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I see very few blogs out here teaching the basic principles of magic, so I wanted to provide a guide to what I’ve found are the important principles. (with gifs!) I divided things that I think will be helpful when creating or altering spells and things that are helpful when figuring out if a spell will succeed or why it failed.

SPELL CREATING PRINCIPLES

Law of Similarity

These first two principles are from James Frazer’s The Golden Bough and are fundamental to all of magic. Frazer describes this law as “like produces like.” This law says that manipulation of an image or likeness yields manipulation of the thing itself. Here’s some examples of the Law of Similarity in Graeco-Egyptian magic:

Stabbing a human figure with nails to cause pain to the person

Drawing the caster holding their love interest on a leash in a “love leash” spell

Writing a spell in a circle around someone’s name to encircle them and restrain them

Putting a love spell that aims to have the target “burn with love” into a lit oil lamp

Walking on a written spell to have the target “underfoot” and under your control

Similarity isn’t restricted by literal similarity, it extends to metaphorical similarity as well. Idioms and puns were widely used in Egyptian myth and magic

Law of Contagion

Frazer puts this one quite well: things which have once been in contact with each other continue to act on each other. I will extend this law to say that magical energy can be transferred or shared between objects by contact and that transferal is strongest if they are in contact or very close. Examples in Graeco-Egyptian magic include:

Using the hair of the target of a love spell in an oil lamp

Writing a spell to Seth on a donkey hide (an animal of Seth)

Burying a separation spell at the home of the couple to affect them

Hair is super useful (and sometimes required) for any spell targeted at someone. I know people who keep or trade hair as collateral.

MAGIC TIP: If you need to perform substitutions in a spell, use the Law of Similarity and Law of Contagion for selecting the substitution (ex: use red wine mixed with an animal’s hair instead of blood from that animal)

Law of Durability

This law basically is covered by the Law of Similarity, but, because it’s so important for picking items, I’m including it separately. Magic done with more durable items will yield a longer lasting effect. For example, a spoken spell will be weaker than a spell written on paper. A written spell will be weaker than a spell carved into stone. This law applies to enchanting as well: more durable items will stay enchanted for long.

Law of Layering

The law of layering must be applied carefully because it is about complementary layers, not throwing as many things at a wall as possible. 

The principle is the more layers that are used in magic, the stronger the magic will be. More layers build more power. Some ways to add layers are:

Have a pre-spell ritual, like bathing and meditating

Cast spells in a designated space for casting with items designated for magic

Make motions that mirror the words you’re saying

Add objects to a spell via the Law of Similarity, the Law of Contagion, or objects along your correspondence

Perform a spell in a group instead of solo

Reinforce a spell by doing it for multiple days in a row or once every week, month, etc.

These are examples to give you an idea of what I mean by “layers”. All of these actions work to build or reinforce the energy of a spell.

SPELL SUCCESS PRINCIPLES

Law of Likeliness

My mentor compares magic to stacking a deck: you’re manipulating chance to get circumstances in your favor. This means two things. The first is magic cannot make the impossible happen. Magic will not cause things to levitate, or conjure fire from nowhere, or anything else that is not possible in our universe. The second is if an outcome is less likely, stronger magic will be required to achieve it. Some decks are easier to stack. Take a money-drawing spell used on someone who makes commission versus a salary worker. The same spell will be far more effective for the salesperson, whose income is highly dependent on chance, than the salary worker.

Law of Agency

No magic short of possession can rob a human of their free will. For example, if you do a love spell on someone whose sexuality doesn’t align with yours, it will have no effect. If a person is resistant to a certain energy in their day-to-day life, they will similarly be resistant to that energy when sent via magic.

The Magus

The Book of Ceremonial Magic

Sixth Book of Moses

Seventh Book of Moses

The Key of Solomon The King

The Lesser Key of Solomon

Abratel of Magick

Grimoire of Armadel

Grimoire of Honorius

Grimoirium Imperium

Grimoirum Verum

Heptameron

Libellus Magicus

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God

Definitely the Ars Goetia, it’s by far the safest. Find a demon who’s noted as being truthful and faithful to the magician as they’ll probably give you the least trouble and go from there. Some advice:

Make the black handled knife as the grimoire instructs. This is absolutely not optional. If something goes wrong and you don’t have it, you’re fucked. I personally found ferric chloride to be a good way to get the symbols on the blade but most engrave them. There are a lot of articles floating around regarding how to address the blood issue so do your research and disregard anything that says to use your own blood. If you have a friend who’s a vet tech even better.

