Wait, Magic Can Fail And You Can Still Be a Good Magician?

 It is pretty common to scroll Facebook and see posts from forums with people in shock about how they tried a spell, they thought they did it right, and it either didn’t work or events in their life started to go the opposite direction of what they wanted from the the spell. They usually don’t provide enough info to analyze what the problem is. For a lot of people, I think the main thrusts going through their mind are “why is this happening to ME?” and “is something wrong with me?”

Before I get into more of the answer, if you’ve had that experience, there is probably nothing wrong with you. There is certainly nothing innately unworthy about you. These sorts of things happen to everyone, both in the context of magic, and in normal everyday life. Things don’t always go as planned. What we intend to happen doesn’t dictate what happens, because nothing is all about intention. What we do, how we approach what we’re doing, and myriad factors that build the context in which we are doing all factor into how situations blossom into the reality we experience. 

Sadly, it’s also common in these forums for responses to be backwards, snarky, foolish and unhelpful. I have said, mostly privately, that it’s ironic and amusing when people criticize some NeoPagans by saying “They went from Protestant to Pagan and all that changed were the letters that come after the P,” because, in all honestly, NeoPaganism is incredibly predicated on Protestantism. It wouldn’t exist in its current form without developing in a Protestant context - but that’s a subject for a book, not something we can delve into in this blog post. The responses from people in forums really show the retention of Protestant spirituality though. “Maybe you didn’t deserve it,” “The Universe has another plan for you,” “Trust Divine Providence,” “Magic isn’t supposed to be used for things like that,” and other various responses that seem to not comprehend at all what magic is. 

So, this post is going to show some solidarity with all you mistake makers, spell spoilers, and manifestation missers. First, some quick take aways about mistakes. 

1. Making a mistake is human, it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you

2. You can do everything correctly and things might still not go your way

3. Intention isn’t everything. Intention characterizes normal actions as magical actions, that’s all. You still need either the right actions and tools, or the right capabilities and connections to make things happen the way you want, and even then, it isn’t 100%. If intention were all that mattered, mistakes wouldn’t be possible.

4. Waiting on Divine Providence or the whims of the Universe is the opposite of doing magic

5. Magic isn’t science, or even science we don’t understand yet. Magic has elements we can’t observe or measure, and it impacts things in subtle ways that mean endless factors we can’t assess could impact what we’re doing as well. It can be a tool to rely on, but it will never have the repeatability or transparency of other technology because it is more like poetry or art, every expression is unique and born from the interaction of the magician and the uniqueness of their perspective in the singularity of that moment

6. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone tries stuff that ends up being a dud…but sometimes, magic still happens even when we think it didn’t, it just didn’t happen the way we expected or wanted. 

So, now that we’ve given some basic take aways and reassurances, I’m going to talk about a semi-recent mistake I made. If you’re reading this and don’t know me, I come from a family with threads of magic on both sides. I was introduced to magical things as a small child. I began studying it and practicing it around the age of 11, and dove in intensely around the age of 15. I had a few informal teachers in my teen years and began a formal apprenticeship at 18 that led to “Adepthood” in one system. I took magic oriented classes at university. I was trained in another system where I had Adept status. I trained in a family witch tradition separate from my family. I was in an order where I held a leadership position and was ordained clergy and achieved a decent degree level for a long time. I’ve been actively studying and doing magic for over 30 years. I’ve taught publicly for decades, written books, led public rituals and have had people express awesome results they’ve gotten from those rituals. None of this is shared as a flex. It’s just meant to show that I’m pretty far from a beginner. I’ve had enough success to know magic is real, even at the times when I feel like I should just give up because it doesn’t seem to be working - and those times happen to everyone. 

So if you’re a beginner, or you are not a beginner but you haven’t done a bunch of fancy training or done a bunch of stuff out in public and you think you’re mistakes are a reflection of your inexperience…well, they probably are. At least, maybe they are. But that’s ok. Even when you have experience, they’ll happen, and that’s the main point of this post. 

That said…my recent mistake story and some reflection. 

A couple years ago, I made a set of gris gris bags that each included an astrologically elected Jupiter talisman, a Solomonic pentacle, and the typical ingredients for such a spell.

