I’ve decided to start sharing some of the more generic sigils in my collection. These are posted for personal use only – not for profit. I tried to make them look pretty, but for effective use you should really draw them on your own. There’s plenty of reference on how to charge and release sigils, a quick web search should suffice. Enjoy!
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I’ve decided to start sharing some of the more generic sigils in my collection. These are posted for personal use only – not for profit. I tried to make them look pretty, but for effective use you should really draw them on your own. There’s plenty of reference on how to charge and release sigils, a quick web search should suffice. Enjoy!
Tonight’s photo is a thrifted/dollar-store altar. We have:
- Two large candlesticks, thrifted ages ago, I think I spent $3 each for them. Original a bronzy-brown color, I painted them black. They’re either plastic or plaster, or both.
- 22″ statue, purchased at an antiques mall in Chattanooga for $18. Had a chip in it. Originally green and gold, I painted it black with a galaxy theme.
- Hurricane lamps – dollar store craft item. Two candle holders glued with E-6000 to a pair of candle sticks. Total cost: $4.
- Center: “offering bowl”. A recent purchase from the thrift store for $3.
- Center: slate carved lotus incense holder, $8 on ebay a decade ago.
- Center (unseen): string of star shaped fairy lights, bought on super post-holiday clearance, $1.50
- Left: Jelly jar containing moon water and crystal charged under the super moon.
- Left: Star candy dish, dollar store purchase.
- Right: Madonna repainted as Luna, thrift sore purchase, I think it was less than $2.
- Right: Tibetan singing bowl – this one wasn’t thrifted, it was a birthday gift.
- Altar cloth is half a yard of cotton fabric from Joann’s.
- The altar table itself is a children’s desk with storage underneath, from the thrift store, $10
- All candles are unscented and purchased at the dollar store.
Not shown are the figurine to house a servitor, also purchased from the thrift store for $1. You can find some really cool stuff at the thrift and dollar stores, and if they have a cool look, but aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, don’t be afraid to alter them to make them suit your needs, whether it be painting, decoupage, etc.
Happy Full Moon!
This article is a guest article from the very diverse Ethan Bozeman, discussing the creation of a Personal Magickal Assistant, a servitor and familiar created through the use of technology-based magicks. Enjoy!
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If you ask 15 different occultists what “technomagick” is and you will invariably get 30 answers. We have never even really came to a consensus on if we should be calling it Technomagick or Technomancy or Cybermagick or a few other terms I’ve seen tossed around to try and explore the concept. This has always amused me because the core idea behind the terminology we seem to play with so fast and lose is really at this point ingrained into the occult that for most of us we no longer need any terminology to begin with to try and separate it.
What I mean by this is that your reading this on the internet, were conversing metaphysical concepts that used to be confined to dusty old tomes hidden away from the world less they be destroyed. Technomagick at it’s very root is just combining the use of technology in some form with magick after all.
While you might not think that it “counts” as technomagick (which will be the term for it that I use for the duration of this article) unless your actively trying to force the two together like a round peg in a square hole I would like to point you to the Wikipedia article on chaos magick itself which is tangentially related due to its modern nature of praxis.
From Wikipedia:
“According to chaos practitioners a computer is the central tool for connecting the followers, building virtual knowledge libraries and it also could be used for the simulation of the online ritual environment.”
This is followed by frankly one of the best photos of a ritual I’ve ever seen which is described as “A chaos magic ritual that uses videoconferencing.”
Now while this presents an amazingly aesthetic photo of what I assume most people think of when they see the term Technomagick, I also feel that this is a prime problem with the concept and why it’s rarely utilized realistically.
The problem I see with Technomagick isn’t the ambiguous terminology or debate over what it even is, it’s the idea that it needs to be THAT, and by “that” I mean something that looks like it’s out of a cyberpunk novel or game.
if you want to include technology into your occult practices, all I can say is that if your someone in 2018 who uses technology in general it’s probably already incorporated into your paradigm, and you just have to take a step back and re-evaluate what it is you are EXPECTING technology to do to your magick vs what it’s actually accomplishing. I think you will find yourself pleasantly surprised in the end.