The lamens are not optional but paper does work. Most goets these days use nice “virgin” (ie new and unmarked) paper

Don’t be a dipshit and try to replace all the names of God and angel names with different ones. These are Abrahamic spirits so use Abrahamic names.

If the demon doesn’t deliver what you agreed to, fuck ‘em up.

NEVER EVER pay beforehand or provide offerings unless the spirit is specifically noted as requiring one (ie Paimon).

The Greater Key has a ton of information regarding the prep work. Use it, especially regarding pre-evocation purification rituals.

Here’s how to make a perfect circle

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE GRIMOIRE

Years ago, came across a post on a website which had questions related to how knowledgeable one was to their local region. (The list was called “Bioregional Quiz: Re-Indigenize Yourself Project“ for anyone interested.) The website is long gone now, but I kept the questions to help remind me of things I wanted to learn more and more about over time.

Decided to share them as they might be of interest to or useful to some folks.

(Note: some questions I’ve added to the list over the years and the questions are not in the original order they were found in.)

What primary geological events and processes influenced the landforms of your bioregion?

What biotic and/or geological features define your bioregion?

Where does your drinking water come from?

What is the dimension of your watershed? 

What creek or river defines your watershed?

What and where is the largest wilderness area(s) in your bioregion?

 Have there been any successful land or water restoration projects where you live?

What are your soil conditions?

What kind of rocks and minerals are in the land below you?

What are the greatest threats to your bioregion’s ecosystem?

Where does your trash end up?

Where does your sewage end up?

What is the power source for your electricity?

What animal and/or plant species have become extinct in the area?

What animal and/or plant species have become endangered in the area?

Name a local environmentalist group.

Name some local invasive species (plant and/or animal . (Humans do not count!)

Name some plants and animals that live in and near your home? (Example: Insects, birds small mammals, etc.)

Name some local  plants and animals that live just outside urban centers?

Name five species of trees in your area that you can identify.

Name five migratory birds that pass your area and when they arrive and leave.

Name five local edible plants and when to forage them.

Is your area home to any native herbs?

Name of the first wildflowers that blooms in spring where you live.

How well can you predict the weather based on cloud formation and pressure? 

What direction do storms generally come in?

At the peak of summer and height of winter, when and where does the sun set?

Can you roughly keep track of the Moon’s phase without having to look it up?

What places in your area are the best for stargazing?

Over time, what groups of people have lived the area?

What were/are the subsistence practices for the area’s indigenous persons?

In the past century, what was the primary land use in your bioregion?

When and where is your closest farmer’s market?

How many human people live next door to you?

What are their names?

One must first attain a piece of stone retrieved from the rocks at a crossroads between the edge of a shore and a railroad track. Then, to fumigate it with an incense or powder containing lupine, poppies, dandelion root, mullein, and larkspur. Bury it the day before Good Thursday beneath the threshold of your home. It will be unearthed at sundown on Easter Sunday. 

The next day, one must first attend the evening services of a church on Good Thursday, and bring with them, a beeswax candle to be lit as it goes on, by which, it will be blessed by these services. 

In order to begin communion with this spirit, place it’s bones, particularly the rib, about a candle or censer when the sun has set, with oil, candle, or incense of the seer or that which brings messages in dreams. Give it offerings and sustenance, but above this, give it speech and word. Commune with it in your waking life, and it shall return the message in your dreams. These dreams should be used to divine your relationship with it, and to know if to go through. This will be done for three nights, beginning on Good Thursday and ending on Black Saturday. If there is an altar to the dead, place it here. 

On the night of Easter Sunday, throw this rib onto a mound of sawdust and wood shavings. Tie a grey or black thread to one of its ends. Lay this thread to one side of the bone, keeping it upon the scattered wood. Then, light the blessed candle and drip wax over the thread, covering it in beeswax and sawdust. It is good to add in one’s own hair, nails, and so on, as you do this. Wrap the thread around the bone to it’s end, then go back once, and then back again another time, wrapping it around thrice, and binding this all in blessed wax.

