Devotional practice is also more than pouring out offerings. It creates a bridge between you and deity. It is offering a portion of your day, a portion of your time focusing on that relationship and nurturing it. It also allows you time to speak with deity. Our lives are often busy and chaotic, and it’s hard sometimes to turn off the noise and really listen to what the Divine may be trying to tell us.
For many, the first time they encounter a deity might be in a group or public ritual. Perhaps it’s Imbolc and the priestess or person leading the ritual is invoking Brighid or welcoming her into the space for that particular celebration. What often isn’t discussed is that the person invoking or welcoming the deity to the space has more than likely done some homework beforehand to be able to facilitate that experience and create a connection to the deity in question. It is vital when working with a deity to first do some research on that deity, meditate, build a connection to them, and learn their likes or dislikes. All these things encompass devotional work. If you didn’t do them, it would be like knocking on your neighbor’s door and asking to borrow butter when you have never been properly introduced or spoken to them before. It isn’t very different with gods. Although the person facilitating the ritual may seem like they are effortlessly drawing in and connecting to deity, more than likely they have spent at the very least the last few weeks or months doing devotional work with that deity.
A good first step to devotional work is to create a space or an altar for the deity you will be working with. This can be something small, like a spot on a bookshelf to place a small picture or an item that represents that deity. It can function as a place you can go to consciously connect with this deity, leave offerings, and in general welcome that deity’s presence into your life. Your altar can be as simple or extravagant as you like: it could be a corner of a bookshelf, a section of your nightstand, a floating shelf (these make really excellent altars), or a shrine that takes up a whole wall.
Learning the mythology and traditions that surround a deity sounds like common sense, but it is a critical aspect of devotional practice. And you will be surprised how many people don’t bother to do it. This doesn’t mean you have to become an expert or follow a particular custom when working with that deity, but it can give you a background of the things you may encounter when working with that god and how you might approach them. There may also be practices or taboos surrounding a deity that you should be aware of. For example, in one of Yemayá’s myths, she was poisoned, and some devotees hold it as proper protocol to taste whatever is being offered to the goddess first before leaving it as an offering, to show that the offering is good to eat. Would lightning come out of the sky if you didn’t observe this practice? Probably not, but doing so deepens your devotion and gives you a rhyme and reason to your devotional acts. The deity you are forging a relationship with may not have any taboos or particular protocol, but knowing their mythology can help you come up with meaningful ways for you to honor them.
Asking the deity what they would like is also important. It may not even be a particular offering but a certain action or show of respect. I know two devotees of Hekate who both felt the goddess wanted them to be veiled or have their heads covered when doing devotional work at their home altars. It was something the deity nudged them toward rather than something they found in ancient practices or from a modern tradition. Neither knew the other, but both mentioned the practice to me at different times and found it validating to know someone else had felt directed to honor Hekate in the same way. Even if it is not something you find in the lore surrounding a deity, listening to the Divine and crafting your own practices with them can be very fulfilling. Trusting your gut and the relationship between yourself and deity is really the best thing to do that situation.
Consider your offering. Why have you chosen this particular offering? Does it have meaning for you? Do you feel the deity accepts the offering? If you can answer yes to those questions, then use it.
Once you have created a space to honor deity and found offerings you wish to leave, the real work begins. How do you connect to deity? How do you forge a relationship? The answer is different for everyone. You might want to do journey work to meet and encounter deity or leave offerings and sit quietly and see what messages come to you. You might want to simply sit by your altar space and talk to deity like you would your best friend.
Offerings
The kinds of offerings you choose to give a deity will vary. You will find that dark gods ask for certain types of things or are traditionally associated with being given particular kinds of offerings. Liquor tends to be the most common type of offering, and I’m not above admitting I’ve wandered around a liquor store until I felt a nudge from a certain deity as to what they would like.
Alcohol or food offerings are not the limit to what can be given to the gods. While I do regularly pour libations, the most meaningful offerings that I choose to give the gods are often not material things. I might offer a particular task as an offering. Whether that is creating something or doing something, I approach the entire thing as a kind of ritual offering to deity. One of my first teachers would often say, “Do something tomorrow that you were afraid to do today.” Many of the things I offered the Morrigan when I first encountered her involved this. “I will do this thing that frightens me, in your honor.” It is not something that should be blindly done. I usually formally offer the task to the deity in question, and there is usually a conversation that goes along with it, a sort of negotiation.
I have also been known to carry around emergency offerings for when I’m not at home or traveling, both in my car and in my purse. A condiment packet of honey from a coffee shop or the small plastic creamers served in diners are excellent on-the-go offerings. They may not be very extravagant offerings, but they work well in a pinch. All that really matters is the spirit in which the offering is given.
