course, if you enter into an actual working relationship with one, you may very well end up being that representative from time to time as part of your deal in desire fulfillment.

Finally, for some people, in some situations, none of this, both helpful or harmful will hold true. Some people are, as I like to call it, Unicorns. Gifted mediums who are favorably received by all spirits. People gifted with spiritual authority, that allows them to work better with spirits, and perhaps from time to time, command them when needed. Others are favored by the land, or the Gods, or a God and in certain situations that favor will manifest things for that that others will never receive within the Land, or Gods, or God. Your mileage may vary.

G is for Ganesha

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One of my favorite deities of the Hindu panoply of gods is Ganesha. He is fantastic. I forget when I was first introduced to him, but I have always felt a certain fondness for him, and enjoyed learning about him; the myths, the mantras, the devotions, the festivals.

The popularity of Ganesha extends throughout many of the religions that originated in India. Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, all seem to venerate Ganesha, and it seems quite a few people outside of that religion, who also are drawn to him.

His origin story is quite well published, and if you want to read it, well, Google it, but I will do a quick paraphrase here. He is the son of Parvati, the wife of Shiva, who was created to guard her while she took her bath. However, while Parvati was bath, Shiva returned and sent some of his followers to call upon Parvati. Ganesha denied them, and beat them soundly when they attempted to trespass. Finally Shiva came to see what the problem was, and not knowing the boy was his wife’s son, they fought. Shiva won, but before Parvati could stop the conflict, Shiva had used his destructive third eye upon the youth, destroying his head. In order to revive him, another head needed to be found, which was an elephant head, which became attached to the boy’s body and he was then revived. There are quite a number of different versions that fill in various details and explain various things, but that is the very short hand version of the story that I first heard.
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He is associated with having dominion over many things, but his main attribute is the Lord of Obstacles. While mostly often he is asked to remove obstacles, it is also said that he can place obstacles in the path of people who need it. One of his names reflects this power where he is identified as Vighneshvara, which literally translates as Lord of Obstacles (shvara – lord and Vighne being obstacles). There are other variations of this name, but the meaning is considerable consistent. The obstacles he governs are both physical and metaphysical and can be people, places, concepts, spiritual issues, illness and many other things. For this reason he is often called upon when beginning a new venture, to remove obstacles that may obstruct it, as well as when engaging in ritual, to remove obstacles that would impede the success of the ritual.

Another name and association is with knowledge, wisdom and learning. The concept I learned with that is his name Ekadanta which means “One Tusked” as he is often portrayed with only one complete tusk, the other one often broken off and being held in one of his hands. I have a small clay statue showing him holding this broken tusk, and it seems he was using it as a writing implement. The story that I learned is that it was Ganesha who first created writing, and started to write down what other gods said, that it might be preserved and remembered. As he was doing so, his writing implement broken, and there was nothign to replace it. So he broke off his tusk, and dipped it into the ink and continued writing. Because of his connection to knowledge, wisdom and learning, he is also sometimes known as Buddhi’s husband or Buddhipriya, buddhi being a sanskrit word for knowledge and wisdom which is a feminine word and priya meaning fond of, lover or husband.

Ganesha is also associated with a number of other concepts. It is said that the OM is his nature. The swastika is a very popular symbol and it is widely associated with Ganesha. Many statues from the subcontinent of Ganesha often have the swastika prominently displayed on Ganesha, or used in his depictions. He is also said to dwell in the muladhara chakra, as it said the “he holds, supports and guides the other chakras , and thereby governing the forces that propel the wheel of life”

The largest festival associated with Ganesha is Ganesha Chathurthi. This annual festival of 10 days happens in early autumn, typically at some time in August or September (because it is based upon a lunar calendar, the dates vary in the Gregorian calendar. You can google the date). Originally a small family orientated festival, it became a rallying point for Indian independence from the British, and for that reason is widely celebrated across the country, but especially so in specific states and in Ganesha specific temples. The beginning of the festival is marked by the arrival of Ganesha, usually as a large statue. At the end of hte festival, the statue (or statues) are then taken to nearby bodies of water (lakes, rivers etc…) and submerged. While this tradition continues, there has been some discourse over it, as the original statues were often made of clay and would just dissolve into mud, many modern statues started to be made from plaster of paris, which is filled with toxic chemicals, and then painted with toxic paints, which would then pollute the bodies of water. While I have read that some areas have returned to using clay and non toxic pigments, others have started using reusable statues also colored with non toxic paints and dyes, and so they retrieve the statue from the body of water after a few days.
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If you want to engage in devotion to Ganesha, a very simple way is through offering him incense and sweets. While he is often depicted with a bowl of traditional indian deserts, I have found he likes all maner of sweets and candies. Including incense (sandalwood is a good choice) is always good, as would including some kind of liquid, even water. The most commonly recited mantra to Ganesha is “Aum gam ganapati namah” Ganesha is very often identified with the color red, although white also is used, along with blue, and it seems orange and yellow are also popular (although usually used with different roles of Ganesha).

And now a little devotion for you

Urban animism

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So, prompted by a discussion I had Kenaz Filan on his blog, it got me to thinking about animism in an urban setting.
This is not really a new idea. There have been books before that brought up this concept, and based upon my own study of chaos magick, there is an intention of interacting with the metaphysical in whatever environment you are in. A communion with the spiritual forces and the spirits that occupy the urban landscape and yet so often the urban landscape is rejected while the people in it seek an escape to a “natural” environment. This, I think, is more of a reflection of the pastoral fantasy people carry in their head, that being in “nature” is better, closer to perfection, and more authentic. However, I see the urban landscape as a natural environment, created by the animal who needs it to live, namely, humanity.
Humans are a part of nature, and yet so often the works and creations of humans are dismissed as “man-made” and “unnatural.” Yet, so often it seems that it is forgotten that humanity is as much a part of nature as any other animal, many of which change their environment to make it more suitable for them. So in the cities and metropolises that humanity has created, we are participating in a natural environment that we have created to make it more suitable for us as a species, but also that other animals have adapated to living in these environments as well. These are the animals we live and are surrounded by on a regular basis, even though we don’t always recognize or even see them most of the time, but when some of them are seen, the illicit strong responses from humanity.
But not only the animals, but the landscape itself also has consciousness. Buildings, roads, cities, districts, vehicles, structural materials can all be seen as having a spiritual essence, and so a spiritual intelligence that can be communed, allied, fought or negotiated with, much as a spirit worker in any culture would have to interact with and being the herald and diplomat for the his community with their environment. Yet if often seems that the urban spirit workers don’t engage with the spirits of their environment, from the animals that also live in it with humanity, to the spirits that are connected to the homes and structures they live and work in, to the roads they travel, or even to the city itself. These spiritual intelligences are neglected, in favor of the pastoral mystique, of majestic wild animals far removed from the workers environments, animals that many of these workers will never experience first hand in their natural environment.
Of course the spirits of the land have become part of the spirits of the city that covers it. One could just as well connect with the spirit of Los Angeles, or seek the spirits that serve within it, such as Hollywood, Koreatown, or even Downtown LA. Within those are the spirits of buildings themselves, from the spirit that governs your home, to the office building you may work in all have spirits that can be cajoled, placated, and interacted with. Some might be very strong, old and wise, while others might be very young, and enjoy having the attentions of the local spirit-worker who brings them offerings to make them stronger, and so help her community.
Even more local and specific are the ghosts and lost souls that wander in the urban landscape. Often the older the city, the more ghosts there are, as stories are told of the house where people were died and they return and are seen, to the street where an old gunfight occurred. I was told by a friend once that the lost dead wander the alleys of cities, and thus to avoid allies at night as much as possible, otherwise you might find yourself with a companion following you. Of course cemeteries exist with the city, the places designated where people are laid to rest. The dead can be accessed there, although you might want to learn some of the rules followed by various cultures that are friendly with the dead on how to interact with them. But ghosts can be found in many other places across the city, as most older places have stories associated with them, and sometimes after building have been torn down and replaced, the ghosts of the prior building linger on, to continue to haunt the new building.
These are just examples of the many crossroads that spiritual beings make with humanity, and with the spirit-workers among humanity. Suffice to say that there is much to be experienced within the spiritual landscape of an urban environment. Wisdom, allies, aid can all be gained by connecting with the spirits around you, and as the spirits of the land and personal environment play a more direct role, they are spirits worth communing with.

Good-ness Gracious!

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Recently I have been feeling the desire to create some magical/condition products (oils, powders, incense etc…). Part of my training is in African American Folk Magic (via Lucky Mojo) and that is the system I prefer to use when I create such products. What has been calling me recently is the desire to create some products for general benevolence, and also attracting benevolent spirits. To that end I created two items, that currently only exist in an oil form.

The first one I call “All Good Things.” It is a very sweet scented oil that attracts benevolent affection, good spirits, and uplifted mental state. When I first created it the scent was nice, but after sitting for a few hours (and a good healthy empowerment blessing) the scent transformed into this wonderful odor. I have only used it once, but my experience after wearing it showed a general increase of helpful and benevolent experiences for the remainder of the day.

The second oil I named “Good Spirits.” Good Spirits name indicates what it is meant to attract. The attention and aid of good spirits, benevolent unseen helpers, spirit guides, helpful ancestral spirits, spiritual guardians and pretty much any kind of incorporeal intelligence that is beneficial, benevolent and well, good. I recently used it on a candy for a spiritual ally of mine, and I found our connection clear, strong and empowered. I think it also helped to strengthen the spiritual ally as well, and so it might figure as a way to anoint offerings and gifts to benevolent spirits that you may wish to call, or are already apart of your spiritual practice.