Take the consecrated stone and bring it down to the earth before you as you face the north. Turn around counter-clockwise with it in hand to form a circle, and after doing so, stomp on the ground with your left foot thrice. Recite the following: 

Oh, great deceiving god Who’s form is the black dog And the roaming coyote That takes many forms And so, the first of beasts, may you spawn another Bestow upon this bone that flame you stole from heaven And invigorate the breath I give to it With that false current of life, some unholy light That as you give to me, you may give to my work

Prick the left side of your cheek with a razor so that it bleeds. Take three drops of blood and place them on the wrapped bone; one on the each end and in the middle. With vigor, recite the following:

This is now spirit of my own spirit For it is gifted the blood of my own blood And I shall name it “____” For it is born by my breath and word

Get down on your knees and breathe three deep breaths onto the bone. Upon doing so, your familiar has awakened, transformed, and become an extension of yourself. It shall feed on you and rely on you for sustenance. Feed it like a child or pup, but is much more than that. Put this creation into a special box of its own to keep, now. If a certain box was used during communion, use this one. The name you’ve given it is it’s secret name, with which whoever knows may have power over it. 

Cernunnos is the Celtic god of life, fertility, wealth, animals, and the underworld.

“At the Sacred Centre, in the Grove of all Worlds, He sits with legs crossed beneath an ancient Oak. Entranced, connecting the three worlds Earth, Sea, and Sky, and the worlds behind the worlds, the god and the Great Tree are One, His immense limbs widespread, stretching into distant sky and starry space.”

Cernunnos is considered to be one of the oldest gods in Celtic origins. It is believed that he was around even when dinosaurs were around. When humans came around Cernunnos became even more relevant as he began to be painted and carved into caves abroad.

Cernunnos is the son of Anu. Cernunnos was brought to complete the circle of life.

Appearance:

Cernunnos is depicted as being half human while wearing an antler crown. Cernunnos is the leader of hunt and harvest rules. Not only does Cernunnos have a deep connection with animals; Cernunnos is considered to be ‘The Guardian of The Green World’ and is one with the trees. His branching antlers symbolize the tops of trees spreading wide. Wisdom of Cernunnos consists of “the old must pass away to make way for the new”. Along with this Cernunnos is also a god of The Underworld, he comforts and sings to the dead souls to their rest. Cernunnos also pursues the souls of evil beings. Another form of Cernunnos is known as Pan. Pan is a proud celebration and has quite the sexual energy. Pan is not associated with human interest or violence, rather the life and death of The Natural World. If this domain is threatened, you are subject to fear or panic being induced upon you.

Interesting fact about Cernunnos is that he was mentioned by William Shakespeare himself as Herne the Hunter, the demon and guardian of Windsor Forest, the Royal Wood.

Chant of Cernunnos:

Cern-nu-noh-oh-oh-oh-os

Stag Horned Hunter, Hunted One

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Cer-nu-noh-oh-oh-oh-os

Greenwood Lord of Life and Death

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Cern-nu-noh-oh-oh-oh-os

Herne and Pan and Every Man

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Updated Offerings (likes)

Updated Offerings (dislikes)

I decided to create a 30 Day Luciferian Challenge…to get me to write about Luciferianism some more.

I have designed this in mind to the best of my ability that if your Lucifer is not the Fallen Angel that you can still answer these questions. I even have a few alternatives at the bottom if one is more difficult to answer (or you don’t want to answer a certain one) if your Luciferian figure is not xtian/abrahamic related.

🚨long post🚨

🔮Hi everyone! This is a detailed resource on podcasts about witchcraft, spirituality, wellness, creativity, entrepreneurship, queer life, and everything in-between. I hope these become inspirational tools to give you something new for your practice or for your life. I have taken the time to listen to some episodes of the podcasts and I hope the info given is useful! I love listening to podcasts while I drive or while I write, and some of the episodes I recommended have been ones that made an impact on the way I think about my craft.

👉Most of these podcasts can be found on iTouches, Stitcher, Patreon, YouTube, or on their own websites.👈

*some of these paragraphs are paraphrases of the “about” page on the podcast*

(Also note that some of the recommended episodes cover similar topics across the board: I did that so people who are familiar with the concepts can see that they are offered many times with different perspectives, if that makes sense?).