I had made some astrological talismans before with success. My first one was a pretty effective love charm. Another dissolved some extra bone someone had so he didn’t need surgery. There were a couple other such experiments, but they were all pretty simple and informal. This was my first more formal one, if I recall correctly. 

I made about a half-dozen. I kept one for myself, and gave one to my partner so we could see how they worked before I gave out the rest. 

Once we both began carrying them, everything either of us did that should have resulted in money was either getting canceled or not resulting in enough business to make money. We both felt like something seemed to be impeding us and that it came on around the time we started carrying the gris gris bags. So we put them away. Eventually, I ritually destroyed the whole batch. Just putting them away helped though, destroying probably helped more.

I was really puzzled as to what caused them to be so bad. I didn't think there was an issue with a malefic in the election. I wasn’t even the one who drew up the election, it was a professional astrological magician who had forecast it. 

As I pondered possibilities, I wondered if maybe the Astrological talisman didn't work well with the Solomonic pentacle. I had previously had another incident where two sets of spirits clashed and created calamity because they had not been introduced and harmonized (although in that instance it wasn’t due to my own work.) With as much as talisman makers and pentacle makers seemed to sometimes bicker about the nature of their respective arts and the spirits involved, I began to wonder if the other spirits of the talisman and the pentacle didn’t get along, or if other spirits involved through the other ingredients had a problem with either the talisman or the pentacle or both (this seemed unlikely but worth considering). Gris-gris bags are living things. You nurture a new spirit into life when you make one, and the spirits of the ingredients are co-parents, putting some of themself into the new life you’re conjuring forth. Solomonic pentacles aren’t an unusual ingredient in such confections, so the spirits rebelling didn’t seem super reasonable. Still, I asked a friend who had much more experience with astrological talismans. He also thought that was unlikely.  

Eventually, by happenstance, I learned that astrological talismans shouldn't be made in direct sunlight. I had never learned that rule. For whatever reason, I had decided to work outside while I was making these particular talismans. So the Astrological talismans were corrupted. Some would say that the sunlight would simply destroy them as they were being made, and so they would just be inert, but my experience seems to suggest that it was a corrupting influence. Proximity to the sun can mess with things in an election, so it seems reasonable that this could be a negative factor instead of a negating factor. Sometimes bad talismans are weak, sometimes they are powerfully harmful. These weren’t destructive. They didn’t destroy things already in my life. Business efforts just didn’t take root like they should, some got cancelled, some expected revenues evaporated.  So, it created a bad effect related to actions the talisman should have been bolstering, but didn’t reach out malefically beyond that, fortunately. 

In the end, I was able to resolve it and things improved. I didn’t simply go, “woe is me, I must be unmagical,” or “I suppose the universe doesn’t want me to have good things,” I searched for what I did that could be the cause and I remedied it. 

Like we said at the beginning, my point in sharing this story is that even if we know a lot of magic and generally know what we're doing, we can all make mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes are because we're trying something new, or blending things we didn't blend before. Sometimes it's because we just overlooked something or didn't realize the impact a component has. The specifics of what we do matter. There are also things beyond our awareness or control that matter. Because of the latter, it’s all the more important to be as good as we can be with the things was can control. 

So, if stuff goes wrong, what is there to do? Even though a mistake doesn’t mean you’re innately flawed or undeserving, it could still reflect something about you. You might need to do an uncrossing or do some cleansings to make sure nothing is attached to you that’s getting in the way. Even if you’re not cursed, it can be a good best practice to keep up with spiritual hygiene because we get exposed to a lot of stuff. We also pull a lot of stuff onto ourselves. 

It might not be you, it might be the situation and other competing factors, or it might be a mistake you made in the spell. In fact, even if you needed to cleanse and uncross, these other two elements are more likely causes of error.  

Take apart or banish whatever you did to stop the ill effects. Then analyze thoroughly. If you're new, ask for help analyzing it. But be very detailed about what you did. (In my example, when I asked a popular talisman maker if he had thoughts he was at a loss, but I omitted that it was outside around midday that I had made the talismans, without that detail he couldn’t ascertain the problem).

