Hi Lailoken. I admire your work and your blog. I wanted to ask a question, do you have any advice on what to do when getting a new deck or pendulum before starting to use it? Let's say I am having difficulties on finding methods/advice that isn't new age-y or that relies too much (or only) on intention. Thank you in advance, have a nice day ! ☀️
Hello there, and thank you for your kind words. I apologize it’s taken as long as it has to respond to this; I’ve got a collection messages that I need to reply to. I’ve just been even busier than usual, as of late.
Techniques for, and beliefs concerning, consecrating tools are going to vary from person to person, obviously, but I will gladly speak from my own experience.
One widespread way that many people go about consecrating an implement is through Smoke Fumigation. (Please note, however, that when I talk about fumigating with smoke in this context, I am not talking about Smudging. While Smudging is technically a form of Smoke Fumigation, it is a closed practice to anyone not hailing from the indigenous American cultures which hold it sacred.) When I bring up fumigation in this context, I’m talking about suffusing the virtues of an implement with the virtues present in the smoke of herbs, resins, and spices that are significant to the specific practitioner and purpose at hand. For instance, if you were suffumigating an implement meant for protection, the use of an herb like St. John's Wort would be appropriate.
Another way to go about enlivening the spirament of an implement, while simultaneously helping to form a bond between you, is through the offering of Blood. By giving of your essence in this way, you demonstrate venerative sacrifice, create a physical link between you and the implement, and imbue it with a modicum of the magic that burns within you. When it comes to implements of divination, this consecratory act is particularly suited to tools like stones, bones, mirrors, and runes (The Blooding of the Runes is an occult topic all its own, and serves as a great example of the intimate power derived from blood offerings, but I’m not going to try and get into it here.) However, when it comes to divinatory implements of a more delicate nature, such as a deck of cards, many people prefer not to risk damaging the card stock by exposing it to blood.
A related, though distinct, technique for consecrating a tool can be found in the act of Ritual Anointing. While blood can be used to anoint something, it is far from the only thing used for that purpose; bodily fluids are also used in certain circumstances as well and, perhaps most frequently utilized of all, are the anointive media of Sanctified Water and/or Oil.
Yet another, frequently employed, method for the consecrating of a tool is the act of Prayer. To some, it may seem simplistic, or even lazy, but prayer has been utilized to consecrate for many centuries, and continues to be used for that purpose today across the globe. There are plenty of people who think of praying as simply thinking to yourself, but any skilled practitioner knows that prayer can carry ‘weight’ and momentum in its own right—and all the more so in the hands of a spiritual adept. As such, I believe that earnest, impassioned, and deliberate prayer can certainly aid in consecrating an item.
There are, of course, enough other methods used for consecration that I could hardly cover them here. But many of the extant variants will include at least one of these components, which makes them worth highlighting to me. In short, some mixture of fumigation, sacrifice, anointing, and/or prayer is probably your best bet when it comes to a straightforward outline of the rite in question.