Happy Listening!!💜🖤

~⭐️Nova Rhea

•🔮WitchWave- with Pam Grossman, who is a writer, curator, and teacher of magic and its history. She is the author of What Is A Witch and her writings have been featured in Sabat, Huffington Post, MSN, and Abraxas Journal. Her art shows have been featured in The New York Times and Art in America. She also launched a WitchEmoji sticker pack for iMessage. She currently lives in Brooklyn. Each episode is an interview with someone who is a leading visionary in art, culture, or the occult and they discuss witchcraft. Recommended episodes: Judika Illes (author of 5,000 Spells and other essential witchcraft books), Jessyka Winston (of Haus of Hoodoo), and Gabriela Herstik (author of Craft: How to Be a Modern Witch).

•🔮Hippie Witch- with Joanna Devoe, who is a writer, an artist, and a front-woman of the band Obedient Waves. She’s a very peppy, high-energy host with episodes that talk about Harry Potter philosophy in witchcraft, Stephen King book club, and discusses modern-day topics in a fun, newsie way. Recommended episodes: Rethinking Toxic Terms + Black Panther Magick, The Life of a Psycho-Spiritual Witch, and Spiritual Rewiliding.

•🔮Serpent Cast- a weekly podcast about sex and spirituality by VICE/Broadly astrologer Annabel Gat and GQ/Allure sex writer Sophie Saint Thomas. Featuring expert interviews, magical product reviews, esoteric books, and musings on aliens, herbs, feminism, queerness, and the occult. Recommended episodes: The Fitness Witch, Ammo O’Day, Bri Luna, Hoodwitch, Chelsea Selby, Witch Baby Soap, and Khi Armand: Shaman, Root Doctor, and Houngan.

•🔮Living Open- is a podcast for mystics and seekers hosted by Tarot reader, Reiki practitioner, and yoga teacher Eryn Johnson. Explore these topics along with crystals, meditation, travel, entrepreneurship, activism, and more. Recommended episodes: Folk Tarot Reader and Witch Tess Giberson on Magic as Your Birthright, Crystal Resonance Therapists Christel Alberez and Nerissa Alberts on Intuitive Crystal Healing, 11-Minute Chakra Opening Meditation, and Yoga Teacher Kassandra Reignhardet on Lunar Yoga and Yin Yoga as Shadow Work.

•🔮Self Service- with Jerico Mandybur, who is an LA-based writer and editor of Girlboss Radio. This is your cosmic comfort zone, an “inner-beauty school” where self-care is celebrated, where getting real with emotions is a treat, and an interest in thoughtful, funny conversations, weird wellness and astrology is unabashed. Episodes have astrology reports with Jessica Lanyadoo. Recommended episodes: How to Be a Spiritual Activist, Crystals 101 and What to Do with Crushes in Astrology, What About Women of Color in Wellness?, A Sober-Curious Guide to Sobriety with Ruby Warrington.

•🔮The Fat Feminist Witch- Paige, the self-acclaimed fat, feminist witch. It’s a podcast with ranting, raving, and wand-waving! Paige examines witchcraft and paganism from a modern perspective featuring topics such as author interviews, magical ethics, social justice, law, and witchcraft from around the world. Recommended episodes: Chakras Plain & Simple, #WitchNBitch-Witch, Ya Basic!, Glamour Magic with Deborah Castellano.

•🔮Your Own Magic- hosted by Allie Michelle & Raquelle Mantra. This podcast connects you with inspiring artists, wellness experts, humanitarians, spiritual leaders, entrepreneurs, and other influential visionaries who are living magic and making an impact. Recommended episodes: Energy Muse: the Crystal Episode, Koi Fresco, Enlightenment, Soulmates, and Astral Projection, Jill Wintersteen: Astrology, Dreamcatchers, and Strengthening Intuition, Shaman Durek: The Spirit Hacker, Sahara Rose: Doshas, Dharma, Kriya, and Karma.

•🔮WitchCraftsy- with Amy Lynn. This podcast is a place for any Dreamweaver looking for healing, inspiration, and conversation about all things occult and taboo. Topics include healing heartbreak, spirit guides, astral planes, sex magick, death, community, and breaking patriarchy. Recommended episodes: Craft of Conjure: How do you Hoo Doo? With Loretta “Loo” Ledesma, Spiritual Factors of Illness & Health with Herbalist Raven Rose, Queer Hip-Hop with Kitty Crimes, Witchy Spiritual Lessons- Where the People Are.

