The Chain of St Michael.

I first encountered St Michael's chain in 2010. I was approached by an American friend of mine who asked me if I had knowledge of it as he wanted to learn the method of using it.

I told him I didn't know the method nor had I ever heard of it.

He told me he heard it was a form of divination that originated in Sicily and Southern Italy.
Bemused, I decided to do a little research of my own. I had never come across this method of divination whilst in Southern Italy nor had I ever heard of it.

However being of proud dyed in the wool Calabrese stock, a fortune teller and a devotee of St Michael the Archangel, I was naturally delighted by the possibility of such a divination system.

After a little research on the Internet I found.....nothing.

There were mentions of a St Michael's chain online, however this was a chain of office that was used in the confraternity of St Michael, it seemed to have no link to any kind of divination system.

I started asking around my Sicilian and Calabrese family and friends to see if anyone knew anything. They all just scratched their heads and looked puzzled.

A little disappointed, I packed the idea away in my mind and forgot about it.

Autumn 2011 and I came across a pamphlet on Sicilian folk magic written by an Italian-American author. In the book there was a description of the chain and how to use it.
The description given in the book was somewhat clumsy, unclear and badly written. It claimed the chain was a form of divination used to communicate directly with the Archangel Michael himself.

After a little study, I realised the chain was little more than a very simple form of geomancy.

4 holy medals of St Michael the Archangel where to be attached at equal lengths along a chain, the chain would then be thrown after certain prayers and ritual gestures. The chain produces a binary system depending on if medals land "up" or "down" that in turn make up 16 geomantic patterns, the 16 patterns where the same geomantic patterns found in traditional European geomancy and West African Ifa.
However their meanings deviated from both these systems separate interpretations (though admittedly one or two of the meanings of the patterns did coincide directly with the traditional European geomantic interpretations.)

There was also a second method of employing the chain in the book, this method again relied on forming binary patterns.
However in this instance only five patterns could be produced. It struck me that these five patterns where identical to the five outcomes of Obi divination utilised in Santeria.

Intrigued and not really sure what to make of the whole thing, I decided to go ahead and test the method of divination nevertheless.

I attached 4 St Michael medals to a chain, blessed them in the name of the Archangel and invited some friends to pose questions.

To our surprise, we found the chain to be an immensely accurate form of divination. So accurate in fact that I found the insights and predictions it provided quite remarkable.

The first question posed was by a friend of mine who has an eye disease called retina pigmentosa, she enquired if there was anything to help her medical treatment. The answer from the chain: "Pray to St Lucy" (patron of the blind and eye disorders.)

The second question posed was by my friend who worked in a bar and often would often walk through a bad area of town in the early hours to get home, he posed a question for general advice in his life, the answer: "beware violent crimes, beware thieves and avoid being in dangerous places at night." After this result he confided in me that the previous night he had been followed by a potential attacker, who had tried to corner him. He took the chains advice and decided to get taxis home from work from then on!

Origins of The Chain:

In the book from which I learnt the divination method, the author made no real claims to the origin of the chain or how he came to learn it. It could be that he did indeed formulate the entire system himself by fusing together Geomancy, Ifa and Obi.

After a little more research, I found that geomancy style divination was indeed practised in Southern Italy. I have even spoke to someone who had geomantic readings performed with 4 coins to produce the binary patterns (in the same way the medals of the chain produce patterns).

This hardly surprised me though. Ive seen all sorts of bizarre forms of divination coming out of southern italy, divination isn't so much a practise in Italy, as a national obsession. Ive seen everything from scopa cards to sex position dream interpretation (I kid you not, there's some scary old women who will divine your sordid nocturnal fantasies into winning lotto numbers.)

But, sadly alas, no mention specifically of a St Michael's chain.

In truth; I have no knowledge to what the origin of the chains is, whether it is the relatively recent invention of an Italian-American benedetto or the product of time tested traditional Italian folk Catholicism, I dont know.  I would really like to say its the latter, but I cant, simply because I don't have any evidence to say it is.



It seems of little consequence regarding the pragmatics of divination anyway.

What is important is that it works. Which Ive found it does.
But whats so special about it, that's warranting this blog post, is that it works to a level of divinatory accuracy that is almost disturbing. I have no doubt the chain and its system is a damn useful divination tool and not something I'm prepared to just throw away, just because it might not be of antique origin.

Speculations of the Chains Historic origins:

The chain is definitely influenced by some form of geomancy, there is no two ways about it. It also works, old or not, it taps into something powerful. Infact Id really apreciate it if anyone reading this experienced with Geomancy or Ifa would be kind enough to share any of their thoughts and ideas on how it might work.

Geomancy itself is Arabic to my understanding. The mythological origins of geomancy are that the Islamic prophet Idris was given the binary figures by Jibreel (Archangel Gabriel.) though its actual historic invention is shrouded in mystery and speculation.
The method was brought to Europe in the middle ages, probably through Spain and Italy. It may have also been taken to West Africa by Arab traders and slavers, where it evolved into the seperate religious divinatotry practice of Ifa. However many other people think Ifa divination is a system that evolved independently and the feature of its binary figures being similar in nature to Arabic/European geomancy are purely coincidental.

With this information, we can speculate that Arabian geomancy might have once had a strong hold in Southern Italy. Arabic ethnicity, culture and language all have had a heavy influence on Puglia, Calabria and Sicily that is strongly evident even to this day.

