CONNECTING WITH THE OTHER SELF
Day 1 of 31
2023 sucked.
It’s been a rough few years. Any astrologers with half an eye on the sky can tell you why: from Saturn’s return to his domiciles to Neptune swirling about in the deep waters of Pisces, Fate is not on our side. For many reasons too long for this post alone, I’ve struggled to “pick up the wand” over the last year. In 2022, I performed two major rituals centered around a sort of healing. I’d lost a lot and most of it being the consequence of magic: I got what I wanted, but the price was still significant. To restore myself, I went to the Underworld for the second time to reclaim what I’d left. “Imagination” the Crossroads whispered.
Since then, I’ve been trying to imagine a lot. Imagining the kind of love I could have and enjoy, imagining new explanations for old problems, imagining a language of magic I could share without being afraid of it – lots of imagining. All of that is drawing close. The Skies promised me 5 years of rest when I returned to the U.S. in late 2019, just before the pandemic kicked up and the world changed. I’m on the last year. In many ways, I’ve done what they said I would. I’m handling my mental health better than ever before and my professional life is going well. Personally though, things are rough: I’m tired, lonely, and frustrated. The Summer of 2024 will come whether I’m upset or not and as I am, I suspect I will get blown over.
Enter “boot camp”.
December begins and ends with some interesting transits: Mercury entered Capricorn earlier today and Jupiter will station on the 31st. Opposites beginning and ending the final month of the calendar year is reason enough to turn the month into magic, but if you know my chart well, this is especially juicy. As I prepare myself for the “breaking from the cocoon” phase of things to come, I’ve also “widened the Way” for anyone looking to join me on this month-long project. 31 Days of Good isn’t just seasonally timed branding: it’s quite literally what we’re going to do.
“Good” and “Evil” are not abstract moralities in my understanding, but quite literally factions in the cosmological struggle over “the meaning” of things. At its core, the divide is not between cruelty and kindness – Good is often very cruel and cold in the name of “the whole” and Evil can be incredibly kind when it suits their self-being. The question is where one puts their meaning: Good says meaning is derived from the whole, that what the Self contributes is what fulfills it. Evil says the opposite, that the self is the origin of meaning and making the whole like the self is what fulfills it. At the end of the day, these are not necessarily opposites for mortals. Mass Effect rules apply: you can be a lot of both, a lot of one, or neither in some ways.
“...we are not players casting dice, but their characters and the rolling numerals.”
To be clear, I do not think Good is winning. That has been the case for the majority of this Age’s history. Evil is well and entrenched. Whatever others might think of me, as far as I am concerned, I would align myself with Good. As happy as I am to indulge my selfishness and embrace the One, I am Venusian to my core. I want to mingle in a world Illuminated. “Good” means many things. My “Good” is fairly specific: I could care less about the public at large. Let them die. Someone else can worry about them. I will worry about witches and the weird, the ones those worried would kill.
For the next 31 days, I will renew my commitment to that Good, to my vision of a Better that serves more than my own self. That isn’t to say it doesn’t benefit me too – it most certainly does and yours should as well. Good does not require nor request self-destruction. There is no valor in martyrdom, surely we’ve learned that by now. The world has plenty of villains and many of them have knowledge of magic, whether or not they’d call it that. I don’t mean this in some grand shadowy cabal fashion. I mean it in a very transparent, well-funded religious machine actively using its megachurches to invoke destruction on billions of people every Sunday. Some even televise it. The world is very much so in need of Good magicians.
Even practitioners of magic who do not yet have a full awareness of their soul will be drawn into the “event horizons” of the Grand Design. As these conceptual mortalities – Claims on the End – battle it out for control, the choices made in Reality are their dice roll. If you want to extend the game metaphor, we are not the players casting dice, but their characters and the rolling numerals. Your purpose is to decide, to choose, to be faced with hard choices and resolve them. We are the destructive power of creation, the creative power of destruction, the children of the Sky and the Earth: we are the Horizon, that point between all things and nowhere at all. If magicians truly can use magic to alter Reality and we truly have a perspective beyond the normal, why is it laughable to think we have an obligation to use that power? What good are hands you keep in your pocket?
