REVELER OF THE WHEEL

The most basic storm summoning method I use is to sit outside (or by a window) with a bowl of water (I use a brass cauldron) and a necklace or a pendulum.

Basically you suspend the pendulum over the vessel and stare into the reflection of the sky. Focus on clouds gathering within the vessel, the wind picking up, the feel of storm-carrying air, and when it starts working, the pendulum will start to rotate around the rim of the vessel, if it skims the surface of the water that's fine, but don't break your concentration, let it continue for as long as you need to to see signs of success. If you can make a wine glass sing by running your finger along the rim, this can also be used as a storm calling method. One of the greatest flash floods we ever had in my old house was called by me using a giant party bowl style beta fish bowl for this, with ash of willows, incense, and three rusty nails in the water, which had been gathered from a thunderstorm previous.

The point is to will the storm to be stirred. This method can be modified with use of a map of the area that you'd like to storm. If you have familiar spirits, they will likely understand what these actions mean and assist if given the opportunity. Either omit the vessel and suspend the pendulum over the area on the map or sit the vessel atop the map at the location.

Another good method is to take a plate, place in the center of it a flat stone with an X drawn in the center, a rag, and a vessel of water, and wet the rag (or a sieve) and sprinkle it over the stone, (or your doorstep) again focusing on willing the storm to gather. You can call up the spirits of the air, and water, wind a circle first, whatever you like. You can modify this one as well by replacing the stone with a hand drawn map of the area with the X where the storm should gather.

Another method that could be modified to work with a map is to take a stick, on the ground draw a witches foot, jab the stick in the ground on the center, so that it stays upright. and chant "spirits of air, I call this way, give your ear and hear me, this mark, a vexation to thee, I lay, till with lightning and thunder tis washed away." this method works well, but it's basically like running up to the spirits and going "hey! Check this out! Betcha won't do SHIT! PUSSY!" and as such works by the mechanism of offense. It might take a few iterations of the chant before the atmosphere changes, but generally I do these actions until I can feel the air change or start hearing thunder or the rain starts.

Other methods include burning willow leaves, sage, henbane, or broomstraw outside, throwing sand into the air, or over your left shoulder, or sprinkling it over the area on the map. Again, if you have familiar spirits, or even if not, it's not a bad idea to begin with an address to the spirits that you do these actions to call for rain, and in your case, to send the idiot people back inside.

1. Ask open-ended questions!

Avoid starting with “should”, “will”, and “when”. Instead, ask “how”, “why”, and “what”. 

Yes or no questions are considered close ended questions and won’t lead to deeper insight. 

2. Get to the heart of the question!

“What’s my soulmate like?” is a close ended question. Instead, ask questions like “What signs might I see when my soulmate appears?” or “What might I do to attract the right partner for me?” 

3. Ask follow-up questions!

For example. Some good follow-up questions to “How can I live in alignment with my soul’s purpose?” might be:

What is coming into my conscious awareness about my soul’s purpose? 

How can I discover my soul’s purpose? 

What is my soul’s purpose? 

How am I presently living in alignment with my soul’s purpose? 

What inner work do I need to do to be in alignment with my soul’s purpose? 

What resources are available to me that will help me to live in alignment with my soul’s purpose? 

What will bring me closer to my soul’s purpose? 

What may stand in the way of me fulfilling my soul’s purpose and how can I overcome this?

4. Consider this!

Am I asking the right question of the Tarot? Is it open-ended and does it allow for deep exploration and insight? Does it get to the heart of the matter? And are there follow-up questions I could ask? 

5. More question ideas!

Clarifying the circumstances

What do you have no control over?

What is hidden?

Who is involved?

What do I need to know?

How is your environment?

Where can I find help?

Where are opportunities?

How am I approaching the problem?

How do others perceive me?

Where in the journey am I?

Targeting the underlying problem

What is blocking me?

What are the obstacles?

What is my true wish?

What is my ultimate goal?

What would make me happy?

What do I need to develop?

What can I change?

What are my strengths?

What are my weaknesses?

What is my biggest challenge?

Finding the solution

What advice do I need?

What can help me overcome?

What can I do?

Where is this leading to?

How can I use opportunities?

Where should I focus?

What do I need to let go of?

What do I need to learn?

✨🔮✨

The Major Arcana are often my students’ favorite part of Tarot Cards – and that’s fair. They’re usually the most highly illustrated cards in a deck and since they have no parallel in playing cards, they often seem more mystical.

But my incredibly unpopular opinion is that they are not terribly useful.