It doesn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to see a system under the patronage of one Archangel (Gabriel) shift under the patronage of another one, who is more popular in the region it is being practised (Michael). But again, Ill leave it to you to decide what you think the chains origins are.
I am sitting firmly on the fence. I'm quite happy throwing my St Michael chain and getting good results whatever its origins.

Assalamu Alaykum,
(as my Arab ancestors would have said.)

Advanced Cartomancy: Divining With Playing Cards and Tarot Simultaneously

Playing cards are a wonderful divination device, with just as much potential as tarot if taken seriously.

Ive had a few people message me about my yearly forecast spread, asking me both how and why I combined both tarot and playing cards in the reading.

When Tarot and Playing cards are used in combination, we get a whole new dimension of divinatory meaning.

Standard Tarot spreads such as The Gypsy, The Horseshoe and even the Celtic Cross can be enhanced by the combining tarot with playing cards.

Here is a very simple example of divination using both tarot cards and playing cards simultaneously.

A friend of mine posed this straightforward question:

I'm having trouble in work, can you please shed some light on the situation?
To answer this question I'm going to lay out a simple spread.
3 tarot cards are laid out left to right representing past, present and future.
A fourth card is placed face down above these, this face down card is the advice card, it is turned over at the end of the reading.

Next, I take my playing cards and give them a shuffle, cut the deck and remove the first card. The 10 of hearts, so I place this card over the tarot card representing the past.
Because it is a 10 I then count 10 cards into the deck and turn over the next card. It is the 7 of clubs, this goes in the position of the present and the process is repeated with me counting out 7 cards for the future.

Now the spread looks like this:

The Tarot cards give an overall background to the situation, whereas the playing cards represent more specific actions and events.

First we look at the overall spread.
2 Major Arcana and 1 Court card, this indicates the situation is largely abstract and calls for an emotional or mental shift rather than a physical one as a solution to his problems.
2 black playing cards and 1 red playing card, the overall situation is negative, however there is hope.
The recurrence of the Number 10 in the playing cards is significant, the number 10 occurring twice in a card reading represents a change of circumstance (is this a new job? has there been some change in the work place? perhaps a new colleague or a new manager?).

After the brief overview to see where the reading is heading, we can fully interpret the cards.
Ive provided textbook meanings of the cards here to help you along if you'd like to divine also, but remember text book meanings are only a guide, interpretation of the cards should lie fore mostly in the intuition of the diviner:

The Past:
The King of Swords; Power, command, authority etc, etc. Intuition is pointing towards a stern male manager within the workplace.
The 10 of Hearts; Good Luck and Happiness, due to the recurrence of another 10 in the reading also a change.

Interpretation: A male manager who was quite stern and had your back in work, you felt happy working underneath him, you are no longer working under him and since he has left not only have you felt less happy in work but also feel as though misfortune has crept into your professional life.


The Present:
Judgement; Change of position, renewal, outcome, also exactly what is intimated by the card.
7 of clubs; Prosperity and success, be careful of trouble coming from a person of the opposite sex.

Interpretation: Since changing managers you have lost sight of your personal potential for success and prosperity in the workplace, you must overcome your fear and believe in yourself that nothing has really changed. Also be wary of a judgemental female colleague who is scrutinising this behaviour and perceiving it as weakness.



The Future:
The Lovers; partnership, love, trials overcome.
10 of clubs; Unexpected money coming in, good luck, travel abroad. Also the recurrence of 10 indicates a change.

Interpretation: After a holiday with your partner, expect returning to work to bring a new perspective. You will be happier and more positive in work, promotion and a good relationship with your new manger is on the horizon.

Now the Advice card is turned over.

The numbers of the playing cards already laid out in the spread are added together:

10+7+10=27
2+7=9

9 cards are counted from the deck, the ninth card is flipped over and placed over the Advice card like thus.

Advice for the querent:
Strength; Power, force, courage etc
9 of Clubs; Don't be stubborn, achievement, a new admirer

Interpretation: Stop being so negative, things are not as bad as they seem, your negative attitude is brought on by fear of change, which is causing you to court misfortune. It takes a bigger a man to accept and adapt than what it does to fight change.

xx xxx

OK, that's all well and good, a very simple reading for a very simple question.
But combining decks can give more complex readings.
For example here is a spread of my own design, I like to call this one of my "compass rose" spreads.

4 Tarot cards are placed in the middle at the cardinal points, each one representing a point of the compass.
Playing cards are counted out again using the method given above (jokers are given the value of 1, Aces are low, also having the value of 1.) And spread clockwise, 3 at each cardinal point of the compass starting in the East ending in the North.

This spread is very useful as it can be interpreted in a manner of ways, for example it could be used like a calendar to give someone a yearly forecast reading. I.e East could represent spring-time, the Hierophant here giving an overall feeling to the season and the three playing cards representing the months of March, April and May each card representing a specific event in these months when read in conjunction with the Hierophant.

Another way of reading it would be in a psychoanalytical way. Each cardinal point representing an aspect of the querents psyche, for example the tarot in the East might represent how the person thinks and communicates, the 3 cards specific thoughts and expressions, South their creative outlets and endeavours, west their Emotions and dreams etc....

If you where of the mystical bent and wanted to be really clever, you could read the whole thing in relation to astrology. This would give the reading a whole new dimension.
For example North might represent the element of Earth and the 3 cards the astrological Earth signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, East the element of Air and the 3 cards Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, etc.
So in this case, The Jack of Diamonds, is in the position of Taurus, under the influence of the 8 of Wands which is in the position of Earth. This might represent a home loving, affectionate fair haired young man who is enthusiastic about doing creative pursuits at home, which in turn is meeting with the disapproval with the people he lives with...

