“To Cure the Sick and That, Gratis:” Successful Healings Using Hybrid Solomonic-Conjure Methods

By Frater S.C.F.V.

A. Introduction: Healing by Fire, Oil, and Herb

After having three people near me require healing in a short period of time and wanting to help them as best I could, I plunged into analyzing 13 different Conjure and Rootwork Formulas for Healing Oil in an attempt to better understand how they work so that I could optimize a Healing Oil to help those around me.

Having created my own 11-Herb formula, I designed a method that would enable me to promote the healing of three individuals within the same working. The method ended up being a hybrid form of Solomonic magic and Rootwork, which, combined with the Healing Oil formula, ended up producing results which, to me, were nothing short of amazing…

B. Talismanic Design: At the Crossroads of Health and Illness

As the base of this method, I opted to use my consecrated Tablet of Lights, which I made following Balthazar’s (2018) Solomonic Conjure method. This method involves consecrating a dedicated surface (e.g. large white plate in my case) using formulae from the Key of Solomon adapted to the task (Peterson, 2004).

In Balthazar’s original method, consecrated chalk markers are used to draw relevant symbols–often Key of Solomon Planetary Pentacles relevant to the task at hand–on the Tablet of Lights. I have previously used such chalk markers, which I consecrated along with white chalk on the Day of Epiphany both in my own home Temple and by Mass at Church using hybrid elements of the Key of Solomon, Carmelite Chalk Blessing, and Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses (Peterson, 2016). However, today, I opted to use consecrated glass markers, that is, markers that are water-soluble, so can be washed off, and useful to write on both glass and ceramic, as well as dry-erase markers. Both ended up tracing very clear and vibrant lines on the Tablet service, which can be helpful information who are looking for a tool for this purpose, that is, to inscribe magical figures in a robust but non-permanent manner.

More and more, however, instead of lifting Pentacle designs for the Tablet from particular grimoires as in Bathazar’s original method, I have been communicating with my Spirits and asking them to guide me to draw the design needed for the ritual at hand. The idea is to continue to work within the scope of the tradition, but enlivened, guided, and tailored by the relationships I have with my Spirits. These designs seem to “flow from the pen,” one part at a time, as if the Spirits were saying “draw this. Now write this name. Now draw this.” Then, looking back at it, the whole gestalt or pattern comes into view, but not from a place or rational forethought, calculating, or planning-in-advance, like an epiphany or a vision.

To quote the Science Photo Library: This is a “17th century engraving symbolizing the search for knowledge in alchemy. The naked figure is the god Mercury or Hermes, the messenger of the gods. In each hand he holds a caduceus, his symbol. The two other men carry a sword with a serpent wrapped around it, and a sword with a cockerel on it; these are both symbols associated with Aesculapius, the god of medicine. The Sun and Moon represent the two alchemical essences. In Greek mythology, Hermes was believed to have power over sleep and dreams. Aesculapius was believed to dispense medical knowledge by using dreams. Image from 1677.”

In this case, I was drawn to produce a form that started out with the structure of a Caduceus, referencing healing and Hermes Trismegistus, and therefore, magic. However, this design omitted the serpents. Instead, another “pole” was added to form a Cross with a Rose in the Center, in refence to the Rose Cross. The Fama Fraternitatis, one of the fundamental manifestos of the founding of Rosicrucianism, says that Rosicrucian Brotherhood do not “profess any other thing than to cure the sick, and that gratis.”

As this was a ritual for healing done for free, out of love and a wish to be of service, it seemed appropriate. In addition, in reference to the Caduceus, it is worth noting that I did not know this at the time, but it was revealed to me later that another reason the Spirits had me draw the Caduceus is because the Waxing Moon was moving from the Lunar Mansion of Al-Iklil (the Monkey, for protection) and into the Lunar Mansion of Al-Kalb (the Caduceus – to heal and prevent illness) at the very time I would end up performing the candle working…

The Three 3 Initial Rosicrucian Manifestoes: the Fama Fraternitatis (1614), the Confessio Fraternitatis (1615), and The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz (1616). It’s worth noting, as Samuel Robinson has pointed out, that there is also a fourth Rosicrucian Manifesto, which is the Speculum Sophicum Rhodostauroticum (1618).

In addition, the Crossroads and the 5-Spot pattern of Hoodoo inspired the structure of this Talismanic figure. At the top, a golden Sun was drawn to symbolize both Keter as the Sephirotic Source of Light in the Kabbalistic system and the Light of Healing, itself a reference to the Golden Dawn Neophyte Grade Ritual (“the Light hath Healing in its Wings”).

The Caduceus wings have seven sections, seven for the 7 Planets, 7 Archangels of the Heptameron/ Lucidarium system, and 7 Olympic Spirits of the Arbatel system. When I reached out to the Archangels and Olympic Spirits to see who would assist with this work, the two triads of Raphael-Michael-Sachiel (Mercury-Sun-Jupiter) and their corresponding Olympic Spirits (Ophiel-Och-Bethor) stepped forward.

Therefore, the Angels’ names in Hebrew were included alongside the Olympic Spirits’ standard Sigils from the Arbatel. Finally, a powerful Divine Name of healing, YHVH Rapha (“God of Healing”) was included at the top of the Talismanic figure, to rule over and energize all of its contents, as well as to drive the “energy” of the healing involved in the ritual itself.

The herb “Self-Heal,” a central ingredient in my personal Healing Oil formula.

C. Foci and Curative Aims: The 3 Targets of the Work and Their Ailments

This hybrid ritual was targeted at three individuals, all of whom I know and care about, two here in Montreal, and one, a friend in Nigeria, Africa.

First, J.P., here in Montreal, has been complaining of “muscular pain going down my sides, great nausea making me throw up and making it hard for me to keep any food down, and disrupting my sleep…” His ailment was a physical one that impacted his psychological experience (e.g. by disrupting sleep).

Second, C.L., also in Montreal, has been suffering from “a burning feeling in my mouth, swelling around my gums, redness, pain, and a general lack of energy, like I’m exhausted all of the time and can barely get anything done…” Therefore, her issue was both physical and psychological.

Finally, C.O., in Nigeria, Africa, has been struggling with a debilitating “pain in my waste and stomach which makes me barely able to stand up, it’s so bad…” This is a strongly physical issue that is causing him significant distress.

I advised all three individuals to consult their doctors about their issues and explained that if needed, I would recommend them to consult a doctor afterwards as well. In addition, I explained to all three people that my approach is one of holistic healing, that is, combining (1) Western medicine with (2) herbalism, and (3) the spiritual, magical, and alchemical uses of herbs. They agreed.

D. Fixing the Candles and Preparing the Body: Ritual Preparation and Set-Up

Having already infused and prayed over my 11-herb Healing Oil, I set it out along with 3 light-blue candles. In Rootwork, light-blue is a colour that is used in candle magic for healing, peace, and spirituality.
Each of the three people to be healed was designated their own candle. I took a pin with a light-blue head at the end of it, and used this to inscribe each candle with the aim of the working for that person. In addition to their full names, the following specifications were inscribed in their respective candles:

For J.P.: “healing, no pain, no nausea in stomach, good appetite, joy, freedom, peace.”

For C.L.: “healing, no burning, pain, or swelling in mouth, energy, joy, peace, love, free.”

For C.O.: “healing, no belly pain, no waist pain, freedom, peace, joy.”

While carving the candles, I looked at photos of the targeted person and repeatedly focused on seeing the candle as an extension of that person, such that my work on the candle connects back to them. I continued to pray until all three candles were inscribed.

Thereafter, I dressed each candle with some left-over 11-Herb Healing Blend and the 11-Herb Healing Oil, drawing the Oil towards me as I dressed it to symbolize drawing the healing towards the client, and ensuring the Oil and Herbs were thoroughly rubbed into the candles.

The bottoms of the candles were warmed and they were then stuck to the Tablet of Lights to fix them in their positions.

The Tablet fixed with the candles was then placed on the dedicated spirit table I have reserved for Raphael and Ophiel in my Temple Room. As noted above, consulting the Archangels and Olympic Spirits, I inquired who wished to help with the healing work at hand and the Jupiter Archangel Sachiel and Sun Archange Michael and the Arbatel Olympic Spirits Bethor, Ophiel, and Och indicated that they would be willing to assist. Therefore, I included the 3 Angels’ statues and the 3 Olympic Spirits’ Arbatel Sigils on the table as well.

In addition, a candle was anointed with Healing Oil and fixed to be offered up to God on behalf of the Spirits, as well as water to refresh them, offerings of Herbs to energize them, and Sandalwood incense. Finally, stones connected to my work with these different Spirits were also included on the table as loci of their power and symbols to bolster the sympathetic resonances of Jupiter, the Sun, and Mercury to be called upon.

In terms of ritual preparation, it is worth noting that 3 days of Cleansing Herbal Baths were completed followed by 7 Nourishing Herbal Baths each night. No alcohol was consumed during this time. No drugs either. Abstinence from masturbation, etc. was also strictly maintained. Food was eaten in moderation.

On the day of the Ritual, I took a purifying Herbal Bath while praying and cleansing myself with Hyssop, Rue, Basil, Mint, Rose, Lavender, and Cocoa Butter. Donning my standard Solomonic regalia, I put on my white robe, Lion Skin Belt, priestly stole, a white cloth wrapped around my head, with my Abramelin Crown over that. Under the robe, I wore my Medallion with the 7 Archangels and 7 Olympic Spirits upon it, anointed in Fiery Wall of Protection Oil. I was nudged to also include the Bell of Art, my Solomonic Wand, and a Wild Turkey feather foraged during my time in Ontario. I brushed my teeth and put on cologne to remove any unappealing odours that might displease the Spirits, a method inspired by Dr. Stephen Skinner. Then I entered the Temple to begin the work.

D. By Invocation, Oil, and Flame: A Hybrid Solomonic-Rootworking for Healing

Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2022. 10 PM to 2:30 AM.
Planetary Timing: Oil and Powder made in the Day and Hour of Mercury. Consecrated and empowered and candlework for healing done in the Hour of Jupiter given work to be done with Sachiel and Bethor.
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent in Libra, good for bringing balance and harmony to situations magically (e.g. health to bodies imbalanced by symptoms and disease).
Lunar Mansion: Al-Iklil (the Monkey, for protection) on cusp of Al-Kalb (the Caduceus to heal and prevent illness).

Having completed my Ritual Bath and put on my ritual clothing, I entered the Temple and begun the ritual by delivering a battery of knocks on the Raphael spirit altar and on my Ancestor altar. I asked my Ancestors to assist in the healing work to be done and asked for the Ancestors of the three people in question to also come to their aid.

I then picked up the Bell of Art and rang it repeatedly in a Cross Formation while saying “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” I then proceeded through a series of extensive prayers to God as Adonai Rapha, the Lord of Healing, asking for His aid, that He might be glorified through the miracles of his healing work in these three people’s lives and cited multiple healing miracles in the Bible as testaments to Divine Power and asking that similar works be done here. As a side note, the method of citing relevant stories or historiolae (a kind of incantation incorporating a short mythic or scriptural story that provides the paradigm for the desired magical action) as precedents in magical work is discussed in detail in Agrippa’s Third Book of Occult Philosophy.

Next, through prayers by the Divine Names pertaining to healing (YHVH Rapha, Adonai Rapha, and El Elyon Rapha), I called the Angels and Olympic Spirits and throughout used Divine Names of Healing, Adonai Rapha, YHVH Rapha, El Rapha. I lit the Spirit offering candle and 3 Sandalwood sticks symbolizing 4 different triads of 3: One candle for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; One candle for Michael, Sachiel, and Raphael; one candle for Och, Bethor, and Ophiel; One candle for J.P., C.L., and C.O. I offered the candle and incense to the Most High God in their names and then invited the Archangels, Guardian Angels of myself and the 3 targets, the Olympic Spirits, and the Ancestors of myself and the three people to find in them sources of power, refreshment and fuel for their work. The herbs in the Oil and glass of Water were similarly offered with additional prayers said over them.

Next, I cleansed all of the tools and myself with a combination of Solomonic Holy Water made by myself according to the method in the Key of Solomon and some Holy Water consecrated by a Catholic priest and gathered from a Cathedral.

I then asked for the Angels’ and Olympic Spirits help to empower the Healing Oil in the bottles on the altar and anointing the candles, as well as the Healing Sachet Powder also on the table, with the virtues of healing as specified by the Roles of the spirits of the Herbs included in the Healing Oil (please see my article on Healing Oil for more details). I asked for God’s healing power and will to extend the Good and Love to enliven and empower the Oil and Powder as well. I then anointed the heads of each Archangel, my own forehead, and the Sigils of the Spirits with some of the Oil to create a connection between them, myself, the Oil in the bottles, and the Oil on the candles symbolizing the three people to be healed.

Next, I lit the candles for the three people to be healed and prayed that they be linked to their human targets in order to benefit and heal them. I picked up the Turkey Feather I had personally ceremonially gathered while out in a forest, holding my Solomonic Wand in the other hand, and began to use the feather to rhythmically and repeatedly waft the exorcised and consecrated Sandalwood spoke over the Angel statues, Spirit Sigils, Bottles of Healing Oil, Jar of Sachet Powder, myself to cleanse me as the practitioner, and the Tablet of Lights and three Candles of the people to be healed.

While doing so, I prayed personalized prayers for J.P. C.O., and C.L. in turn, praying about exactly which aspects of their bodies and minds needs healing (e.g. for J.P., his belly pain, nausea, and appetite to be healed, and for peace, joy and a feeling of comfort to come to his mind; for C.O. for his waist and belly pain to be healed and for his mind to be filled with peace, joy, freedom from worry and physical pain; for C.L. for her mouth to be free from burning, pain, and swelling, for her lethargy to be enlivened with energy, and for peace, freedom from physical and mental ailments, and a feeling of comfort to fill her mind).

Next, I recited prayers for the Sick from Agostino Taumaturgo, as mentioned in the Healing Oil Article. This was followed with praying Psalms 147, 46, and 27 over the Oil, Powder, and Candle work.

Finally, I asked the Angels and my own Guardian Angel to coordinate with the 3 targets’ Guardian Angels to coordinate their healing, and for my Ancestors to work with their Ancestors to effect their healing as well. I asked each of the 11 Herb Spirits included in the Oil to assist with each of their roles and the 3 Olympic Spirits to help assist the healing in each of their spheres (e.g. Mercury – changing illness to health, governing the crossroads of sickness and health, assisting communication with doctors as needed, etc.; Sun – bringing healing light into the situation, illuminating the causes of the illness and obstacles to health so that the Lemongrass can clear them as a road-opener; Jupiter — expanding health and joy and peace of mind) working in concert with the Archangels. I then prayed more prayers to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit again praying for the healing with total confidence that it would come about and giving thanks in advance for the wonders to follow.

I then recited a final series of prayers, closed the Temple, and invited the spirits to continue to enjoy the Offerings while completing their work.

E. Carromancy: Reading the Wax

Examining the candles the next day, I was surprised to see that J.P’s candle was still burning, many hours longer than usual. This suggested to me that the Spirits were still working on him. In addition, I I noted winged forms in the wax that reminded me of Angels, suggesting their work in intervening in the situation. The wax flows that were circular were largely clockwise, suggesting that the work was being done and the healings were progressing. Some substantial wax floods had appeared near C.O.’s candle on the left, suggesting that the impact of the work might be more significant than expected. Finally, some petal-shapes were observed near all three candles, suggesting positive results would flow out of this work. The days that come brought results greatly in harmony with these ‘pictures in the wax.’

Appearance of the wax the next morning, with J.P.’s candle still burning.

E. Astonishing Results: Documented Healings in Action

The next morning, I woke up feeling grounded and a deep and sustained sense of well-being that stuck with me the whole day. I did not remember the last time I felt this clear, joyful, and at peace… I wondered if this might have been an outcome of the ritual, being in the presence of the Angels and Spirits, Divine blessing, the power of the Herbs in the Spiritual Baths, or a combination of all of the above. Either way, I was grateful for it.

I reached out to C.O. first in the morning and asked how he was feeling since I completed the ritual on his behalf. As he was so far away, I could not get some Healing Oil to him, at least not as urgently as he would need it, so the results that he would share could only have come from the candle working, prayers, and intervention of the Spirits.

I was filled with awe at what he shared, for the Lord and Spirits had acted quickly… C.O. said that “My condition has improved tremendously–l can now sit and stand freely! Just little pains which l know will clear up within the next few days. Whatever you did worked like a miracle. I thank the Triune God for using you as a vessel to get me up and running again. I am grateful, brother. May God meet you at your point of need, just like he has used you to meet me at my point of need. I feel born again in mind, body, soul & spirit. I even slept like a baby too!” I told him that I was so happy to hear this and gave glory to God for this blessing. C.O. said “This is the fastest healing ever. God bless you…”

I went to see C.L. and gave her some of the Healing Oil. I instructed her to rub some of it into her cheek over the area of her mouth that was burning, swelling, and reddening. She agreed and rubbed some into her cheek in my presence. Not even minutes later she said “I can’t believe it but… the pain is really going down… wow… what’s in this??” I explained the 11 Herbs in the formula and what role each played as well as how I had spiritually prepared them and which Spirits I had called upon. She said she was “so grateful…” and had tears in her eyes. I checked in with her again in the afternoon and she said she had just applied a little more of the Healing Oil and that “my pain continues to be much lower… and my obstacles to contacting a doctor seem to be gone too… I already got a dentist appointment! Thank you!” Glory be to God! This was the second successful healing.

Finally, after work, I took a vial of Healing Oil and went to see J.P. I asked him how he had been feeling since this morning. He said “I woke up already feeling better… it seems like I had been very constipated. Today, I finally had gas and was able to go the bathroom… My nausea is gone. The pain in my belly area is significantly lower.” I praised God once again and thanked the Spirits for this third healing miracle… I instructed J.P. to keep rubbing some of the Healing Oil into his belly area over the parts that hurt. He said he would also rub it into his painful shoulder and see if it helps with that as well. I wished him all the best and he thanked me for my care and attention in this matter.

On the second day after the work, I checked in with C.O. to see if the healing remained stable or if the situation had changed. C.O. reported “I feel 99% better. It is only minor aches and pains now…” Praise God and the Spirits for their work!

When I checked in with C.L. She reported that when she used the Oil, rubbing it in to her cheek, she felt “a wave of comfort wash over me, not just my mouth, but my whole body… My mouth pain continues to be gone. The burning feeling is gone. I have an appointment with my dentist just to be safe, but I feel so much better.”