Call me a romantic, but I truly do think high school Cooper got it right it when he said the loss of nobility is our great moral crisis. It isn’t modesty nor some relic of tradition that will fix the cold, empty interactions generations of humans raised like parasites have come to call society. The powerful are celebrated because they abuse that power to further themselves. We worship dragons atop hordes of gold pretending they are greater than the kings of old. But dragons have no nobility, no honor, no obligation. They are kings untempered by humanity, pure and endless greed. We do not need magicians who cling to the darkness nor bend the light to cast shadows. We need magicians like St. George and Sigurd, dragonslayers who slay the dragon not for its horde, but because they have the power to slay dragons. If you would accept my condition of noblesse oblige – of “the noble’s magician’s obligation” as I’d say in English – then drink from the cup I offer you and join me in this exercise.
We will open ourselves to the Flow of Fate and the powers that would align with our sense of Good. We will not simply “be for hire” but then actively seek out a chance to do Good. To make choices and give choices where the selfish and cruel might win. To do something when no one else otherwise would. For 31 days, we will use magic to actively make ourselves into meddlesome protagonists, fumbling into a chance to help someone win a fight they’d lose, a sword needing pulling from some stone, or perhaps to bring joy where sorrow would otherwise drown out the light. “Fighting” does not always mean picking up a weapon. Most fights that matter won’t involve anything of the sort. Some dragons will be slain by songs, by laughter, or by one of the other great powers of this world. I would welcome any.
Below are the instructions for “joining” – a fairly simple ritual. Using the Authority of the Witch King, you’ll get a bit of His power to help you navigate the chaos you’re choosing and take on “the magician’s obligation” in return: you will act because you can act, because your duty to others will always exceed the power you have over them if you are to be truly deserving of that privilege. “Service leadership” but for magic. Come January 1st, the contract is fulfilled and our connection severs, whether you were successful or not. Whether this is your first bit of magic or you’re an old expert, this is a magic for the sincere fools like myself who believe it’s worth trying for Better rather than Perfect. Each day, we’ll have a new post, next steps, and hopefully come a step closer to our ideals. 2024 will not be much easier than this year, but we will be stronger and that’s what matters.
THE RITUAL PREPARATION
MATERIALS
Clear bowl that can hold water (crystal is ideal but clear and clean is what matters)
Smaller bowl/cup you can dip into the water and drink from
5 candles (white ideally, any color works in a pinch)
Salt/chalk (something to cast the circle with)
Paper and pen/cil (you will burn this, keep it small)
A plate/offering bowl/cauldron (something things can burn in!)
SETUP
Find cardinal south and conduct the work with that direction as “up”/”forward”. Face this way as “center”. Put four white candles in a square shape, leaving space in the middle for your fire-safe dish. Putting that at the center of your square, place the fifth candle. You should have one candle for each cardinal direction, something like this:
Between you and the cauldron, place the larger, clear bowl filled midway with water. It should be comfortably within reach but far enough away from the burn plate that any ash/soot will not get into the water. On a piece of paper, draw the following sigil. This is the connection between the Witch King, this ritual, and its participants. A collaborative working dictated by the Witch King, you will be obligated to use magic (and thus yourself) to further Good in the world in alignment with your Will and Nature. In return, the Witch King will strengthen both and extend some of His power to you in that time. Start with the small, horizontal line as the bottom. Then make a swift, upward motion, loop the top down to a point, pull the line almost horizontal again, and make the second, longer loop. At the end, draw a closed circle to finish the sigil. This is our “contract”.
