oh I have another question! How do you work a spirit oath out so that your rituals are flexible in case your practice changes over time and you want to improve/add/subtract something?
This is something I cover in my Top 5 Tips Before Swearing an Oath post (Tip # 2). How you and the spirit you are swearing to agree to change the oath can vary from oath to oath, and spirit to spirit, and person to person, what's important is that you lay it out in advance and you that you stick to the methods you agreed to.
If you didn't include a change clause in your oath in advance it's not the end of the world, most spirits are amenable to adding one, they understand that we are human and need flexibility. You can just ask about changing your oath so that you can fulfill it better or more reliably, and they are usually willing to accommodate. Very rarely will a spirit be a stick in the mud about changing the oath and then you have to figure out how to persuade them. Or if you're really stuck you can enlist the help of someone like me who specializes in negotiating oaths and Otherworldly contracts. But it's so much easier to just always have a clause that allows for changes from the beginning! That's why I'm trying to educate people on smart oath construction, so there are less "divorces"!
