The Elements of Spellcrafting

by Jason Miller

  Many years ago, a friend asked me to jinx and confuse someone who was doing something bad I can't mention. I don't do stuff like that for hire, so please don't ask, but for a friend and a good cause—sure. He gave me a digital photo of the person, his name, his birthdate, and such. That is usually enough, but as I did the work at home, I could feel it just going nowhere. It was like trying to spray someone with a water hose when they are behind a glass door.

  My friend was telling me that the confusion was having some effect, but when I questioned him further, I felt like it was meager and would fall short of what we needed to prevent this person from doing the terrible thing we were trying to stop.

  So I took the Magic to the man instead of the man to the Magic. I got an address for the target and went to lay confusion powder on his doorstep, but as I approached, floodlights turned on. Not wanting to get in trouble for stepping on this guy's lawn at 3 a.m., I went home. The next day, I purchased a Super Soaker water gun and painted it up with appropriate sigils. I dissolved the powder in some war water and re-consecrated it. That night at 3 a.m., I used the Super Soaker to “dress” the target's front porch without ever setting foot on the property.

  Suddenly all the Magic I had been doing had a clear route and the floodgates opened. Mischief managed.

  Living In a Material World

  Sometimes it's not about linking to a person or place, so much as it is just giving an operation something material to grab on to. Folk Magic is often inherently material, but all the high Magic, spirit-evoking, demon-compelling stuff took on new effectiveness when I realized that offerings formed a material link to help give material result.

  The same is true of Sympathetic Magic performed with the aid of an invoked or even fully conjured spirit. If you have a spirit in front of you and make a packet that binds a link to the spirits seal, you will have a potent way for that spirit to know what to do, as well as a path for its influence to travel over. This method gets used a lot in the Caribbean and West Africa, where the DeLaurence printings of Grimoires were so valued in spell work that DeLaurence himself was seen as a white-suited Sorcerer, and the company catalogue considered a black book all on its own.3

  Those who eschew material parts of Magic in favor of the psychic/psionic/energetic work, as well as New Thought practitioners who “will” things to happen, might find their efforts bolstered by having a good link to hold and focus on when performing their exercise. For one student of mine, this lesson on links seems to be the only lesson she has implemented, but claims it has increased her effectiveness many times over. She is now an avid collector of personal links to just about everyone she meets, as well as a compiler of dirt from key places in her life. She has these all catalogued and labeled in a large chest so that they are ready for use.

  Whatever you are trying to achieve, I find that very often the missing link is, well, a link!

  The Take-Away

  Harold is presenting Salphegor with links to his target. He maybe went a little overboard with it, but it's better than a picture printed from someone's Facebook profile. How does your Magic get from you to the target? That is the problem that we are seeking to solve in this key.

  What links can you incorporate into your working? Are those links sufficient or are there better links? How relevant and intimate are the links you have? Asking yourself these questions is the key to thinking like a Sorcerer and solving this age-old problem.

  Key 13:

  Practice Sane Eclecticism

  We live in a world where the secrets of Magic and esoteric religion are mostly cracked wide open for all the world to see. It is natural, therefore, for people to engage more than one tradition in their work. We also live in a world that is more fully aware of privilege and the problems of cultural appropriation. Some would say we are too aware and have perhaps overreacted by doing things like shutting down college yoga classes and protesting corporate mindfulness programs because they appropriate Eastern culture.

  I am not here to tell you what to think about social issues, but these are not the only concerns when it comes to eclecticism and mixing traditions. There are issues of effectiveness as well as safety when you are mixing thing up. Just like people, some Gods and spirits are open to new or loose approaches, and others are quite conservative. Because of my own eclectic background and training, this balance between eclecticism and tradition is something that I think about often.

  One the one hand, the great gift of our age is that the doors have all been more or less thrown open. We have unprecedented access to Magical and religious practices that people in previous decades never dreamed possible. This is not only because of the internet either. I grew up in a small town in rural central New Jersey, and before I was 20 years old, I had learned Magic from a Wiccan Priestess, an African-American Conjure Man, a Santera, a Rosicrucian/Ceremonial Magician, and most importantly a Buddhist Lama. Lama Vajranatha (John Myrdhin Reynolds) is the first Westerner to receive Ngakpa robes (Ngakpas are non-celibate Sorcerer Priests). Not only did he become my revered teacher, but he introduced me to the OTO and Witchcraft scenes in New York, which he was a part of in the 1970s.

  If I was to just pick only one tradition, or restrict myself only to those cultures that I was ethnically connected to, I feel like it would be a betrayal of what the universe presented me with: a beautiful array of traditions and people willing to share them.