When a person asks for a reading, they generally want to know some version of what’s going on now and how things will end up. The function of the Major Arcana doesn’t align very well in answering those questions as they often speak to self-development on a very high level.

Not every person who comes to you asking about their love life will be wrestling with all the lessons inherent in the Tower card. They’re more often than not going to hear that a new relationship is developing nicely, that a break up is imminent, or that their baggage is causing problems.

So how do the Major Arcana fit into a reading then?

The Major Arcana as a Journey

There are two key ways I use Major Arcana in a reading.

The first is as an insight to where in the “cycle of enlightenment” a person is/was/will be.

The Major Arcana can be read as the Fool’s journey to enlightenment or self-actualization. The first 10 cards represent the Fool’s development materially – learning skills, gaining power, and losing it all. The second 10 follow their journey for deeper meaning and satisfaction with life – the actual nature of justice, identity, and the universe. The Fool and The World are two sides of the same coin. Only someone who’s seen the true nature of the World can know what a Fool they are. And the cycle repeats.

Learning the Major Arcana in this context can help you better remember them narratively.

Practice: Place your cards out like the diagram. Read each of the meanings of the “material” Major Arcana cards, imagine the Fool becoming each of the figures in the cards, and write a summary of the events. Then do the same with the “spiritual” Major Arcana Cards.

  The Major Arcana as a Series of Teachers

The other way I work with the Major Arcana is through understanding them as a series of teachers and gifts. This works well when they show up outside of an action or time oriented slot in a reading.

This is probably closer to how most people I’ve seen read them and I definitely still use it.

Practice: Meditate on the lessons of each Major Arcana card. Summarize how you would teach that lesson to another person and write it down.

  The Major Arcana as Dualities

This one has limited usefulness but I still find it comes in handy when I need to better explain why a card has shown up in the reading to a querent. Sometime this is best done by beginning to “read vertically” – something I’ll cover in a future post – with the Major Arcana.

Say the Empress shows up in a reading in the past slot. Knowing that she is 3 in the material sequence and 3 in the spiritual sequence is Death, I can begin to explain that the reason this card has shown up here is because of the cycle of death and rebirth and the querent in the past was at the beginning of that cycle either as a steward for someone else or their own (re)birth. It adds a bit of depth and perspective.

I use this more for some pairings than others. Sometimes this doesn’t work perfectly but it can be a useful lens to look at them through.

Practice: Take each pair starting with 1 and 11. Read their meanings and see if you can sense their dual nature. If you do and it seems useful, jot down some notes about how the two relate to each other.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, let me know!

*I never claim my way is the one true way. Take what is useful and leave the rest.

Because Solomonic magick is a complete, standalone tradition it’s a bit difficult to sum up all the techniques used succinctly but Skinner has an excellent explanation of what exactly constitutes Solomonic magick:

Solomonic magic is that form of learned ritual magic which concerns itself with invoking/evoking a wide range of ‘spiritual creatures,’ including the gods, daimones, angels, demons, spirits and sometimes the dead. The hallmarks of Solomonic magic are:1. It is learned magic, relying upon written material for its transmission. 2. The magician will always be enclosed in a magic circle when evoking or invoking. 3. Procedures will involve a number of magical implements which have been consecrated prior to the main operation. 4. The nomina magica used to compel the spirits will often be of Jewish origin, but not exclusively so. 5. The format of the invoctions has a structure and specific sequential method often expressed as: consecratio dei; invocatio; evocatio; constrictio; ligatio; licentia.6. Manuscripts of Solomonic magic are systematic treatise and not just a collection of unconnected magical recipes, although sometimes such recipes will have accreted at the end of the text.7. The putative author is often (but not always) listed as King Solomon, and mention may be made of his son Rehoboam, although these techniques were almost certainly not invented by the historical King Solomon. They may not even necessarily be of Jewish origin. Despite many of the god and angel names being of Jewish origin, the method appears not to be. 8. Some Solomonic manuscripts include a second “book” with a range of up to 49 planetary pentacles, whose origin will be considered later in chapter 5.4.2"

–Techniques of Solomonic Magic, Dr. Stephen Skinner

I am by no means a traditionalist but I do try to work the books as closely as seems reasonable. I’m not going to make a lionskin belt or wait until the precise day of the year to perform an evocation but I do draw out 9′ circles, make the critical tools, and read the rituals as written. 

My procedure for Solomonic evocation usually looks something like this:

A few days/weeks before my ritual I start making any tools I need. This is usually the trickiest part because unless you’re rolling in cash, you’re gonna have to make the tools yourself. Also there are a lot of tools. Like, a ridiculous number but imo some are much less important than others. If you’re going to make one tool, make the black handled knife as that’s your primary line of defense if shit hits the fan. The astrological elections and some of the consecration items (weird animal bloods in particular) aren’t super feasible so I instead build my tools in the correct planetary day and hour and substitute some of the consecration materials while insuring I keep the correct planetary associations and intended effect.

