Uncrossing, part 3: The Working

After getting all my supplies together for the uncrossing, the time finally came for the operation itself.  So, the sunday before last, I began my 3-day long operation to lift the crossed condition that I had been suffering under.

The road leading up to this point was a little long, and in some ways it was unnecessarily so.  However, I wanted to take my time getting my reasearch together, making sure I did things right.  I chose things carefully and made what I needed to make, bought what I needed to buy.  In essence, when it came time to do the working, I wanted to make damn sure my crossed condition was broken and blasted straight to hell (maybe not literally, but you get the point).

This working took on a degree of significance for me.  While under the worst of my crossed condition, I underwent one of the worst times of my life.  There was no enjoyment in life, horrible luck, nothing ever happened truly in my favor.  Even my magical abilities turned against me.  In many ways, my uncrossing represented a turning point.  I placed a lot of hope in my uncrossing working, as though afterward I would be like someone coming out of captivity and resuming their life.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my uncrossing operation took 3 days.  The structure of it is somewhat traditional, although the overall flavor of it is not.  Basically, I took the tech of an uncrossing in more traditional Hoodoo, and put a more Pagan spin on it while including arcana from Strategic Sorcery.

Without further ado, I'd like to jump into the guts of this working!

PREPARATION

1.  Gathering the Supplies

Naturally, I had begun by creating the supplies I would need for the operation.  The rest of the supplies consisted of things I had neither the means nor the inclination to make:

• 3 4" offertory candles, white
• 6 tealight candles, white
• 3 self-igniting charcoal blocks

Other supplies included things I had around the house: A pitcher, equipment to boil water, a lighter, etc.

2.  Empowering the Supplies

Prior to making the supplies, I had been approaching Helios and Hekate by giving regular offerings for a few weeks.  So when it was time to empower my supplies, I felt confident in asking for their aid.  For each of the supplies I mentioned in my last post, I used an altered version of a particular invocation to Helios and Hekate from Jason Miller's 'Protection & Reversal Magick', along with the Triangle of Manifestation gesture from 'The Sorcerer's Secrets'.  Here is the rite I used to empower the supplies, along with the invocation:

1. Universal Center
2. Pillar Exercise
3. Brief prayer to Helios and Hekate, asking for aid.
4. Triangle of Manifestation gesture over item.  Gather energy from the Pillar, visualizing it as mostly gold, with some white and some blue, into the space between the hands.
5. Recite the invocation.
6. Push the gathered energy into the item.

Here is the original version of the invocation from 'Protection & Reversal Magick', page 74:


"Hail to you, Hekate of the threshold;
Hail to you, Helios most high.
Lay your hands upon me in consecration,
Drive sickness and evil from my limbs.
May these waters drive away my attackers
And cast them down into the four rivers of Hades;
May the air blow them away to the four winds.
May I forever stand in your luminous light
And have my path made clear.
Hail to you, Hekate of the threshold;
Hail to you, Helios most high."

Naturally, if using this for consecrating items, it needs to be re-worded a little.  For example, when using this to consecrate my uncrossing oil, I used the rite above and recited the invocation like this (changes are underlined):


"Hail to you, Hekate of the threshold;
Hail to you, Helios most high.
Lay your hands upon this oil in consecration,
May its touch drive sickness and evil from my limbs.
May its touch drive away my attackers
And cast them down into the four rivers of Hades;
May the air blow them away to the four winds.
May I forever stand in your luminous light
And have my path made clear.
Hail to you, Hekate of the threshold;
Hail to you, Helios most high."

I did this with each of the uncrossing supplies, re-wording appropriately.

3.  The Crossroads

When I finished empowering the supplies, it was then time for me to decide on a suitable crossroad to visit later in the working.

For some reason, it made more sense to me to visit a different crossroad each day of the operation.  So, I chose the locations strategically.  The first one was a few blocks from my apartment complex.  The second, a half-mile away in the same direction.  The third one was a full mile away, again in the same direction.  It's symbolic: on each successive day, I carry the crossed condition farther and farther away from me.  This will make sense later on in the working.

4.  The Bath and the Floorwash
For the bath and the floorwash, I recommend making the amount needed on the night before they will be used.  I did this with the bath, allowing it to cool overnight and simply adding some hot water to warm it up before use.