Another stigma attached to honoring dark gods is that you will be asked to offer them things you are uncomfortable with. Offerings are very personal things, and while one person may find deep meaning in a particular item they are offering, another may find it repugnant. At times people become concerned that they are not offering a deity the “correct” thing if another person does not use the same or similar offerings. Usually, it’s our own moral tastes that come into play here. One devotee might offer a fine cut of raw meat to a deity, while another who is vegetarian might view the act as dishonorable. Who is right and who is wrong? Well, neither. If the person is offering meat in a devotional way, it has meaning to them, and they felt the gods accepted it, then good for them. The vegetarian devotee might find something else that has meaning for them and that they are comfortable with. Neither’s choice in offerings is correct or incorrect. This can also be said of offering blood to a deity (covered this in more detail in chapter 5). If you have had issues with self-harming in the past or are just uncomfortable with the idea, then find something else that works for you. There are no right or wrong answers with offerings; what matters the most is your connection to deity and the spirit in which you make the offering. Trusting your gut and the relationship between you and deity is really the best thing to consider when you are unsure of an offering. A good rule of thumb is:
1. Why have you chosen this particular offering?
2. Does it have meaning for you?
3. Do you feel the deity accepted the offering?
When Things Get Hairy
Like any kind of magick, things can and do go wrong at times. Working with dark gods is no different. Transformation and the lessons of the gods do have consequences, beyond personal change through the process of working with them. Many people tend to look at gods as heavenly parents and assume that as such they always have our best interests in mind. “Parent” is the closest thing we can really equate a god to, but it doesn’t nearly describe the interaction a devotee has with a deity or the true nature of a deity for that matter. Gods are vast. They are o
ld. In my personal experience they are always ten steps ahead of you, as they should be—they are gods, after all. And they have their own agendas, which are usually far vaster and wider ranging than our own.
So how can things go wrong? Well, there are actually quite a few ways.
First off, don’t make promises you can’t keep. Especially to the gods. This issue can manifest in a number of ways. If you make an oath to a deity, in ritual or otherwise, expect to keep it. Our words not only have power, but they also have consequences. If you avoid your oath or don’t do what you have promised, don’t be surprised when things start going poorly for you. Don’t wait for the cosmic smackdown before beginning to fulfill your word. Also, when you enter a relationship with a deity, if you feel they want you to do something for them or you wish to offer a task or devotional act to them, give a clear time frame. The deity may not care that you don’t have the time, money, or resources to finish that task, only that you promised to fulfill it.
Similarly, you may feel a deity wants you to do a certain task or kind of work for them. Before entering into any kind of oath, it’s important to remember you can negotiate. A deity might really want you to work on a specific thing. But you still have needs too, and that task may seem all-consuming or impossible. You need a job that pays the bills and a roof over your head. There is nothing wrong with negotiation, in asking the gods for what we need as well. For example, a friend felt a certain deity was calling her to do healing work (okay, maybe “demanding” is a better word), particularly counseling, but she found the more she tried to do the work the less she was able to keep the rest of her life afloat. Mostly, she stretched herself thin trying to uphold the work she felt she needed to do for that deity and the rest of her life, and she was draining herself in the process. As part of an oath to that deity, she asked that she find a job where she could do work in honor of that deity but also have enough to make ends meet and be stable in her own life. A few months later she found a job that paid well and was able to do the counseling work she felt called to. Building a devotional relationship with any deity is never going to be a one-way conversation. Negotiation and not working on blind faith are important.
Another hang-up, oddly enough, is getting what you want. When you ask a deity for something, really understand what it is you are asking for. A long time ago I made a vow to the Morrigan to find my own happiness and asked her to help me in doing so. Sounds easy, right? Keeping that oath is probably one of the hardest things I have ever taken on—and the most rewarding. It forced me to face a lot of difficult choices. There were things in my life that weren’t good for me, yet I still clung to them. I didn’t quite expect to be made to look squarely and honestly at those things when I made that vow. I naively expected just to feel happier about life in general and learn to be happy with what I had, instead of facing the fact that things in my life, not simply my outlook, actually had to change for me to be happy. I actually had to do work. I also didn’t expect the process to be as painful as it was. But I did get exactly what I asked for. And while it did turn out well, it was not an easy process. As magick users, we know words have power. Our oaths to the gods are no less powerful than words of power or words uttered to weave a spell, and thus they cannot be taken lightly or dispensed carelessly.
Perhaps the most uncomfortable pitfall is when a god turns their back on you, so to speak. It does happen. As much as we want to see the gods as all loving parents, sometimes those “parents” get fed up with our shit. Usually this occurs when you haven’t been listening to a deity. There is only so much divine foot tapping and arm folding a god can do before leaving you to stew in your own juices. They leave you there to figure things out for yourself. They stop talking to you when you aren’t carrying out your part of the bargain.
How do you fix things? Make offerings. And listen! If you are asking for answers, what is the deity telling you? If you have trouble meditating and receiving messages, then use other media: cards, runes, and so on. If the problem stems from an oath that has been broken, follow through with the promise to the best of your abilities. Acknowledge that you messed up and ask for aid in accomplishing the task or understanding how to do so.
