While I cannot say that preparing for an operation from the Heptameron has been easy, I can say that it has been rewarding thus far. One of the many emphases in Liesewski’s book is focused on the preparation of the pentacle. That’s what I’m filling you in on here, and then I’ll be going through the rest of the setup process as the time arrives.

First, the pentacle has to be prepared on “skin of a kid.” That can either be goatskin or sheepskin parchment. I ordered my sheepskin parchment from a reputable online occult supply house. I am satisfied with it, for certain.

Secondly, the pentacle has to be made in the hour of Mercury on the day of Mercury. The day of Mercury is, of course, Wednesday. This Wednesday (the 24th of June, 2009) is ideal, since the moon is waxing.

To calculate the planetary hours, first figure out when sunrise and sunset occur in your locale on that day. In my area, sunrise is 6:21 a.m., while sunset is 9:10 p.m. It’s easier to do this process in military time, so that would be 06:21 to 21:10. Subtracting 06.21 from 21.10 gives you 14.89, which you divide by 12 (the hours of the day) to get 1.24 (the length of each planetary hour of the day).  Then, of course, just add 1.24 to 6.21, giving you 7.45. Since this is Wednesday, the day of Mercury, the first hour is ruled by Mercury, as well, meaning that the first hour of Mercury on 6/24/09 is from 6:21 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. If you continue this process, you soon come to the conclusion that the second hour of Mercury on 6/24/09 is 3:13 p.m. to 4:29 p.m. This is the hour in which I will make my pentacle. (In other words, between 3:13 p.m. and 4:29 p.m. on Wednesday, 6/24/09).

Next, in prep for making the pentacle, one has to acquire some Holy Water (since this is a Roman Catholic style Grimoire from medieval times). That’s simple enough, actually. Because I am an ordained Minister myself, I simply take a jar of plain old tap water and make the sign of the cross over it, saying, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Then, I hold my hand, palm down, over the mouth of the jar and say, “In the name of Jesus, I purify and consecrate this water. Creature of water, I cast from thee all impurity of the realms of man and the realms of phantasm. And from this point forward, thou art purified, sealed and consecrated for use in the Holy Rites of the Church, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” Then I make the sing of the cross again, say an “Our Father,” then repeat the aforementioned with the jar of water. Next, I say something similar while holding my hands over some sea salt, say an Our Father, and then make the sign of the cross over the salt. I add the salt to the water, seal up the jar, and make the sign of the cross over it once more. It’s off and away to storage, until I need it.

In addition to the Holy Water, one has to acquire some used Baptismal Water for the making of the Pentacle. In another project I’m working on, I had to baptise a physical home for an entity to reside in. So I simply save the water from that baptism, and this requirement is met. To make batpismal water, I simply filled the sink in the bathroom, added a splash of  the already-made Holy Water, and prayed over the sink a couple of Our Fathers. I also made the sing of the cross several times, used the words “consecrate thee Baptismal Water,” and then said a few words about being baptised (to the physical house in which the entity resides). Then, I said, “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I baptise thee [name]” and dunked and brought up the statue. As I mentioned, I saved this water for later use in making my pentacle on Wednesday.

The final requirement is that, during the creation of the pentacle, one has to perform a “Mass of the Holy Spirit.” So I researched, and came up with  the information needed to perform “The Ordinary of the Mass, Mass of the Catechumens.” What makes this a “Mass of the Holy Spirit?” Simply this: in my Manual of Prayers for Salvatorians, there is Litany of the Holy Spirit, titled Veni, Creator Spiritus, which I will say first, and then at the usual “Let us pray,” I say one of the other prayers included, and then finally the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, and then continue the mass.

Whew! This has been a lot of work, and I haven’t even started yet! That’s just making the pentacle! Now, I have to consecrate the sword as instructed, and make my linen alb. Then, I’ll have to find a way to get the circle on the floor of the basement without drawing a lot of attention to it (’cause the gas guy comes indoors to read the meter down there), and then I still have to memorize the rest of the ritual! Not to mention the coming nine-day purification and three-day fasting process!

Oh well — I think it will be highly worth it!

Heptameron, here I come!

I have to apologize that my posts have been less frequent of late. I have some catching up to do, but I have to tell you about my latest magickal experiment.