Have fun and good luck with your readings!

Forecast for 2012!

Sorry its been a while since Ive updated this blog. I thought Id start 2012 with some divination for the New Year.

This is a sort of brief divinatory overview for 2012 . Ive also written a monthly rundown in the style of a horoscope forecast for all those who fate has brought here to read it. That way hopefully everyone will be able to dip in and take away something meaningful.

Hope you enjoy and you all have a wonderful 2012!

I cast this reading using tarot, playing cards, dice and the chain of St Michael. Here is the result:

The Saints that are most auspicious for 2012 according to the reading are St James and St Expedite. Both are excellent and powerful intercessors!

The angels suggested by the reading to rule 2012 are Sachiel and Adachiel.
These 2 angels rule over the domains of politics, travel, money and leadership aswell as adventure and jovial disposition.

St Raphael also seems to be going to have some important influence over this year. He is associated with healing and medicine as well as some aspects of romantic love to a lesser extent.

Key themes for 2012:
An especially lucky year for you if you are female. Fertility, travel and money are very important themes this year for everyone.
However, this is generally an unfortunate year for legal endeavours in all their forms.



Lucky associations for 2012:
The colour BLUE is an extremely auspicious symbol this year, perhaps more so than any other correspondance given here.
The number 7, also all multiples of 4.
Lucky charms incorporating images of birds of prey, fish and scallop shells are great things to have in 2012.
Omens surrounding the weather, especially rain and lightening will be fortunate.
Anything foreign coming from overseas carries meaning and luck.
Roots such as vine leaves, mint, nutmeg , star anise, palm leaves and juniper berries are all auspicious roots for this year.
Summer is the most auspicious season of this year, especially August.



Unlucky associations, warnings and ill omens for 2012:The colours yellow and white are unfortunate.
Be wary of lies, theft and gossip.
Images of crows and magpies(!)
Rootwork involving vandal root (valerian) will have a more than usual nasty effect, as will work involving wormwood and castor.
Winter is a bad season this year, as it will bring mourning in some form.




Monthly Forecast:

January:
Harsh changes may be afoot, especially changes brought about by a necessary journey. A time to be grateful for home and the everyday things we have.

February:
A highly auspicious time regarding money, especially in terms of receiving money from partners and one to one employer/employee relationships. Nostalgia in regards to the home and sentimentality may colour the mood for this month. A good time to spend with grandparents, parents and children.

March:
A great month for playing games of chance. Blessings in all forms can be found from immediate family members, especially children. Also a time to exercise mindfulness and being grounded, as both daydreaming and flights of fancy have the potential to lead you astray this month.

April:
Creative inspiration is in abundance during this time.
Be wary of people of the opposite sex who you are not involved with romantically. Sexual frustration may also be a problem especially if you are male, however, male virility should not be a problem!

May:
Overenthusiasm may consume you, be careful you do not fall prey to those who might deceive you whilst you are blinded by excitement.
Joy can be found in the form of plants and animals, especially pets.

June:
Ensure to get out more, even if you dont feel like it. To not move may be stifling. Trying something new will bring much happiness.

July:
A misfortunate month to be caught up in any legal proceedings whatever their form. However, a fortunate time for women moving within social circles.

August:
This month is all about love, marriage and fertility. An excellent time to embark on anything relating to the heart. The potential for new romance or deepening existing romance is immensly favourable this month. Perhaps the most auspicious month of the year.

September:
Another fortunate month for money but also travel, holidays and journeys taken in this month will be joy filled. Should any emotional troubles bother you at this time then you should make contact, seek solace, support and advice from female friends and relatives who live a distance from you.

October:
Fortune in the form of serendipity and material gifts can be yours this month providing you take an optomistic and playful attitude towards life. Birth, abundance and again fertility are all key themes. If you are trying for a baby now would be an excellent time.

November:
Be wary in work, especially if you are feeling stagnant or hopeless in your job, this feeling will pass. The potential for problems in the workplace are a real issue this month arising from job dissatisfaction.

December:
For those of you lucky enough to be offered any kind of business partnership, jump at the chance, now is a very auspicious time relating to this kind of endeavour. New romantic relationships started at this time will meet with dissaproval from others.

21 Card Gypsy Spread and Bone Casting: Part 2, Casting The Bones....

So, we've got our 21 card Gypsy spread laid out, already we have quite a detailed narrative forming, now its time to cast the bones directly onto the cards to add an extra dimension to our reading.

Ok, Ok I know I keep saying "casting the bones" but I shouldn't really say that as its a bit misleading, Ive been informed the term I should be using is in fact "sortilege", as the objects I'm going to be throwing onto the spread of 21 cards aren't just bones, they include cowrie shells and coloured dice.



When I normally use sortilege, I use 21 objects (3x7= a powerful number with a touch of destiny about it.) These 21 objects include 13 bones from certain animals, 4 dice of different colours (red, green, black and white) and 4 cowrie shells.
However this method is a private practice and somewhat secret, so sorry, I'm not going to be sharing it here.

The sortilege method I'm going to be using here for demonstration purposes is very much a watered down version of the sortilege system I normally use and will only consist of 13 objects: 5 chicken bones, 4 coloured dice and 4 cowries.

But, its still workable and lots of fun if you want to give it a go.