You can use any figure, god, or entity that aligns with this working that you choose. I’m not going to write spells for every possibility. You can use what I’ve provided (I like St. Nicholas/Santa Claus) but it truly doesn’t matter. You could probably even leave it off if you’d like. The main incantation and the burning of the sigil are the important part. Subsequently, the additional bits you use in the ritual will need to be adjusted for your chosen entity. I’ve intentionally chosen kitchen-friendly options here if you live in North America – or really anywhere I think. Feel free to go super hardcore if you’d like but it doesn’t matter. We’ll be doing plenty of rituals over the next 31 days. You’ll get to flex that creativity plenty.
For my Santa Claus section, we’re going to use nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove. Delicious ingredients for the season, they are also aligned with Jupiter and the Sun, two powers dear to me and especially important this month. The Sun will be a major focus as we reach the Winter Solstice and the Darkness overtakes us fully. Jupiter’s stationing at the end of the month gives him obvious significance as well. You need not focus on these options.
Once ready, move the candles away and draw the circle starting in the East and going counterclockwise, moving as the Sun. Return the candles and begin.
PERFORMING THE RITUAL
Light the candles starting with the southernmost candle (closest to you):
Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the South
Powers of Fire and Transformation
I invoke thee.
You will then repeat this for each successive candle, again following the rising sun (counterclockwise):
Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the East
Powers of Air and Intuition
I invoke thee.
Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the North
Powers of Earth and Strength
I invoke thee.
Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtowers of the West
Powers of Water and Will
I invoke thee.
Repeat this three times (do not re-light the candles, just repeat the ordering and motion to each corner respectively.) On the final (fourth) time, light the center candle and finish with:
Enter my Circle And dwell Within
Enter my Circle And dwell Within
Enter my Circle And dwell Within
Heed my WIll and Obey!
You will then begin the spell proper. Today is a great day for this one as Mercury just entered Capricorn, meaning the Messenger of the Skies is freed from detriment and in a positive aspect with Saturn. This will help give a boost to contract-style magics like this and communications with spirits. Putting your dominant hand over the bowl of water, use the following:
Hear me, Witch King of the Southern Hills
Lord of the Shadow and the Flame.
Carried by starlight or the space smoke fills
Let me join you and so aid my aim!
For 31 Days and 31 Nights
Until the first dawn of the New Year
Acknowledge my Word and witness my Fight
My love your shield, my will your spear.
By my Name and at your Call
Let me rise while the Sun falls
Give me your blessing, show me the Way
I rise Knighted until the promised day.
Dip the cup into the water and drink from it, sealing the agreement. You will drink from the Well of Worlds, the riches of the Darkness and gift of the Moon. To that end, you then promise yourself as a light – to answer the call (a ritual I performed separately to kick this one off) of the Witch King. He seeks practitioners and magicians alike to join the journey I described above: as I reconnect with Him, you all have a chance to seek out yourselves, a chance to do Good, and help shift the balance of Fate just a bit toward Good.
Once finished drinking, put the cup down and pick up the sigil. Holding it above the flame enough that it won’t burn but still in the center of things, add cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg in that order to the sigil.
As the Sun grows dark, give my cinnamon’s spark.
As the Darkness creeps close, keep me well with clove.
Good luck and better fortune follows nutmeg’s scent.
By Santa Claus or By St. Nick
O’ Spirit of Mirth & Joy
Nice not Naughty is this year’s pick
Take this new elf, now yours to employ
Burn the sigil (with spices over it) and then prepare to close the ritual out. We’ll return to Santa later this month, don’t worry too much about doing all the magic tonight. We’re kicking off, opening the door, and pushing ourselves to reach our spirit more fully. Blow out each candle in the opposite order (you’ll start with the one on your left) saying the following each time.
Spirits conjured
Now with my Will, Depart!
READYING FOR DAY 2
Tomorrow we’ll talk about signs the spell worked, what to expect in the weeks to come, and how to further refine your working. For now, welcome to the team and try on your new elf-hat. I’m looking forward to pushing myself and seeing all the Good you guys get done this month. It probably won’t be easy, but we’ve got Santa and the King of Witches on our side. There’s no way we can go wrong! Share your experience and invite others to join as you work your magic muscles heading into the New Year!
