Beginning
Conjuration and Spirit Magic pt. 2: Devotion
So
what do I mean by devotional work? Devotion, for many people, would
imply some sort of religious commitment to some deity or saint. In
our context it could mean this but it does not have to. All we're
talking about here is creating an on going relationship with a spirit
or spirits who will act as allies for you, both in life and magic.
This borders on religious practice and can look like religious
practice.
Some
theorists on Indo-European religion talk about the guest-host
principle as a basic ordering concept of the universe and society.
This suggests that at times an individual may be a guest or a host,
and that as a guest he must act in a certain way out of respect for
his host, and the host must therefore provide him hospitality, and
further in the future he will at times act as the host, and his
former host is therefore deserving of being welcomed and treated well
as a guest. This does not necessarily mean a literal house guest
scenario, but rather, if you help your neighbor it should be expected
that your neighbor will appreciate the help, and also make efforts to
help you later, and that you will show the same appreciation and seek
later to again help your neighbor; creating then a cycle of mutual
appreciation and aid. Devotional work with spirits works much the
same way.
So
if it is a God or Saint that you select, you are not necessarily
selecting them as an object of worship. You're selecting them as a
guide, or source of inspiration, perhaps, or more simply as a
benefactor who will help and protect you. The God or Saint receives
the offerings you make, the benefit of any prayers you make as part
of your devotion, and at times perhaps public recognition. It does
not necessarily receive you as a devoted worshiper, but rather a
devoted friend. You make routine offerings, spend time in prayer or
meditation for them, maintain objects for your devotional work such
as an altar, or perhaps simply a statue, an offering bowl and some
candles. The means of outfitting your devotional efforts can be
between you and the spirit. But having some physical central focus is
both helpful in bringing your focus onto the spirit, but also it can
provide faster means of connecting with the spirit. If there is a
space dedicated for the spirit to take up as a residence, or some
tool used as a conduit for contact with the spirit you may be able to
more easily reach out and communicate with spirits with whom you have
some alliance.
Other
than Gods or Saints, the ancestors or the dead are common, and very
good, choices for devotional work. Again, you're not entering into
this as some kind of religious self subjugation or some deification
of your ancestors. You're keeping open channels of communication, and
maintaining, strengthening, and creating connections with spirits who
can be powerful allies. I've spoken before about the benefits of work
with the dead including the fact that they were once alive, and
because they were alive they are aware of and ready to work towards
the concerns of average people. It's also easy because we see this
kind of relationship in historical magic as well as in folk customs
and practices. It's a lot easier to sit down having prepared a
deceased relative's favorite food, and then leaving out a plate of it
for them while telling them all about what's happening in your life
and your families' lives than it would be to do really hardcore
necromancy. Fortunately you're probably not conjuring a deceased
person to bind them in a pact. All your devotion with your relatives
needs to be is routine contact to maintain the relationship, and the
offering of food, drinks, or gifts periodically to not simply assure
their favor but also to assure their strength and their connection to
this world.
Both
with the dead, and with Gods and Saints, our devotional work will
often involve meditating at an altar or before some devotional object
or picture. Frequently you'll give gifts and talk about what's
happening with you. There may be prayers involved for the benefit of
the spirit, or simply generally for your blessing. Otherwise most of
your devotional sessions don't need to involve you asking for
something. A lot of modern society associates all prayer with asking
for something. Sometimes it's just about pausing to connect. Other
times
you might be thanking the spirit, or you may have discovered the
spirit just likes certain poems or prayers and so they become part of
your offering.
So
by in large the basic devotional work of a magician can be pretty
simple, or it can get more complex. It doesn't need to be tool heavy,
but it can be if that's how you're called to approach your spirits.
Your
spirits. In this case it means those spirits with whom you have a
relationship. But it could also mean a familiar spirit, or a spirit
given to your charge by a higher spirit. Some people build living
vessels for their familiars and so work with the familiar may be very
much like devotion
work. For now I want to treat them as separate. Devotion work can be
a little more casual, than other spiritual work. You don't have to
seek to control the spirits, or move them from some far off place.
For
this, you're
largely working with spirits that already have some overlap or
connection with the world. But you're strengthening it by inviting
them in and making gifts to them. You're asking them to work in this
world and you're feeding them substances of this world. You're not
just strengthening their spiritual capability by feeding it more
spiritual substance; you are linking the spirits to the world by
stirring up memories and desire.
So
why go through this trouble, why not just get to the magic? Well,
this is part of the magic. It's not just
the
act of magic, but also
the
preparatory acts which make us ready for
magic which
are a big part of success. When you have allies in the spirit world
they become a spiritual currency for you, or spiritual
street
cred. Your ability to call upon and command spirits should increase
as you strengthen the spirits who work with you and they are able to
help provide you with authority in the spirit world. They can also
help with controlling unruly spirits and keeping them to task.
Another benefit though is the sort of invisible hand effect. They
want to help you and they want to keep enriching your relationship
with them. So as things happen in your life your spirits, especially
those who have
been alive previously, may recognize issues you
encounter
and help you with them prior to you asking because your spirits know
you, they know what you need. So those little catastrophes in life
might get smaller, or they might bring about less extreme problems,
or problems from fewer converging sources than what we might expect
with no one helping. With
these things in mind, it's a good idea to keep your household or
personal spirits in happy conditions.
So
what does a devotional practice look like?
Let's
say you have three ancestors you're working with as your personal
spirits. You do your initial rituals to set up a connection and
awareness. Then after that maybe you keep an altar with a picture of
the three ancestors, a candle for each of them, and
an
offering bowl, or maybe
one for each. Basically simple things. Maybe small possessions
belonging to the departed. Perhaps once a week you light the candles,
make a small offering of whatever their favorite drink was and say a
prayer or two or simply tell them about your life. You might mark
special occasions like birthdays, and
other
holidays, particularly
May's
Eve, and November's Eve with extra ritual work or prayer work or
special gifts. For saints you might use their prayer candles and
cards and other Catholic resources. Similarly for Gods obtaining a
statue or image and other devotional gifts can be simple. But all in
all this model can work fairly easily regardless of which type of
spirit, though for Gods and Saints it's useful to draw on the
traditions to which they are native and accustomed.
As
you put together this part of your practice sometimes there is a
tendency to pick one spirit, usually a God or Saint, and think of
them singularly as your patron. Or conversely some people grab on to
every God, Saint, and Ancestor they can find and try to juggle two
dozen at once. Start small. I started with one ancestral spirit, and
then selected a few others who felt significant. Then, and this can
be an interesting devotional task in ancestor work, began exploring
stories of my family's past to flesh out my sense of my pleroma of
ancestors. Now your ancestral practice does not need to involve
setting up devotional shrines for each ancestor or markers to
remember all of them. Your personal maiores (great ones), the handful
to whom either you or your work are most connected maybe two or three
early on, those should have objects
set for interacting, others can be considered and acknowledged more
generally. If you're working with a God, don't jump to tie yourself
down to a patronage but note two or three who might help with your
work, similarly you don't need to set altars for a whole pantheon of
deities, the same is true for Saints.
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