I have been interested in evocation for a long time, as you know. This week, I purchased a book called Ceremonial Magic and The Power of Evocation, written by Joseph C. Lisiewski, Ph.D., and introduced by Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D. and S. Jason Black. Now, I had not heard of any of these people before purchasing this book.

But I have to tell you, the content of this book is fabulous. Not only does Dr. Lisiewski agree with my own philosophy towards magick (as gleaned from his writing), but so do the other two contributors. These views are by far not popularly held opinions on magick.

However, the instruction that Dr. Lisiewski gives in his writing seems to be amazingly infallible.

Based on the Heptameron, this book is powerful instruction in the art of evocation.

I will be making preparations for an Operation taken directly from this book, and worked exactly as the author advocates.

More on this later.

Peace,

For the second or third time, I have just finished watching Amercian History X. While I am not into racism and the like, preferring freedom over fanaticism, it is an entertaining movie (and not just because Edward Norton has a fantastic nude scene which is probably one of the major fantasies of every gay man this side of the Milky Way Galaxy). Rather, it is informative, educational and entertaining because it always reminds me of the saying by which I live my life.

For most of my adult life, I have held jobs in nursing homes. As a Certified Nursing Assistant, I made it my life’s mission to make sure that the elderly had a decent life. While I didn’t control their medications or make life-altering decisions for them, I did the little things. I made sure that the elderly residents of the facility in which I worked were bathed, groomed, had good meals. I made sure they participated in daily regimines to keep their minds and bodies as active as possible, and as independent as they could physically and mentally remain.

“What saying,” I hear you asking, “did Alan live his life by?”

This one:

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give one’s self;
To leave the world a little better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch,
Or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm,
And sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived …
This is to have succeeded.

Those last two lines are my emphasis. I italicized the words to make a point. The point is this: those last two lines are the lines, penned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, by which I have lived my life; these lines are the lines that have influenced my career choices and the path to which I have devoted myself for the larger part of my adult life.

Now, where do I go? What do I do? I have been unable to find a job in a nursing home. I have been unemployed for nearly 7 months now. I have devoted these past 7 months to this blog, to this website, to the study of magic in its myriad forms, and the spiritual discipline I have missed throughout this time frame.

All I know right now is that I have to make some major changes.

So I’m asking you - all of my loyal Members and Subscribers - to help me out here. Send your magic-friendly family and friends to this website. Ask them to sign up. Ask them to go ahead and pay the monthly fee. Emphasize that it is worth it (because it is), and ask them to make the contribution so that we can continue this powerful online community.

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - that is to have succeeded.

Peace,

Alan

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The term Lave Tet literally means, “head washing.” It can also be called the sevis tet, literally meaning, “service for the head.” It feeds the spirits. It strengthens the LWA who guards you (your met tet). And it also sends away negative spirits that may have attached themselves to you. The lave tet can also “cool” a person, making you more even-tempered and more calm. If you are easily angered, prone to emotional outbursts or easily distracted, then a cooling lave tet may just be for you.

There are three majore Lave Tets that I have done for myself. These are the cleansing lave tet, the cooling lave tet, and the power lave tet. Each of them has a distinct purpose.

The cleansing lave tet will cleanse you. It will remove negative spirits that have perhaps attached themselves to you. The cleansing lave tet can also clear out runs of bad luck, or remove any crossings, jinxes or hexes that may have been placed upon you by another person.

There are also cooling baths. These are great for those times when you are forced to deal with a large amount of stress. The cooling lave tet can help a lot when it comes to relieving that nastiness that just sometimes latches on during the stresses of daily life. Wherea as a cleansing bath helps you remove messes picked up from the daily grind, the cooling bath can help you obtain the peace of mind and serenity necessary to deal with things a bit better than you might normally. It can also help you to become more attuned to the Divine, and less focused on the petty, mundane concerns.

Finally, there is the power bath, or the power lave tet. It can help you to “heat up” or activate your spirits, to put you into greater levels of communication with the spirits that walk with you. Voudissants often use these kinds of baths to “bring up” their magical power and their luck, and generally make themselves more successful.

Most of these kinds of baths will be closely guarded secrets. Most Vodou Priests or Priestesses will not just give anyone a recipe to help them perform these kinds of baths. Many even charge for these kinds of baths (though some of these people should be avoided).

In the next few posts, we’ll be going into more detail on the Cleansing, Cooling and Power Lave Tets, and how you might make your own to help in your own daily life.