The day of the ritual I draw my magick circle and make the lamens and seals. The lamens and seals are supposed to be engraved in various metals but I just use paper and sharpies in the correct planetary colors. 

Shower very thoroughly while reciting Psalm 51:7. Demons are less picky about this but angels can be real assholes about ~human scent~. I don’t have ritual robes so I just wear whatever’s clean and weather-appropriate as I do my evocations outside. If I’m using flying ointment during the evocation I put it on right after I get out of the shower to maximize absorption.

Record my set up and plan for the evocation in my magickal journal.

Light all the candles and incense, perform the exorcisms of my tools, and step inside the circle after banishing thoroughly.

Read the evocation. In my experience demons respond quickly and very dramatically. I’ve never had to read the curses and it’s always quite obvious that they’ve shown up. Angels are more subtle though and it can be difficult for me to tell whether or not they’ve appeared in a lot of cases.

Regardless of what happens in step 6, proceed as planned. I make my requests and attempt to strike a deal if working with a demon. Depending on the situation this is either done through normal speech or via divination. If we come to an agreement, I write down the conditions to make sure I keep up my end. 

Read the license to depart. UNDER ABSOLUTELY NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THIS STEP BE SKIPPED.

Banish again. If it’s apparent that the entity does not want to leave, I pull out my black handled knife, perform the Headless Rite, and banish with the knife. 

Clean up and record the experience in my journal as thoroughly as possible.

I’m usually really hungry after an evocation so I eat something filling, watch a funny show to relax, and then go to sleep. I usually have very strange dreams after evocations or (more often these days) astral travel in my sleep.

I realize this is a pretty generalize outline but the specifics vary heavily depending on what spirit and grimoire is being utilized. The long and short of Solomonic magick is that if you want to do it effectively, you need to hit the books. Read the grimoires as thoroughly as possible then do what they say to the best of your ability. There are a lot of Solomonic-lite, “spirit friendly” methods out there however in my experience, traditional methods of evocation are vastly more effective and produce effects that cannot be replicated by other methods. A lot of people who do more demon friendly evocations will insist that you will only see/hear them in your minds eye/astrally and that summoning to physical appearance is impossible. This is patently untrue. With careful study and practice, it is absolutely possible to evoke to physical appearance and for them to “Speak” audibly enough for people and animals in different rooms to hear them. It’s fucking hard though so don’t get bummed out if it doesn’t happen during your first evocations, it takes a lot of practice so stick with it and always aim to do better than your last attempt.  

The Solar Cross is a solar symbol made up of a circle with an equal armed cross in the middle. It is one of the oldest spiritual symbols in existence, dating back to the Bronze Age (some sources say Stone Age, limited information available). There have been carvings of this ancient symbol found in Bronze Age burial urns from circa 1400 BC.

The solar cross represents a variety of things including:

the sun

the earth

the four seasons

the four elements

The most common representation being the sun. Symbolising the movement of the sun and its light, the solar cross was very important to prehistoric humans, both for its life-giving energy and its predictable cycle of days and seasons; particularly during the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods of European prehistory.

As a symbol of protection, the solar cross invokes the power of the sun god or all-father, as well as the guardians of four directions. It is a symbol of eternity that embodies themes of birth, death, and rebirth. If you meditate on the intersection of the cross, it serves as a very powerful centering exercise. 

Because of this symbol’s association with the sun, it is typically connected to the fire element.

How it can be used:

rituals honouring the sun, heat, or energy of the flame

in purifying spells/rituals (fire purifies)

casting away the old

rebirthing the new

celebrations of the solstices

banishing negativity

casting out shadows

Sources:

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/magickal-symbols-of-protection-1

https://theancientsymbol.com/collections/solar-cross

https://pandagossips.com/posts/2174

https://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2018/05/witchcraft-symbols-and-meanings/

The Fall from Grace

You will need:

A metal dish (gold is best, must be metal)

A pomegranate

A shovel, and a crossroads at which to bury

A taglock

A stolen Eucharist (optional)

Choose a time well-suited for maleficium - I opted for day and hour of Saturn.

Place the taglock in the dish, and crush the pomegranate over it, a heart spilling out its blood. As you squeeze, recite Psalm 109. Pour your vindictive thoughts into each word, each motion.