Things can also go wrong when we only make offerings or do devotional work when we want something. If you create an altar for Kali, pay attention to it only when you want something or when things start hitting the fan, and ignore it and the deity the rest of the time, you will not likely get the most positive outcome. Building a connection and relationship is important and shouldn’t revolve around only doing the work and building the connection in times of need. I find this to be particularly true of working with the Sídhe and spirits. The gods are no different.
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1. Galina Krasskova, Devotional Polytheism: An Introduction (Sanngetall Press, 2014), p. 1.
3
Cursing, Warding, and
Other Defensive Magick
W hile our main focus will be how to work with dark deities in order to transform our lives, it is important to be able to protect ourselves along the journey. There is a healthy respect for and tradition of using curses and defensive magick in Santería and Hoodoo traditions. But when it comes to modern Witchcraft as a whole, we tend to shy away from it. Reconstructionists and those in traditions that do not hold to the Wiccan Rede are less shy about such things, but still as a whole Pagans should put more of an emphasis on learning magickal defense and offense. Protection and retribution are certainly in the realm of dark gods, and you can use the techniques in this chapter with any of the goddesses in this book.
Let me start out by saying I don’t believe in the “harm none” axiom. It’s an impossible idea. I do believe that we should be good to one another and live well and honorably. But I do not think those two words really sum up a moral code for the Craft or Paganism in general. If you ate a hamburger recently or picked a pretty flower from the garden, you have broken this law. Our very existence cannot be without harming or destroying something. That ultimately is the ever-swaying pendulum of balance. Something gets destroyed to fuel something else, and then the cycle continues on and on. If we tried to harm nothing in our existence, we would inevitably harm ourselves in our efforts in trying to do so, starving and allowing others to treat us poorly in lieu of protecting ourselves. This holds true in magick as well. You just can’t banish someone in a nice way. It just doesn’t work. When you need someone to get the hell away to keep yourself and others around you safe, it’s not always going to be pretty. We have to become comfortable with the idea of force, rather than the implied passivity of adhering to the ideas behind the rede. Most people would agree that if someone physically attacked you, you have every right to fight back. That same idea applies to magick. If someone has sent some nasty energy your way, you have every right to magickally push right back.
This does not mean we should not lead our lives by a moral code, nor does it mean that we should not have morals in regard to our magickal practices. Rather, it’s that each person’s morals are ultimately for themselves to flesh out and adhere to. That being said, there are plenty of people out in the world who don’t wish us well. And it’s imperative to be able to defend against such people or against unwanted and negative beings. After all, not every faery wants to help us; some of them want to eat your face off. And not every human is good natured.
Modern Pagans have hang-ups regarding cursing in particular. If we look to the pagans of the past, we see they had fewer issues with asking the gods to curse others for them. Temples in continental Europe and Roman-Celtic ones in Britain have many examples of curse tablets offered to gods by those seeking justice for minor things, such as stolen shoes, and for more heinous crimes.
Warding
Warding is perhaps one of the most important things you can do magickally to protect yourself and your home, not just from unwanted people but also from unwanted spirits and beings. There
are several ways to go about creating wards and placing them in your home. You might create one to protect your home in general, another for your ritual space and the things you do there, and one in your car to protect you while you are away from home.
Simple House Ward
Before erecting wards, I like to smudge my house and use a little water with a pinch of salt in it to draw an X in the corners of all the doorways, windows, and mirrors, just as a general cleansing before I start my work. Wards are not something you do once and forget about. They are something you feed and add power to as time goes on, like recharging batteries. You can create them purely through visualization, but I like to have a physical object to anchor the energy into. In this case, we will use four crystals or stones of your choice that will be placed in the four corners of the home. You can use more than four, as some people prefer to have enough stones to keep in all the windowsills and near entryways. While you can literally place the stones in the actual corners of the home, I like to use a drawing on the layout of the home as a kind of grid to place the stones on. If you live in an apartment complex, you can even print out a floor plan from your rental company’s website. This is just as effective and makes it easier to keep track of the stones when you want to give them an extra energy charge every so often. If you have curious pets, it is also a good way to keep the stones from becoming playthings. The drawing of the home’s layout is also a focal point for your visualization.
You Will Need:
Four stones or crystals
Drawing or representation of your home
Salt
Water
Hold the stones in your hands and look at your drawing. Clearly see the boundaries of your home in your mind’s eye. See a grid work of light shooting out of the stones, creating a web of light that protects your home and sends away those who are unwanted or wish you harm. Alternatively, you could see a grid of vines with large thorns surrounding the home from top to bottom sending back anything that is unwanted. If you come up with another visualization you prefer better, use it. Also, be very clear about what is allowed to come into your space and what you want to repel. When you feel your intent is clearly imbued in the stones, set them on the four corners of the picture (or the four corners of your home). Charge the stones and “refresh” the visualization on a monthly basis or as you feel it is needed.
Dark Goddess Craft Page 3