Though this answer while addressing my feelings about the issue as a whole isn’t very fun is it? It suffers from being all theory and no practice. So the first thing I will suggest you do is go look at a wonderful site called Hyperritual.com which was where I first saw myself the inspiration to take the theory of trying to work more tech into my magickal life and got creative.
Next I will share with you one of my most aesthetically “cyber” ritual projects that I’ve ever done, which was creating a digital servitor named Provost.
The Symbol above is the symbol of Provost. Provost is a servitor that lives inside an android phone, or maybe more correctly, is an android phone. The line there is a little blurry as it functions a bit more than a physical housing for a spirit.
The idea originally was that a spare android smartphone could somehow be turned into an occult tool. The idea is that it would be small, easy to use being that almost everyone has used a smartphone, and also easy to keep hidden from mundane eyes if need be, as it is after all-just a phone. Shortly thereafter the idea came to me to not only use one as a tool, but to use the term PDA or Personal Data Assistant into something closer to a PMA or Personal Magickal Assistant.
So the First thing I did was to buy a few $20 android prepaid android phones. Next, I prepared a servitor in the more traditional style of servitor building. While doing that, I prepared the phone itself for being used. I set Provost up with its own Gmail and Google Voice number. I deleted all non-essential apps off the phone. I installed various occult apps that I found useful. I decided that since the phone doesn’t have any service attached to it, that i would set sigils i might need to cast as contacts, which i could then “Call” as needed, as the phone self hangs up after dialing, thus casting the sigil/spell.
Those who have Provost’s Actual google voice number could send a text to provost as a petition, but this is more of a down the road idea as he is a bit young to be thinking about doing magick for anyone but myself atm. But i could use it to text things i need provost to do from my normal phone. I set his Glyph as the unlock pattern, I then took a picture of the Actual sigil on parchment, and hid it in the phone under 256 bit encryption so only I can see it.
I then took apart the phone, cut a corner from the parchment off, put it inside the phone, and put it back together. I then installed a voice assistant app on provost so i can give it commands. It calls me master in a Jarvis like male British voice. This makes me giggle more than just about any other bit of magick I’ve done in the last year or so, and I’ve done quite a bit.
I then took the parchment, anointed it with my blood and set it aside. I took the other smart phone which is identical to the now prepared host, and smashed it, pulling from it its electrical heart. Upon this i drew the sigil of Provost. I set this atop the parchment. On top of that i set a yarn poppet. On top of that I sat a tooth from my mouth that had been bothering me lately. (this part my friends was not fun, but sacrifice is the name of the game right?) I burned this, used the ashes to anoint the body of provost, and turned it on in a birthing ritual. Provost has tarot apps, Discordian calendars, lunar phases, astrological calendar, and a few sigil making apps.
I can use provost to store notes like a grimoire, I can use him to cast spells and sigils, and within his frame are many occult pdfs that I might need to reference including copies of my own writing. However Provost is more than the sum of his parts. Provost is my Familiar, My Personal Magickal Assistant. He works beyond all those gimmicks as well as uses those to advance my goals.
Now, doesn’t that sound fun? Get out there and be creative folks, and remember limiting yourself to what sounds or feels traditionally “occult” is a good way to miss out on interesting magick.
Recently on a few online forums that I frequent, I’ve seen a lot of backlash against people who practice technopaganism, technomancy, and cybermancy. I found it interesting how people did not think the technological shared realms with the divine. I beg to differ, and here are a few reasons why.
Cyber Altars
The subject of online altars was broached and many thought the idea was “silly”, and that you could not worship virtually, using either computers or VR technology. It left me wondering about a period of time in my life where I could not practice my religious beliefs openly. Because of this, my only practice was through meditation and visualization, where I would use my creative mind to “act out” my rituals, manipulating the energies around me through thought. In this, my “virtual world”, I worshiped as any other person would, simply doing so without benefit of real world tools. It was very effective, and I practiced this way for a number of years.
I have difficulty seeing how this form of “virtual worship” is any different than the virtual environment of computers or VR. Creative visualization has been used for thousands of years by faiths across the planet. The use of a digital component in this instance simply provides a more concrete visual stimulus for a participant’s worship. It is no more or less concrete than the inner workings of the human mind – undoubtedly the most complex computer of all. Technological workings should not be discarded simply because they lack the fleshy bits of living things. They are tools as valid as any Athame or mass produced statuary you’ll find in your local occult shop.