You will need:
a wing bone, 2 leg bones, a broken wing bone and a rib bone all taken from a chicken.
Red, green, white and black 6 sided spot dice.
4 cowrie shells

I believe divination is a spiritual ritual, therefore it deserves to be treated as such, so take a few moments to relax and clear your mind and then follow the instructions below.
You will be surprised at how much easier it is to get into a divinatory state of mind if you incorporate little rituals like this into your divination practice.

Take the objects in your hands, with great ceremony close your eyes and breathe on them to give them breath with which to speak.
Shake them over a 21 card gypsy spread in the form of a cross: up, down, left and then right. This represents the cardinal points of the compass and is a statement that the objects will cover the world reflected in the cards below.
As you do this say the following words:

Hear this, all peoples
Give ear all inhabitants of the Earth

Both low and high
Rich and poor together

My mouth shall speak wisdom
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding
I will incline my ear to a proverb
I will lay my dark saying upon the harp

 

Drop them from a height through the middle of the cross youve just traced in the air, this symbolises them passing through lifes eternal crossroads, allow them to scatter where fate wills them.

Now open your eyes....

Reading the Chicken Bones:

Look how the bones have landed, what patterns do they make? Look for shapes and interpret them accordingly in relation to the core narrative of the reading and what cards they have landed on.

Some common patterns to look out for and their possible meanings might include:

Cross bones: which bones are crossed? is it an x or is it a cruciform shape? which bone lies on top of the other? for example if a leg bone has a broken rib bone fallen on top of it in an X shape this could perhaps be interpreted as basic foundations to a situation being disrupted by an accident.

Triangles: Which direction is the triangle pointing? some folk associate upward pointing triangles with masculinity and downward pointing ones with femininity. Is it an upward pointing triangle that screams a warning to your intuition like a traffic road sign? Or does your intuition see it as an alchemical symbol? What cards are at the points of the triangle? What card lays in the centre?

"Greater than" and "less than" signs: Are two of the bones making this shape "<", or this shape ">"? If so are they indicating something is greater than or less than something? Or perhaps your intuition points at shapes like this as being crude arrows, if so what are they pointing at?

Horizontal and vertical lines: is a bone connecting two cards? or perhaps cutting one in half?

"T" shape: does the querent feel as though they are at a junction? or does your intuition suggest a path is being blocked?

Here are some associations you may wish to place on the bones themselves, these are not set in stone, just some ideas, go with what the bones are telling you:

Wing bone: flight, freedom, distant travel, victory, success

Broken wing bone: calamity, being grounded, futility

Leg bones: a journey, solid foundations, perhaps their phallic shape represents to you potency or fertility

Rib bone: a cage bar representing confinement, a precursor to a woman (think the story of adams rib), the ability to hold things together, structure

 

In our reading; a broken wing bone has fallen over the mouth of the king of cups, given the position of this card I interpret this as although the querent will pull through bad times, in the future he must be careful to not allow himself to listen to bad counsel given by an older man who is going through similar troubles our querent has had, this man is jealous of our querents success and seeks to discourage him on his path to happiness through spiteful envy.  

Reading the Dice:

There are many different ways to read dice, this is how I do it.

I always read with 4 dice, a black one, a white one, a green one and a red one.

Each coloured dice has its own set connotations, black is negative, white is positive, green relates to luck/money/health, red relates to love and sex etc.

The number each dice rolls are related to these connotations, however, the way they are interpreted depends on the context of the question put to them, where they land in relation to the cards and the other sortilege objects, not to mention the general narrative of the reading.

The association connected to whatever number each one rolls should be determined by the diviners intuition, after all its the diviner doing the divination, not the dice.

Here are some examples below, however bare in mind they are just examples, they are not set in stone!

The black dice is generally negative so some associations of which numbers it rolls might be as follows:

1. Loneliness, abandonment, sadness

2. Deceit, lies

3. Infidelity, bullying, aggression

4. Stagnation

5. Black magic

6. Poison, greed

The white dice is generally positive, some associations of which numbers it rolls are:

1. Joy, fulfillment, victory

2. Marriage, trust

3. Friendships, family, spirituality

4. Order, peace

5. Blessings

6. Healing, abundance

The green dice relates to matters of health, wealth and luck, some interpretations of which numbers it rolls might be:

1. Management, financial independence, a doctor

2. Business transaction

3. Uncanny turn of fate

4. Steady income, a winning streak

5. Sickness, misfortune

6. International commerce, the unseen influencing personal luck

The red dice relates to matters of love, romance, relationships and sex, some associations of which numbers it rolls might be:

1. Sexual frustration, sexual independence or awareness

2. Partnership, a relationship

3. Fertility, pregnancy, a love triangle

4. Stable relationships

5. Jealousy

6. Sex, flirtatiousness, promiscuity

Yes and no answers can also easily be determined by the dice, odd numbers for yes, even numbers for no.

 

So, in our example reading, a green dice has landed on the queen of wands displaying a number 3 along with a red dice displaying a number 2, given the position this card lays within the spread this omen could be interpreted as an ex lover, an emotional woman with a bohemian nature who once parted company with the querent, possibly because of infidelity on his part, still holds a flame for him and may be swayed into reconciliation if a gift is given as a peace offering.

Reading the Cowries:

I have to be a bit careful here, as not to tread on any toes, I always read with  4 cowries, however i stress this is not the 4 cowrie shell oracle of obi.

Although obi is very easy to learn in terms of how the shells land, please do not attempt it unless you are an aborisha and wish to communicate directly with Elegua.

The method here is totally unrelated to Obi divination and is just a simple form of divination, pennies work just as well as cowries for this. Think of the shells as coins, mouth side up is heads, mouth side down is tails, indicating positive and negatives.