•🔮Sovereign Society- hosted by Sabrina Riccio, a medicine priestess, soulistic alchemist, and speaker from Joshua Tree ,California. This is a detailed, extensive podcast on topics such as kundalini yoga, astrology, psychedelics, shamanic breathwork, Reiki, sound medicine, chakra system, spiritual leadership, business design, metaphysics, self-love, and conscious health living. Recommended episodes: Upleveling to Your Authentic Radness with Luke Storey, Connecting With Loved Ones on the Other Side and Radiating Your Holiness with Arielle Ford, Spiritual Bypassing + Upleveling with Kundalini Yoga with Krisa Reierson, Aligning and Activating Your Sacred Business with Brianna Rose.

•🔮Priestess Podcast- with Julie Parker, founder of The Beautiful You Coaching Academy where she trains people to become life coaches, and is the Editor-in-Chief of COACH magazine. She is a published author and speaker. She is a priestess that focuses on Celtic, Balkan, Iberian, and Greek lineage. This podcast has interviews and intimate conversations about the divine feminine, goddess culture, women’s spirituality, and spiritual business. Recommended Episodes: Mariah McCarthy on the Divine Feminine & Being Non-Binary, Gala Darling on the Modern Witch, Jessica Reid on Clairvoyancy and Channeling, Sarah Magdalena Love on Queer Magic, and Hibiscus Moon on Crystal Power.

•🔮Almost 30- with Krista Williams, creator of The Hundred Blog and has been featured in Women’s Health, Self Magazine, and Refinery 29; and Lindsey Simsick, actress, singer, model, and SoulCycle instructor. This podcast focuses on wellness, entrepreneurship, spirituality & self-development. Recommended podcasts: How to Expand Your Consciousness + Align Your Chakras with Reiki Healer Milana Snow, Modern Mystic + Sexuality Goddess Alexandra Roxo, Relationship Coach + Teacher John Wineland Parts 1 & 2, and Jill Willard on Becoming Intuitive.

•🔮Highest Self with Sahara Rose- she is the best-selling author of the Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, which is critically acclaimed by Deepak Chopra. She discusses how to tune into your life, find your purpose (or Dharma) and how to be the best person you can be. She goes into detail on Ayurveda and other similar practices that can transform your life. Recommended podcasts: How to Balance Your Chakras Through Dance, Activating Your Shamanic Roots with Shaman Durek, Who is Your Highest Self?, and How to Spiritually Grow Through Ease.

•🔮That’s So Retrograde- Elizabeth Kott and Stephanie Simbari have been coined “the Ab Fab of the new age.” Merging pop culture, wellness, and spirituality together in one podcast, these women deliver conscious conversations with realness and humor, all while providing tips and expert insight to guide listeners to their most enlightened path. Recommended episodes: Magical Sabbatical with Sage Goddess, Fairy Godguru with Guru Jagat, The Genius Life with Max Lugavere, and Full Circle Moment with Andrea Bendawald.

•🔮Balanced Blonde- with Jordan Younger, an entrepreneurial and wellness blogger. She discusses everything from branding and writing to friendships and things that set your soul on fire. Recommended episodes: Jasmine Hemsley-Ayurveda Meets the West, Nicole Cogan-Girl Talk with NOBREAD: Numerology, Trevor Hall- The Spiritual Power of Writing Music, Psychic Medium Mayhem! With MaryAnn DiMarco, and Biet Simkin-WHO ARE YOU?

Faust: So still I seek the force, the reason governing life’s flow; and not just its external show. Devil: The governing force? The reason? Some things cannot be known; they are beyond your reach even when shown. Faust: Why should that be so? Devil: They lie outside the boundaries that words can address; & man can only know those thoughts which language can express. Faust: What? Do you mean that words are greater yet than man? Devil: Indeed they are. Faust: Then what of longing, affection, pain or grief. I can’t describe these, yet I know they are in my breast. What are they? Devil: Without substance, as mist is. Faust: In that case man is only air as well.  [reads] What has made me thirst then to be instructed in those things that are more than thirst allows? Devil: Your thirst is artificial, fostered by the arrogance in you. So look no further than all your human brothers do: sleep, eat, drink, and let that be sufficient. Faust: Liar and foul traitor, where are the pulse and core of nature you promised to reveal? Where? Devil: Faustus, you lack the wit to see them in every blade of grass.

Or how to add a little something extra to your GriMORE (heh)

Puns aside, lets begin…