  On the other hand, we have people that are so loose and eclectic that it is, to be frank, silly. This is the Wiccan who tells you Kali is her Goddess and Jesus is her God—meanwhile she knows almost nothing about either one. This is the person who announces that they practice Phurba—but what they mean is that they use it as an Athame to cast circles and have never studied with a teacher or even read anything about Tibetan Buddhism. This is the ceremonialist replacing the Archangels with the Orishas in the LBRP because he read a book and wants to play Lukumi Priest. This is Aleister Crowley when he tried to tackle Taoism, which he clearly knew nothing about. And yes, this has been me too, stumbling around drawing a veve of Legba in the snow.... The fact that it seemed to work does not make it authentic Vodou; it merely points out that the Gods sometimes favor drunkards and fools.

  So how do we walk the line? How do we take advantage of the access that, I believe, is the great gift of the age, without falling into dilettantism, delusion, or danger?

  The question is different for different people, but I have some rules that I follow in my work. Following these guidelines has allowed me to put together my own Magical system and style that draws upon traditions new and old, yet still allow me to be taken seriously by most traditionalists.

  Do Not Usurp Titles

  This is by far the most important rule. If you read a book on Vodou, it does not make you a Houngan or Mambo. If you read every book on it ever written, memorize 12 CDs worth of songs, and spend every weekend drawing veves and invoking the Loa, it still does not make you a Houngan or Mambo, because that is based on an initiation. You can be a Vodousant, and you may even know more than many initiated Houngans out there (more on that in a minute), but you still have not been initiated, so don't take the title.

  This is not just about personal titles. You should not usurp the titles of traditions or tools either. You can read books on Dzogchen. You can do the practices. You can even attain the result. But if you have not had the introduction to mind from a Guru, you are not doing Dzogchen. The same practice, no longer in context, is something else, so call it something else.

  No one can tell you what to do, and don't let anyone tell you who to pray to. We have religious and Magical freedom after all, and a good deal of the history of Magic has been made by people who step beyond what is allowed and make the orthodoxy upset. So you can make a spirit pot. You can even study and draw upon how Ngangas are constructed, but unless you do it in that tradition, it is not that thing and should not be called that. Words have meaning and you cheapen and corrupt the reputation of practice when you pretend at it.
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  Even If You Hold a Title, Don't Throw It Around Until You Know Something Real

  This is the flip-side of the previous rule and is something that not a lot of people talk about, including traditionalists. It is possible currently to get the coveted initiations, but still know next to nothing. Houngan Hector here in New Jersey told me that shortly after he developed an interest in Vodou, he flew down to Haiti and was initiated Houngan Asogwe along with a bunch of other people who were very new to Vodou. This is the highest level of initiation. He flew down, did his thing, and flew back. The problem was that he only knew a handful of songs and some other things that he gleamed from books. Now, much to Hector's credit, he flew back down again and again, and found people to give him the training that he knew he wanted. Other people, however, are happy with the title and just use it to validate whatever they make up.

  The same thing happens in the East. You can be born a Tulku (recognized incarnation) and be enthroned as a Lama without ever going on retreat. One famous Lama was the subject of a paternity suit that he eventually lost. Some true believers thought that he must be innocent because Tantra teaches how to hold back your semen during orgasm, and therefore he wouldn't get someone pregnant by accident. The problem with this line of thinking is that this Rinpoche probably did not ever master that technique or many others you might expect. He was a Tulku by birth and spent most of his life in the West. He can write books on pop psychology and anything else he wants, and it will be passed off as the words of a master as long as his name is attached. Often you find situations where the translator and scholar knows more than the priest or initiate who has been fortunate enough, or rich enough, to buy themselves a title and a silly hat.

  I can fall into the same trap if I'm not careful. I am a Bishop because I have been consecrated as such, but I don't throw the term around much because I have not had (nor am I desiring) the training that I would get in a mainstream seminary. I am what is called an Episcopi Vagantes, or “Wandering Bishop.” I transmit the sacraments when asked and I have Magical pursuits where this is important, but I don't try to use that title to add validity to teachings that are otherwise not related to that work. Hopefully you are reading this book because I have 30 years of experience with spells, not because I have special initiations or holy orders.

  Separate Symbol Sets from Tech

  Systems of Magic can be broken down into symbol sets and tech. Symbol sets are usually dependent on culture, time, tradition, and sometimes only available through initiation. They are the Gods, spirits, and symbols of a path. Using a symbol set outside of its culture or initiatory stream can sometimes be difficult, disrespectful, or even downright dangerous. Tech, on the other hand, works because it works, and thus can be looked at and examined from outside of any specific tradition. In this way, you can find the most effective techniques without falling into the trap of making an eclectic mess. For example, it would be fine to borrow the idea of multiplying offerings with the mind from Tibetan Buddhism and use it in Wicca. It would be quite another to grab the nearest Phurba and call it your Athame, using it in the way that an Athame is used without really learning anything about the Tibetan Phurba traditions.

  Iron being apotropaic, triangles trapping or manifesting spirits, circles as protection and microcosms, lucid arising in dreams—these things work because they work. There is tech there that is beyond anyone's claim of propriety. Focusing on these aspects of a path or tradition, you will be able to glean usable things from studying other traditions without being disrespectful.