Cowries can represent other things too, especially money, as in West Africa cowries where once used as currency. Some people also associate the shape of the cowrie with a vagina, therefore they can have associations with sex, fertility and gynaecological issues. Others associate cowries with little mouths, are the cowries speaking? It looks so in our reading....

Two cowries have fell mouth to mouth on the station of the immediate future with a black dice displaying a 3 in between them. The card they have landed on is the 10 of wands. I take this to be a warning about gossip, lies and slander, don't bitch about other people, even to close friends, it will only draw negativity and make your life more hard work by encouraging a negative mindset.

Anyways that enough for now, i would like to go into sortilege much deeper, but I simply don't have the time and energy, try it for yourself its easier than you think.......In the 3rd and finally part of this blog post I will be putting it all together to show what a reading might look like.

Thanks for reading, have fun throwing your lots.

Peace x

21 Card Gypsy Spread and Bone Casting: Part 1

I'd like to share the method of divination I have used in e-mail correspondence readings.
Due to the heavy content nature of this reading I rarely use this method in face to face readings.
This spread is excellent for querents who have not given you many specifics to work with and want a general all over reading.

To perform this method of divination I use the following items.

A rosary, a wine glass of water to which kananga water has been added and a white candle
A deck of tarot cards (with tarot I only ever use the Rider Waite Deck or the Tarot of Marseilles but you go with whats right for you.)

First I pray on the rosary, asking God for a blessing, I then light the candle next to the glass water and perform a small secret ritual to invoke the spirits of the Ancestors calling them to come forward and help me divine.
If you honour your ancestral spirits then you too can pray to them to help you with your reading, if not call upon whatever divinatory spirit you have a relationship with.
If you do not get on with spirits, then just light a candle (if you want) and ask either your God(s), your higher self,  guardian angel or whatever to help you see clearly what you need to see.

I then take the cards and give them a good shuffle, concentrating heavily on the querent and his problem.
I then lay them out in 3 rows of seven, 21 cards in all.

This particular spread is called "the gypsy spread", it is quite a difficult spread to use and requires some practice.
If you are starting out in tarot you can practice the trimmed down 9 card version of this that I gave in an earlier blog post until you feel confident.

There are two different ways to read this spread, it can be read from right to left, or it can be read left to right. I read it left to right.

The cards along the top row are called the "crowns"
The cards in the middle row are "stations"
And the cards along the bottom row I like to call "roots"

The cards are read in columns, each column consisting of a crown, station and a root. There are 7 columns in all, the columns, from left to right, represent:

The past.
The present.
The future.
Obstacles and solutions within the querents power.
What the querent hopes for and what he fears.
The querents home, friends and family
Destiny, the ultimate outcome that is fated and cannot change.

This however is just my way of interpreting the columns, other readers use other methods, if you don't like it, feel free to change it and see what works best for you.
The station within the column gives the primary meaning to the column, the crown colours this meaning and the root demonstrates where it has come from, adding depth.

Here is a spread I have laid out for someone I used to know, he shall remain anonymous:

21 card gypsy spread.

In the above spread, if we look at the first column we see the moon in station, crowned by the 3 swords with its roots in the 7 of cups.

This is a very bad omen, this column says: in the past the querent has suffered from depression brought about by either drink or drug abuse.
The Moon represents mental illness, because it is crowned by the 3 of swords which represents unhappiness then the mental illness comes in the form of depression.
Because the 7 of cups can represent substance abuse and lies in the roots, we deduce that the depression came about because of substance abuse.

We then proceed to go through each column.

In the second column representing the present we have The Magician in station, crowned by Death with Judgement in root.

The Magician = One who facilitates change in the world around them.
Death = Drastic change, an ending but also a new beginning.
Judgement = Decision, criticism and responsibility.

With these cards we can read: at present the querent has taken control of their life making great changes born from harsh self criticism of their past.

It should be noted by the diviner that the prevalence of major arcana cards in this column shows this column is of particular significance, what is happening in the present is a major event in the querents life.


Column 3, the future, 10 of wands in station, crowned by Strength with the 5 of cups in root.
The querent will find the future difficult, during dark days losses and regrets from a dark past will come to haunt him, however although the burden is heavy he continues to move forward as he has determination and has an iron constitution.

And so on.....

So putting all the columns together already we have quite a good narrative building up.

Now we need to look at additional information given by the cards.

First we look at where the major arcana has landed in the spread.

A major arcana sits in the very centre of the reading, this sets the whole tone for the spread, the card is The Star, this means the overall theme of the reading is one of hope and a need for guidance for the querent to navigate life.

We see which columns they land in, this will give us insight to the most important areas of his life.

The column with the most major arcana in it is the one representing the present, meaning the present is of the utmost importance, we have already deciphered its meaning (see above).
His past, future, hope and fears and destiny all feature major arcana cards and therefore are the columns deserving the most attention when building a base to lay on specifics for the meaning.

Then we look at which major arcana land in the rows, this gives us insight into the querent himself:

Crowns:
Death and Strength.
Crowns determine ideals, aspiration, mode of thought, subconscious thought etc
Here we can decipher the querent is a determined person who holds change in his life to be an ideal that should be strived for. 

Stations:
The Moon, The Magician, The Star and The Lovers.
Stations are core tangible themes, very real and present.
Here we see the querent is lonely, carrying much baggage and sadness yet  he is an optimist and has the ability to not only recognise change must start within himself but also recognises he has the power to facilitate that change.