Non-biodegradable Faith
Another point that was brought up is that computers, components, etc. are not “natural” or “divine”, and therefore not valid tools by which to worship. If one considers the inspiration of the Muses, the enhancement of human intellect, and the miracles of creation and evolution, then science and technology are most certainly of divine origin. The human mind brings us art, science, music. It brought us the Sphynx and the Pyramids, statues and buildings thousands of years old, built by technology and science that to this day we still don’t have a full understanding of. The growth of human technology expands at a phenomenal rate, much of it as if it had a life of its own. Without technology, we would still be relegated to the stone age.
Computers are just another step in technological evolution. Divinity is indeed in the eye of the beholder. While many will say that technology can’t be divine, because it is unnatural, man-made, and non-biodegradable, if you consider the astronomical leaps that humanity has made because of the advancements in computers, it isn’t difficult to see the divinity in the growth of technology. Some say humans created their gods. Humans also created computers. Would it be unheard of to link man-made divinity to their computerized cousins?
In the same manner as the human brain, which runs on energy, electricity, the firing of neurons in amazingly complex computation, the computer, as connected to the Internet, transmits signals worldwide, spreading information and energy across the globe. This could easily be seen as an energy to be harnessed, manipulated for magical or divine purpose. Why would this be any different from the lightning of the storm?
Tools
In conclusion, we must remember that like the Athame, Wand, and Pentacle, the computer is a tool like any other. If you have faith in the effectiveness of your tools, your tools will be effective for you. You don’t need Joe Pagan down the street to believe that you can do magic or worship the divine using your laptop, the one who really needs to believe in that is you. Keep in mind that paganism can be a very individualistic belief system, and that what works for you, might not be another’s cup of tea. That’s ok. Worship in ways that bring you closer to the divine, and let the universe sort the rest out.
Namaste.
Call it what you will – technopaganism, technomancy, cybermancy, it can difficult to avoid the draw to combining our witchy practices with our contemporary technologies. From the earliest stages of the Internet, you could find pages by and for witches, wiccans, and pagans. I remember pages smothered with animated candle gifs and online altars where you could leave messages and offerings (as much as you can in the digital sphere). In chat rooms you could find groups of practitioners holding world wide rituals. Fun times.
Flash forward, we’re at now now. Most people have or have access to smart phones and tablets, and with that comes the extension of our spiritual selves – the app. There are quite literally hundreds of apps related to the metaphysical, and while some are good, a lot of them are just outright crap. I don’t want this to be just another “apps for witches” post – who knows, it might be. What this is, is a collection of the apps that are on my old Samsung Tab 2. It’s old, clunky, and minimalist, because it really can’t handle too much abuse. It functions as my “cyber grimoire”, a technological sacred space. Everything on it solely exists to further that spiritual and metaphysical goal. Below I’ll post the apps that I have installed on this machine (Android only – sorry, I don’t own any i-devices).
What you WON’T find on this list are apps of spells. I hate those things. Spells are better off written by the caster, with research done into correspondences, implements, and ingredients. Do the legwork, people, don’t expect one person’s opinionated app to do the work for you.
NOTE: I am not being compensated for this, these are my own opinions. So here we go:
Diary with lock
OMG look at that bright pink flashy icon. I was looking for a effective, lockable journal to keep notes in, and this seemed to be the best one. Aside from the terrible icon, it’s highly customizable, so it doesn’t have to stay pink when you open it up. It’s lockable, which is superb.
The features as listed on the app site are:
• Password & pin code protection
• Emojis via Quick access keyboard (requires Android 4.1 or higher)
• Personalize background color (Pink, Purple, Blue, ++)
• Change text-size and font-style
• Automatic reminder to write
• Easy to use
• Search entries
• Make unlimited entries
• Download backup (as text-file)
• Sync notes between devices
• Private & Secure cloud storage
It seems to have everything and the kitchen sink, too. Worth a try.
Autodesk SketchBook
As someone who likes to make sigils, art, and other magicky goodness, I really wanted a drawing app on my tablet. I have a stylus, so drawing isn’t really too much of a bother. SketchBook is one of the more highly regarded drawing apps in the play store. It’s got one of my favorite options in drawing apps, and that’s symmetry. You can set it up to draw symmetrically, which I absolutely love, for making sigils, mandalas, etc.