Finally, to my surprise, I received a phone call from J.P., the most skeptical of the three, who does not believe in magic; J.P. never calls me, so this made his reaching out even more striking. He said “not only am I feeling better with my stomach pain and nausea and eating better, but there’s something else. I have been rubbing the Oil into my really painful shoulder and… it feels much better. Like I can lift my arm in ways I haven’t been able to for a long time… So thank you..”

Healing candle for M.D.A.

F. Additional Healing Work: More Complex and More Intensive

With the above work thus completed, I thought I was done with healing work for a while. However, shortly after the above work was completed, my dear friend M.D.A., who has taught me a great deal about Esperitismo and often helped me with spiritual work when I was in need, fell very sick shortly after I did the above workings.

I asked if he would consent for me to do some work for him and he agreed as he was truly struggling with everything from fever, soreness, cramping, diarrhea, loss of taste, irritated red eyes, a weight on his chest,, coughing, and fever chills… He tested for COVID-19, but tested negative. To make matters worse, his immunosuppression made the illness, whatever it was, hit him even harder.

In an attempt to help M.D.A., I followed essentially the same procedure as above, inscribing and dressing the candle with the Healing Oil, calling on Michael, Sachiel, and Raphael as well as Ophiel, Och, and Bethor in the same way as before, giving the same offerings, and even using the same Psalms. Checking with my Spirits, they did not require me to do a complete new Tablet of Lights set-up for him, saying I could use the same plate set-up as I had used for the previous work, simply placing M.D.A’s candle at the base of the Cross structure inscribed on the plate. This, I did.

The Moon remained waxing in the Lunar Mansion of Al-Kalb (the Caduceus to heal and prevent illness), which was fortuitous for the work at hand. The only difference with this working is that I rubbed some of the Healing Sachet Powder I had made on the outside of his candle as I did not have any of the herbal mixture left over. I prayed that all of his symptoms would disappear and that he would be heal again and that even his fibromyalgia pain would decrease. I poured my heart into this ritual for my dear friend and closed the Temple. I called on his Guardian Angel and his Ancestors, as well as my own, to assist in the work.

At the end of the night, after leaving his candle burning, I saw that it had burned in a very interesting way. The candle burned down the middle, but an outer shell was left. Also, a skull-shaped hole had appeared on the right side. Divining from the wax, my sense was that this healing was not going to be as easy or as simple as the others. The Spirits were “drilling down the middle” into M.D.A’s core bodily issues and symptoms of the illness, which were affecting his internal organs and assailing his immune system. His wax pool was pulled over the Sigils of Och and Bethor as well as the Name of Raphael, suggesting that these spirits in particular were working on him. The skull hole did not strike me as implying he would die; instead, it suggested to me that an Ancestor spirit would help in the work.

The next morning, I checked the candle again and the “walls” of wax had melted down, but two points of the wax folded in, pointing at the center of the candle. This suggested to me that the illness was still hitting him, “stabbing” him with symptoms as symbolized by the wax points. Another image that came to me was that the illness “had its teeth or claws” in him and was not going to let go easily. Still, some progress had been made with help from his Ancestor, as seen in the melting down of the wax walls.

I checked in with M.D.A. on Messenger and he confirmed my suspicions; not only was he not feeling better, but he was feeling worse! All of the above symptoms had intensified… He was definitely getting “stabbed” by the illness, with more suffering than before. I explained to him that sometimes, healing work brings results that come quite quickly, and other times, for more complex situations or more serious conditions, the work can provide more strengthening, clearing obstacles to healing, and facilitating communication with the right professionals, through the process. This can especially be the case when the odds are stacked against the healing, such as in the case of immunosuppression. As much as we try to ease the work of combating illness through magical means, Nature, Divine Will, and the work and abilities of the spirits also can affect the outcome. As a result, I mentioned above, “nothing is guaranteed” with healing work and the help it brings does not always come in the form we expect.

Nevertheless, I pointed out that there were good signs and it looked like an Ancestor of his was going to assist in the work. He told me about his great-grandmother who was apparently an extremely accurate diviner with tea leaves and had some magical abilities. I suspected she might be the “skull-shaped hole” I saw in his candle wax. M.D.A confirmed that she was actually one of his working Ancestors in his Espiritismo work and he thought “she would definitely step in.” Magic can be truly amazing sometimes and sometimes things will happen that we could not have made up as they seem too perfect. However, as we were talking about M.D.A’s grandmother and great-grandmother, he suddenly stopped and said the following:

What’s more, he had a feeling he was going to receive assistance from an Ancestor, because that same day…

The next morning, I checked in with him again and he confirmed that his pain level remained significantly lower than it had been to the point that he was able to “go to sleep pretty comfortably.” I noted possible impacts from Rosemary and Thyme, two Herbs in my Healing Oil formula, which were included to help ease sleep and facilitate sound dreaming. He also noted that his fever had gone down to 36.6 degrees, which was strange to him since he still felt feverish.

Healing Candle Work set-up for M.D.A., myself, and R.C.

G. “Physician, Heal Thyself!:” Three More Candle Workings for Healing

I was not finished working towards my dear friend’s healing, however, nor were the Spirits. In fact, I got a nudge that I had to another candle working for M.D.A to strengthen the work already being done.

What I was not prepared for however, was the impact that all of this healing work done in a short period of time was going to have on me as the worker. I found myself dreadfully sick with a bad cold: sore throat, coughing, and higher body temperature, but still under fever. I was COVID-negative, but still feeling awful.

At the same time, another friend, R.C., messaged me to say that she was also feeling quite sick with a cold of her own and asked if I could help. As she lived in Montreal not far from where my plans were taking me today, she consented for me to pick up some personal concerns (e.g. some of her hair) to use in the working, which I did. We both were masks and maintained social distancing while I picked up the hair. I gave her some of the Healing Oil too to rub on her throat, chest, and forehead while saying prayers to help connect the Healing Oil I was going to use on her candle to her as well. She agreed to do so.

My plan was to do a healing working for M.D.A, myself, and R.C. at the same time.

For my work on myself, I started by making a hearty chicken soup with lots of pepper as well as Thyme, Rosemary, and Basil. I prayed over the Herbs, asked for their help in bringing healing, and then recited Psalms 49 and 50 over it before eating it.

That night, I made the following Healing and Sleep-Supporting Spiritual Bath, including and requesting the aid of the following Herb spirits:

• Chamomile
• Self-heal
• Althaea
• Angelica
• Thyme
• Mint
• Rosemary
• Lavender
• Honey

I also made a chamomile tea to go with this. I prayed Psalms 49 and 50 over the tea and bath, while they both steeped. I drank the tea, did the bath, and went to bed immediately after air-drying.

The next day, on the Day of the Sun, I consulted with my Spirits as to how to proceed. This time, I was to use a different Talismanic design on the Tablet of Lights:

This time, the Heptameron / Lucidarium sigils for Michael and Raphael were to be drawn in a Cross, forming an ‘Angelic Crossroads.’ Sachiel’s sigil was included over the Cross, with Yeshua (Jesus) written in Hebrew underneath. The standard Arbatel Sigils of Bethor, Ophiel, and Och were included in the bottom right ‘quadrant’ of the plate.

Finally, YHVH Rapha (God of Healing) was included along with four crosses marking the points of the Angelic Cross. The three candles for M.D.A, myself, and R.C. were placed on the middle arm of the Cross.

All three candles were inscribed with a yellow-headed needle, as it was the Day of the Sun, with the full names of those included and the following words:

M.D.A. “complete recovery, full healing, freedom, peace”

Myself: “no pain, no fever, no cough, full healing”

R.C.: “no pain, no fever, no cough, full healing.”

I dressed each candle with Healing Oil, while drawing the healing from top of the candle to the bottom. I added my own hairs, conveniently collected from my beard trimmer to my candle, R.C.’s hair to her candle, and as I had no personal concerns for M.D.A, I simply did prayers for him while anointing the candle and gazing at his picture. I asked that each candle be linked to the healing of the person whose name was carved into it and used to eliminate their pain and illness and replace it with health and wholeness.

The Moon was waxing in the Arabic Lunar Mansion of Al-Balda (The City or The Desert), which Christopher Warnock points out is a a good time to “end a situation,” in this case, by bringing illness to an end.

Before I started this working, I refreshed the water glasses of all of the Angels, Saints, Ancestors, and Olympic Spirits with whom I have active spirit tables in my Temple room. I asked each to aid the work according to their abilities. I knocked on my Ancestor altar and asked my Ancestors to assist the work, also calling on the Ancestors of M.D.A and R.C.

The Operation proceeded as above, still working with Archangels Michael, Raphael, Sachiel and Olympic Spirits Bethor, Ophiel, and Och, still offering 3 sticks of Sandalwood, but with different Psalms; this time, I was nudged by my Spirits to use the potent combination of Psalms 3, 67, and 77. I invited the Spirits to pray the prayers with me for added efficacy.

This working produced a deep feeling of peace, reverence, and thick spiritual presence in the room. The energy felt comforting and reassuring. The candles burned strong and clean during the ritual and the Spirits’ candle did as well. My final prayers addressed Christ as the Master Healer, and played on the wording in Luke 4:23, in which Yeshua muses that the people would surely say to him “Physician, Heal Thyself” (Ἰατρέ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν), or healer, heal yourself. I asked that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit help me to do just that.

H. Carromancy: Interpreting the Candle Wax

The next day, I went to interpret the wax from the three candles and saw the following. First, in M.D.A‘s candle, I saw a fairly clean burn with minimum pooling. One of the “points” that was previously pointing towards the center of the candle after the previous working, suggesting the illness still had its “claws or teeth” in M.D.A, was now pointing away from the center and off to the left. I interpreted this to mean that the illness was ‘opening up’ and clearing, but still affecting him. Finally, I also saw that some of the wax was “bending over” away from the center of the candle, suggesting that the illness is starting to submit. But it will take more time before it’s fully resolved.

Second, my own candle appeared a series of happy petal-like shapes, suggesting a positive result would be coming for me. No issues, just a flowering of results that would likely come surprisingly quickly.

Finally, R.C.’s candle showed that her own issues were “standing up” to the attempts to heal them, suggesting it might take a little longer than expected for her healing to come through, but she would get there. There was a wall of protection around her that was assisting (small wall of wax on the right); at the same time, this wall of wax could also suggest that the illness itself was “putting up walls” and resisting the work. As it turned out, the results of the Operation were in many ways fully consistent with what the wax suggested.

I. Health in Abundance: Results of the Final Candle Working

The next day, I felt remarkably better. My throat felt much less painful, my coughs were few and far between, I had no fever, and my drippy, runny nose had returned to normal, such that I was breathing easily again. By the end of the day, my symptoms were all down by about 95%. it was the fastest recovery from a cold I’ve ever had.

It’s worth noting that when I discussed the healing work I had been doing with my Hoodoo teacher Aaron Davis and how I had become sick in the process, he noted that he had also experienced this and decided, as a result, not to do healing work for more than 2 people per day. He also recommended that after every healing work I do in then future, I do a strong cleansing bath. He also pointed out that in my Clinical work, I am also “outputting a lot of healing energy as it is,” so doing magical healing on top of that can drain us and make us susceptible to illness. I noted his advice and plan to practice it going forwards.

Thereafter, I checked in with M.D.A and he informed me that there were significant improvements and he had tested negative again for COVID-19:

He had some lingering symptoms, but it was clear that the worst was behind him and he was on his way to a complete recovery.

Finally, I checked in with R.C. and she reported that a number of her symptoms had improved as well. She agreed to continue to use the Oil until her condition was completely healed and thanked me for my help.

All I can do is quote Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, Oh Lord, not to us, but to Your Name be the glory glory, because of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”

H. Concluding Thoughts on Magical Healing in Practice

Healing work is being of service. For those on the Rosicrucian path, it is a central feature of their spiritual work and approach. If we make ourselves available to heal, drawing on help from our Spiritual Allies and the Herbs given to us, we can sometimes witness true miracles, miracles that inspire humility, reverence, and bolster faith in a big way, just as Yeshua’s miracles did to many in his own time. For the Christian mystic called to the “Imitation of Christ,” prayers and work for healing can be a vital practice that brings wholeness, health, and love to the suffering and the ill. However, healing is a universal human concern and people on many Paths will also feel a call to it. If so, I hope that reading the workings above will yield some helpful ideas for how to approach healing in a way that harmonizes with your own tradition.

By way of closing reflections, I can say that I I feel so grateful to have been a part of these workings and to be blessed by witnessing people getting helped, both with access to the Oil and locally and without directly even being able to access it, in another province (M.D.A) and even in another country on another continent (C.O.). What’s more, I felt truly awed by the power of the Divine, of Angels, Spirits, and Ancestors, working together through the means of magic and prayer to work wonders. Some of these healings were nothing short of miraculous and helped bolster my faith that I am on the right path and doing the work I am meant to do to be of service.

Of course, suffering and illness are perennial human realities and, as such, the work of healing will never be done. Healing, as I humbly see it, is part of an ongoing path of service to the community and co-labouring with the Source of All healing to soothe the sufferings and symptoms of injury and illness. Individually, our own healing as practitioners is also never done, as we strive to work through all of our own shadows, sufferings, and issues; bringing spiritual work into those dark inner spaces can be a fruitful avenue for light in extension.

I. References

Balthazar. (2018). Solomonic Candle Magic. Course Bundle purchased from the author, no longer available online.

Peterson, J. H. (2004). Key of Solomon. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm

Peterson, J. H. (2006). The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. [online eBook]. Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses.htm

By Herb and Angel: A Folk Christian Working with Archangel Michael for Three Recently Deceased Souls

By Frater S.C.F.V.

A. Spiritual Work for the Dead: Context of the Working

As some of readers may know, I am a Clinical Social Worker in my professional life, and specialize in palliative care, working with older adults with dementia, cancer, and other serious diagnoses, defending vulnerable people from elder mistreatment, and working with younger people with disabilities.

The people with whom I work with are mostly low-income, socially and intersectionally disadvantaged in various ways, and desperate for help. My mundane calling on this Earth embraces working with them, empowering them, equipping them with tools and resources from the government and community organizations, supporting them emotionally through their challenges, and accompanying them, often until the end of their lives.

And yet, it dovetails with my spiritual calling, for as Initiates know, matter and Spirit are but two sides of the same nondual coin, and death is but a phase of the soul between life and afterlife.

V0017612 – Life and death. Oil painting. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Indeed, the deeper I go into the study and practice of traditional Rootwork and Conjure with my beloved teacher Aaron Davis, studying the classic texts, and learning from experienced Rootworkers, the more I see that this style of magic is and always was about community, resilience, and survival. The African slaves who developed Hoodoo, Rootwork and Conjure in conversation with Indigenous Peoples, Appalachian white folks, esoteric Jews and others, developed a way of using what they had access to to protect and empower themselves, as well as to strengthen and nurture their families and communities. Furthermore, they did this often in the face of harsh realities, abuse, antagonism, and death. Hoodoo, Conjure and Rootwork, therefore, not only practices of spiritual resilience, resistance, and resurgence, but also practices grounded in family and community.

In the spirit of these traditions’ history, I strive to be mindful of my social location and yet also to honour the great teachers spiritual ancestors and workers of old by applying what I’ve learned in service to both the living and the dead. Chiefly, like the Rootworkers, of old, I’ve been focusing on those in my care–friends, family, loved ones, community members, and clients. As I came to work more and more for others and less for myself, I came to discover that doing magic for the betterment of others has a purity of purpose and spiritual strength that can be both moving and profound.

Just as my magic has become more community and service-focused, quite like my professional life, so has it also extended to accompanying my elderly and palliative clients into the liminal spaces following their deaths. Of course, working with people as they transition from life to death is by no means new; from the Ancient Period onwards, spiritual workers have often played the role of Psychopomps, that is, beings who strive to accompany newly deceased souls as they transition from life through death into the afterlife.

Icon Depicting St. Michael the Archangel as Psychopomp.

Historically, the Psychopomp role was deemed so important that it was cross-culturally enshrined in our mythologies in figures as diverse and yet similar as the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, the deity of Yama in Sanatana Dharma, the Greek ferryman Charon and god Hermes, the Roman god Mercury, the Norse Valkyries, the Aztec Xolotl, the Slavic Morana and the Etruscan Vanth. Ancient Mystery Religions like the Rites of Eleusis often centered on the Mysteries of Life, Death, and the Afterlife. Similarly, in the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ, St. Peter, and the Archangel Michael were all regarded as serving Psychopomp functions, much like the Angel Azrael in the Islamic tradition.

By extension, folk spiritual workers strove to collaborate with these spiritual powers to assist the dead. Indeed, in European folk magic as well as in American Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork, magicians have often helped to offer the dead comfort, rest, light, and spiritual support in their experience beyond this world.

And so it was it was that I found myself drawn to continue to serve my clients after their deaths and helping them as best I could to brave the Great Beyond that gaped before them.

The working to which we now turn was a product of teachings passed on to me from the Conjure and Rootwork traditions in addition to folk Christian traditions, some elements of grimoire magic (e.g. the use of the Bell of Art), and the guidance I received from my own Spirits.

The purpose of this working was to bring cleansing, purification, protection, good fortune, blessings, Light, and peaceful rest to the spirits of three older adults I served in life after they passed away. Within the span of a few weeks, these individuals, each with their own strengths and limitations, had all died in sudden and unexpected circumstances: one after a sudden heart-attack while walking with his caregiver near his home, one after a major stroke in her residence, and one after complications stemming from COVID-19 in the hospital.

Concerned about the suffering and confusion they might feel after passing away so suddenly and hoping to help them in every way I could, I prepared the following ritual.

B. Setting the Lights on the Tablet: Preparations for the Work

To begin, as I work within a chiefly Christian framework, I offered prayers to God for guidance in the work and asked the Holy Spirit to guide me to select the right ingredients to benefit the three souls at the center of the work at hand.

I also opened up to the Archangel Michael as well as to my Ancestors, their Ancestors, and the spirits of the Herbs to guide me in developing the right formula for the work at hand.

I began by gathering the Herbs, consulting their spirits to see who would like to assist me in this work. In the end, the following 7 curios were included:

• Holy Olive Oil (for spiritual anointing and to carry the powers of the Herbs),
• Hyssop (that their souls might be purified and cleansed),
• Rue (that they might be protected and cleanser),
• Oak (that they might have good fortune in the afterlife and be blessed with protection),
• Cinnamon (to fire up Light to help them progress and strengthen their spiritual progression),
• Mugwort (that they may rest in peace and to enable them to communicate with me in dreams if they should like to do so),
• Loosestrife (that they might have calmness of mind and heart and drive away all evil and worries).