Roots:
Judgement.
The roots represent the origins of the stations, the driving force behind them, what has brought them into being and the reasons for it, since there is only one major arcana in the roots.
This indicates criticism, decisions and responsibility are key driving forces within the the querents life.

Secondly, we look at repeating pips and courts throughout the spread:

In this spread we have 3 lots of pairs.

We have a pair of 5s.
The querent should be wary of unexpected U turns and back pedaling at unexpected times.

A pair of 9s.
Minimum wage or small profit in business, but profit and money none the less.

And a pair of queens.
Trustworthy friends are in the querents company even though the querent does not realise it.


The balance of suits present in the spread is another thing we can look at to give us clues.
In this querents spread there are no coins whatsoever.
Meaning: finance, commerce, business, property, legality, education and bearacracy are not current themes of concern, influence or importance in the querents life at the moment.
Swords are present, however the balance of suits tips quite heavily towards cups and staffs.
This means the querent is going through a deeply emotional time with no real catalyst other than himself to bring this upheaval about.
A heavily prevalence of staffs combined with cups in a male querents spread can also point towards effeminancy, passive agression and selfishness, on a more positive note it can also indicate artistic tendancies, creativity, emotional sensitivity and sensuality.

The over all suit balance of this spread at first glance suggests the querent is an emotionally sensitive person and does not communicate verbally well with others, he can be somewhat of a dreamer, a moody person and a loner. He is however passionate and interesting, possibly with talents or interests in expressive art forms, he veers more towards the impractical, may have some tendancies toward immaturity when it comes to day to day activities.

We already have quite a bit of information building up here and are starting to get a core narrative of which to work with, yet in this early stage it is still all very vague.
As more comes out the longer we read the cards, the more we can play the interpretations off against each other and develop some specifics.

Still, its about to get more complicated, in part 2 of this post I'm going to cast the bones on the cards and then put the whole thing together to give you an idea of what a half decent professional reading should look like.

To be continued...

A Walk On The Dark Side 2: A sacrifice of pain.

I'm not adverse to working aggressive magic when it is called for, I would like to relay something I've just finished working on and hopefully it will give you folks a good idea of what aggressive magic looks like.

I was approached by a family friend who has a 16 year old son, hes a good kid but sadly as naive as they come. Hes recently started a homosexual relationship with a man a lot older than himself, this man is a complete waster, he is dole scum, he sells him drugs, cheats on him and treats him like dirt. Sadly the boy is not very worldly and suffers from very low self confidence, interpreting his sleazy interest in him for love.

His mother is very worried about him, she doesn't want to drive him away to be made homeless, her biggest fear is that he will contract AIDS from this man who spends his time doing disgusting things in gay bath houses, on pornographic Internet sites and in public toilets.

She asked me to split them up.

My first inclination was to do a hot foot working, to send this guy packing, however I decided against this as it may well send him packing but there is a good chance it would send him packing with the lad in tow.

(The work in progress)

So I decided to work a good old fashion break up trick. This trick is a more aggressive version of a separation trick, however unlike the separation trick the split isn't amicable and ensures the targets are filled with an absolute disgust with one another that ensures they will never get back together.

Here is what I did.

Ingredients:
1 large 7 day black candle.
1 bottle of break up oil.
2 squares of parchment paper torn so no edge has been cut by steel.
1 bottle of Bats Blood.
1 scotch bonnet pepper.
A picture of St Sebastian
2 halves of a lemon.
A bowl
A small amount of compelling powder.
13 pins.
A length of black ribbon.

 (a beautiful image of St Sebastian)

The working is simplicity in itself. starting on a Saturday (curses levelled on a Saturday tend to stick.), I wrote both their names back to back on a piece of parchment paper, I then tore the paper in 2 separating their names. I then placed the two strips in an X, thereby crossing up their relationship.

I then took my candle and carved both their names into it, with word BREAK UP in between them either side. I then dressed it in break up oil pulling from the middle outwards to imitate them separating.
break up oil is a nasty little concoction, it contains the hair of a black dog and black cat (so the targets hate one another like cat and dog), hellish smelling sulphur, inflammatory spices such as pepper corns and chili peppers among other fantastical things.

I then placed the candle in the bowl, and from my left hand blew compelling powder onto the candle, blowing life into the working and compelling the couple to split.

I then lit the candle, knelt before the image of St Sebastian (patron saint of homosexual men) and placed the scotch bonnet pepper in my mouth. Scotch bonnets are one of the hottest peppers you can buy, the pain was unbearable, I did not flinch however and simply took the pain as the tears rolled down my cheeks. It was important to take the pain in good grace so the good Saint would have pity on me and fulfill my request.

I then prostrated myself before St Sebastian and prayed:

Good Saint and Martyr,
I come and suffer before you,
Take pity on me,
For I am a lowly sinner,
Pity the pain in my body,
Pity the pain in my heart,
Pity my weakness and wretchedness,
I beg you with fire in my mouth and tears on my cheeks,
Break up (N) and (N),
Ensure they never see one another again,
This I pray in the name of my sweet Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I repeated this over and over until I physically could bear no more.

I then apologised for not suffering more and left the candle in the room alone to burn out completely and the scotch bonnet pepper to dry out in a secret place were no-one could see or touch it.

 (Spiritual seal of working)

I pulverised the pepper and mixed it with some compelling powder, I spread this across the doorstep of the man, to ensure both him and the lad would walk through it.

I removed the name papers and pushed one each into each half of the lemon to cause them both to feel no sweetness in their company together, only bitterness.