THE MAIN WORKING

What follows is the working I did each day, step-by-step:

1. Universal Center - A centering exercise where you place yourself at the center of the universe, magically-speaking.  Thus, you place yourself in a position of ultimate magical authority.

2. The Pillar Exercise - An exercise from TSS that gives access to magical power by establishing a column connecting to forces Above and forces Below.

3. Invocation of the Agathodaimon - An invocation from TSS that calls on one's higher Genius.

4. Opening the Adamantine Temple (Over my entire apartment) - A type of "circle" casting that sets up a type of energetic fortress around the area that is good for dealing with crossed conditions.  Unfortunately, I don't feel I can publish it because it is part of Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery course, and even he had never published it before inclusion in the course.

5. Invocation of Hekate - This is an invocation that I particularly enjoy, from Jason Miller.  Versions of it are included in 'Protection & Reversal Magick', but the version I did can be found at his old discussion forum:

"Hail many named mother of the Gods, whose children are fair
Hail mighty HEKATE of the threshold, keyholder of the world
Hail to thee ENODIA, Keeper of the four and three way crossroads
Nether, Nocturnal and Infernal one
We becon to you as Lovers
Come unto us and grant us the pleasure of your presence
Night Mother! Savior! Mistress of Solitude!
Lady of light, and the darkness that contains it
You who walks disheveled and wild through tombs and cremation grounds
Cloaked in saffron, crowed with oak leaves and coils of serpents
You who is followed by hordes of ghosts, dogs, and restless spirits
Yet is also the luminous Empress of the Empyrian realms.
We beckon to you as Lovers
Come unto us and grant us the pleasure of your presence
PROPOLOS, steer us safely through the four rivers
PROPYLAIA, reveal to us the secret paths of serpent power
PHOSPHOROS, light our way with your twin torches of mercy and severity
BRIMO, shake the pillars of perception with your wrath
ANASSA ENEROI – Queen of the dead, open the mysteries of Thanatos
HEKATE CHTHONIA, Queen of Witches
Teacher of Sorceries and Bindings and all manner of Thaumaturgy
I call to thee by thy secret names:
AKTIOPHIS. ERESHKIGAL, NEBOTOSOUALETH
Hear me and attend to me
You who is Serpent haired and serpent girdled
And whose womb is covered in serpent scales
I come to you as a Lover 
Take me into your arms, kiss me upon the mouth and empower me 
The summoner and the summoned have been made ONE
IO HEKATE IO HO"

Note: Any bolded words should be intoned, or vibrated.
6. Invocation of Helios - For this, I actually took a spell for deliverance from the Greek Magical Papyri (aka Papyri Graecea Magicae, or PGM) and split it into two parts.  The particular spell is from PGM I. 195-222, from around the year 400CE, as given in Stephen Flowers' book 'Hermetic Magic', pp. 228-229.  Here is the first part, re-worded slightly for modern language:


"I call upon you, Lord.  Hear me, holy God who abides among the Holy Ones, beside whom the renowned spirits stand forever.  I call upon you, primal father and I pray to you, eternal one and ruler of the Sun's rays and of the cosmic Pole, standing within the seven-part realm:  CHAO CHAO CHA OUPH CHTHETHONIMEETHECHRINIA MEROUMI ALDA ZAO BLATHAMMACHOTH PHRIXA EKE EPIDREI PHYEIDRYMEO PHERPHRITHO IACHTHO PSYCHEO PHIRITHMEO ROSEROTH THAMASTRA PHATIRI TAOCH IALTHEMAECHE. You who hold the root fast to its appointed place, who possesses the powerful name which has been consecrated by all the angels.  Hear me, you who has established the mighty decans and archangels, and beside whom stands an infinity of angels.  You who have been exalted unto heaven, and the lord has bore witness to your wisdom and has praised your power highly and has said that you have strength like his, and as much power and he has himself."