I wanted to give you a great method of grounding. Since we’re doing energy work, here’s the video that will take you through a basic, complete grounding exercise. Enjoy!

Love, health, protection, luck and wealth. Aren’t these the basic desires of everyone on the planet? More appropriately, I think the basic needs are food, shelter and clothing, but love is a quick overlap of all these things, and wealth is the basic necessity in attaining them, isn’t it (with the exception of love, perhaps)?

Everyone has undergone some kind of economic crunch these past several months. (Except, of course, for the big companies that were given bailout funds and then squandered them on huge corporate bonuses. But I digress.) In these tough times, magic can be part of the solution to our problems on an individual basis. I’m talking about a “mini me” of sorts - a self doll baby.

Why would anyone want to make a doll of themselves? Well, as mentioned above, the basic needs of love, health, protection, luck and wealth are necessary to live a whole, fulfilling life, aren’t they? Without them, we kind of fall by the wayside, watching life pass us by, sometimes feeling hopeless and helpless. But that really isn’t necessary. A self doll can help us out. Mama T often stressed the important phrase that “God helps those who help themselves” (but, of course, you realize that this is not in the Bible at all, even though a lot of people think it is).

Is it dangerous to make a doll of yourself? It can be dangerous to make a self doll, yes. You have to keep it safe. If someone else gets hold of your self doll, it is possible that they could use their intent to do harm to you. For example, if a vengeful rootworker gets it into their hands, they could hold it over candle flame, say a few words, and suddenly you have a deadly fever. Or they may trap it in a jar and seal it up to make you bend to their will. I’m not sure if it has ever happened, but something tells me that somewhere, someone lost their doll and then all hell broke loose in their lives. So it is necessary to keep it well-protected - even secret.

How would you make a doll of yourself? Traditionally, red flannel is the fabric used for mojo bags and nation sacks in Hoodoo, so that is probably what I would go with first. You might want to color-coordinate based on your need (for example: green for money, blue for health, pink for love), but all of this isn’t really that necessary. You’d cut out your little doll and sew it up, making sure to stuff it with appropriate herbs, roots, powders and relics. After that, you’d leave it for 24 hours on some salt to purify it, then baptize it to be you. From that point on, whatever you do to the doll (giving it food, money, hugs and kisses, surrounding it with protection amulets, and so on) is what would manifest in your life, since it is literally baptized as you.

In the next post, I’m planning to start step-by-stepping you through the construction of such a fabulous little self doll. You’ll want to stay tuned for this, because these following posts are going to contain videos that will be instrumental in the teaching of this self doll process.

So with Mama T’s recommendation, you’re about to be included on one of the most powerful spells that Mama T taught me. And it’s likely to be one of the most useful spells you’ll ever need to do.

Our Memorial Day Campout is just around the corner. Each year, we gather with the fam in Michigan to have a fabulous campout, usually with lots of yummies, the lack of technology, and (most importantly) lots of family hugs, love and togetherness.

This year, on Thursday, May 21st (this Thursday, actually), we’ll be heading out to Michigan. Ludington State Park is our destination. Loads of people will be there, too. My hubby,  his mom and dad, his sister and her husband, and his other sister (I think) and her two kids, and me, which is just the start of it. There will also be in attendance later (I think) the hubby’s cousin and his wife, plus their two youngsters. And then, of course, Mom’s sister and her hubby, plus their second kid (who is a Minister) and his son and daughter-in-law. I don’t even think this is the whole list, but it is one big load of folks, that’s for sure. And it’s always a blast.

Please note that I will be away and without tech during this campout, so from Friday the 22nd to Wednesday the 27th, there won’t be any posts. However, please do not worry - because when I’m finally back on the 28th, I will be catching up with the new posts. In other words, I’ll be double-posting for a few days so that you don’t really miss any of the planned lessons or installments of Mama T’s Spells.

So I hope you have a great Memorial Day! If you don’t really celebrate it for whatever reason, maybe it would be a great time for you to pay some special tribute to your Ancestors. How about making them their favorite meal? Or perhaps putting them all out on the dining room table and having a “cocktail party?” It can’t hurt to treat them a little special because then all they want to do for you is bring you the best of luck, love, protection, health and wealth.

Great blessings to you and yours this Memorial Day!

Peace,