On a piece of parchment paper i copied out the above symbol in bats blood. I placed it in between the 2 halves of lemon, then I bound the lemon together using the ribbon and the 13 pins.

I then took it to the nearest cemetery and hung it from a tree and left it to rot, walking away and not looking back.

So far the working has shown signs of success. It is still early days however.

Not a particularly nice working but effective, sometime you have to be cruel to be kind.

Peace xx

A Walk On The Dark Side: The Devils Cook Book.

I have been wanting to write a little bit about the dark side of ritual and magic for a while, but I was unsure where to start.

I thought ethics might be a good place to start but to be honest the ethics of magic is pretty cut and dry:

If you are performing a ritual to hurt someone, then you are performing a ritual to hurt someone.
That's about it.
The ethics of such things are somewhat over analysed in my opinion. Curse someone and you may as well punch them repeatedly in the face.

When is it OK to punch someone repeatedly in the face? Some would say never, others would say in extreme circumstances. The more unhinged of us would say whenever you please. Morals are morals, and we all have our own values as we are all adults with independent minds, therefore I'm not going to discuss or lecture on ethics.

If you do something you know in your heart is evil, then you are a shitty human being, there is no two ways about it.

Now that's out of the way, I feel I must say why I want to write about the dark side.
Simply because to not do so would be to give a false account of magic. People perform rituals to harm others out of spite, hate, fear, revenge or because they want justice. It happens all the time, so I'm going to relay it for the sake of interest.

Having said that I am not going to be giving away too much detail, just so my conscience is clear and I get to sleep at night ;)

In this particular post about the dark side of magic I specifically want to talk about ingredients; roots, minerals and the like used in the work of crossing and cursing.
This list is far from exhaustive but I think Ive managed to nail some of the most famous ingredients used in the black art of cursing.

GOOFER DUST
Look in the cupboard someone who works with both hands and you're bound to find a jar of this nasty stuff.

A sickly greyish-yellow colour and smelling faintly of musty old coffins, Goofer Dust is the cursing agent par excellence.

The word "goofer" is supposed to come from the Congolese word "kuffar", which means "to kill". Goofer Dust is quite literally "killing dust". You use it to kill people with.

Ingredients for this foul little concoction varies from person to person, with a few staple ingredients that always remain the same, among them sulphur, dried snails and crushed snake skins, though I'm not going to give you the full list here :P
Optional additives Ive seen in other peoples recipes vary from anything like dirt from an infants grave to ground up pieces of human bone.

Goofer Dust is often labeled as a magical poison, which is true. However it is never added to food, it is unlikely that ingesting a small amount Goofer Dust would actually do you any physical harm (unlike some magical poisons), its use is purely ritualistic.

Goofer Dust can be used in foot track magic, the mixture can be spread over a persons doorway in certain rituals for the person to step in and trek into their life.

One vicious little ritual involves mixing equal parts of goofer dust with equal parts of dirt ritualistically taken from a specific type of grave in a cemetery, this mixture is then spread in a certain shape over the persons doorstep again with certain prayers, incantations and ritual gestures, the sorcerer then walks backwards from the victims house leaving a little pile of the mixture at each crossroads he passes through until he reaches the cemetery gates, there he leaves another certain shape identical to the one on the victims doorstep.

The idea is that the person is quite literally "led to the cemetery through the crossroads" i.e he dies.

Another curse that employs goofer dust to kill involves a sorcerer taking the photograph of his victim, he then places some blood, hair and fingernail clippings from his victim on the photo and covers it with a little pile of goofer dust. He folds it up into a tight little package and wraps it in a leaf from a certain secret plant (that shall remain nameless!), he then binds it all tightly with black thread knotting it 9 times.
The sorcerer then goes out and buys a snake, he takes the snake and his little package to the cemetery in the dead of night, he finds a suitable grave and does a certain ritual to invoke the spirit inhabitant of the grave, he then force feeds the package to the snake by ramming it down the reptiles throat. He then buries the snake alive in the grave along with offerings to the inhabitant of the grave. He does further rituals over the grave for the next 9 nights.

The victim will then die and rot as the snake did, in the fashion that the inhabitant of the grave died, for example if the inhabitant of the grave died of cancer then the victim will get sick and die, if the inhabitant of the grave died of suicide then the victim will kill himself, if the inhabitant of the grave was a murder victim.....well, you get the idea.

It can also be used by women on men in aggressive love magic, where a john the conquerer root is defaced by sawing a slit in it, turing from a male symbol (a testicle) into a female symbol (a vagina), this is then stuffed with goffer dust and personal concerns and wound into a jack ball. This is called a "love me or die spell" the man cannot stand to be without the woman, he gets sick everytime he leaves her, if he stays away too long, he dies.

CROSSING OIL
A pungent oil, its smell is very distinct, a good quality crossing oil should have an acrid scent that burns the nostrils, crossing oil is anything from a pale brownish yellow to a murky green colour depending on the individual consistency, as people like to add their own twists on a pretty much uniform recipe. It has lots of uses it can be used for dressing objects like fetishes, anointing candles used in cursing or it can even be applied directly to the victim, some people dress the victims doorknob with it so the victim unwittingly carries it into their house and inadvertently dresses all their personal belongings with it.


GRAVEYARD DIRT
Quite literally dirt from a grave. Graveyard dirt is often employed in left handed works, though not always, it has many positive uses too. The folklore and traditions surrounding Graveyard dirt are numerous and deserve a blog post of their own, what type of dirt, whose grave to get it from, how to gather it, what part of the grave to get it from etc, etc all form a rich tradition surrounding this magical ingredient.