Unfortunately, I don't know how to put the actual vowels of the bolded words there.  Soon I hope to edit this post and present my pronunciation of the words of power.
7. Offering - Following the type of ritual procedure in 'Hermetic Magic', after summoning the forces for the working, I gave offering to them by lighting the self-igniting charcoal block and sprinkling a pinch of uncrossing incense on it.  On top of this, I used Jason Miller's offering technique to multiply the offering and make it take on the forms of the things most desired by its recipients.
8. Preparing the Candle - At this point I took one of the 4" offertory candles and inscribed my name on it from the base toward the tip.  Then, on the other side of it, inscribed the word "Uncross" in the same direction.

Then, I dressed the candle.  For those who aren't familiar with this, it is where you take some kind of condition or magical oil and rub it onto the candle in a direction corresponding to the aim of the working.  To repel something, apply the oil by rubbing from the base of the candle toward the tip.  To attract, rub from the tip to the base.  For this working, I dressed it to repel using my uncrossing oil and then set it in the candle holder.
9. Empowering the Candle - At this point I made the Triangle of Manifestation gesture over the candle and drew energy from the Pillar, imagining it gathering between my hands in colors of gold with some blue and white.  While doing this, I recited the rest of the Deliverance spell from the PGM:


"I call upon you, Lord of the All, in my hour of need; hear me, for my soul is distressed, and I am lacking in everything, and I am perplexed.  Moreover, Lord, a cross is upon me that is too heavy to bear.  Therefore, come to me, you who are Lord over all angels; hold your shield over me against all manner of assault by the magical power of aerial daimons and of Heimarmene.  Especially, Lord, because I call upon your secret name, which extends from the firmament of heaven into the earth:  ATHEZOPHOIM ZADEAGEOBEPHIATHEAA AMBRAMI ABRAAM THALCHILTHOE ELKOTHOOEE ACHTHONON SA ISAK CHOEIOURTHASIO IOSIA ICHEMEOOOO AOAEI!  Lift and break this cross, Lord.  Rescue me in this hour of need!"


As I did earlier, I underlined the parts of the invocation that I added or altered.  At the conclusion of the prayer, I pushed the gathered energy into the candle.  With that done, I lit the candle and got ready for the next part.
10. The Uncrossing Bath - At this point I absconded to the bathroom, taking with me the following:

• Pitcher full of uncrossing bath
• 2 white tealights dressed with uncrossing oil
• The censer with the uncrossing incense burning in it

I undressed, plugged up the bathtub and ran a small amount of warm water.  Then, I lit each tealight and put one on each end of the tub, imagining that they each formed a column on either side of a doorway leading into the Empyrian (Divine) realm.  Holding the pitcher, I stepped between the candles into the bathtub.  Commencing with the original version of the cleansing prayer to Helios and Hekate (given earlier), I poured the water over myself starting with my head, moving out and down along my arms, then my body, and then my legs.  Once the pitcher was empty, I continued gathering up the water from the tub and washing in the same pattern, repeating the prayer.

Once I felt that I had bathed enough, I stood for a few minutes letting the air dry me.  Then, I gathered some of the water in the pitcher, drained the tub of the rest of the water, stepped back through my "divine doorway" and got dressed.

11. Closing the Adamantine Temple - At this point I bottled the water I had gathered and closed the Adamantine Temple.  This was in preparation for the next step...

12. Disposal of the Water at the Crossroads - I took the water to the crossroads location.  I stood in the center of the crossroad, faced east and dumped the water out.  As I did so I said, "In the name of Hekate I give this crossed condition over to the Chthonic powers."  I then went back to my place without looking back.

13. Using the Floorwash - Back home, I took out the bottle of uncrossing floorwash and spritzed all the floors with it, moving from the farthest corner of the apartment to the front door.  I didn't recite a prayer while doing this, but I did concentrate on cleansing the apartment of any crossed conditions.

14. Wafting the Incense - By this point the incense was smoldering in the censer.  I added more and went from room to room in the same pattern in which I spritzed the floors, wafting the incense.

15. Anointing with Oil - To conclude the working for the day, I went back to my altar and anointed myself with the uncrossing oil.  I anointed myself on the crown of my head, my forehead, my throat, over my heart, above my navel, just above my genitals, on each foot and inside my wrists.

With the Main Working described, it's time to flesh it out to give a complete picture of the entire operation.