I ground the herbs together while praying over them, thanking each for its aid and asking it what I wished it to do.

I then took up a plate consecrated for the purpose of candlework–which Solomonic magician and Conjure worker Balthazar Van Der Merwe called the “Tablet of Lights”–as well as a spiritually-prepared chalk marker. This chalk had been previously exorcised and consecrated following the Key of Solomon’s method.

With these, I drew a “5-spot” of 5 equal-armed crosses in the form of a larger cross. Hearts were used to finish the Holy Cross, signifying the intention to extend love, care, and comfort to the Souls included in the work. I then included the initials of the three Souls under where I would position their candles.

Using a fresh pin, I carved each of their names into their respective candles. I then dressed each candle with Holy Olive Oil before rubbing the Herbal mixture into it, praying continuously at the same time. Finally, I warmed the bottom of each candle to fix each to the Tablet of Lights, while praying over them.

Next, I prepared charcoal, Frankincense, 3 glasses of water, and an additional candle for Archangel Michael, and brought the Tablet with the fixed candles into my Temple space. I left them there while I took a ritual bath, cleansing and purifying myself with Hyssop for the work at hand. Then, the spiritual work began.

C. The Working: Offerings and Transition Assistance for Three Recently Deceased Souls

I placed Archangel Michael’s dedicated spirit table at the center of my Solomonic Circle in the center of my Temple space. On the table, I placed Michael’s Statue, a water glass for him, the Tablet of Lights and candles, a censer containing charcoal and Frankincense, the Bell of Art, a bread offering for Michael, a torch, and three glasses of water for the three spirits.

I began began by praying in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while ringing the Bell in the formation of a Cross multiple times over the spirit table, to open the work and “wake up” the spirits.

I then prayed extemporaneously for God’s help, the help of my Ancestors and those of the three deceased, and that of Archangel Michael. I did not do a formal Solomonic evocation of Michael, but simply asked him to be present and to assist with the work and greeted him with water, bread, Frankincense, and a candle offered to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on his behalf and which I invited him to enjoy.

I then lit the three candles while praying over them. I greeted each spirit in turn, starting with P.D., proceeding to M.TP. and ending with J.W. I explained to them why I had invited them here and offered their candles, Frankincense, and water glasses to the Most High on their behalf before inviting them to partake in them for refreshment, light, and strengthening.

I then prayed for the three spirits collectively and then explained to them the role of each Herb fixed to their candle and prayed for its benefit to be bestowed unto them.

Next, I spoke to the spirits of the Herbs and invited them to partake of the fire, Frankincense, and water offered as thanks for their assistance in the working.

Then I prayed for each spirit one at a time, starting with P.D., proceeding to M.TP. and ending with J.W. I then spoke to each spirit as if they were sitting before me and alive, citing cherished memories of my time with them, thanking them for their strengths, blessings, and the traits I appreciated about them, and again praying for their cleansing, purification, uplifting, illumination, good fortune, care, and comfort beyond their deaths.

At the end of each series of prayers, I addressed the spirit and invited it to communicate any message he or she wished to share with me.

The messages were brief and yet, so meaningful to me. As each spirit spoke, I seemed to see a hint of it Astrally; I saw them appearing from their waist up, looking much as they had looked when I last saw them, or perhaps a little younger.

Their images seemed to emerge out of darkness and hover in a gentle illumination above their associated candle and its flame.

These were the messages I received from the three dead spirits with whom I had worked in life:

From P.D.: (speaking in French) “Thank you for this gesture and for your help. It’s so nice here (Frater S.C.F.V.’s Note: seeming to me, in the “space” in which he now found himself after death)! So beautiful! Thank you!“

From M.T.P. (speaking in French): “Thank you, A., for helping me. How we laughed! Thank you for all you did.”

From J.W. (speaking in English): He appeared stern as he had in life, then seemed to shift into a half-smile and said, gruffly but sincerely, “Sorry I gave you such a hard time. Thanks for your help.”

After each spirit spoke, I shared some private final words to them, which I shall not share here as they are personal to us.

Their candles were burning so still and the feeling in the room was somehow both heavy and light at the same time. The words I spoke seemed to hang on the air… as if time itself had come to a halt.

Attuning to the spirits of the tree, I could feel that they were dead, but they did not seem scared; instead, they seemed content and comforted to be there.

The space in the room was positively thick with energy and yet so still, so clear and yet so solid…

Indeed, I was so touched when I finished sharing and receiving the above messages, that I had completely forgotten to pay attention to Archangel Michael’s candle.

That’s when I noticed — it was going wild.

My impression was that the Archangel was doing some intense work to help the three spirits.

In a startling visual display, Michael’s candle began to sputter up tall bursts of fire, spitting them upwards at a rapid pace, like dragon fire. This rapid bursting would be followed by the flame dropping into a very tall, clear, still flame, and barely moving at all.

Then the flame’s tip would split into separate “tongues” of flame, as if the Angel was working on individual spirits at that time, 2-3 at a time, before returning to the tall flame bursts and swaying. The bursting seemed to indicate burning through impurities; the still hovering to harmonizing and attuning.

I asked Michael if I could film this candle flame manifestation and share it with others to inspire them to know that Angels are very real and he agreed for me to share the brief footage below:

I cannot overstate the intensity of the emotions I felt as I watched this scene and felt its impact on the three spirits… I felt overcome with awe, complete wonder, utter astonishment, moved almost to tears…

Even just watching the video back a day later, I feel an intimation of those same feelings. The contrast between the wildly active candle offered to Michael and the very still candles of the dead was so striking to me then and remains so today.

Moreover, I was amazed and surprised by the fact that in this humble little ritual to help these three souls, I felt Michael’s presence more powerfully, more palpably, more viscerally than I ever had before… Including in any of the full Solomonic evocations I had done with him. I didn’t know what to make of it…

Suddenly, my eyes fell closed.

Out of the blackness of my closed eyelids, I saw a face of pure light emerge from the darkness.

It was Michael.

He spoke to me in a voice at once deep, calm, loving, and grounded.

He said:

“This is the work I knew you were capable of, that I was waiting to see from you.
Working to help, working not for yourself.
Whenever you work for the good of others, in love and humility,
I’ll never fail to help you.“

Just like that, his image vanished, and my eyes opened once again.

The Archangel’s candle continued to flicker, sputter, wind from side to side like a serpent, and stretch higher than I thought possible above the candle holder…

Image of Michael’s candle rising high above the rim of the candle holder, with the wick being all the way at the bottom of the candle holder, sitting in a shallow pool of wax. Shared with the Angel’s permission.

I felt so moved and touched I couldn’t think of words to say. I could only pray “thank you… thank you… praise God! Thank you…”

My thoughts drifted back to remembering a Solomonic invocation I completed 4 years ago, in which I had found Michael quite difficult to communicate with. I’ve now come to believe that part of why I had such trouble was that, in that ritual, my heart simply wasn’t in the right place. I was thinking too much of myself and fooling myself perhaps, but not the Angel.

Now I was focused on working for the good of others, asking nothing in return, pure and sincere in my intent, nothing could be easier than receiving Michael’s words… That seemed a profound lesson about Angelic work, namely, that an Angelic Operation is most powerful and effective when we not only respect the protocols for fasting, prayer, abstaining, etc. in the days leading up to the Operation, but also approach it with a clear and clean purpose and a heart centered on extending the Good, on blessing.

Such a heart, such a mind-set, is in harmony, not only with the nature of the Angels themselves–thereby making it easier to attune to them–but also with the Divine Will itself.

For the Divine Will is always to extend the Good, through all manners, through all planes and worlds, to all beings, in all ways; as the great Adepti and Scriptures tell us, the eternal extension of the blood–Supreme Cosmic Benediction–is Love itself in action, Grace itself, and even the very Nature of God.

Photo of the Statue of Michael I took in Saint Michael’s Basilica in Sherbrooke.

Indeed, it reminds me of the words of Christ in Matthew 23:12, in which he says that “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It now seems to me that there is a profound occult secret hidden here, in plain sight. At least for the Christian folk magician, the more we humble ourselves, the more we keep our self-concern out of the work while elevating the Divine and focusing on benefiting others through the work, the more help we will receive and the easier it will be to attune to the Angelic presence in the work.

Conversely, if our Angelic communications break down, it’s worth doing some soul-searching about our real motives, what we’re really aiming at, and whether that really is what we say it is…

This lesson also reminded me of the words of John the Baptist speaking of Christ in John 3:30, in which he proclaimed that “I must decrease; He must increase.” John devoted his life to paving the way for Christ, heralding his arrival, and drawing all to him in repentance, even unto death. Having so faithfully humbled himself, Jesus said about him in Matthew 11, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” And yet, even after this, he added a humbling other part for you and me, “…yet whoever is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.“

At this part of the working, I was so moved, I could barely proceed. But I knew I had to carry on.

I prayed for P.D., M.T.P., and J.W and recited Psalm 132 on their behalf, praying the following (Names of God Bible Translation):

“Psalm 132

A song for going up to worship.

¹ O YHVH, remember David and all the hardships he endured.
² Remember how he swore an oath to YHVH
    and made this vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³         “I will not step inside my house,
⁴ get into my bed, shut my eyes, or close my eyelids
⁵ until I find a place for YHVH,
    a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Now, we have heard about the ark of the promise being in Ephrathah.
    We have found it in Jaar.
⁷ Let’s go to his dwelling place.
    Let’s worship at his footstool.
⁸ O YHVH, arise, and come to your resting place
    with the ark of your power.
⁹ Clothe your priests with righteousness.
    Let your godly ones sing with joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David,
    do not reject your anointed one.
¹¹ YHVH swore an oath to David.
    This is a truth he will not take back:
        “I will set one of your own descendants on your throne.
¹² If your sons are faithful to my promise^[a]
    and my written instructions that I will teach them,
        then their descendants will also sit on your throne forever.”

¹³ YHVH has chosen Zion.
    He wants it for his home.
¹⁴ “This will be my resting place forever.
    Here I will sit enthroned because I want Zion.
¹⁵ I will certainly bless all that Zion needs.
    I will satisfy its needy people with food.
¹⁶ I will clothe its priests with salvation.
    Then its godly ones will sing joyfully.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn sprout up for David.
    I will prepare a lamp for my anointed one.
¹⁸ I will clothe his enemies with shame,
    but the crown on my anointed one will shine.”

Ancient Roman fresco of David as Shepherd.

I was going to end the ritual there, but felt nudged to add a final Psalm 23 as well:

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his Name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Having finished praying the Psalm, to close the Temple, I prayed an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, as taught to me by a dear Esperitista friend, while again ringing the Bell of Art.

I gave thanks a final time, said goodbye to the three deceased, thanked Michael, the Ancestors, and the Most High, then declared the Temple duly closed.

I left the candles to burn and checked in on them about 40 minutes later, only to see the following:

My impression was that P.D.’s and M.T.P.’s candles had burned down rather quickly, but with tears of wax running down the sides as they burned, suggesting that pain and other impurities were being processed out of the spirits with help from Michael.

J.W.’s candle on the other hand, burned clean and clear almost to the end, when it suddenly pulled forward in an extension of wax towards where I was standing. How can we interpret the wax from these candles?

C. Practical Carromancy: Wax Remains Readings of the Three Candles

P.D.’s candle wax remains.

The next morning, I took the high-definition pictures of the wax remnants of each candle that you see here and endeavoured to interpret them with some insights from fellow readers with whom I shared the images in order to obtain insights from objective third parties. Much thanks to Cléo and David Domart, my fellow Working the Root students, for their input.

First, as seen above, we have P.D.’s candle. What I saw here was a spirit reposed and relaxed, a face looking to the side, surrounded by comforting and joyful petals. David got an impression of “thank you” from this wax and Cléo got a sense of “petals and playful cherubs.” This seemed very much in harmony with the message I received from P.D., namely, that he was grateful and that he found the space he was in very “nice! So beautiful!” This wax pattern was also very much in harmony with P.D.’s personality; he was a friendly and fabulous man who delighted in fashion and flowing fabrics. I saw his ‘imprint’ in this wax, in this sense, the stamp of the energy he embodied.

The second candle was M.T.P’s and looked as follows:

M.T.P.’s candle wax remains

What I saw here was her face, looking relaxed and content (the wick remains forming two eyes connected to a nose with a mouth below it). Above her, I saw the sweep of her hair, looking flowing and free. There were hints of her ears and perhaps a suggestion of a bosom at the bottom of the wax. Cléo also got a feeling of joy and gratitude from M.TP.’s candle. I was also struck by how much it looked like her; I could almost see her little smile and hear her joyful giggle as if she were laughing in my presence! David, similarly, sensed her free-flowing spirit and noted that he could feel “energy moving fast.” That sounded appropriate to me.

Finally, and most interestingly, we come to J.W.’s candle wax remains:

J.W.’s candle wax remains.

This wax felt entirely different from the others. As it turns out, this was exactly as it should be. P.D. and M.T.P. were both friendly, jovial people. J.W. was cut from a different cloth; he tended to be harsh and suspicious to the point where he refused to answer nearly every question I ever asked him. Part of my work with his spirit in the candle work here involved trying to show him my good will for him and help him relax his walls of suspicion so that he could move on without getting unnecessarily obstructed and encumbered. To hear him say “Sorry I was so hard on you, thank you” was about the nicest thing I could have hoped for from him. I told him all was forgiven and that I was just happy to have had the honour of meeting him and his family.

Looking at his wax remains, I see the wick remnants making up a face once again, a very different kind of face. I see eyes that look suspicious, perhaps a little fearful yet incredulous, but also see the wax sweeping down to the right as an outstretched arm, a kind of “olive branch” to me. I read it this way because the wax is coming towards where I was standing while doing the candlework. The overall message then became something like “yeah, I’m still a little wary of you, but I appreciate what you did for me so here’s an olive branch.”

Seeing this wax pattern, Cléo found it a little hard to read, saying he “seems elusive, like moving on or going through something.” That sounded right to me. J.W. was an elusive person in life, and remained so in death. He was hard to read, evasive as a man, both for people who just met him and for his own family members who had known him the longest. Moreover, he likely was going through confusion because his death came suddenly when we had been preparing for him to go home the very next day from the hospital; we have even put in place a new bed, raised toilet seat, and free homecare services to help receive him more comfortably at home. Appropriately, reading this wax, David saw someone “lost, not quite conscious.” That resonated. I hoped that the Rootwork would help calm, comfort, clear, illuminate, and strengthen his spirit through this transition.

D. Conclusion: Parting Thoughts on Working at the Crossroads of Life and Death

Overall, this was a beautiful working, a working that made me feel at once connected to the roots of the Herbs that powered the work, to Archangel Michael’s profound presence, to my own Ancestors and the Rootworkers who came before me, and to my fondly-appreciated clients at their passing.

I hoped that the working would help them to move on even as the Fire and Herbs helped soothe my own grieving and the bereavement of their surviving loved ones.

At the same time, the ritual cemented for me that magic really can operate at the Crossroads, even of Life and Death itself.

And while moving in that liminal space, a space of terror for many, we as spiritual workers can move in peace, and doing so, help bring that peace to troubled spirits in their moment of transition.

What could that be but an honour and a humbling opportunity for service, to life, death, and the Infinite itself?

Three Kings Magic: Magi Lore and Christian Folk Rites on the Feast of Epiphany

By Adam J. Pearson (Frater S.C.F.V.)

1. Celebrating the Coming of the Three Kings: Introduction to Epiphany Magic on the Feast of the Adoration of the Magi

On January 6th, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches celebrate the Feast of Epiphany or the Feast of the Adoration of the Magi, a day richly layered in lore, folk magical resonances, apocryphal tradition, and esoteric and exoteric practices  alike.  About this most sacred and magical of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Feast Days, the traditional text of the Catholic Roman Rite reveals that

“In the East, the Church has long emphasized in her celebration of Epiphany the mystery of our Lord’s baptism, and by analogy our baptism.  This aspect is not neglected in Western Christendom, although in practice we have concentrated on the visit of the Magi.  Many years before the Latin Rite officially adopted the blessing of Epiphany water, diocesan rituals, notably in lower Italy, had contained such a blessing” (Fortescue, O’Connell, & Reid, 2009). 

As Dr. Alexander Cummins (2018), contemporary Wise Man and author of the fantastic Book of the Magi: Lore, Prayers, and Spellcraft of the Three Holy Kings – Folk Necromancy in Transmission has described in tremendous depth, the Biblical Magi enjoyed a widespread Medieval cultus, accrued rich lore and hagiographic depth via authors such as Pseudo-Bede and John of Hildesheim’s Historia Trium Regum or “History of the Three Kings,” and inspired a wide range of folk magical practices.  

One of the earliest depictions of the Adoration of the Magi is located on a Roman sarcophagus from the 4th century CE from the cemetery of St. Agnes in Rome.  This depiction represents the Magi as three, a dominant trend in Christian literature and art despite the Wise Men’s not being either named or numbered in the Bible and the existence of rival Orthodox accounts that conceive of up to 12 different Magi in Adoration of the newborn Christ (Cummins, 2018; Longenecker, 2017).  This Roman depiction portrays the Magi, often traditionally named as Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior as identically dressed in Saturnine Phrygian caps and accompanied by camels, who have also interestingly accrued their own lore as having overheard the wisdom of the Magi and passed it on to their camel (Cummins, 2018):

The verses about the Magi in the New Testament are remarkably sparse, and yet packed with meaning when they do occur, as in Matthew 2:

“1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem
2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (NIV, 2018).

While their number is indeterminate, their mission and its foundation are clear; they have interpreted astrological signs in the Heavens and come “from the East” to worship the new King that the coming of a new star has indicated.  Matthew 2:2 thus inaugurated the longstanding tradition, later lauded by prominent Renaissance figures such as  Marsilio Ficino in his Apologia, De Vita and De Stella Magorum, of both ascribing astrological wisdom to the “Wise Men” and of validating astrology as a manifestation of esoteric wisdom in the West (Buhler, 1990).  Indeed, the Magi had attentively recorded “the exact time,” vital for astrological analyses, when they had glimpsed the Messianic Star, as Matthew 2:7 makes clear when Herod finds out “the exact time the star had appeared” from the Wise Men.

The final verses relating to the Magi in Matthew 2 report that

11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route (NIV, 2018).