Depending on the specific work in question, dirt taken from the graves of murderers, executed criminals and even still born babies are among the favoured types of dirt employed in various curses.

There are literally hundreds of hexing rituals that call for the use of graveyard dirt.

D.U.M.E
This stands for Death Unto My Enemies. D.U.M.E products are readily available in the form of incense, oils and sprinkling powders. All variations on the same recipe.

SULPHUR
Sulphur can be used in very intense cleansing rites however since its foul odour is reputed to be what hell and demons smell like it is often used in black magic. Red sulphur is particularly prized as a hexing agent.

HELL AND HARM
This oil is usually dark brown to reddish in colour and has a rich savoury almost chocolaty smell.
used for raising hell and causing harm.

DAMNATION
It is arguable whether this oil is actually a cursing agent or not, many view it as an oil that is employed in rituals that dispense swift and fierce justice unto wrongdoers, seeing it as an agent of justice rather than an all out cursing agent.

Still I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

Some people believe this oil can be used in a ritual to literal bring damnation on someone. I personally do not believe anyone can visit damnation on another individual.

I believe only an individual can condemn themselves to hell.

BATS BLOOD
Traditionally quite literally the blood out of a bat, nowadays a mixture of resins and essential oils, it is a deep crimson colour and looks very much like blood, it has a musty yet slightly peppery smell.

Bats blood is used for writing out names, seals and sigils in order to curse someone.

A sorcerer may write the name of a victim across a piece of paper that depicts the 6th seal of Saturn in bats blood and dress it in 9 drops of voodoo oil later burning it in a crossroads as part of a larger magical rite to bring someone misfortune.

VANDAL ROOT (AKA Valerian Root)
I can only liken the smell of this root to the smell of sweaty gym socks. It is vile (though admittedly not as rancid as Asofoetida). Reputed to be a root associated with evil as legend says it was the only plant to bare flower on Golgotha when Jesus was crucified.

Sold in health food shops and herbalists, it can be used to make a nice relaxing tea to soothe your nerves or put it in a bag for your kitty and use it as an alternative to catnip.

Alternatively it can be used in magical rituals to cause car crashes.

A tablespoon of the root is tied up in a gris-gris with other magical ingredients and hidden under the victims car seat.

Other uses for it include a general hexing agent where it used along with candle burning to bring misfortune and misery to the victim.

It is also an ingredient in some crossing oils, powders and incenses. It can also added to a certain incense then used in a 13 day ritual to destroy an enemy.

DEVILS DUNG (AKA Asofetida.)
Devil dung is readily available in the Asian food aisle of your local supermarket in powder form under its name asofetida as an ingredient for certain curries....God knows why, The stench of this stuff is utterly unbearable, I cant imagine why anyone would want to put it in food, ever.

As its name suggests, it reeks as though it was produced by the very arse of Beelzebub himself.

Local witch annoying you? Then go round and sprinkle some of this stuff on her tools, its unholy stench desecrates consecrated objects, stripping them of their power.

There is a million different uses for this spice, most of them dark, everything from stopping up a woman's period so she dies in screaming agony to more light hearted comical mischief involving toilet humour.

COFFIN NAILS
Can be used for all manner of nasty things from carving victims names into black candles to making witch bottles.

DATURA STROMIUM (Aka Devil Weed, Hells Bells, Devils Trumpet.)
In Haiti this plant is known as Kokomb Zombi (The Zombies Cucumber) and is an ingredient used for turning people into zombies.

A poison since ancient times, both magical and non-magical. Used to be sacred to some Hindu followers of Shiva but they gave it up in favour of marijuana, due to its potentially lethal nature and hellish effects.

Don't even mess about with this plant, feeding just one leaf of this plant to someone could land you on a murder charge. In fact, depending on your country, even keeping dried leaves of this plant in your house could land you in trouble with the law.

If datura doesn't kill you it could render you permanently insane. Datura is immensely toxic, despite some sources saying it is a hallucinogen, it isn't, it is a delirient which causes the victim to fall into a delirium and lose all sense of reality and control.

Datura poisoning is unmistakable, the victim crawls round in circles on all fours like an animal shrieking and bellowing, often losing the ability to speak, if they can speak then they don't make any sense, they sweat, shake and tremble in terror, when confronted they fly into violent fits of panic and rage, they lose all sense of time, space and their surroundings, their temperature soars and they lose the ability to urinate. Death usually occurs due to heart, liver or kidney failure, if the victim survives then delirium can last anything up to 4 days, permanent damage to internal organs may also occur.

Leave zombies to Hollywood movies and horror novels, this plant is poison, pure and simple.

POPPY SEEDS
Used in certain rituals to cause confusion to a victim. The seeds of the opium poppy (papaver somniferum) are particularly prized for this work. Contrary to popular belief the opium poppy is perfectly legal to cultivate in most countries (so long no attempt to harvest opium from them is made), seeds are inexpensive and can usually be found in your local garden centre.

LICORICE, CALLAMUS & TOBACCO
Not cursing ingredients per se, but can be used in certain rituals and spellwork that involves bending another person to your will, sometimes in an aggressive way. Therefore worth a brief mention.

TWITCH GRASS
Used for visiting neurological complaints on the victim.

I could go on, there are literally hundreds of nasty things people use, but I think this gives a brief overview to some of the more popular ones.

Stay safe and be good.

Peace x