Let the items soak in the dish until midnight, then take them to a crossroads. Bury the taglock with the pulp and juice, placing the blessed Eucharist atop the mixture before piling the dirt back on.

A few people have messaged me asking for my master list of working pdfs. This is what I have and its not super organized but it is in alphabetic order for what its worth. Anyways, they’re all free so please please please save them, download them, print them and most importantly READ THEM if you come across any that strike your fancy. Also, I’m not saying that every single one of these books are completely amazing, but either way, they’re here for you to make your own value judgements on.

A little while ago, I realized that there is NO info on what bones to use for what. I was clueless and had no idea where to begin. Research was fruitless and asking others came with no results.

So I sat down during preap algebra 2 and made my own list.

These are my own correspondences, based off of what I felt like and remembering bits of spells I’d thought about. They are 100% my own, taken from no one.

Please give me credit if you use it anywhere else :)

I also know I haven’t included every bone out there, if I missed one msg me, I’ll give it some thought and see what happens! :D

▪Teeth- communication, learning other language, news, defense

▪Skull- thoughts, divination, communication, spirit work, astral

▪Spine- support, confidence, level headed

▪Arm- help, blocking (curses, hexes, psychic attacks, etc)

▪Wrist- flexibility, hard work

▪Hand- art, artistic ability, creativity, energy

▪Fingers- fluidity, progress, endurance

▪Nails/ claws- fighting, protection, finding things out, knowledge, struggle, balance

▪Rib- agility, protection

▪Hip- ebdurance, keeping it together

▪leg- endurance, travel, strength

▪Ankle- movement, moving on, catalyst

▪Foot- endurance, moving on, leaving things behind, hard work, independence, luck

▪Toe- balance, help, prosperity, money, changing luck (for the better or worse)

▪Tail- (like actual bones in the animals tail, not the tailbone) agility, secrecy, alarm, cursing

(Edited to include:)

▪Antlers- strength, endurance, masculine energy, Cernunnos, protection, more centered toward nature and earth, deflecting curses, and hope.

▪Horns- wealth, the home, determination, aggressive protection, more centered toward that which is man made, and cursing

1 - Nervous about a situation? Shuffle and look for The Fool. The two cards on either side will advise you on how to approach it.

2 - Are you looking for a new romance? Shuffle and look for The Lovers and the Ace of Cups. The cards in between will help guide you to finding love.

3 - Looking for a new beginning? Are you ready to start a new venture? Shuffle and find The Magician. The cards on either side will guide you in the right direction.

4 - Doing some soul searching? Find The Hermit. The cards around him will shed some light on your introspection.

5 - Going through some major life changes? Shuffle and find The World. The cards around it will give you the advice you need for this new chapter. 

per author Jason Miller

1. Better to be wrong than vague. Everyone is afraid of being wrong when they divine, and so often people couch their divination in such vague terms that no matter what happens, they can look back and claim that they were right. Don't do this. Vague information isn't actionable or helpful. It's better to be detailed and be wrong. Lots of professionals can be wrong—just look at the success rate of mutual fund managers and lawyers.

2. Be brutal. No one likes delivering unpleasant news, but in the end, its better to deliver unpleasant tidings than it is to pretend like everything is fine. Yes, the death card can mean great change, but if the question was about someone's health, that great change is possibly exactly what it looks like.

3. Be literal. Divination is sometimes very literal. It is often as literal as it can possibly be. I once drew the Pope card for someone who, unbeknownst to me, was scheduled to have an audience with the Pope in a month. Another time I drew the Lovers card, which shows a man choosing between two women. This querent had literally been in a three way that week.

4. Remember the question. I meet readers all the time who forget to interpret the cards or the runes or whatever it is that they read with, in the light of the question that was asked. They read like they are just giving a general reading. The question is what will determine the meaning of the card, far more than the little white book your deck came with. One of the reasons that I favor Marseilles-style decks is that the cards are plainer and it's easier to focus on the person in front of me and their problem, rather than the esoteric onslaught of runes and symbols and letters and sigils that have been packed into Occult decks, or whatever fun theme your deck is based on. Hello Kitty Tarots are fun, but is that helping your divination?

5. Get readings from others. As I have said, no one likes delivering unpleasant news. We especially don't like delivering it to ourselves. Get readings from other people, preferably ones who are not invested in you hearing only good things.

6. Gather intelligence. A single reading is a piece of data. You take that and compare it to other pieces of data. This could be other readings in different styles, but it could also be rumors, insight, analysis, and any other way that you can think of to get information. Actionable intelligence is constructed from multiple corroborating data points.

7. Practice. Keep doing it. Follow up with people afterward. It is the only way to get good.