You might also consider doing some general banishing, or banishing things that could be impeding your success. Once you banish, fill that void you’ve created. Invoke success. Invoke magical power. Invoke forces related to what you’re trying to accomplish

Now, put those forces in motion towards your intention. Once you've analyzed it, cleansed and prepared, either try your spell again with corrections, or try a different approach. But don’t give up or doubt yourself or your worthiness to have the things you’re looking for just because something didn’t go your way.

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Review: Practical Occult Jewelry

           So I’ve been pretty far behind on posting. Busy with my new writing project _Unto the Angel_ my book on the Holy Guardian Angel…along with regular work, and fencing. One of the things in particular I’ve wanted to do recently is review some really cool stuff which has come out from some people who are pretty cool. The first one I’m going to present is, sort of, but maybe not entirely, the newest.

          Alison Chicosky has been making a stir for a few years in terms of inspiring people to work with PGM and to explore, in particular, the Stele of Jeu. She has done some pretty amazing stuff with simple magical techniques and has helped others do the same by directing them to Rufus Opus’s _Seven Spheres_ and the PGM materials, the two of which have become the source of her go to methods, at least as far as I understand.

I’ve heard some pretty amazing stories about people saved by the phylacteries she’s made and gifted to them. And by saved, in some cases I mean literally their lives have been saved. Her construction of magical objects has spread out beyond the phylacteries into a huge array of planetary talismans. She has been sharing these talismans with people and they’ve been getting great results. Myself included.

A few months back I was in my car and suddenly the world was a kaleidoscope. My eyes were no longer seeing the same thing and I was driving through a world wind of blurred images. A couple days of tests showed that I was pretty healthy…surprisingly so, but that due to a nerve issue one of my eyes wasn’t moving so I had extreme double vision. This resulted in a couple months in an eye patch.

Alison was the first person I reached out to for help. She sent me a talisman. Once it was delivered, even before I had it in my possession, I could feel its influence in my orbit. When I first held it I could feel the difference in presence it had, and when I interacted with it I had strong and clear instructions from the spirits associated therewith.

My doctors told me to basically keep things easy going and eventually the eye would heal, but it might take months. I found a surprising number of people who had had similar issues or knew people who had similar issues. Most of the people I encountered initially told me about how they, or they people they knew, never got better. It was a little frightening. The doctors made it sound simple to the point of being unrealistic and brushed off a need for me to keep seeing them. They gave me no real instruction or treatment. Once the talisman was in my possession I started getting more and more people telling me about people who had the same problem and it got better. All of them needed to see specialists and do special exercises or wear special corrective items, but they got better. I went in for my first, and only, follow up and the doctor was clearly surprised by how much progress my eye had made in a short time. I finally had hope that I was sure wasn’t just me convincing myself that I might get better.

Now, my eye works correctly and I’m without the eye patch. It took some time. The talisman didn’t miraculously instantly heal me. But there was a definite shift. Some of the underlying issues eased up once I had it. I stumbled onto some unlikely assistance a few times. I recovered with pretty much no medical treatment past the diagnosis. The world that seemed to be preparing me for the worst turned into a world reminding me that it would work out. That was probably a huge factor in my eye getting better at all.

I accept that my recovery was in part due to rest and other things done to improve my condition, but I also believe that the talisman turned around important elements of the situation and helped guide me towards the possibility of recovering, which didn’t seem there at first.

That said, my story isn’t anywhere close to the most miraculous I’ve heard from Alison’s talismans. But it’s my story, so it’s the one I feel OK telling. If you know other people who’ve used one ask them about them, or reach out and ask Alison about them.

Or, acquire one from her. Alison has recently started taking commissions for talismans. Her work can be seen and she can be contacted via Facebook at:

Practical Occult Jewelry

Talismans for Success

I've seen people ask sometimes what to do with a talisman once they've consecrated it. There's a lot of options, let's look at a few, and wrap up with one that will get you things you want pretty solidly with minimal work.

Growing up when I made a talisman I tended to just put it near whatever it was meant to do. If it was for money it went in my wallet. Talismans for sex went under my mattress or somewhere in my pants. Being a young male those were the only two things I ever used magic for. Just kidding, but you get the idea, talismans were placed in relation to the goal. For more global goals I would leave the talisman on the altar, or burn it, or use it with other ritual implements.

Most of those talismans were based on making a sigil for a goal and charging it with a ritual. They weren't usually talismans made with spirit magic.

