This is not to say that I've been inactive magically. While I haven't had as much going on as I'd like, I have been active. The downside is that I seem to have hit a rather unfocused phase in my activities, and so I've been working on that. My regular practices have been up and down, leading to me being on a type of "break" from that than I would rather not be on. Through talking about this and related trends in my personal life, I've decided that I need more routine in my life. After all, you can come home and zone out on the internet all evening only so much before that gets really old. Well, at least that's the case with me.
At one point I began to take a look at all the "projects" that I have going. It seems to come down to quite a few items. I've had some interesting highlights.
CLIENT WORK
At one point I decided to take on some client work, free of charge, to help me gain further experience, sharpen my skills, and complete one of the homework assignments from Strategic Sorcery.
My first client in this vein is a close friend of mine ("Jewel" from previous posts last year), and she had fallen on hard times due to being dismissed from her job and having difficulty getting another one. After consultations and hitting her problems from a couple different angles, I'm happy to report that she got a job and things are going a little better for her. On top of that, her musical career on the side has become much more successful since my work on her behalf. Things are still tight for her, monetarily. But that's where my work with her fiance/my-other-close-friend "Topher" comes in, hopefully.
My work with Jewel helped me get new experience in a couple of things. First was the type of tarot consultation that I did for her. I've been working with some of the material in Ly de Angeles' book "Tarot: Theory & Practice", and like a lot of what I see. In short, I do a slightly abbreviated version of her full consultation method. This allows me a good picture of her situation where I can analyze to find any crossed conditions, "weak spots" in the situation where magic will be the most effective, and what specifically should be avoided.
I also got some experience in creating a conjure hand. Strangely enough, for a while it didn't seem to be having a strong enough effect. Then, after I burned a candle over it to lend power and also burned an uncrossing candle on the side, improvement happened pretty quickly.
MATERIA, MATERIA, MATERIA
I've continued to use and improve my materia used in spellwork. I've worked on refining formulas that I have posted previously, and have also worked on creating new ones either from scratch or from a pre-existing recipe. Talia Felix's book, "Conjure Cookbook", has been absolutely WONDERFUL for this.
One formula that I came up with is a love-oriented one specifically geared toward men seeking men, as I didn't have any Q or Lavender Love Drops, and didn't have access to recipes for either one. The funny thing about this one is that I had written out the intended formula, meaning to make it as I wrote it. However, I decided it would be a good idea to consult with my Genius via a pendulum. The interesting part is that what my Genius indicated for the ingredients and their amounts was completely different than what I had created...and yet it was even more appropriate! Scentwise, it has a lavender topnote, rose middle note, and cardamom bottom note. So far I call it "Gentlemen's Favour", but won't be posting it on here anytime soon.
I've also re-done my Uncrossing and Fiery Wall of Protection formulas, and they seem MUCH more effective. Looking back, though, I've found that the source book I got them from had often pulled its formulas from Herman Slater's formulary, which is a bad thing in my opinion because of a frequent lack of accuracy of his formulas in relation to the lore that at least the formula names were drawn from.
THE CALL OF HEKATE
As I've been going along, I've been feeling more and more of a pull to work with Hekate. This urge culminated in me sitting down one evening, invoking her, and then going into a contemplative session wherein I met with her. It was a very dream-like sequence, during which she talked to me about things regarding my spiritual path that have been on my mind lately. I have gotten some benefit from that meeting with Hekate, and I'm going to work with her a bit more.
With so many "projects" going on, I decided to give The Unlikely Mage's technique for finding direction a try, and came to the following:
- I will focus on studying Agrippas 3 Books.
- I will start engaging in a cycle of conjurations of the Governors of the Planetary Spheres, as well as daily recitation of the Orphic Hymns of the planets.
- After a long time of putting it off, I have been urged to actively work with the spirits of the Strategic Sorcery Mini-Grimoire.
- As per the advice given, I will continue developing my formulas and use of materia.
- Study of tarot and also the Lenormand oracle will continue.
- Discipline in maintaining a regular practice as well as continuing my course of training has been suggested.
On top of this, there are some things that I have been urged not to continue with for at least 6 months:
- Adapting my own conjuration ritual, independent of the Trithemius version.
- Further client work and offering of services and products.
- My study and practice of Geomancy.
That last item is the one that disappoints me the most! But, all things considered, I think it would be for the best for the time being. In the meantime, I'll develop the suggested items while finishing up current client work.
Speaking of the client work, one of the current clients is apparently being plagued by a night hag! So I will soon be preparing the Hekatean spirit trap (the design of which is shown on Jason's book "Protection & Reversal Magic", along with Fiery Wall of Protection and Clearing work.
So this is what I've been up to lately. There is much going on, and I will have more to report!
Glad the technique proved of use to you!
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