These few verses and the devotional engagement of generations of subsequent Christians produced a many-splendoured lore around the Magi as Patrons of travel and pilgrimage, masters of offerings and gift-giving, and, in the occult community, as great Magicians who could be worked with necromantically and be called upon in conjurations and charms (Cummins, 2018).  As their traditions developed, unique materia magica emerged under their aegis, which ranged from consecrated Epiphany Chalk used to inscribe protective symbols over doorways and thresholds to Epiphany Water used in house cleansings (Cummins, 2018).  As visitors to the first “home” of Christ, the Three Kings sympathetically acquired the power to facilitate the entry of Christ into the homes of the Christian faithful.  In folk occult circles, their Feast Day on January 6th acquired a reputation as a particular auspicious day for the consecration of magical implements, which even came to be required in some texts such as the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses (Peterson, 2006).

Beyond traditions surrounding Epiphany Chalk and Water, other folk customs coalesced around the Kings as the mythos of the Magi unfolded.  One such custom involved children writing letters to the Magi (los Reyes Magos de Oriente, Los Tres Reyes Magos or simply Los Reyes Magos) with requests for gifts and leaving offerings of water and food out to the Magi and their camels in a manner reminiscent of Santa Claus traditions (Cummins, 2015). Also similar to the Santa Claus tradition, a hallowed tradition in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay, involved having the children receive presents from the three “Reyes Magos” on the night of January 5 (Epiphany Eve) or morning of January 6, Epiphany proper.  A different, but related, custom in Manila, in the Philippines involved children leaving out shoes on Epiphany Eve in the hopes of receiving gifts of sweets or money from the gift-giving Magi.

The Three Kings as depicted in an Epiphany Parade in the Philippines.

In addition, a custom of holding Parades or Cavalcades in the honour of the Kings flourished in nearly all Spanish cities, in some cities in Mexico, in Poland and elsewhere (Przybylska, 2015).  The celebratory energy of the Kings’ Epiphany additionally poured out in song in Catholic areas of the German-speaking world, where Sternsingers or “star singers” carried a star from door to door representing the one followed by the Biblical Magi while singing Christmas carols such as “Stern über Bethlehem” (Cummins, 2018). Interestingly, a similar costumed singing Magi tradition developed in the Philippines as well, as evident in the following image by photographer Sidney Snoeck:

Moreover, cakes also came to be associated with the Magi as sweets offered to groups of celebrants.  In Spain and Portugal, a ring-shaped cake (in Portuguese: bolo-rei) was served on Epiphany.  The cake contained a small figurine of one of the Magi or a small baby Jesus and a dry broad bean.  The finder of the figure was crowned with a cardboard or paper crown and given the responsibility of hosting the family celebration for Candlemas or Candelaria on February 2nd while the recipient of the bean was required to pay the value of the cake to the person who originally bought it (Cummins, 2018).  Mexican celebrants similarly developed a ring-shaped cake Rosca de Reyes (Kings Bagel or Thread) with figurines inside it.  Related traditions surrounding Epiphany cakes containing beans, King figurines, baby Jesus figurines, or crowns could be found in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and even New Orleans, Louisiana and southern Texas with Mardi Gras “King Cakes” (Poché, 2007). Such cakes took a circular form reminiscent of kingly crowns and might be enjoyed alongside a fine beverage like Jason Miller’s (2016) Three Wise Men  Cocktail:

“Three Wise Men Cocktail:
1 part Scotch Whisky (recommend a blended Scotch for Coctails. Johnnie Walker Red or Black. Green, Gold and Blue should never be mixed with anything else.
1 part Tennessee Whiskey (e.g., Jack Daniels).
1 part Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey (e.g., Jim Beam White or Black Label).

Serve either neat or on the rocks, according to taste. Variations include:

Three Wise Men Go Hunting Cocktail, which is the recipe above with the addition of Wild Turkey Bourbon.

The Three  Men and a Baby Cocktail: recipe above, add milk. (YUCK!)” (Miller, 2016).

How can contemporary Magicians, particularly those interested in folk Christian and Solomonic magic, benefit from the magical traditions linked to Epiphany and the Three Kings of the East?  In the remainder of this article, I will offer some ideas and ritual scripts for blessing Epiphany Chalk, consecrating Three Kings Water, doing House Cleansings, and doing protective Epiphany Door Chalkings, as well as some practical folk magical applications inspired by the Magi.  In so doing, we will touch on the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, the Heptameron, the Key of Solomon, and Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft as we symbolically tread in the footsteps of the camels of the Ancient Kings.

2. The Blessing of Epiphany Chalk

The following is my version of a ritual method for Blessing of Epiphany Chalk, which combines Key of Solomon methods with Daryl Moresco’s (2016) version of the Epiphany Chalk Blessing from the Order of Carmelites into a folk-Solomonic hybrid.  Keen readers will note that I have slightly modified the wording of the Carmelites’ version of the Blessing so that the resulting Chalk of Art is consecrated not only for house blessings but also for drawing magical figures.  The latter is a key instrumental technology within the grimoiric system of the The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, which call for a “Pentagon, or, the Omnipotent Five-Corners” to be drawn in chalk consecrated on the Day of Epiphany:

As the text itself explains:

“This mysterious figure must be written before the exorcism, in the open air, and in the ground, with consecrated [Epiphany] chalk or with the index finger of the right hand dipped in holy three-kings-water [Epiphany Water, see below], the same as it is written up on the paper, but each line must be thirteen feet in length.

The conjuror then kneels in the centre of the star, with un­covered head and with face turned toward Zion, and calls first in a loud voice, coming from the heart, the names of Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, thirteen times, and after calling these thirteen times, he must also then call the high and sacred name of Elohim 375 times with equal fervor and faith. But only as has already been stated in the Laws of Entrance, No. 10, in the first three days or nights of the new moon, or full moon, or when Saturn, Mars and Jupiter appear in the heavens” (Peterson, 2006).

Thus, to properly practice the 6th and 7th Books of Moses method, the Magician is required to have either Epiphany chalk or the Epiphany Three Kings Water, and even uses the names of the Magi to consecrate the protective Pentagram in which the Magician kneels to do the Operation.

My Method for Blessing the Chalk

Before the Church service, Exorcise the Chalk using this modified formula based on the Key of Solomon (Peterson, 2004):

The Exorcism of the Chalk

Hold your hand over the chalk and say:

“CAMIACH, CANTAC, EMIAL, MIAL, EMORE, BARCA, MARBAT, CACRAT, ZANDAC, VALAMACH;¹ by these most holy names, and the other names of angels which are written in the book ASSAMAIAN [The ‘Sepher Ha-Shamaiim,’ or ‘Book of the Heavens.’], I exorcise and conjure thee O Creature of Chalk that thou assist me in this operation, by God the true, God the holy, the God who hath created thee.”

[then say,

“O Angels and Names of the Most High ADONAY, ELOHY, AGLAY, AGLATHA: May you be our help, so that our speech may be fulfilled through you.  Almighty ADONAI, ARATHRON, ASHAI, ELOHIM, ELOHI, ELION, ASHER EHEIEH, SHADDAI, O God the Lord, immaculate, immutable, EMANUEL, MESSIACH, YOD, HE, VAU, HE, be my aid, so that this Chalk may have power and efficacy in all wherein I shall wish, and in all that I shall demand.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Suffumigate the chalk with consecrated incense and sprinkle it with a small amount of Holy Water, then bring it to Church on the Day of Epiphany (January 6th).  If you do not have any Holy Water at hand at this time, the chalk can also be sprinkled with Epiphany Water made on this same day according to the method given below.

Interior of Our Lady of Kazan Church, Irkutsk, a Russian Orthodox Church built between 1885 and 1892.

During or after the Church service on the Day of Epiphany, January 6th, quietly pray the following prayers over the chalk.  Although there is some flexibility with timing this ritual, as in the Magical Consecration by Mass, the optimal time to pray the prayers of blessing is during the moment of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  In any case, one way to proceed with the blessing of the Chalk is as follows:

The Blessing of the Chalk

Our help is the Name of the Lord:
The Maker of heaven and earth.
The Lord shall watch over our going out and our coming in,
As over our work in the magical Art:
From this time forth for evermore.

Let us pray:

Loving God, bless this chalk which you have created, that it may be helpful to your people; and grant that through the invocation of your most Holy Name that we who use it in faith to trace holy figures in the Art of Magic or to write upon the door of our home the names of your holy ones, the Three Kings and Great Magi, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, may receive health of body and protection of soul for all who dwell in or visit our home and all who participate in our Operations of the magical Art; this we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen (Adapted from Moresco, 2016).

If you would like to go the extra mile and create your own Chalk containing materia magica from scratch, Conjureman Ali outlines a procedure for doing so in a detailed post entitled “Making Magical Chalk” (Ali, 2012).  Commenting on Ali’s method, Dr. Alexander Cummins (2018) offers some additional ideas as well as a simplified method of his own ingenious devising:

“These instructions include adding a pinch of herbal materia, and you should feel confident in employing your familiar plant allies that accord with the mysteries of this house and threshold blessing: to begin the year afresh, protected each time one journeys out of one’s home and purified each time one returns. I have used the Three Purifiers of the Grimorium Verum (that is, marjoram, mint, and rosemary) about which I have held forth at length in my article for the second Conjure Codex by Hadean Press. Other herbs of the Magi include hyssop, rue and anise. These could be added in very small dried quantities or even infused in Triple-Kings Water to be added to the dry chalk mix. One might also employ (sparingly!) frankincense and/or myrrh essential oil/s.

I will also say that, given the sheer time required to properly make chalk from scratch (especially the removal of the inner membrane, not to mention the grinding), I also have been known to use this quicker method:

Take three pieces of chalk and baptize them in the names of the Three Kings with holy water, with Three Kings Water being best. Grind them to dust with blessed salt. Add a small amount of infusion of rue, as well as frankincense and myrrh oils. Shape the wet mass into three sticks of new Three Kings chalk. Consecrate. Pray a Blessing of the Chalk” (Cummins, 2018).

As a relevant side note, consecrated Epiphany Chalk can be very useful for drawing Circles such as those used in the Heptameron system, which have to be modified by the day, hour and season, as in the following diagram from the grimoire (Peterson, 2018):

Moreover, for those who work with chalk markers using an approach like the Solomonic Candle Magic system of the aptly named Balthazar, blessing the chalk markers on the Day of Epiphany can be a wise and fruitful exercise.

3. The Blessing of Epiphany Water or Triple Kings Water

The following method for the blessing of Triple Kings Water is a rather lengthy ritual that I developed with the purpose of faithfully integrating the Roman Rite‘s official liturgical method for consecrating Epiphany Water with the consecration of Salt and Holy Water methods from the Key of Solomon (Fortescue, O’Connell, & Reid, 2009; Peterson, 2018).  Christian folk Magicians and Solomonic Magicians may find it pleasantly resonant with their other practices. 

For ease of use, I have also included the full versions of all relevant Psalms used in the method drawing on the Clavicula Salomonis’ Holy Water method in the ritual script below (Peterson, 2018).  In addition, in order to infuse the magical Rite, the versions of the Psalms I have included feature the original Hebrew Divine Names rather than the English translations thereof, drawing on the Names of God Bible.  For those who are interested, the rationale for this approach of using Divine Names in their original language has been discussed in more detail by Dr. Stephen Skinner (2013) in his Doctoral Thesis, in its adapted form in Techniques of Graeco Egyptian Magic, as well as in my Glitch Bottle interview with Mr. Alexander Eth.  

RITUAL OF THE BLESSING OF EPIPHANY WATER

Ritual Setup: 1. At the appointed time the celebrant, vested in white cope (if a bishop, the mitre is worn but removed during the prayers), and the deacon and subdeacon, vested in white dalmatic and tunic respectively, come before the altar. They are preceded by acolytes, who carry the processional cross and lighted candles (which are put in their proper place), and by the other clergy. A vessel of water and a container of salt are in readiness in the sanctuary.

[Adam’s Note: Adapt the setup as needed. At the very minimum, have a vessel of water, salt, a candle, and incense].

First the Litany of the Saints is sung, during which time all kneel.

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us.	Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, God the Son, Redeemer of the world, God the Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, one God,	have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us. have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, All you Holy Angels and Archangels, St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, All you Holy Patriarchs and Prophets,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Philip, St. Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Simon, St. Jude, St. Matthias, St. Barnabas, St. Luke, St. Mark, All you holy Apostles and Evangelists, All you holy Disciples of the Lord, All you holy Innocents,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, Sts. John and Paul, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, All you holy Martyrs, Saints Cyprian and Justina,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.pray for us.
St. Sylvester, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Martin, St. Nicholas, All you holy Bishops and Confessors, All you holy Doctors,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Anthony, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, All you holy Priests and Levites, All you holy Monks and Hermits,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
St. Mary Magdalene, St. Agatha, St. Lucy, St. Agnes, St. Cecilia, St. Anastasia, St. Catherine, St. Clare, All you holy Virgins and Widows, All you holy Saints of God,	pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us. pray for us.
Lord, be merciful, From all evil, From all sin, From your wrath, From a sudden and unprovided death, From the snares of the Devil, From anger, hatred, and all ill-will, From the spirits of uncleanness, From lightning and tempest, From the scourge of earthquake, From plague, famine, and war, From everlasting death,	Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people.
By the mystery of your holy Incarnation, By your Coming, By your Birth, By your Baptism and holy fasting, By your Cross and Passion, By your Death and Burial, By your holy Resurrection, By your wonderful Ascension, By the coming of the Holy Spirit, On the day of judgment,	Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people. Lord, save your people.
Be merciful to us sinners,	Lord, hear our prayer.
That you will spare us, That you will pardon us, That it may please you to bring us to true penance, Guide and protect your holy Church, Preserve in holy religion the Pope, and all those in holy Orders, Humble the enemies of holy Church, Give peace and unity to the whole Christian people, Bring back to the unity of the Church all those who are straying, and bring all unbelievers to the light of the Gospel, Strengthen and preserve us in your holy service, Raise our minds to desire the things of heaven, Reward all our benefactors with eternal blessings, Deliver our souls from eternal damnation, and the souls of our brethren, relatives, and benefactors, Give and preserve the fruits of the earth, Grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed, That it may please You to hear and heed us, Jesus, Son of the Living God,	Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer.Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer. Lord, hear our prayer.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,	Spare us, O Lord! Graciously hear us, O Lord! Have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us, Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.	Christ, graciously hear us Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

After the invocation, the Celebrant rises and sings the following two invocations, the second in a higher key:

Holy Lord, we ask that you bless  this holy water of Epiphany.

We beg you to hear us.

That you bless  and sanctify  this sacred water of Epiphany.

We beg you to hear us.

After this the Celebrant chants the Pater Noster in English or in Latin as given here:

“Pater noster, qui es in caelis,
sanctificetur nomen tuum,
adveniat regnum tuum,
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in caelo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie;
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;
et ne inducas nos in tentationem;
sed libera nos a Malo. Amen.”

Then the following Psalms are sung:

Psalm 28

1 O Yahweh, I call to you.
O my rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.
If you remain silent,
I will be like those who go into the pit.
2 Hear my prayer for mercy when I call to you for help,
when I lift my hands toward your most holy place.
3 Do not drag me away with wicked people,
with troublemakers who speak of peace with their neighbors
but have evil in their hearts.
4 Pay them back for what they have done,
for their evil deeds.
Pay them back for what their hands have done,
and give them what they deserve.
5 Yahweh will tear them down and never build them up again,
because they never consider what he has done
or what his hands have made.

6 Thank Yahweh!
He has heard my prayer for mercy!
7 Yahweh is my strength and my Magen.
My heart trusted him, so I received help.
My heart is triumphant; I give thanks to him with my song.
8 Yahweh is the strength of his people
and a fortress for the victory of his Messiah.
9 Save your people, and bless those who belong to you.
Be their Roeh, and carry them forever.

Celebrant: Glory be to the Father.

All: As it was in the beginning.

Psalm 45

For the choir director; according to shoshannim;[a] a maskil by Korah’s descendants; a love song.

1 My heart is overflowing with good news.
I will direct my song to the king.
My tongue is a pen for a skillful writer.

2 You are the most handsome of Adam’s descendants.
Grace is poured on your lips.
That is why Elohim has blessed you forever.
3 O warrior, strap your sword to your side
with your splendor and majesty.
4 Ride on victoriously in your majesty
for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand teach you awe-inspiring things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies.
Nations fall beneath you.
6 Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
7 You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you,
rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.
8 All your robes are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From ivory palaces the music of stringed instruments delights you.
9 The daughters of kings are among your noble ladies.
The queen takes her place at your right hand
and wears gold from Ophir.

10 Listen, daughter! Look closely!
Turn your ear toward me.
Forget your people, and forget your father’s house.
11 The king longs for your beauty.
He is your Lord.
Worship him.

12 The people of Tyre, the richest people,
want to win your favor with a gift.
13 The daughter of the king is glorious inside the palace.
Her dress is embroidered with gold.
14 Wearing a colorful gown, she is brought to the king.
Her bridesmaids follow her.
They will be brought to you.
15 With joy and delight they are brought in.
They enter the palace of the king.

16 Your sons will take the place of your father.
You will make them princes over the whole earth.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered throughout every generation.
That is why the nations will give thanks to you forever and ever.

Celebrant: Glory be to the Father.

All: As it was in the beginning.

Psalm 146

1 Hallelujah!

Praise Yahweh, my soul!
2 I want to praise Yahweh throughout my life.
I want to make music to praise my Elohim as long as I live.

3 Do not trust influential people,
mortals who cannot help you.
4         When they breathe their last breath, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans come to an end.
5 Blessed are those who receive help from the El of Jacob.
Their hope rests on Yahweh their Elohim,
6         who made heaven, earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
Yahweh remains faithful forever.
7 He brings about justice for those who are oppressed.
He gives food to those who are hungry.
Yahweh sets prisoners free.
8 Yahweh gives sight to blind people.
Yahweh straightens the backs of those who are bent over.
Yahweh loves righteous people.
9 Yahweh protects foreigners.
Yahweh gives relief to orphans and widows.
But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
10 Yahweh rules as king forever.
Zion, your Elohim rules throughout every generation.

Hallelujah!

Celebrant: Glory be to the Father.

All: As it was in the beginning.