THE OPERATION

Day 1

1. Got up at 5am, showered.
2. Performed the Main Working.  Crossroads location: A few blocks from my place.  Walked there and back.
3. Sprinkled uncrossing powder in the four corners of each room and across all doorways.
4. Took uncrossing powder to work and sprinkled it across the doorways into my department, and in the four corners of any cubicles I frequent, especially the one my desk is in.

Day 2

1. Got up at 5am, showered.
2. Performed the Main Working.  Crossroads location: 1/2 mile from my place, in the same direction as the location from Day 1.  Drove there and back.

Day 3

1. Got up at 5am, showered.
2. Performed the Main Working.  Crossroads location: 1 mile from my place, in the same direction as the locations from Days 1 and 2.  Drove there and back.
3. After the Main Working was finished, I stopped back by my altar.  I gave another offering and gave special thanks to Hekate and Helios.  I then declared the working complete.

EFFECTS AND RESULTS

Right from the start, Things Started Happening.  I swear, sometimes it's almost seemed like the crossed condition itself was some kind of entity that knew its time had come!  When I went to start the working on Day 1, the symptoms of the condition flared up badly.  I couldn't do anything right, time seemed to be against me, I almost dropped and broke my bottle of uncrossing oil, and the charcoal block acted like it didn't want to ignite.  However, once I started the working, things smoothed out quite a bit.

And things stayed smooth throughout the rest of the operation.  One interesting thing to note is that I didn't experience some of the same things as The Unlikely Mage did during his uncrossing.  Aside from that, I fully expected to be left feeling a little weak after each bath, as though I'd just been released from some chains.  That didn't happen either.  In fact, as I went along, things felt better and better.

And now?  It's been a week and a half since then, and the results have been interesting.  First and foremost, life itself has this feeling of smoothness and openness that I haven't felt in a long time.  Even when dealing with difficult things, it doesn't feel like I'm all bound up like it did before.  Life no longer feels like it never gets better...it just feels like it is what it is, and like the ball is in my court.

That's not to say that life is all sunshine and roses now.  Life is still life, for better AND for worse.  In fact, I've been incredibly busy since I finished the operation, barely getting time to myself, with it sometimes seeming like a lot of people want me and my time.  Plus, I still have to deal with my own shortcomings, like my horrific time management skills.  Frustration abounds.  But now it is possible for things to change for the better.  Blessings can come without curses, and I can move and effect things again.

And I've been watching people around me.  Brother Moloch mentioned that when going through an uncrossing, others around you may start to exhibit crossed conditions...and that can indicate links and possible causes.  And interestingly, my roommate's life in general has taken a turn for the worse in many ways.  I don't understand it yet, but maybe I will soon.  In the meantime, I've been working behind the scenes to cleanse him of any fallout from my uncrossing.

For the first week I had not consulted any oracle to check the results, and so I decided that would be the final test.  My pendulum gave an answer of "No" to the question, "Am I suffering under any crossed conditions?"  When asked the same question in a simple 3-card reading with the first and last cards fleshing out the second one, my Sybilla oracle came up with light, positive, good-natured cards.  Given the question, I took that to mean "No".

With all these things taken into account, I consider this uncrossing operation EFFECTIVE.  In fact, I am thinking about submitting this as my third homework assignment in Strategic Sorcery.

OTHER NOTES AND FINAL THOUGHTS

I've learned a lot from this whole ordeal with being crossed.  Above all, I've learned that magical practitioners are not invulnerable to these sorts of things.  Sometimes you might not even be aware of it until its at its worst.  I kind of feel like an idiot, because I spent so much time doing things that were not practical and effective.  I didn't know to check myself regularly and set up warning systems, so when my crossed condition expanded and overcame me, I wasn't ready at all.  And all those books from Llewellyn, and all those books on "High" magic don't prepare you for these things at all.

That's why I'm thankful for the internet and the sorcerers, conjure doctors, rootworkers and other practitioners out there who do the work and publish at least part of it.  That's why I'm publishing this.  Now I know what I can do, and I know more of the dangers that I can face, as a magical practitioner.

My next post will deal with the follow-up to my uncrossing operation.  My line of thought was: Nature abhors a vacuum.  I was under a condition for quite some time, and removed it.  Thus, there's a vacuum.  I'll beat nature to it and create a positive condition to replace it, while also protecting myself from further crossing.

Thanks for reading, everyone!