  Context Matters

  Recent university studies of Tummo, Tibetan Yoga of Inner Heat, have confirmed that you can control core body temperature with breath and mind.1 You can even do it outside of the context of Tantric training. There are physical and mental health benefits. This is a good thing to do whether you are a Tantrika or not. It is a good thing to do whether you are a Buddhist or not. However, if you are not doing it within that context, it is no longer Tummo at that point.

  I think it is great and cool to learn how to do Tummo and gain the health benefits, but outside of Tantra, it is no longer Tummo. It is something else. When I teach it outside of Tantra, I tend to use the phrase “inner heat.” It is a useful and potent method of producing power and mystical bliss. But I avoid the term “Tummo” because that has a specific context.

  You can do as you like, no one can tell you who to pray to, but if you take something from one tradition and use it in another, expect that it will change. Context is everything.

  Approach Any Tradition from Its Own Base

  The Chakras are not the Sephira. If you try and approach the Chakras as Sephira, you will not understand them at all. You will probably mess up your understanding of Sephira, as well, in the process. Freya is not just another Venusian Archetype. She is different.

  Recently someone in one of my classes was asked if they do the Middle Pillar ritual. They replied that they do not, but that they do my Pillar and Spheres exercise from The Sorcerer's Secrets instead. Although I am honored by anyone doing my rituals, the two rituals are completely different and have almost nothing in common with one another. Yes, they both activate points on the body, but Pillars and Spheres sets up an alchemical reaction among the five elements by placing them in a certain order. The Middle pillar is an attempt to map and activate the Tree of Life onto the body and is not the same thing. Similarly, most systems of yoga that work with the seven chakras most are familiar with are different from either of these. Often I find people are way too interested in trying to mix everything together in one bland stew than to realize that differences are important and often what makes a thing truly useful.

  When you approach a different system, try as much as possible to forget what you know about other systems for at least a while. Approach it as a complete newbie so you can view it on its own terms and from its own base.

  Decide on the Level of Involvement You Want and Don't Confuse It

  An argument that people have used against practicing more than one Magical system, and even against raising children in more than one religion, is that any given path takes a lifetime to master. This is true. I could spend the rest of my life living in Nepal and studying Himalayan Magic and never learn it all. You can spend your entire life as a Kimbanda Priest and never exhaust what there is to learn and master. You can be Catholic from birth until death and never completely master the whole thing. You can spend 30 hours a week practicing Tai Chi and still never get as good as Chen Xiouwang. All this is true.

  But remember in the last key when I talked about competence, mastery, and perfection? Sometimes you don't want to master something. You just want to gain competency, and that takes a lot less time. You can spend your life studying German and learning to master the language, but for most of us, the ability to hold conversations is enough, and it doesn't take that long to learn that. Being a martial arts master is wonderful and amazing, but for most people, learning enough to maintain health, defend themselves in a fight, and maybe have some fun sparring will not be a lifetime obsession. I am a nut about meditation and would spend hours in meditation a day if I could. A guy who works at the insurance company, however, might only want to lower his stress levels, gain some control over his thoughts, and be happier, in which case, 20 minutes a day will do him a world of good.

  People who are competent in multiple areas become masters of making connections that specialists lose the ability to see. Look at the CEOs of the world. Do you think Steve Jobs was the best design person at Apple? Was he the best accountant? Was he the best technician? The best marketer? Probably not. He could, however, see connections that maybe others could not and bring these all together in ways that others could not.

  Competency is fine—great, in fact. I like it. I forget who said it, but specialization is for insects. Just don't confuse competency with mastery.

  The Take-Away

  In our comic, Harold is trying to call Jesus through a Tibetan Phurba that he has consecrated t
o Odin. I wish that this was some comic nonsense that Matt and I made up, but it's not. People have done that and worse. Don't be Harold.

  This key attempts to address two problems: The first is tendency for people to become too wildly eclectic and combine cultures and traditions in ways that are unhelpful, to put it mildly. The second is for people who veer to the other edge of orthodoxy and separation, feeling that no two cultures or traditions should ever be mixed—as if that was ever historically a reality.

  It's actually pretty simple. If you encounter a tradition you are interested in, make the effort to learn and respect it. Don't take titles that you don't have. Don't downplay influences to justify your involvement. Just because European Grimoires have played a small part in Hoodoo does not mean that Hoodoo is not African-American at its core. You can still practice it if you aren't, but you need to respect where it comes from and not pass off your own innovations as tradition. You also should realize that some things are made for initiates only, and you run a real risk when mimicking those practices without a pass, or worse, reading a single book and throwing together a ritual with powers you do not remotely understand.

  If you do that, and people still have a problem with you, take advice from Robert Downey, Jr.: “Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the fuck you were gonna do anyway.”2

  Key 14:

  Magic Is a Rhizome

  Magic is not neat and tidy. It is not linear and predictable. I have written the keys in this book in order for you to be able to use Magic skillfully to achieve both your material and spiritual goals, but that doesn't mean that things will happen in the ways you expect. Magic is a Rhizome.