***

The Celebrant then chants the following Exorcism [Note:  denotes performing the Sign of the Cross]

The Exorcism against Satan and the Apostate Spirits

In the name of our Lord Jesus  Christ and by His power, we cast you out, every unclean spirit, every devilish power, every assault of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect; begone and stay far from the Church of God, from all who are made in the image of God and redeemed by the precious blood of the divine  Lamb. Never again dare, you cunning serpent, to deceive the human race, to persecute the Church of God, nor to strike the chosen of God and to sift them as  wheat. For it is the Most High God who commands you,   He to whom you heretofore in your great pride considered yourself equal; He who desires that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of truth. God the Father  commands you. God the Son  commands you. God the Holy  Spirit commands you. The majesty of Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh  commands you; He who for the salvation of our race, the race that was lost through your envy, humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death; He who built His Church upon a solid rock, and proclaimed that the gates of hell should never prevail against her, and that He would remain with her all days, even to the end of the world. The sacred mystery of the cross  commands you, as well as the power of all the mysteries of Christian faith. The exalted Virgin Mary, Mother of God  commands you, who in her lowliness crushed your proud head from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception. The faith of the holy apostles Peter and Paul and the other apostles  commands you. The blood of the martyrs and the devout intercession of all holy men and women commands you.

Therefore, accursed dragon and every diabolical legion, we adjure you by the living  God, by the true  God, by the holy  God, by the God who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have life everlasting; cease your deception of the human race and your giving them to drink of the poison of everlasting damnation; desist from harming the Church and fettering her freedom. Begone Satan, you father and teacher of lies and enemy of mankind. Give place to Christ in whom you found none of your works; give place to the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church, which Christ Himself purchased with His blood. May you be brought low under God’s mighty hand. May you tremble and flee as we call upon the holy and awesome name of Jesus, before whom hell quakes, and to whom the virtues, powers, and dominations are subject; whom the cherubim and seraphim praise with unwearied voices, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts!

Next, All Sing the following antiphon and canticle:

Antiphon

ALL: Today the Church is espoused to her heavenly bridegroom, for Christ washes her sins in the Jordan; the Magi hasten with gifts to the regal nuptials; and the guests are gladdened with water made wine, alleluia.

Recite the Canticle of Zachary from Luke 1.68-79:

Celebrant: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited His people and brought about its redemption.

ALL: He has raised for us a stronghold of salvation in the house of David His servant,

Celebrant: And redeemed the promise He had made through the mouth of His holy prophets of old–

ALL: To grant salvation from our foes and from the hand of all that hate us;

Celebrant: To deal in mercy with our fathers and be mindful of His holy covenant,

ALL: Of the oath he had sworn to our father Abraham, that He would enable us–

Celebrant: Rescued from the clutches of our foes–to worship Him without fear,

ALL: In holiness and observance of the Law, in His presence, all our days.

Celebrant: And you, my little one, will be hailed ‘Prophet of the Most High’; for the Lord’s precursor you will be to prepare His ways;

ALL: You are to impart to His people knowledge of salvation through forgiveness of their sins.

Celebrant: Thanks be to the merciful heart of our God! A dawning Light from on high will visit us

ALL: To shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadowland of death, and guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Celebrant: Glory be to the Father.

ALL: As it was in the beginning.

At the end of the canticle the antiphon given above is repeated.

Antiphon

ALL: Today the Church is espoused to her heavenly bridegroom, for Christ washes her sins in the Jordan; the Magi hasten with gifts to the regal nuptials; and the guests are gladdened with water made wine, alleluia.

Then the Celebrant sings:

Celebrant: The Lord be with you.

All: May He also be with you.

Celebrant: Let us pray. God, who on this day revealed your only-begotten Son to all nations by the guidance of a star, grant that we who now know you by faith may finally behold you in your heavenly majesty; through Christ our Lord.

ALL: Amen.

Next the Celebrant blesses the water:

Celebrant: Our help is in the name of the Lord.

ALL: Who made heaven and earth.

From here on the exorcism of salt and the prayer that follows it as well as the Psalms used to consecrate the Water.

From the Key of Solomon

Say these words over the salt:–

The Blessing of the Father Almighty be upon this Creature of Salt, and let all malignity and hindrance be cast forth hence from, and let all good enter herein, for without Thee man cannot live, wherefore I bless thee and invoke thee, that thou mayest aid me.

Then say:

TZABAOTHI MESSIACH, EMANUEL, ELOHIM GIBOR, YOD HE VAU HE; O God, Who art the Truth and the Life, deign to bless and sanctify this Creature of Salt, to serve unto us for help, protection, and assistance in this Art, experiment, and operation, and may it be a succour unto us.

Then say over the water:

I exorcise thee, O Creature of Water, by Him Who hath created thee and gathered thee together into one place so that the dry land appeared, that thou uncover all the deceits of the Enemy, and that thou cast out from thee all the impurities and uncleannesses of the Spirits of the World of Phantasm, so they may harm me not, through the virtue of God Almighty Who liveth and reigneth unto the Ages of the Ages. Amen.

Prayer, say:

EL strong and wonderful, I bless thee, I adore thee, I glorify thee, I invoke thee, I render thee thanks for this water, so that this water may be able to cast from away all impurity and concupiscence of heart, through thee, O holy ADONAI; and may I accomplish all things through thee who livest and reignest unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

After this cast the Salt into the vessel wherein is the Water, and say the following Psalms over the Water to complete its transformation into Holy Water:

Psalm 102

O YHVH, hear my prayer,
and let my cry for help come to you.
2 Do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble.
Turn your ear toward me.
Answer me quickly when I call.
3 My days disappear like smoke.
My bones burn like hot coals.
4 My heart is beaten down and withered like grass
because I have forgotten about eating.
5 I am nothing but skin and bones
because of my loud groans.
6 I am like a desert owl,
like an owl living in the ruins.
7 I lie awake.
I am like a lonely bird on a rooftop.
8 All day long my enemies insult me.
Those who ridicule me use my name as a curse.
9 I eat ashes like bread
and my tears are mixed with my drink
10 because of your hostility and anger,
because you have picked me up and thrown me away.
11 My days are like a shadow that is getting longer,
and I wither away like grass.

12 But you, O YHVH, remain forever.
You are remembered throughout every generation.
13 You will rise and have compassion on Zion,
because it is time to grant a favor to it.
Indeed, the appointed time has come.
14 Your servants value Zion’s stones,
and they pity its rubble.
15 The nations will fear YHVH’s name.
All the kings of the earth will fear your glory.
16 When YHVH builds Zion,
he will appear in his glory.
17 He will turn his attention to the prayers
of those who have been abandoned.
He will not despise their prayers.
18 This will be written down for a future generation
so that a people yet to be created may praise Yah:
19 “YHVH looked down from his holy place high above.
From heaven he looked at the earth.
20 He heard the groans of the prisoners
and set free those who were condemned to death.
21 YHVH’s name is announced in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem
22 when nations and kingdoms gather
to worship YHVH.”

23 He has weakened my strength along the way.
He has reduced the number of my days.
24 I said, “My El, don’t take me now in the middle of my life.
Your years continue on throughout every generation.
25 Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth.
Even the heavens are the works of your hands.
26 They will come to an end, but you will still go on.
They will all wear out like clothing.
You will change them like clothes,
and they will be thrown away.
27 But you remain the same, and your life will never end.
28 The children of your servants will go on living here.
Their descendants will be secure in your presence.”

Psalm 54

O Elohim, save me by your name,
and defend me with your might.
2 O Elohim, hear my prayer,
and open your ears to the words from my mouth.

3 Strangers have attacked me.
Ruthless people seek my life.
They do not think about Elohim.[a] Selah

4 Elohim is my helper!
Adonay is the provider for my life.
5 My enemies spy on me.
Pay them back with evil.
Destroy them with your truth!

6 I will make a sacrifice to you along with a freewill offering.
I will give thanks to your good name, O YHVH.
7 Your name rescues me from every trouble.
My eyes will gloat over my enemies.

Psalm 6

O YHVH, do not punish me in your anger
or discipline me in your rage.
2 Have pity on me, O YHVH, because I am weak.
Heal me, O YHVH, because my bones shake with terror.
3 My soul has been deeply shaken with terror.
But you, O YHVH, how long . . . ?

4 Come back, O YHVH.
Rescue me.
Save me because of your mercy!
5 In death, no one remembers you.
In the grave, who praises you?

6 I am worn out from my groaning.
My eyes flood my bed every night.
I soak my couch with tears.
7 My eyes blur from grief.
They fail because of my enemies.

8 Get away from me, all you troublemakers,
because YHVH has heard the sound of my crying.
9         YHVH has heard my plea for mercy.
YHVH accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be put to shame and deeply shaken with terror.
In a moment they will retreat and be put to shame.

Psalm 51

1 Have pity on me, O Elohim, in keeping with your mercy.
In keeping with your unlimited compassion, wipe out my rebellious acts.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3         I admit that I am rebellious.
My sin is always in front of me.
4 I have sinned against you, especially you.
I have done what you consider evil.
So you hand down justice when you speak,
and you are blameless when you judge.

5 Indeed, I was born guilty.
I was a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6 Yet, you desire truth and sincerity.
Deep down inside me you teach me wisdom.
7 Purify me from sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness.
Let the bones that you have broken dance.
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and wipe out all that I have done wrong.

10 Create a clean heart in me, O Elohim,
and renew a faithful spirit within me.
11 Do not force me away from your presence,
and do not take Ruach Qodesh from me.
12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me,
and provide me with a spirit of willing obedience.

13 Then I will teach your ways to those who are rebellious,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder,
O Elohim, my savior.
Let my tongue sing joyfully about your righteousness!
15 O Adonay, open my lips,
and my mouth will tell about your praise.
16 You are not happy with any sacrifice.
Otherwise, I would offer one to you.
You are not pleased with burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifice pleasing to Elohim is a broken spirit.
O Elohim, you do not despise a broken and sorrowful heart.
18 Favor Zion with your goodness.
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Young bulls will be offered on your altar.

Psalm 67

May Elohim have pity on us and bless us!
May he smile on us. Selah
2 Then your ways will be known on earth,
your salvation throughout all nations.

3 Let everyone give thanks to you, O Elohim.
Let everyone give thanks to you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing joyfully
because you judge everyone with justice
and guide the nations on the earth. Selah
5 Let the people give thanks to you, O Elohim.
Let all the people give thanks to you.
6 The earth has yielded its harvest.
May Elohim, our Elohim, bless us.
7 May Elohim bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth worship him.

At the end of the blessing the priest sprinkles the people with the blessed water.

Lastly the “Te Deum” is sung, given here from the Book of Common Prayer:

We praise thee, O God: we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee: the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim: continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy: Lord God of Hosts;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty : of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles: praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets: praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs: praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world: doth acknowledge thee;
The Father: of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true: and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory: O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son: of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man: thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death:
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God: in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come: to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants:
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints: in glory everlasting.

O Lord, save thy people: and bless thine heritage.
Govern them: and lift them up for ever.
Day by day: we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord: to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us: have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted: let me never be confounded.

Celebrant: Eternal God and Father,
by whose power we are created and by whose love we are redeemed:
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves to your service,
and live this day in love to one another and to you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Celebrant: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

ALL: Peace be with you. Amen.

4. The Three Magi House Chalking Ritual

The following is adapted from the versions used by the Order of Carmelites (2016). Have the Head of the Household pick up a piece of consecrated Epiphany Chalk.

Pray as follows:
The Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar followed the star of God’s Son who Incarnated into human form over two thousand years ago. May the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless our home and remain with us throughout the new year and may the Holy Spirit be present and aid us in all of our workings both mundane and magical. Amen.

Using the blessed Chalk, trace at the top of your doorway to your home–and potentially other key doorways, such as the door leading into a dedicated Temple room for Magicians–with a pattern such as this,:

20 † C † M † B † 19

[The numbers refer to the calendar year (20 and 19, for instance, for the year 2019). The crosses stand for Christ.  The letters have a two-fold significance: C, M, and B are the initials for the traditional names of the Magi (Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar), but they are also an abbreviation of the Latin blessing Christus mansionem benedicat, which means, May Christ bless this house.”]

After tracing the letters and numbers, pray the following:

Visit, O blessed Lord, this home with the gladness of your presence. Bless all who live or visit here with the gift of your love; empower us with success in all of our workings of the magical Art in accordance with your Will; and grant that we may manifest your love to each other and to all whose lives we touch. May we grow in grace and in the knowledge and love of you; guide, comfort, and strengthen us in peace, O Father Adonai, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen

5. The Epiphany House Cleansing Ritual

Consecrate Epiphany Water on the Day of Epiphany.  Take up a Solomonic Aspergillum or other Aspergillum.

Recite the following prayer from Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Withchcraft (1584):

“O Lord show us thy mercy, and we shall be saved. Lord hear our prayer, and let our cry come unto thee. Let us pray.

O Lord God Almighty, as thou warnedst by thine angel, the Three Kings of Cologne, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, when they came with worshipful presents towards Bethlehem: Caspar brought myrrh; Melchior, incense; Balthazar, gold; worshiping the high king of all the world, Jesus God’s Son of heaven, the second person in the Trinity, being borne of the Holy and clean Virgin S. Marie, Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell, and Ladie of all the world: at that time the holy angel Gabriel warned the aforesaid Three Kings, that they should take another way Home, for dread of peril, that Herod the King by his ordinance would have destroyed these three noble Kings, that meekly sought out our Lord and Saviour. As wittily and truly as these three kings turned for dread, and took another way: so wisely and so truely, O Lord GOD, of thy mightiful mercy, bless us now at this time, for thy blessed passion save us, and keep us all together from all evil; and may thy holy Angels defend us. Amen.”

Then pray the traditional Catholic liturgical house blessing prayer:

O God, our True Light and Savior, You have deigned to be baptized in the Jordan by John the Baptist to renew all men by the cleansing water of regeneration (Tit. 3:5) and to enter under the roof of Zacchaeus, bringing salvation to him and his house (Lk. 19:9), now, You, O Lord, protect also all those who dwell in this house from all harm and injury; grant them Jordan’s blessing, purification of soul and body, and good health; and hear all their supplications, which are for their salvation and life eternal.

For blessed are You, O Lord, together with Your Eternal Father and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and forever. Amen.

Now, walk about the house, sprinkling Epiphany Water in each room while saying

“May this space be blessed with the Gifts of the Three Kings Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior and in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

6. Other Magical Ideas for Celebrating Epiphany and the Three Kings

a. Blessing and Reconsecrating Tools and Magica

The Epiphany Mass is an incredibly auspicious time to reconsecrate and bless magical tools and materia using the technique of Consecration by Mass.  During Epiphany Mass, I have performed cryptoconsecratio on most of my key Solomonic tools from the Wand to the Aspergillum, and Bell of Art, prayed Epiphany blessings over magical Rings, Pentacles, and other magical tools such as my Cyprianic rosary and scapular, and divinatory tools such as my Tarot cards and amethyst Runes.  I have also benefited from the Epiphany Mass as an optimal time in which to bless herbs, spices, and other materia magica.  Backpacks and suitcases facilitated the carriage of multiple tools and materia into the Church at once for this purpose, although sometimes drawing a suspicious eye from less esoterically-inclined churchgoers.

b. Reciting Charms and Crafting Three Kings Talismans

As a final practical option for the magical celebration of Epiphany, here are a final set of magical rites that draw on the Three Kings and are very much in the spirit of the Feast of the Adoration of the Magi. The first is a talismanic method from Dr. Cummins.  This sleek approach is followed by a triplicity–one for each King–of ideas for Magi-inspired rites drawn from Scot’s Discoverie of Withcraft (1584).

To begin, Dr. Alexander Cummins has developed an elegant and tradition-grounded method to craft an Epiphany Talisman:

“A Gift of Adoration

Finally, I present this devotional charm which developed from both my research into the history, folklore and cultus of the Three Holy Kings, and my own practice, supported and verified by divination and spiritwork.

            A Bag of the Adoration

On Epiphany, take a white silk bag and place inside gold, frankincense and myrrh. As you place these items in the bag, declare: as the Magi adored the Christ Child, so are these gifts given to the glory of Son known by the Star in the East. Pray. Invoke and cross + CASPAR + BALZATHAR + MELCHIOR + Tie it shut and hang three king charms from the knot. Smoke it in Three Kings incense and feed it Three Kings oil. You now have a talismanic representation of the authority of the Anointed One as well as a Star to call the Magi.

The king charms mentioned can be crown charms, or could be elaborately carved king figurines, or even small Christmas tree decorations of the kings. For various reasons I prefer using king chess-piece charms. Three Kings incenses and oils can be found at many botanicas – and you should of course be supporting your good local folk magic shops!

The essential features of the bag are of course the Three Gifts: I recommend you do your own research into as many significances of gold, frankincense, and myrrh as you can find. Scriptural, pre-Christian, historical, economic, cultural, magical, medical, mythic, environmental. Consider the research itself a devotional journey – an ongoing unfolding pilgrimage with no fixed destination, but a continual set of footnotes left following your Star of inspiration and promise of Light in the Darkness” (Cummins, 2018).

Henry Siddons Mowbray, The Magi via Dr. Alexander Cummins (2018).

Finally, Reginald Scot in his Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), while trying to attack the folk magical methods of his contemporaries, humorously and helpfully did a splendid job of faithfully preserving a set of spells that employ the Three Kings and can be fruitfully performed on the Day of Epiphany.

First, here is a Magi-inspired Charm Against the Falling Evil:

“This insuing is another counterfet charme of theirs, whereby the falling evill is presentlie remedied.

Gaspar fert myrrham, thus Melchior, Balthasar aurum,
Hæc tria qui secum portabit nomina regum,
Solvitur à morbo Christi pietate caduco.

Gasper with his myrh beganne
/ these presents to unfold, 
Then Melchior brought in frankincense,
/ and Balthasar brought in gold.
Now he that of these holie kings
/ the names about shall beare,
The falling yll by grace of Christ
/ shall never need to feare.

This is as true a copie of the holie writing, that was brought downe from heaven by an angell to S. Leo pope of Rome; & he did bid him take it to king Charles, when he went to the battell at Roncevall. And the angell said, that what man or woman beareth this writing about them with good devotion, and saith everie daie three Pater nosters, three Aves, and one Creede, shall not that daie be overcome of his enimies, either bodilie or ghostlie; neither shalbe robbed or slaine of theeves, pestilence, thunder, or lightening; neither shall be hurt with fier or water, nor combred with spirits, neither shall have displeasure of lords or ladies: he shall not be condemned with false witnesse, nor taken with fairies, or anie maner of axes, nor yet with the falling evill.