As I got into magic involving spirits some of my view on how to use talismans changed. In modern magic the talisman is often thought of as a “magical child” or creature which goes and does the work of the magician and dissipates. So leaving it on an altar or putting it near what it's effecting makes sense.

A talisman consecrated by a spirit is a material link to the force of that spirit. The talisman remains substantially whatever material it's made from, essentially the talisman has the form of the magical purpose written into it, but the being of the talisman is changed to match the being of the spirit based on contact with the spirit. The talisman essentially becomes a small link between the spirit and the world.

So if the nature imbued into the talisman is effective, in that it describes what the spirit is doing, wearing the talisman as a charm or carrying it, or placing it in proximity to what it's effecting makes sense because it's pretty similar to the modern view of the talisman being a magical creature doing a job. But if your talisman is just marked with symbols of the spirit, or powers which rule the spirit, or symbols which relate to its correspondences then the being and essence of the talisman are simple and reflect the spirit more directly. The talisman at that point is kind of like a battery, or an little piece of the spirit's power radiating out for your use but not in a particular way.

This can be useful if you're just trying to draw a particular force into your life, but it doesn't do much for a specific goal.

Once you've consecrated such a talisman there are two primary ways to use it. First, it can be a short cut to conjuring the spirit again to ask it to take care of your goal. Alternatively, you can use the talisman as a source of power in more basic sorcerous spell work.

One of my favorite ways to do this is to consecrate the talisman, and then when I'm ready to use it take a candle which has been rubbed with oil and incanted for a particular goal. Then place the candle over the talisman and just let the candle burn up. The candle draws the force of the talisman and radiates it out into the world in accordance with the goal assigned to the talisman.

One could easily make a talisman charge it regularly and keep it wrapped up and in a special spot whenever you have need of that particular force, just whip out a candle, rub it up, chant over it, and put it on your altar on top of the talisman. Set it and forget it. Simple way to manifest your goals with only a few minutes of spell work.

You can consecrate your talisman however you like. The traditional grimoiric methods are great, if you're looking for a quick and simple way to do it, try the Solomonic Hexagram ritual posted a couple days ago.

Body Talismans - First Use of the Solomonic Hexagram Ritual

The first time I used the Solomonic Hexagram ritual was back in 2005. I had recently begun competing in fencing tournaments and was in my final year as a collegiate competitor. My performance was not so hot at the time and my knees were starting to bother me. I was studying the Greater Key of Solomon and decided to conjure Bartzabel and use one of the seals from the Greater Key. The results I got were interesting, and successful. Here is how I went about it and what happened.

I was not yet engaging in actual Solomonic ritual at that point and had limited experience with evocation. I had a pretty solid familiarity with Golden Dawn based magic. So this was the solution. Despite worry over concerns expressed in the GD materials about people becoming obsessed by painting scrying symbols on their bodies, I decided to put the seal I had selected from the Greater Key on my right forearm, which was the arm I used in fencing.

I performed the ritual and when I got to the conjuration of the planetary spirit I extended my arm through the circle and asked the spirit to consecrate my arm as a talisman. When I was done I went to bed. My thoughts became rampant ideas and instructions on how I needed to train and practice. I worried that that was all I was getting. It wasn't.

That night I had intensely violent dreams about gang warfare. So intense that they woke me from sleep. I recognized that I had essentially tied my body to a martial spirit and then went to sleep so I acknowledged that the dreams were an effect of that choice. In the morning I woke up and went to a tournament. In the two months leading up to that tournament I'd fenced in a few others, and while I had not DFL'd in any of them, I came really close in all of them. In this event though, I won my group for the prelim round and medaled. My legs didn't bother me through the event. It was a pretty huge difference.

I began using this method pretty routinely with various spirits. Had success with various types of magical goals. To avoid any kind of obsession or spirit issues related to the consecration of body parts as talismans I ritualized washing off the seals. Four times, banishing based on the elements with each one. The one negative was routinely consecrating my arm began to result in pain over time, and so I dropped that method. But still used the ritual for calling on spirits. Because it was simple, quick, and worked really well, even without making my body into a tool, although partying with Venus talismans all over my body was kind of fun.