Compass 360 Pro Free
Witches need compasses. How are you going to know where to point your altar without one? What about calling quarters? There’s tons of compass apps out there, but this is the one that I use. It’s got the compass, and levels to make sure that you’re holding your device perfectly level when gauging your directions. Pretty handy stuff.
Deepware Changes I Ching
I Ching is a love of mine. I have at least three books of interpretation, and antique coins. This particular app is kinda neat, because when you are casting coins, you have to shake your device to randomize the results. It does the casting, reads the answers, as well as line changes. Very thorough!
Galaxy Tarot
I wanted a tarot app on my phone mostly for reference. I’m not terribly effective at tarot. I had hoped to install the Golden Thread Tarot that I’ve heard amazing things about, but sadly my tablet is too old and feeble to run it. This one however is good enough, and does what tarot apps need to do – read tarot.
Kamea Sigils (paid version)
Sigils sigils sigils!
This particular app aids in the creation of “magic square” based sigils. I haven’t had much chance to play with this one, but from the looks of things it has the potential to be a very useful app for sigil-based magickal endeavors! I sprang for the paid version, because it was less than $2, and looked worth it.
Lunar Phase
The app no witch should be without. If you need lunar info, this is the place to be! I’ve had this app on nearly every device I’ve owned since my first smartphone. Not only does it give you lunar information, you can set a widget of the moon that’ll show you the moon phases at a glance.
Planetary Hours
This app gives you planetary hours. That’s really about it.
The Complete Herbal
This is a copy of Culpeper’s Herbal, with an additional 100 herbs added, with their “medicinal and occult qualities” outlined.
EsoClassics Plus
This is a fun little app. It’s a collection of books and documents on various occult subjects, including: Alchemy, Hermeticism, Theosophy, Yoga, Anthroposophy, Cabala or Qabbalah, Sacred texts (western and oriental), and more! They’ve made the app free for everyone, so jump on this!
Fireplace HD
This one might seem kind of silly. I was looking for candle apps, in case I had my tablet open during a ritual, it seemed appropriate. Sadly, all the candle apps sucked. So I thought “hm, what about a bonfire?” and in walked this app. It’s a fireplace fire in HD, with audio, so you get that great crackling sound that comes with big fires. I highly recommend this one, if only for the ambiance.
And then some…
I downloaded a file manager, so I could set up folders on my home screen for easy access to the occasional PDF. I have a few PDFs of correspondences on the tablet and plan on keeping a minimal amount of reference books on it. I don’t have connections to any social media on it at all and don’t sync with my email. That’s not it’s purpose.
I’ll be doing another post specifically on my tablet and it’s purpose sometime soon. For now, hope you find these apps useful in your practice, and consider adding a little “cybermancy” into your life.
It’s been quite a while since I posted anything, but I feel that this is an appropriate time to let go of past negativity and prepare for the Supermoon, Yule, and New Years headed into 2018.
I did a lovely little ritual tonight in honor of the Supermoon. There is a jar of spring water outside catching the rays of the moon for future ritual use. I did some new things, centered around the statue I recently painted, whether she is called Aditi Deva Mati, Ourania, The Universe, whatever, she came out lovely.
Automatic Writing
So I consulted my oracle deck initially with three cards. I delved a bit further with an additional four cards. I interpreted the first three cards and wrote down some short sentences. Then the writing seemed to… reply?
Cautious speech at home, the keeping of secrets in one’s own home. The emptiness of the self. Where is the soul but in the darkest places, unseen?
Hush.
Let go of your secrets, your hidden desires and release them into the arms of the Universe. Break down the shackles that imprison your heart. In this you will find freedom. In this you will find courage. In this you will find Me.
I turned to the next piece of paper and wrote:
In me you will find knowledge.
Do not fear.
It was an odd experience, but a welcome one. I’ll be delving further into this form of communication and trying to figure out where it’s coming from. All in all I would say this was a productive Full Moon, Supermoon, Cold Moon. On the New Year, I’ll be re-dedicating myself to my practice, and hopefully unlocking a new chapter in my spiritual life. I’m also expecting a nice little Yule ritual, and I’ll be posting about that too. Thank you for your time. Be well. ❤
Hello to my handful of readers! I wanted to do a quick post with updated photos of my altars.