Also, if a woman be in travell, laie this writing upo hir bellie, she shall have easie deliverance, and the child right shape and christendome, and the mother purification of holy church, and all through vertue of these holie names of Jesus Christ following:

+ Jesus + Christus + Messias + Soter + Emmanuel + Sabbaoth + Adonai + Unigenitus + Majestas + Paracletus + Salvator noster + Agiros iskiros + Agios + Adanatos + Gasper + Melchior + & Balthasar + Matthæus + Marcus + Lucas + Johannes” (Scot, 1584).

Second, here is a Three Kings-infused Spell Against the Biting of a Mad Dog: 

“Put a silver ring on the finger, within the which these words are graven + Habay + habar + hebar + & saie to the person bitten with a mad dog, I am thy saviour, loose not thy life: and then pricke him in the nose thrise, that at each time he bleed. ◊ Otherwise: Take pilles made of the skull of one that is hanged. ◊ Otherwise: Write upon a peece of bread, Irioni, khiriora, esser, khuder, feres; and let it be eaten by the partie bitten. ◊ Otherwise:

O rex gloriæ Jesu Christe, veni cum pace: In nomine patris max, in nomine filii max, in nomine spiritus sancti prax: Gasper, Melchior, Balthasar + prax + max + Deus I max + (Scot, 1584).

“Mad Dog” by Mike Savad (2011).

Third, see Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), Book 15, CHAPTER XIII. An experiment of Bealphares for some ideas of how to integrate the names of the Three Kings into Conjurations and Invocations of Spirits.

As a final suggestion I obtained from Joseph Clinton Ragan (2019) drawing on Dr. Alexander Cummins’ (2018) work, very fine gold foil can ground down with frankincense and myrrh on the Day of Epiphany to create “Three Kings Incense.”  Joseph recommends singing “We Three Kings” while grinding the incense for an additional layer of folk Christian consecration.

7. Conclusion

Calling upon and conjuring by the great Magicians of the past has an ancient tradition in magic that stretches back through the Hellenistic period’s Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM) invocations of Solomon, Moses, Aaron, and others back into dynastic Egypt (Skinner, 2013).  Contemporary Christian folk Magicians, Solomonic Magicians, and practitioners of other magical streams can draw on these examples, but also stand to benefit from the powerful traditions of the Three Kings Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior.  The Rites of Epiphany presented in this article are merely a few out of many possible applications of the powers of the Magi to contemporary magical practice.  In working them, we stand on the giants who came before us, but also stand side-by-side with the Kings, gazing up at the Heavens as if guided and inspired by the same Holy Star.

References

Ali, C. (2012). Making Magical Chalks. Raven Conjure. Available at: http://ravenconjure.blogspot.com/2012/09/making-magical-chalks.html

Buhler, S. M. (1990). Marsilio Ficino’s De stella magorum and Renaissance Views of the Magi. Renaissance Quarterly,43(2), 348-371. doi:10.2307/2862368

Cummins, A. (2018). On the eve of the eve of the Epiphany. Dr. Alexander Cummins.com. Available at http://www.alexandercummins.com/blog/2018/1/2/the-eve-of-the-eve-of-epiphany

Cummins, A. (2018). Book of the Magi: Lore, Prayers, and Spellcraft of the Three Holy Kings – Folk Necromancy in Transmission. Seattle, USA:Revelore Press. 

Fortescue, A., J.B. O’Connell, J. B., & Alcuin Reid, A. (2009). The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described. London, UK: Burns & Oates.

Longenecker, D. (2017). Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men. Regnery History.

Miller, J. (2016). 20+C+M+B+16. Inominandium. Available at: http://www.inominandum.com/blog/epiphany/

Moresco, D. (2016). Chalking the door: An Epiphany house blessing. The Order of Carmelites. Available at: http://www.carmelites.net/news/chalking-door-epiphany-house-blessing-2015/

NIV – New International Version Bible. (2018). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Peterson, J. H. (2004). Key of Solomon. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm

Peterson, J. H. (2006). The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. [online eBook]. Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses.htm

Peterson, J. H. (2018). Heptameron or Magical Elements. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Poché, D. (2017). Louisiana Sweets: King Cakes, Bread Pudding and Sweet Dough Pie. Arcadia Publishing.

Przybylska, L. (2015). Between sacralization and festivalization of public spaces: a case study of the Cavalcade of the Three Kings in Poland. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 27(27), 171-180.

Scot, R. (1999). Discoverie of Witchcraft. Joseph H. Peterson Edition. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Skinner, S. (2013). Magical Techniques and Implements Present in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, Byzantine Greek Solomonic Manuscripts and European Grimoires:
Transmission, Continuity and Commonality (The Technology of Solomonic Magic). Newcastle, Australia: University of Newcastle.

Consecrating Second Pentacles of Jupiter: Practical Folk Christian and Solomonic Magic

By Frater SC.F.V.

Altar set-up for Pentacle Consecration. This article and all pictures contained therein are offered to mighty El in the name and honour of great Archangel Sachiel, and holy Angels Netoniel, Tzedeqiah, Devachiel, and Parasiel.

Phase I – First Hour of Jupiter

Date: Thursday, December 20, 2018
Sun Phase: Dawn
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous (151 degrees) in 0 degrees Gemini/cusp of Taurus
Mansion of the Moon: #5, al-Haqah
Planetary Day: Day of Jupiter
Planetary Hour: First Hour of Jupiter
Activities: Solomonic Ritual Bathing with Hyssop; Offerings to the Most High and to Saint C.; Crafting Jupiterian sympathetic bags; Solomonic Bell Sounding to the Spirits of the Quarters; Prayers of Intent; Inscribing the Vigil of Sachiel with his Sigil from the Heptameron; Tracing out the First Pentacle of Jupiter on the Tablet of Lights; Prayers, Psalms and Temple Closing.

Today is a day of magic that has been nearly a year in the making. Over the past months, I have been preparing for this ritual, updating and crafting new implements, learning from Saint C. and from my own deep research into the grimoires, and waiting for a decent Jupiterian election. I was delayed from moving forward for a 5 months due to Jupiter being in retrograde. Thereafter, I was further delayed by Jupiter being in Scorpio and then being negatively afflicted by Mars and Saturn. Finally, the coast is clear to craft Jupiter Pentacles and having selected this date months ago and worked incredibly hard to get to this point, I am overjoyed to be able to proceed.

Not only is it the Day of Jupiter, which is also conjunct with Mercury, but the Moon is waxing powerfully at 151 degrees Gibbous and has entered a very quasi-Jupiterian Mansion, the Lunar Mansion of al-Haqah, meaning the White Spot or the Crown. Of this Mansion, Picatrix says that it is well-suited to “receiving favour from Kings,” the ultimate emblems of Kingly Jupiter. Agrippa adds that it this Mansion also “gives health and good will.” Christopher Warnock further states that:

“Al-Haqah’s image is a crowned head, befitting the Martial and Mercurial nature of its stars. This is a Mansion of thought and mind. It signifies the energy of the Mind of the Universe, particularly as manifest in the intellect of each person. It indicates the successful solution of an intellectual problem or the necessity of applying intelligence to a current dilemma. The image of the king signifies success in seeking a favor, a raise or job from a superior. It also alludes to the metaphor of the mind as king, ruling over the body, as the king rules over the body politic. It calls upon us to apply our intelligence in a noble and honorable fashion, and not to resort to low cunning or trickery. Keywords: Universal body, favor, intellectual activity, health and goodwill, safety.”

I cleaned and set up the Temple the night before so that everything would be prepared for this morning. Rising before the beginning of the first Hour of Jupiter on this fine Day of Jupiter, I performed a ritual bath with hyssop. I then put on my scapular of Saint C. as well as my white Solomonic robe, Rings, rosary, Tiger’s Eye bracelet, Amethyst, and Bone, red socks embroidered with roses, nemyss, and Stole.

Entering the Temple, with my belly aching lightly from fasting, I lit two candle as offerings to the Most High and made Offerings to Saint C., spring water, a purple candle, and incense and asked him to aid me in the day’s Operations that I might consecrate these 2nd Pentacles of Jupiter to become efficacious in attracting good fortune, wealth, favour, spiritual depth, and peace of mind.

My approach to these Second Pentacles of Jupiter, taken from the Key of Solomon, is progressively folk magical, although also highly grounded in Solomonic methodologies. The idea occurred to me to take round tin boxes painted with Gold–Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy list both Gold and Tin as metals of Jupiter–and carve the Pentacle into these. Inside the box, I would place the petition, as well as a small bag, not quite a proper gris-gris or Mojo bag, but influenced by the basic idea of these folk magical Hoodoo methodologies. This bag would contain a mixture of Jupiterian ingredients designed to amplify the power of the Talisman. I consulted with Saint C. about what to include and he nudged me towards a rather fascinating blend. The bag to be placed inside the Pentacle included:

• 4 Agrippan Jupiterian ingredients of Oak leaf, Basil, Sugar, Maple leaf
• 4 spoons of soil collected outside 4 different banks, all in the Hour of Jupiter under a waxing Moon
• A coin depicting a Jupiterian monarch – the head of a monarch also happens to be the Picatrix talismanic emblem for the Lunar Mansion of al-Haqah, so the symbolism works on two levels.

The Saint also gave me an intuitive nudge to write Sachiel’s Sigil from the Heptameron in consecrated Solomonic ink on the outside of the bag in Jupiterian blue as well as the Sigil of Iophiel, the Intelligence of Jupiter.

I blended all of the ingredients and completed the drawing on the bag all within the Hour of Jupiter on the Day of Jupiter. I placed the bags on the Altar, which was covered in a blue cloth. My consecration method would be a combination of the Key of Solomon as well as Balthazar’s Solomonic candle magic method, all overseen by the Saint and performed on his Altar. The result is a loving combination of potent techniques from both the Solomonic grimoire tradition and the Christian folk magical tradition synergized together for a common aim.

I sounded the Solomonic Bell of Art three times before entering the Circle, as per the Hygromanteia, then sounded the Bell to each of the full Quarters, as per the Key of Solomon, saying “I greet and bless the Spirits of the (direction) with great love and respect in the name of Adonai!” I continued greeting the Spirits of the Above and Below and all other directions.

I then unwrapped my Solomonic Wand from its white covering and began preliminary prayers. to God, declaring my intention for the day’s Rites and asking el-Shaddai for help and blessings in completing them successfully. I also requested the Angels and Archangels and Saint C. to aid me as well and clarified that my intention is to be able to provide for my family as comfortably as possible as well as to then be enabled to be of greater service to humanity through the good fortune bestowed upon us, recalling the Biblical meaning of blessing as goodness conferred on an individual in order to be bestowed upon and extended to others.

I then used my Aspergillum of Art, made as per the specifications of the Key of Solomon, to sprinkle Solomonic Holy Water around the Circle and called upon all of the Angels, Divine Names, and Archangels whose named are inscribed thereon to assist with the Rites. I lit an Offering of incense to the Angels I would be working with today, namely, Archangel Sachiel as well as the Angels Tzedeqiah, Netoniel, Parasiel, and Devachia. Throughout the actions that followed, Psalms were continuously recited to purify and begin to consecrate the Circle, Altar, Temple, and all items on the Altar.

Using a Solomonically consecrated white chalk marker, I drew the Sigil of Jupiter and Sigil of Sachiel from the Heptameron on the central Vigil candle to be offered unto him. I then took up a consecrated blue chalk marker and drew the First Pentacle of Jupiter on the Tablet of Lights, a consecrated plate used for this purpose in Balthazar’s method. The Tablet of Lights was consecrated last April and intended for today’s ritual on December 20th, a fact which may offer some idea of how long I have patiently waited to do the day’s workings. Ah the joys of Renaissance magic!

The rationale behind using the First Pentacle in this way is that, as the Key of Solomon says, this Pentacle “serveth to invoke the spirits of Jupiter, and especially those whose names are written around the pentacle, among whom Parasiel is the lord and master of treasures, and teacheth how to become possessor of places wherein they are.” It should be noted that one reason the Second Pentacle is useful for finding hidden treasures is that Parasiel is also invoked in consecrating it.

The Second Pentacle, by the way, is described by the Key as being “proper for acquiring glory, honors, dignities, riches, and all kinds of good, together with great tranquility of mind; also to discover treasures and chase away the spirits who preside over them.” According to Idries Shah’s Secret Lore of Magic, it was this Pentacle, drawn on a piece of parchment, that was found on the body of Anselm Franz Reichsgraf von Ingelheim, Bishop of Würzburg and alleged alchemist, on the night of his death, 9 February 1749. According to Shah, “It has been said that this was the powerful talisman which caused him to rise to such heights, and to gain wealth and power, as well as evading all of the traps of his many enemies.”

Having completed inscribing the First Pentacle of Jupiter on the Tablet, I dressed the candles with St. C. Oil, pulling the oil towards me in the Hoodoo way. I then dressed the Vigil candle with Holy Anointing Oil and Basil. After some final prayers and Psalms, I closed the Temple, just as the Hour of Jupiter came to an end.

Phase II – Second Hour of Jupiter

Date: Thursday, December 20, 2018
Sun Phase: Noon
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous (151 degrees) in 0 degrees Gemini/cusp of Taurus
Mansion of the Moon: #5, al-Haqah
Planetary Day: Day of Jupiter
Planetary Hour: Second Hour of Jupiter
Activities: Solomonic Ritual Bathing with Hyssop; Psalm recitations; Inscribing and Engraving the Pentacles and a Jupiter Ring; Exorcising the tools.

For this second phase, I was joined by a Soror from our Order, Soror C.R. As it turned out, this was the first Solomonic ritual in which she had ever participated as she had hitherto been a solely G.D. Magician. Of the two Pentacles crafted today, one was for yours truly and one was for her, thus it seemed appropriate for her to be present and assist in the Operation.

We both performed separate hyssop baths and then donned our ritual regalia. The moment the Hour of Jupiter began, Psalm recitations did as well and I set about inscribing and engraving. First, I used my Solomonic Burin of Art to engrave the perimeter passage from Psalm 112:3 onto the two Pentacles, but instead of placing it in the circumference, I inscribed it on the flip side of the Pentacles or inner lid of the box. The passage reads “Wealth and riches be in his house, and his righteousness endureth forever.”

Next, I drew the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter on each gold and tin lid in Solomonically consecrated blue Ink.

Then, I followed the guideline of the blue to engrave the Pentacles with my consecrated Solomonic Burin of the Art. Since I had drawn the symbols freehand without the aid of rulers or squares, the lines were rather rough and imperfect, but I was still quite happy with the end result:

I then wrote out personalized Petitions for myself and for Soror C.R. for her Pentacle, each containing our individual names. I placed these in the pseudo-gris gris bags, which I then placed inside the Pentacles and the physical crafting was complete.

With the Pentacles thus completed, I immediately proceeded to engrave the inner band of a gold Ring with an Ancient Greek pattern with the Sigil of Jupiter, the Heptameron‘s Sigil of Sachiel, and in the small amount of space that remained, an N. for Netoniel, a Hebrew letter Tzaddi for Tzedeqiah, a D. for Devachiah, and a P. for Parasiel.

With limited time to spare, we quickly proceeded to the Temple. Once again, I sounded the Solomonic Bell of Art three times and Soror C.R. sounded an additional set of Tibetan Bells before we entered the Circle, as per the Hygromanteia, then sounded the Bell to each of the full Quarters, as per the Key of Solomon, saying “I bless the Spirits of the (direction) with great love and respect in the Name of Adonai!” We continued greeting the Spirits of the Above and Below and all other directions, then we formally opened the Temple.

After some preliminary prayers, I sprinkled the Circle with Holy Water using my Aspergillum, and we proceeded to do the Exorcisms of all of the tools. For the passages that had set verses from the grimoire, we recited them in unison. The effect was strikingly powerful. We began by exorcising the Fire and Incense, then the First Pentacle of Jupiter on the Tablet, followed by the two 2nd Pentacles of Jupiter, sprinkling with Holy Water and suffumigating with Solomonic Incense. We proceeded in the same way, exorcising and blessing the Offering Candles for the Archangel Sachiel and his five subsidiary Angels, Netoniel, Parasiel, Devachiah, and Tzedeqiah.

By the time we completed the Exorcisms, we began to become aware that the atmosphere in the room had completely changed. The atmosphere of sacred solemnity that I have grown to know and love about the Solomonic current had set in. Soror C.R. later described the feeling as a feeling of “heaviness.” Out of the corners of my eyes, sparks of light could be seen flashing around the Circle. There were Spirits about.

We stated our petitions and intentions and prayed from the heart to the Most High that they come to pass, thanking God that He is a Good Father who never fails to give good gifts and help those who call upon Him. I referenced Luke 11: 5-13, in which Christ says

7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?

10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

11 So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?

12 In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the prophets.”

We prayed from the heart to be blessed that we might bless others, to have shared with us that we might share with others, just as it was written of Abram, that having been blessed, he would “become a blessing,” as in Genesis 12:2-3, in which God promised him that:

“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and youwill be a blessing.^[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”

We prayed that these Pentacles might increase God’s Glory, not our own, and that the Divine Power might flow through them like rivers through a riverbed.

As we finished the prayer, I became aware of a sensation behind us in the West. It felt bright, warm, soothing, vibrating, almost humming with benevolent, but absolutely staggering power. I whispered to Soror C.R., “do you sense anything in the room?” She said, “yes, there is an Angel nearby…” I asked which direction she sensed it coming from. Confirming my own intuition, which I had not told her, she said: “behind us.”

We turned to face the direction of the invisible Presence. I greeted the Spirit with great love and respect and the blessings of the Most High, inviting it, if it so wished, to convey unto us a sign of its presence or a vision or image as it willed. A wave of loving warmth seemed to waft toward us from the West, not visible to the eyes, but very sensible and comforting. Then, our eyes closed. We received visions that we did not share at the time, but shared later as we debriefed our experience together. Both of us had felt what we both described as a purifying presence that felt like it was falling down upon us. For me, this appeared as a large hand, almost like the Aces in the Tarot, hovering over us and showering a golden light through us, the Circle, and the Altar. Soror C.R. experienced it as a powerful waterfall pouring down on us and purifying us.

Behind it, we both sensed the Angel. Soror C.R. later told me that she could sense it, but not see it. As I probed behind the hand and the golden light, I got another image, a flash of a blue robe and large wings and what seemed to be a red over-robe or vest over the blue robe. It was a presence that commanded authority, but with kindness not tyranny, a loving presence, vast and expansive. It was one I recognized as I had worked with him in the Past. It was none other than Archangel Sachiel, Archangel of Thursday and the Sphere of Jupiter.