Faster Simpler Shorter - Effective Easy Angel Work

Sometimes we need quick simple access to angelic or spiritual forces to accomplish things for us. Full Solomonic evocations, or even smaller methods like the Heptameron or Trithemius are not always convenient for various reasons.

Back in 2005 I determined that I wanted a quick simple way to work with spirits. I began using this pretty routinely as I was beginning to prepare for working with more traditional methods.

It was very good for consecrating talismans and for getting quick results to simple requests. This is not so great for asking the angels questions or scrying, except through dream work.

It's also a good stepping stone for those who are familiar with modern magic technique like the LBRP who are trying to bridge their way towards actual practical evocation.

Over the next few days I'll post some stories about the use of this ritual as well as a method for combining it with other simple practical magic.

The Solomonic Hexagram Ritual

Fr R.’.S.’.

I. Kabbalistic Cross.

Perform the Kabbalistic Cross

II. Formation of the circle

Advance to the east and trace the fire invoking Hexagram vibrating “AL”

Advance to the South and trace the Earth invoking Hexagram vibrating “YAH”

Advance to the West and trace the Water invoking Hexagram vibrating “AGLA”

Advance to the North and trace the Air invoking Hexagram vibrating “ADNI”

Return to the center

III. Invocation of the planetary Hexagrams

Advance to each quarter beginning in the East and ending in the North tracing the invoking Hexagrams of the planetary sphere required and vibrate the corresponding name.

IV. Invocation of the Spirit of the Planet

Return to the center. Extend the arms in the TAU then turn the palms face up; keeping the palms flat and extended raise the forearms into an obtuse angle. This sign signifies the reception of divine force.

Say the appropriate invocation for the desired planetary spirit.

V. Kabbalistic Cross

Perform the Kabbalistic cross.

Invocations

The appropriate Solomonic pentacle from the second book of the Greater Key should be used in conjunction with these invocations as a means of directing the nature of the manifestation. The magician should also be clearly aware of the purpose for which he is performing the invocation. If he wishes to apply the force to a talisman to keep for general use he may apply the pentacle to an appropriate disk. If he wishes to invoke the spirit for a particular use he should scribe the seal upon some relevant portion of his body with a temporary means that may be removed at will. If there is no specifically relevant portion for the intention the seal may be placed upon a body part corresponding to the sefira to which said sphere is assigned. The ability to remove the seal with immediacy is necessary and is of the utmost importance.

Luna

By the holy name Shaddai El Chai, I invoke Levanah, the lucent wanderer that rides the sky and rules the crab, that I might stir Gavriel that I might receive Gavriel that he might send Malkah be Tarshisim ve-ad Ruachoth Schechalim, that I might manifest Schad Barschemoth that through invoking him I shall…

Mercury

By the holy name Elohim Tzabaoth, I invoke Kokab, the swift wanderer that rides the sky and rules the twins and the virgin, that I might stir Michael, that I might receive Raphael, that he might send Tiriel, that I might manifest Taphthartharath that through invoking him I shall…

Venus

By the holy name YHVH Tzabaoth, I invoke Nogah, the shining star that rides the sky and rules the bull and the scale, that I might stir Haniel, that I might receive Haniel, that he might send Hagiel, that I might manifest Kedemel, that through invoking him I shall…

Sol

By the holy name YHVH Eloah va-Da’at, I invoke Shemesh, the splendorous wanderer that rides the sky and rules the lion, that I might stir Raphael, that I might receive Michael, that he might send Nakhiel, that I might manifest Sorath, that through invoking him I shall…

Mars

By the holy name Elohim Gibor, I invoke Madim, the red wanderer that rides the sky and rules the ram and the scorpion, that I might stir Kamael, that I might receive Zamael, that he might send Graphiel, that I might manifest Bartzebel that through invoking him I shall…

Jupiter

By the holy name El, I invoke Tzedek, the merciful wanderer that rides the sky and rules the archer and the fish, that I might stir Tzadkiel that I might receive Sachiel, that he might send Iofiel, that I might manifest Hishmael, that through invoking him I shall…

Saturn

By the holy name YHVH Elohim, I invoke Shabbatai, the cold wanderer that rides the sky and rules the goat and the cup bearer, that I might stir Tzafkiel, that I might receive Cassiel, that he might send Agiel, that I might manifest Zazel, that through invoking him I shall…