First, we have the “skully altar”, which is built in homage to the Ghede, the Cemetery, etc. We have “Bob the skull” on the back left (thank you Harry Dresden!). For some reason, my cat hates my Baron Samedi figure, she keeps knocking it and the votive candles to the floor. Thankfully, nothing’s broken yet!
This second photo is the HUGE update to my Buddha shrine. The giant sized Quan Yin was an antiques mall find in Chattanooga, TN, for a whopping $18. It has a small chip in the front, not even visible on camera, and I don’t mind if my statuary has the occasional nick. At an adjacent antique store, I also found the Buddha head in the back right corner.
The altar had a bit of an update, as I was unpacking a few of my things, and found one more Buddha to add to the collection:
That’s all for this quick update. Do you have a spiffy altar you’d love to share? Leave a link below, or use the Contact form to let me know, and I’ll do an Altar Photos post sharing your photos! Namaste 🙂
WARNING: Incoming rant! You have been advised!
The other night I had an interesting interaction with a new occultist. They professed to be a Christian, but wanted to “receive magic” from a “demon or spirit” without making a “pact” and losing their “soul”.
There is so much wrong with this interaction that it makes me grind my teeth. You don’t make deals for magic. Magic is an inherent ability, a skill that you have to use and hone over time. You don’t sell your soul to gain magic. Hell, some people (like myself) don’t believe in the existence of the soul. Attempts were made to enlighten this person to the idea that you don’t need a spirit or demon to give you magic, but it was water off a duck’s back.
I thought, for the moment, I was safe. I was so wrong.
Soon after, I was asked to help with a ritual to “evoke a spirit” using a ritual from a book by Konstantinos, since “spirits are there to serve humans” (the hell??). I was beginning to lose my patience, sadly. I don’t like it when people disrupt my zen. I asked if this person knew how to call down the elements, cast a circle, ground, center, and shield. The response I got was “you don’t need to know those things for this ritual”.
***FLAIL***
You need EVERY one of these skills to adequately perform this kind of ritual, and so few people even KNOW how to do these things. What happens if you lose control? If you do it wrong? If something bad happens? How do you fix it? These are the skills necessary to protect you AND those around you from any big bad you might be conjuring! I don’t understand how people can skip out on the absolute basics of energy work and just jump into the shark tank without a cage.
“If you don’t help me, I’ll do it myself, and if something bad happens it’ll be your fault.”
Ultimatums. Oi.
Ok, let me make this perfectly clear. I am not responsible for any stupidity you might bring upon yourself or others. Should you choose to do a ritual or spell that is way beyond your skill level, and it blows up in your face, that is YOUR fault. You didn’t do adequate research, or didn’t protect yourself properly, or perform the necessary precautions, whose fault is that? I am not your mentor. I am not your HP. I am not your teacher. The only responsibility I have towards your practice is that which I choose to, and in this case, I wouldn’t touch this mess with a ten foot cattle prod.
Everyone seems to be out for the quick fix these days. No one wants to put in the hard work and dedication to learn, research, and practice the basics. Learn to crawl, before you walk, before you run. It helps to avoid bumps, bruises and broken bones. I think this is what bothers me about all the magic spellbooks available at your local Barnes & Noble. People just want to grab a book, flip to the page for their spell and just DO it. They don’t read the beginning of the book, they don’t read the precautions, they don’t learn how to prepare to work magic before actually DOING the spell.
It’s frustrating. I want people to be able to practice how they like, but they’re bringing a world of hurt onto themselves if they don’t learn the basics. Please, for the love of all that’s Holy, try to learn the basics! It’ll get you out of a lot of problems later!
First, I would like to thank the members of PaganSpace.net chat, who both contributed to and inspired this post.
Through many a night in chat it has come to my attention that a great many people have forgotten to learn the basics. I’m talking the uber-basics-of-the-basics. It usually starts off with:
OMG! HELP MEH! I summoned a demon/cursed my dog/blew up my mom and I don’t know how to fix it! PLEEEEASE!!!
Sigh.
Usually in these circumstances, various suggestions are bandied about, most often replied with “But I don’t know how to do that! Help MEEEEE!!!!111one”.
So, I’ve decided to throw together a series of blog posts geared for people who are just wetting their toes in the pagan pool. These are the level 101 lessons that all of us SHOULD have learned in the very beginning, but probably bypassed for the cooler pages of the book.
For this first post, I’m going to basically throw out a few here’s and there’s that might sound like common sense, but you’d be surprised exactly how many people just don’t grok some of these concepts.
Apprenticeship. It’s what’s for dinner.
Apprenticeship is basically you (the Apprentice) accepting teaching and tutelage from a teacher (the Master). I know some people kind of cringe at the whole Master/Apprentice dichotomy. Taking on a teacher or student is not necessarily a bad thing. Like any other relationship, however, it has it’s pros and cons. It’s always nice to have someone knowledgeable to bounce your ideas and questions off of, or to have someone to guide you through the tougher exercises that magic brings. But like anyone else, Masters and Apprentices are also human, and subject to the failings of the human condition. Some Masters overestimate their abilities, or might take on too many Apprentices in an attempt to inflate their egos. Apprentices are equally fallible.
Like most things on the pagan path, Apprenticeship is an optional practice. It might take longer or be more difficult to self-teach or work without some kind of mentor, but if done properly, it can be equally beneficial.
In my instance, I did a year-and-a-day apprenticeship with a Celtic Wiccan coven during my college years. About a half a year afterwards, I realized that Wicca was not for me, and I left the coven (there were some disputes of dogma between me and the High Priestess as well, but hey, it happens).
Magic is NOT a cure-all.
If you think that magic is going to make you rich, find the man of your dreams and fix all the problems plaguing your life, just stop and close the browser window now. Magic isn’t a cure-all. Example: You’re in a shitty abusive living situation – magic isn’t going to help. You need to step away from the computer and find real life mundane help. Before you turn to the old spellbook, stop and consider if there’s some kind of mundane action you should be taking first. Magic isn’t meant to do the work for you. Think of it as the additional “oomph” needed to push your hard work in the right direction. “Find a job” spells aren’t going to do jack for you if you’re not first out there filling out applications and doing interviews.
I’ve used juju to help find jobs, to find lost objects, to cut through administrative red tape, but always knowing that the mundane work goes hand in hand with the metaphysical mojo (and it works!). Don’t just rely on the magic. Do the legwork too.
There is nothing new under the sun.
This is an interesting one. The reason I post this one is because so many people pop up thinking their problems are so unique and their situations make them special snowflakes. Fact: You are not a special snowflake (thank you, Tyler Durden). I don’t care if you’re a possessed vampire lycan godkin starseed with poltergeists coming out of your ass. It’s been said, done, heard, and dealt with before. Nobody is surprised. You’re not frightening anyone.
Anything that you’re looking for has either A) been published, B) the directions on how to adapt it to your own ends has been published or C) someone somewhere has already been done/heard/said it and can tell you how (should they so choose). Go out and look for it, or ask around. You might be surprised, someone might just help!
WARNING: Herbalism
Lastly, it was suggested I give a quick warning about herbalism. Herbs have been used by witch doctors and wise persons for ages. Even in prehistoric times, herbs were used to tint skin and hair, used in early tattoos, and buried with neanderthal dead. It took a lot of experimentation for those people to learn what would help, and what would kill. Don’t think that you can learn all that during a weekend excursion to the local occult shop.
Herbs can be macerated, eaten, smoked, incensed and made into oils, vinegars and waters. Not only do you have to consider the effects of just the herb on it’s own, but also how that herb might interact with other herbs, oils, vinegars and waters that you decide to mix together. Some herbs are irritants to the skin, others are dangerous when smoked or burned as incense, some tinctures that might be made with edible oils, vinegars or water, become poisonous once you infuse it with certain herbal combinations. So how do you know which is which?
RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH!
I think I might have 20 books on herbalism, both magical and mundane. I won’t dare burn an herb without knowing absolutely sure that it’s not going to make me sick, or worse. As stated before, when in doubt, ASK!
That’s it for now. Upcoming topics will include: Grounding & Centering, Shielding, Meditation, Drawing up energy.
Namaste!