I was completely surprised for him to turn up spontaneously. I had intended to invoke him in the Third Hour of Jupiter, but not yet. His Sigil was on the Altar, but he had not been conjured. I had only given him an offering of incense earlier on, which I had also offered to Netoniel, Parasiel, Tzedeqiah, and Devachiah The smoke then had done some curious things, first splitting into two distinct streams that moved almost parallel to the Altar’s surface, and then billowing upwards in an ever-expanding cone that resembled a tornado. I felt a wave of love for Sachiel and I received an image of a smile from him. I thanked him for his presence and offered him love, blessings, respect, and gratitude. I asked if he would come again to help us in the Third Hour of Jupiter to consecrate the Pentacles and I received an affirmative answer. Then, his presence gradually faded out. He was gone.

We offered final prayers and then closed the Temple. After the ritual, I asked Soror C.R. what she thought of the Solomonic current as compared to the G.D. current with which she was familiar. She said that the Solomonic current felt “heavy… almost like a thick fog.. and old, far older than the G.D. current… serious, yet beautiful.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Phase III – Third Hour of Jupiter

Date: Thursday, December 20, 2018
Sun Phase: Evening
Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous (151 degrees) in 0 degrees Gemini/cusp of Taurus
Mansion of the Moon: #5, al-Haqah
Planetary Day: Day of Jupiter
Planetary Hour: Second Hour of Jupiter
Activities: Solomonic Ritual Bathing with Hyssop;

After my third hyssop bath and Soror C.R.’s second, we were at last prepared to call the Archangel and Angels for assistance in consecrating the Pentacles and Ring of Art.

As before, I sounded the Solomonic Bell of Art three times and Soror C.R. sounded an additional set of Tibetan Bells before we entered the Circle, as per the Hygromanteia, then sounded the Bell to each of the full Quarters, as per the Key of Solomon, saying “I bless the Spirits of the (direction) with great love and respect in the Name of Adonai!” We continued greeting the Spirits of the Above and Below and all other directions, and formally opened the Temple. While ringing the Bells to greet the spirits of the directions, Soror C.R. later told me that she had felt “a response from each direction of the spirits, as if they were acknowledging our greetings and work.”

We began by placing the Pentacles and Ring atop the Tablet inscribed with the First Pentacle of Jupiter, beside the candles to be offered to the Angels. After some preliminary prayers to the Most High, I sprinkled the Circle with Holy Water using my Aspergillum of Art, and we began the Conjurations. We first did the Prayer from the Heptameron to assist with calling the Spirits. I then performed the Conjuration of Sachiel from the Heptameron. As the Conjuration came to a close, I felt the dawning of a sense of “vibration” or “spiritual humming” around the Circle along with a sense of loving warmth, which alerted me to the great Archangel’s arrival. Soror C.R. later related to me that at this time, she saw an image of white wings flapping, a kingly sword, and then a hint of a red vest that puzzled her.

When I later told her that the spirit who had spontaneously appeared in our earlier ritual, whom I had recognized as being Sachiel, appeared to me as wearing a red vest-like vestment, her draw dropped in awe. To me, this was a powerful lesson that spirits may not always take the form we expect–she had expected to see blue, not red–but that we should avoid filtering our clair-perceptions lest we distort the truth of what the spirits are showing us. Soror C.R.’s sense of Archangel Sachiel as like a “benevolent ruler” who is “very powerful, but wiling to listen to us” very much echoed my own sense as well.

We then made an opening prayer requesting Divine help and clarifying that we were not performing this ceremony to glorify ourselves or challenge the Most High, but rather to show His Glory, Presence, and power, and humble ourselves before it. We offered incense to God as an offering at this time.

Having conjured the great Archangel by the Divine Name of EL (אל), we lit a Vigil dressed in Solomonic Holy Anointing Oil dressed with Basil, sacred to Jupiterian Spirits as per Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy. The candle began to flicker brightly when we completed the offering, suggesting his acceptance thereof.

We then asked for the Archangel’s help in conjuring four subservient Angels by his name. We then proceeded to call Netoniel, and offered him a blue candle–all candles were sprinkled with Holy Water in the last session. All five offering candles, it is worth noting, were placed on the First Pentacle of Jupiter, which in the Key of Solomon, facilitates the calling of spirits of Jupiter.

Both Soror C.R. later shared with one another that the sense of Netoniel that we had had was that his energy felt “severe,” not mean, but certainly serious, focused, and of a no-nonsense nature. He exuded a sense of efficiency that tempered the sense of severe kindness he exuded.

We then conjured the Angel Tzedeqiah by the names of EL and Sachiel. When he arrived, a sense of compassion and loving warmth entered the Temple from his quarter. We offered him his candle. Soror C.R. said that she felt her personality “resonated more with Tzedeqiah than with Netoniel as we seem to have a seemingly loving and patient nature.”

Next, we conjured Devachiah by the names of EL and Sachiel. When he arrived, we had a sense of a more dominating sense of rationality or intelligence, or perhaps more properly, wisdom.

Finally, we conjured the Angel Parasiel by the names of EL and Sachiel. He gave Soror C.R. a sense of “safety” and presented to me as having a sense of “gentle joy or good-humor.” As the Angel who knows the locations of hidden treasures, this seemed appropriate. When I later shared this with Soror C.R., she smiled and said “yes! That’s exactly it! Like he was smiling about his hidden knowledge, not arrogantly, but kindly.” We agreed that he was classically jovial in the sense of good-heartedly jolly and pleasant.

In short, it seemed to us that Netoniel presented as if he were “doing his duty” to Sachiel by being there, Tzedeqiah presented as “loving this,” Devachiah presented as “enjoying the wisdom and thought of the process,” and Parasiel seemed to be “excitedly appreciative and curious.” Sachiel seemed to have all four of these qualities in perfect balance. Soror C.R. felt that Sachiel was “not towering over them, but that the other angels were clearly deferring to him respectfully.”

Next, we offered bread and incense to St. C.. We then offered the Archangel and the Four subsidiary Angels incense of Applewood, Apple being sacred to Jupiter as per Agrippa and classical lore, and also gifts of unleavened bread, which has resonances of Jupiter through Divine provision and its association with Christ in the modality of King of Kings. We then made a prayer to the Most High, saying “in worship of Your splendor, we give you these gifts in the name and honour of thy fair Angels.” In this way, we differentiated our practice as veneration and not idolatrous worship.

Then, we presented our petition to St. C., the Archangel, the Angels, and the Most High, repeating the powers of the 2nd Pentacles of Jupiter as per the Clavicula, and asking that they bless, consecrate, empower, and enliven these Pentacles and this Ring with their virtues to bring them to life to effect their purposes as designed. We then suffumigated the Pentacles and Ring one at a time while requesting the help of each spirit in turn, cleansed each with Solomonic Holy Water, and finally anointed them with San Cipriano Oil.

During the suffumigations in the smoke of the incense offered to the Spirits, Soror C.R. later said that she sensed “the connection between the spirits and the Pentacles and Ring growing stronger as they were strengthened by the connection between the offerings and the Spirits.” When we asked the Angels if they would assist us in this way, Soror C.R. told me that she received an images of all of their wings flapping in unison as if to show their agreement.

With the Pentacles and Ring thus consecrated, we invited the spirits to share with us any messages they had for each of us in particular. At this time, Soror C.R. received two messages that she experienced as being “whispered in my ears.” Soror C.R. confessed that at this point of the ritual, she had been feeling rather unworthy and ashamed to be in the presence of the Angels, as if she did not deserve to be there. The messages she received were so beautifully fitting of these compassionate beings, for they were messages of encouragement and consolation. Tzedeqiah reassured her that she was indeed “safe, and did not need to be scared of these types of things, as you are protected, dear one.” Another message from Sachiel himself told her that she was “wonderful and lovable as you are, and that you could indeed persevere with the practice as you have the power and potential to do so. Know that you are supported in your endeavours and development.”

Before closing, we composed a final and separate spell. We requested that if it be in harmony with their nature and the Divine Will, if the Archangel and Angels could assist us in applying the power of the Pentacles to benefit us or our family through the lottery so that our needs could be taken care of and so that we could be of better service to others. Amazingly, in my entire history as a Magician, I had never before done a lottery spell before this day. But I was curious to see what would happen, so we went for it. Both Soror C.R. and I received a sense that they approved of the request.

We thanked the Angels for their help and presence and invited them to enjoy the offerings as long as they wished and to depart at their leisure with the blessings of the Most High and our own love, respect, appreciation and friendship. We informed them that we would immediately go purchase a lottery ticket while carrying the Ring and consecrated Pentacles and asked them to assist and accompany us. We said that we would then return the ticket, the Pentacles and the Ring to the Altar if they wished to continue working upon or blessing them and leaving it open to them. We received a clear and warm sense that they understood.

We then ran the Bells of Art over the Pentacles and Ring to give them an additional level of blessing and consecration, following Agrippa as discussed in my Bells and Trumpets article. Finally, we greeted, blessed, and thanked the Spirits of the Directions by the Bells a final time and formally closed the Temple.

Results Log

Day 1 – Wishing to purchase our ticket as close after the Hour of Jupiter as we could, we immediately changed out of our robes and into ordinary clothes and rushed to the nearest store which sold lottery tickets. We had our eyes set on a special 25$ Celebrations Quebec Lottery Ticket, because we figured, if we were to do this, surely we should go all the way with it.

When we reached the store, we proceeded to the lottery ticket counter and I made a small prayer to EL and to Sachiel, Netoniel, Tzedeqiah, and Devachiah, asking for their aid. We asked to purchase a Celebrations ticket and were shocked at what happened next. The cashier’s face lit up and she loudly announced to the cashier in the next lane and to us, “we just sold my last Celebrations ticket! Not only that, but it was the 1000th ticket sold by the store! Congratulations!”

Soror C.R. and I, who had agreed to split whatever winnings we should come by if any 50/50, looked at each other with humbled amazement. We thanked the clerk and took our ticket with us. The grand lottery will be announced on January 13th, but there will be other daily draws leading up to it, so we shall keep our eyes on the website for daily results.

Even so, we are already grateful beyond belief to the Angels by what we have experienced thus far and will continue to document any other results we obtain with updates to this post.

Before leaving, the clerk encouraged us to place a raffle ticket for a draw from the store in a box near the door. We filled it out and placed it into the slot while holding it between our two Jupiter Pentacles! Perhaps it too will, pun intended, bear fruit from this grocery.

Day 2 – The candles offered to the four subsidiary Angels have all burned smoothly down to the surface of the Tablet. The Vigil of Sachiel continues to burn strongly and powerfully.

Day 3 – The Vigil of Archangel Sachiel continues to burn strongly with no soot on the walls of the Vigil and no cracking, all good signs from an Esperetismo and Hoodoo candle-reading perspective.

The Pentacles, Ring, and lottery ticket remain on the Altar. Tomorrow, I will borrow the Pentacle and Ring to perform cryptoconsecratio on them and consecrate them by Mass at Church. I will also bring the ticket to be blessed and pray over it.

This morning, Soror C.R. told me about a fascinating vision she had received from Sachiel last night. She had been thanking him for helping us as she was dozing off to sleep, when he suddenly appeared to her. This was her account of what happened next, which was beautiful and inspired her with an idea for a new magical vestment:

“I was feeling very humbled that he helped us when suddenly I received an images of flapping Angel wings. I felt a sensation, in my mind’s eye, that he took me under his wing. We began to fly together over a forest area. We ended up on a mountain and it felt like he was showing me that I didn’t have to be scared of anything…

He then gave me a red vest to wear, as if to say “here. You have the power now.” I could see myself wearing it. And I knew immediately it was a symbol of power. It looked just like the same vestment you told me you had seen and which I had also seen independently of us telling each other. And now I feel like I have this vest in me, to show me not to be afraid.

The symbolic meaning of the vision seemed to be that everything is vast and that I could explore without fear. I also feel that he showed me Nature because he knew I also had a deep connection with Nature. After this mini-initiation, I feel different, more sensitive, more attuned, and more aware of my power.”

When she told me about Sachiel showing her the forest, I was filled with awe. For he had also shown me a similar scene during my Invocation of him on the 4th day of my 2018 Novena to Saint C., a fact which I had never shared with her and that she had not read before. Hearing this, Soror C.R.’s mouth fell open in wonder at the overlap in our visions of the great Archangel once again.

I asked her if she would consider making a physical version of the red vest she had seen in her vision, perhaps embroidered or painted with his Sigil from the Heptameron, the Seal of Jupiter, the Qamea of Jupiter, and so on. I also offered to help her with it if she had any questions about techniques or how to proceed. She said she had had a similar idea and would be interested in pursuing it. When done, she can ask Sachiel himself to consecrate it.

Day 4 – Sachiel’s continue continues to burn brightly and cleanly.

Today, Soror C.R. and I attended Church and performed cryptoconsecratio by Mass to add an additional layer of consecration and empowerment on this most auspicious day, Christmas Sunday. As an exercise, we esch consecrated each other’s Pentacles.

At night, Soror C.R. received another nudge from Archangel Sachiel. It pulled her towards the Temple. She entered the Temple, knelt in front of the Crystal ball and began to scry. She saw a mouth falling open as if, after previously being shut, it finally gained the ability to freely speak the truth.

She emerged from the Temple and expressed to me what she had seen. Beyond this, she had received a message from Sachiel that she was to do something she has not done in 20 years — contact her estranged mother. Finally, after the visions she received from the great Archangel, she felt that she finally had the strength to confront her mother about some of the traumatizing experiences she had had with her which caused her to run away from home at the age of 16. Never in the four years I had known her had she ever even considered reconnecting with her mother.

And yet, in a true miracle, she did it. She called her up, and the two had a tearful and profound 4-hour conversation with a woman she had not spoken to in 20 years. Seeing this, I was in utter awe. Something she had considered impossible had happened. By the end of the conversation, they were laughing together… It was nothing short of an utter and complete miracle. And it was all made possible by the great Archangel Sachiel, glory be to God! If that is not practical magic, what is?

Day 5 – As the Vigil continues to burn cleanly, Soror C.R. and I took our Pentacles and my Ring to the auspicious Christmas Eve Mass.

There, we each performed cryptoconsecratio of the Jupiter Pentacles and Ring at the sacred moment of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as recommended in Liber Juratus Honorii, the Sworn Book of Honorius. At this same auspicious moment, I also reconsecrated by Mass my Runes and 8 year-old Talisman of Venus. I invited Archangel Sachiel, and his holy Angels Netoniel, Devachiah, Tzedeqiah, and Parasiel to touch each of the implements in turn and bless them. The effect was palpable, warm, and ecstatic. The Christmas Eve Mass-consecrated tools seemed to positively hum with power.

Towards the end of the service, we lit a Candle, which I offered unto the Most High. I then scryed into the Candle and asked Archangel Sachiel if he had anything to show me. After a few minutes of scrying, images came into view as the sounds and sights of the singing Church fell into the background…

I saw light streaming into a green forest through the canopy of trees. Down on the ground, I saw a white sheep who seemed to have strayed from the herd. I saw myself clad in simple shepherd’s clothes. I picked up the sheep and carried it back to the other 99 sheep I had left behind to seek out the one who had strayed. The reference was clearly to the famous parable of Jesus, which illustrated Divine Love for humanity as being like the shepherd who left the 99 to save the one lost sheep. To quote the text:

Luke 15:1-7 – The Parable of the Lost Sheep

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.

4 Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders

6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

I asked Sachiel if I should place hairs from my and Soror C.R.’s heads into the Pentaclez to link them to us sympathetically and metonymically. He said “May it be so.”

I then felt Sachiel’s warm voice speaking into mind some longer words of guidance. Clearly, he spoke, saying:

“Use the power and blessings you are given to empower and bless others. You are responsible for the gifts you are given. Go after the lost, the alone, the persecuted and the abandoned and bring them back to hope. Strengthen them as you have been strengthened. Help them as you have been helped. Then you will honour God as you have been honoured.”

I told him I would do this as best I could and thanked him and the other Angels sincerely for their help. Then the room faded back into focus and I lost myself in ecstatic devotional praise to the Most High, praising and glorifying Him in heartfelt love and gratitude for all He has done and all He is still to do.

Day 6 – The Vigil continues burning brightly. Hail to you, great Archangel Sachiel!

Today, I bought a 58 inch 4K TV, regularly 800$ plus tax for the amazing price of 400$ plus tax! Glory be to God! I also received more than generous gifts from my family, to whom I offered gifts in kind. No results from the lottery ticket yet.

Day 7 – In the morning, Sachiel’s candle continued to burn strong and clean all the way down to the very bottom of the Vigil. As Sachiel had instructed, we placed some of our hairs inside the Pentacles to link them more intimately to us.

Soror C.R. and I went shopping today while carrying the Jupiter Pentacles and both got amazing deals. She also got an intuitive nudge from Sachiel that he was fond of a beautiful Angelic-themed plate. She purchased it to show her gratitude to him and to Netoniel, Tzedeqiah, Devachiel and Parasiel for the amazing things they had already done. She intends to use it for food Offerings. I purchased one in a similar style for small candle Offerings to show my own gratitude. When we went to the cash to pay, we found that both had been significantly discounted!

Later on, when I checked the Temple, I was happy to find that on this 7th Day, the Vigil had completed its burning all the way down to the base of the candle. Only the Basil remained in a neat little pile. Hail to thee, great Angels!

Day 8 – Day of Jupiter – I received an email from the Provincial government of Quebec saying that I had received a message from AFE, the Department that governs student loans. I have a student loan at the moment to assist in completing my final year of clinical social work at McGill University. Worried that they were going to claim that I owed them more money after fiscal recalculations, as often happens to students, I hurried to open the message:

Opening the email, I found that the government had indeed completed fiscal recalculations. However, I did not owe them more money. On the contrary. After their reviewing my file, they decided that I owed them less money!

In fact, they had decided to dramatically convert part of my loan into a bursary which I would not have to repay, a whopping 8,487.00 $!

Glory be to God! Reading this, such gratitude overwhelmed my heart that I did not know how to express it. I immediately fell into praising and glorifying God for His great beneficence, and thanking and honouring His mighty Angels. I feel humbled and honoured beyond what words can say…

Were the latter my only results for the day, I would have been more than satisfied. However, as it turned out, the spirits had more in store to me.

I went to two guitar stores to look at various acoustic guitars. Some were decent, but none were clicking as feeling “right” to me.

Carrying my 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, I decided to try a third and final store, one I had never been to before. My parents, who are both highly adept musicians and were both members of a fantastic rock band called Sky and later the Ravlers in the 1960s and 1970s, accompanied me. When we arrived at the store, we were told that they had only been open in the current location for 3 weeks.

We proceeded to the acoustic room and tested out various guitars not only for texture and profile of the sound, but also crafting quality, wood balance, warping of the neck, cleanness of the neck finish, absence of buzzing on the higher notes. We tested evrrything from high-end Taylors and Martins to more affordable Seagulls and Epiphones.

Then my mother flicked the strings of one particular guitar and her response was simply “wow!” She, I, and my father all tested it and we were all blown away by it. It was a sexy red wine-coloured beauty of fine wood and elegant crafting. Easily a 500-dollar guitar, it fell in the upper end of my price range.

Did I pay 500 $, however? No. Instead, the store gave me this delectable beauty of a guitar for a mere 200$ with a free tune-up and set-up in 6 months added in! To say that I felt grateful and astonished beyond belief would be an understatement of cosmic proportions.

Other Results from Subsequent Days

To avoid excessively prolonging this article, other results from the Pentacles will be listed from this point onward not through daily updates, but in point-form as they arise.

• December 30, 2019 – When going to the store to purchase some beverages for New Years Eve while wearing the Pentacle, I came across a box of four bottles of cider, normally quite expensive. When I brought it to the cash, the cashier gave it to me for an astoundingly low price 4$ CAD or 2.94$ USD!
• January 3, 2019 – After Soror C.R. and I independently saw visions of the Archangel Sachiel wearing a red vest after invoking him via the Heptameron conjuration, Soror C.R. had a vision of him giving her a red vest to wear. The next day, I was directed to a store where I found a red vest exactly like the one she saw in her vision, which I purchased for her. The price tag said only 9$, but I ended up paying only 6$ due to an additional 30% reduction.
• On January 8, 2019 I returned to my work at the community health center for the first day since I consecrated the Pentacle with the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter on my person. Not only did I feel the “tranquility of mind” the Pentacle is described as producing while in my stressful workplace, but a number of “favours” and “dignities” came my way totally unasked for. One colleague gave me a full Kit Kat chocolate bar. Another gave me some gourmet bread. Then I was hinted by my supervisor that a promotion might be coming my way in the near future!
• January 8, 2019 – This same day, I was assigned a series of psychosocial evaluations to do. The new OCCI evaluations required a laptop to complete them and no social worker in my office had been given a laptop yet. To my surprise, and totally unexpectedly and without me asking, my supervisor’s supervisor decided to lend me her personal laptop to do my evaluations! Not only that, but she said I could borrow it from her any day I wanted! I was totally blown away. No one else in my office was given this honour and privilege…
• January 9, 2019 – In another stroke of “favour,” while carrying the Pentacle, I received an invitation from a Very Honoured Frater to appear on his podcast in the near future, which I will happily accept.
• January 12, 2019 – Here in Quebec, the provincial liquor commission stores offer loyalty points which can be redeemed for money towards purchases. While I was standing in line and carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, the man behind me–who had multiple expensive bottles of wine totaling a substantial number of points–unexpectedly asked me if I wanted all of his points! Both the cashier and I were surprised by this, but I accepted his kind offer with gratitude.
• January 13, 2019 – At last, the day came for the results of the Celebrations 2019 Lottery to be revealed. As Soror C.R. anxiously awaited the results, we remembered our petition to the Angels, “that if it be in harmony with the Angels’ nature and the Divine Will, if the Archangel and Angels could assist us in applying the power of the Pentacles to benefit us or our family through the lottery so that our needs could be taken care of and so that we could be of better service to others.” After the numbers were announced, Soror C.R. and I were surprised to find that we had won… a grand total of 0$!Moral of the story? Magic works, but not always in the ways we anticipate. It would have been pleasant for us to win some money through the lottery, but Soror C.R. and I have received more than enough benefits through these Pentacles already and I am tremendously grateful for it.Why was our spell not successful? It could have been for many reasons, like us not having been ritually pure for enough days beforehand, only managing to buy our ticket after the Hour of Jupiter had ended rather than the optimal time during the Planetary Hour, not investing enough energy into the Rite to bring about the intended result, not helping the Angels sufficiently with creating enchantable situstions through which to increase our odds of winning, and many other number of reasons. Most likely of all, however, is that although our spell shifted our probability of winning more in our favour, it did not do so enough to overcome the abysmally unlikely odds of winning the big jackpots. To quote Jason Miller,
  

  “When I gave people in my course the assignment of stating a realistic yet difficult goal to achieve with magic, two of the first ten relayed that they wanted to win millions in the Lottery so they would be wealthy for life. It seems like this would be simple to effect with magic because it is random. In terms of probability though its not easy.

  While it varies state to state, on average your chance of winning the big pot in a Lottery is one in 18 million. Your chance of being struck by Lightning is one in 2,650,000. About 45 times more likely than you winning the lottery. If you drive 10 miles to buy a lottery ticket, its about 30 times more likely for you to die in a car accident on the way than it is for you to win the Lottery. Also, given the amount of people that say they want to win the lottery with magic, you have all the competing magic out there aimed at any given pot.”

  Thus, it was a very unlikely project from the outset and the benefits of the Pentacles have, therefore, been manifesting through paths of least resistance. In any case, we remain very grateful and humbled by this whole adventure. Glory be to God and hail to you great and holy Angels Sachiel, Tzedeqiah, Devachiel and Parasiel! Amen!

• January 18, 2019 – Soror C.R. ordered a pizza while carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter. When the order arrived, she was surprised to find that they had made a mistake at the restaurant and added an Extra Large Pizza and medium fries, which they then proceeded to give to her for free!
• January 19, 2019 – I had been wanting to track down a new Altar for use in constructing an Ancestor Altar in my Temple. Carrying the Pentacle, I opened my door intending to go buy one, and literally across the hall from my apartment, I saw that my neighbour across the hallway had put out a table of the exact size I would need with a sign on it indicating that it was being given away for free! All I had to do was to open my door to see it, mere feet away from my door…

That same day, the daughter of that same neighbour, whom I had never spoken to in my life, randomly offered me a brand new living room chair and living room table made out of maple, 300$ worth of furniture. Shocked, I graciously and gratefully accepted it:

• January 23, 2019 – While carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, Soror C.R. received a cheque from the government for 1,100.00$, enough to pay off several outstanding bills she had been worried about. Meanwhile, on the very same day, while I was carrying the 2nd Pentacle, I received an unexpected transfer of 510.00$ from someone who had borrowed money from me months ago and which I was beginning to wonder when I would ever receive it back. Praise God and hail to thee, mighty Angels!
• January 30, 2019 – While carrying the favour-bestowing 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, Soror C.R. was given the unique honour of being the only member of her team to be invited to attend a Press Conference with the Mayor of Montreal. Not only that, but she was invited and honoured to stand right next to the Mayor and assist the Mayor in giving out cupcakes! She was utterly blown away by this result, which she said she “never could have expected…” Shown below, the Mayor giving out a cupcake at the event in question:
• February 9, 2019 – Today, while carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, the cashier at an expensive cafe spontaneously decided to give me a free cappuccino when I went to buy only a croissant. I had a powerful prayer period in the Cathedral and filled up a bottle of Holy Water. I prayed for guidance, wisdom, healing, and to be of greater service to the Good and the Divine Will in all of my relationships. I felt such devotional love in that majestic Cathedral entitled Mary Queen of the World.I ended up meeting my Mentoring student at the Cathedral. He had never been to a Montreal Cathedral before and was moved by the sacred silence and beauty of the place. We went on to have a beautiful Mentoring session and then I watched with joy as this chronic procrastinator, my student, knocked out several hours of focused, productive work.Then, on my way home, I was standing waiting for the subway, I looked to the left and was amazed to see one of my former best friends standing there. He was just as shocked to see me. We talked out our former misunderstanding, healed the rupture in our relationship, and left each other with a hug and a big smile.
• February 14, 2019 – While carrying the 2nd Pentacle, I was standing with some other people waiting for a bus, which they told me had not come for over an hour. 5 minutes after I joined the line, an off-duty bus drove up to us, volunteered to drive us to the metro, and not only that, but let everyone on for free! I had never seen anything like this happen in my entire life.
• February 18, 2019 – While carrying the 2nd Pentacle, Soror C.R. was spontaneously offered a promotion and a raise within her department that she did not even ask for. She was absolutely stunned. The spirits seem to have been working behind the scenes to orchestrate the situation.
• February 19, 2019 – Upon arriving into work, my Supervisor asked me to submit a Cover Letter and CV. Her Supervisor’s Supervisor’s Supervisor had specifically invited me and only me–none of my colleagues–to apply for a new position and be fast-tracked straight to the final interview process before it is even posted for applications. If I succeed in that interview, I will be hired immediately to a position most people in and out of the organization did not know even existed. I am truly in shock… As if that were not sufficient, in the same day, I received another stroke of favour, namely, a message from Diana Gladii at Teurgia.Org, who kindly offered to translate my esoteric articles into Russian so that they could be accessible to Russian-speaking audiences via the website. I felt very honoured by the offer, which I graciously accepted.
• March 4, 2019 – While holding the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, I ordered a pair of wireless headphones from Amazon. Due to a fortuitous glitch in Amazon’s system, I did not receive the headphones in the time stipulated by my 1-day shipping. As a result, Amazon refunding the entirety of the cost of the headphones and let me keep them for free!
• March 5, 2019 – My job interview for this significant clinical social work position went spectacularly well. I carried the 2nd Pentacle on my person while I did the meeting as well as my Ring of Jupiter on my right hand.
• March 22, 2018 – While carryjng the 2nd Pentacle, I received a phone call that against all odds, I had obtained the job! That same day, I came home to discover that my dear friend Anneliese had kindly gifted me a signed copy of Frater Ashen Chassan’s Gateways Through Light and Shadow! I felt overjoyed and beyond grateful for all of this.

• April 18, 2019 – The Pentacle continues to deliver. I ordered a 60$ brown leather backpack while holding the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter. However, when I received the backpack, the seller sent me a message to apologize for sending it in a slightly different shade of brown. This happened on my birthday no less — the seller stated that I could keep the backpack, but that they would refund the price of it completely. So I essentially got a free backpack with which I was very pleased.
• 
• May 2019 – I began my new job and was blessed with tremendous help from people in authority in my workplace.
• June 2019 – I was offered a permanent position as lead Social Worker in a different establishment, an offer absolutely unheard of for someone who had only been working a temporary contract for 2 weeks. I ended up turning it down after a series of divinations since I love my current job and colleagues so much, but I was grateful for the offer nonetheless.
• July 2019 – Soror C.R. expressed a wish to work at home in her HR department despite no at-home positions existing at her work. Literally the next day, while carrying the Jupiter Pentacle, she was told that not only had a brand new at-home HR position opened up, but that she should apply for it. By that very night, the position was hers.
• August 3, 2019 – Today, I used the good fortune afforded by the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter to protect my sister’s outdoor wedding from rain even though there was a 90% chance of thundershowers.
• That same night,Soror C.R. forgot her own 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter at home. It was the first time she had forgotten to carry it on her person in a span of weeks during which she had seemed to be living a constant stream of good luck.
• That very night, she slipped, and slammed her face on a concrete floor. Today she was diagnosed with a concussion.
• Glory be to God! Hail to His mighty Angels Sachiel, Parasiel, Devachiah, and Tzadqiel, and to St. C.!
• August 4 to 31, 2019 – The 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter has continued to deliver fantastic results throughout this month. I carry it to work every day and the benefits are tremendous. Here are two notable examples. First, I was the only Social Worker on my team who was assigned another worker to help them enter paperwork into the system. Not only was I given an assistant to help me, but I was assigned not one, not two, but three people’s assistance throughout the month. No other Social Worker new or old has been given this favour from the higher-ups and it is so unprecedented that I can only attribute it to the graciousness of God working through His spirits and the Pentacle.
• As if that were not enough, a second miraculous favour from authority was bestowed on me. Ordinarily at my workplace, if a worker works too much overtime, not only are they not paid for that time, but they are penalized for it by the management. Management goes through all of their work and statistics about time usage and critiques them for their alleged inefficiency and insufficiency.
• Not so for me. I worked 100 hours of Overtime in 2 months in order to honour my ethical and professional responsibilities and to do everyting in my power to support my vulnerable elderly clients and younger clients with physical disabilities. When my manager was informed of all of the overtime I have been doing, I was called to a meeting. I attended the meeting while carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter. I expected to receive a punitive response.
• Instead, my manager not only helped me to develop a plan to reduce my Overtime hours, but also gave me two weeks of paid vacation! I was not even supposed to receive any vacation until next year. In fact, *no one* receives any vacation time in their first year at my work. I was utterly speechless at my good fortune. Glory be to God and blessings on His Holy Angels!
• December 6, 2019 – Soror C.R. carried the Pentacle into an important meeting with her boss today. To her amazement, she came out of it with a promotion to a new position and a whopping 10,000 $ annual raise…
• December 12, 2019 – Thanks to the good fortune that has flowed my way thanks to the Grace of God and His Holy Angels since I began carry this Pentacle, I managed tonight to completely finish paying off my student loans a mere 6 months after graduating. If that is not a magical feat, I know not what is. Praise God!
• Update: October 29-30, 2002 – Three years later, the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter continues to serve me well. I recently brought in a new bass guitar to be set up by a luthier while carrying the 2nd Pentacle. The employee accidentally put his employee number in place of my phone number, so I ended being charged less than half of the standard rate, as if I worked in the music store!
• The next day, I was going to walk by a mall near my house and continue home when I felt a strong “nudge” to go inside. Carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter in my pocket, I found myself at a Telus phone kiosque. I had my plan with Bell, not Telus. However, at the Telus kiosque, I was offered a wonderful deal not only to pay less for my monthly plan, but also to get the latest phone for a ridiculously low price. When the worker plugged my details into the computer to set up a contract as I was switching from another company, there was an error in the system; the system showed that I should only pay 15$ per month for the latest Samsung phone while corporate told the clerk it should say 40$ per month! Nonetheless, I was given the much cheaper price.
• Finally, traditional lore says that it is bad luck for a black cat to cross your path. On my way home from the Telus store on October 30, 2022, still carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter, I was walking down a long street. Suddenly, I saw a black cat about to cross the street in front of me. It started to cross, but, as soon as it was about to pass in front of me, it suddenly stopped in its tracks. It paused for a moment and then reversed its trajectory and returned to the side of the street from which it originally came. I couldn’t help but muse that the 2nd Pentacle’s luck-attracting properties did not allow the omen of misfortune. Whether that is really what happened or not, I cannot say, but it was a strange and fascinating experience.

Consecrations of Solomonic Linens, Tablet of Lights, Aspergillum, Incense, Scrying Crystal, and a Crucifix of Art

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Since today is the last waxing-Mooned Day of Mercury of the Lunar month before the Moon returns to its waning phase, it is a big day for me as a Solomonic magician. I did no less than 4 hours of ritual today, divided between three Hours of Mercury with some additional time thereafter in each case for supplementary prayers. In addition to that, I fasted throughout the day and did additional prayers and singing in between Hours of Mercury while crafting Solomonic tools and painting my Solomonic Circle.

I woke up before Dawn, performed a Ritual Bathing, in the Sufi Ghusl method I have long used, ate a small meal of toast with peanut butter and an apple, and prepared my tools for the first Hour of Mercury.

During the First Hour of Mercury, I consecrated a series of incenses as Holy Incense following the Key of Solomon method, with suffumigations, purifications with Solomonic Holy Water, and anointing with Solomonic Holy Oil.

I also consecrated the Tablet of Lights used in Balthazar’s Solomonic candle magic methodology, which I plan to experiment with in its fusion of Solomonic methods with Hoodoo/Conjure techniques, as well as a secondary plate for drawing circles on the Tablet of Lights that I call the Plate of Circles.

In addition, I consecrated the Solomonic Linens to wrap these two tools. Over the Incense, Tablet of Lights, Plate of Circles, and Linens, I prayed Psalms 72, 118, 124, and the Benedicite Omnia Opera.

In the Second Hour of Mercury, I inscribed the Sigils and Names of God as given in the Key of Solomon‘s Book II, Chapter 20 method for the linens in a number of separate wrappings to be used for all of my Solomonic tools. I also cut the Aspergillum used for sprinkling water according to Key of Solomon’s Book II, Chapter 11 method and blessed and consecrated it as well.

Between the Second and Third Hours of Mercury, I continued to paint the gold around my Solomonic Circle:

Finally, in the Third Hour of Mercury, I Solomonically consecrated a Gold-plated zinc-alloy Crucifix of Art to be worn around my neck for protection during the exorcism of Soror C.R. that I will soon be performing… I hand cleansed it with soapy water before I consecrated it, then suffumigated it, cleansed it with Holy Water, anointed it with Holy Oil, and recited the exorcisms, blessings, and Psalms over it.

Finally, also during this Hour, I Solomonically consecrated my Scrying Crystal for use in the invocation and evocation of Angelic beings and the seeing of Holy visions, suffumigating, sprinkling, and anointing it as with the Crucifix of Art.

All in all, it has been a very exhausting, but beautiful day. I saw sparks around the Circle at times, and felt like my heart opened up more in faith and loving devotion. Preparing and consecrating each of these tools according to the grimoire is an act of devotion, of faith, of love, and of magic in its own right.

These rites should not be rushed through, but done with presence, care, and due consideration, for as the pseudo-Agrippa, the author of the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, points out, grimoiric magic strongly relies on the consecrations used to invest the tools with Spirits of their own according to their shamanistic roots:

“And now we come to treat of the Consecrations which, men ought to make upon all instruments and things necessary to be used in this Art: and the virtue of this Consecration most chiefly consists in two things; to wit, in the power of the person consecrating, and by the virtue of the prayer by which the Consecration is made.

For in the person consecrating, there is required holiness of Life, and power of sanctifying: both which are acquired by Dignification and Initiation. And that the person himself should with a firm and undoubted faith believe the virtue, power, and efficacie hereof.

And then in the Prayer itself by which this Consecration is made, there is required the like holiness; which either solely consisteth in the prayer itself, as, if it be by divine inspiration ordained to this purpose, such as we have in many places of the holy Bible; or that it be hereunto instituted through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the ordination of the Church.

Otherwise there is in the Prayer a Sanctimony, which is not only by itself, but by the commemoration of holy things; as, the commemoration of holy Scriptures, Histories, Works, Miracles, Effects, Graces, Promises, Sacraments and Sacramental things, and the like. Which things, by a certain similitude, do seem properly or improperly to appertain to the thing consecrated.”

~ The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy