Article Submitted to Phase II By James Conohan – We Welcome Submission and contributions – post a comment in the contributors page if you’re interested with your E-mail and a quick summary of your proposal if interested.
How to Create Your Own Rituals, Adapt or Modify Any Type of Procedure and Other Useful Things
by James Conohan
Bored with tedious sigils? Anything can be a focus; one of my all time favorite memes, simple and one hundred percent true. This essay will show you how to design your own occult rituals/procedures, allow you to work magic instinctively and modify traditions and rituals. If you have any doubts remember that most – more likely all – magical traditions were invented by humans; therefore there’s no reason why you can’t create your own procedures.
1. Design a ritual, this can be anything you want; a gesture, music, a talisman, a word, a dance etc.; you’re only limited by your imagination.
2. Declare that doing the ritual during an altered state of consciousness (a.k.a. gnosis) will fulfill your will. The declaration can be written on paper, typed on a computer or spoken out loud.
For example let’s say you wanted to heal someone:
“I declare that doing (insert ritual here) during an altered state of consciousness or also known gnosis will heal (insert name here).”
Or:
“I declare that doing (insert ritual here) during an altered state of consciousness will make me remote view Anchorage, my will be done.”
*Note: this is only how I write my declarations; word them in a way that feels right to you.
3. Do the ritual during an altered state of consciousness.
4. Banish.
Example:
Dave wants to create a ritual designed to make him enter the dreams of his friend, instead of using a physical tool he decides that concentration will be enough, Dave declares that focusing on his intent to enter his buddy’s dreams during an altered state of consciousness will fulfill that goal. After that Dave concentrates on his goal and enters trance through pain (pricking himself with a needle).
Correspondences:
In this method correspondences are used for than divination; they can be employed to flesh out a ritual, add in details or make a procedure more flexible. You can create correspondence systems centered around anything; colors, body positions, symbols of your own design, corporate logos, stones, bits of machinery etc.
Of course standard correspondences won’t always be of use when you want something specific; you can use anything to symbolize a person, place etc. If you want to heal someone their initials or a sigilized version of their will work fine. The correspondence could also be something more solid; a piece of the person’s shirt, a button, hair etc.
For example here’s a correspondence system that employs keyboard symbols:
$ = Wealth
? = Mystery and the unknown
# = Information
etc.
Example:
Let’s say you want to create a healing ritual, you’ve decided to make and use an talisman, but you don’t want to create a new talisman every time you want to heal someone else, so you use the approach below:
“I declare that touching this talisman during an altered state of consciousness or also known as gnosis will heal whoever the correspondence item or items represent.”
In other words the only things you change are the correspondence items, everything else remains the same.
Preparatory sub-rituals:
These procedures serve to psychologically cement and strengthen your intent; they are not done during altered states.
1. Design a ritual.
2. Declare that doing the ritual will strengthen the actual ritual. Banishing should be done once the real procedure is completed.
Example:
Sean has decided to create a procedure, his sub-ritual consists of dancing around in his correspondence circle – Sean has used the Ogham alphabet and corporate logos for correspondences – and his actual ritual consists of saying a word during trance. After making his declarations Sean performs the prep procedure and then enters trance though shock, says the word and banishes.
Adapting existing rituals and traditions:
Custom procedures are fine and convenient (no need to flip through a book or a sigilize) however what about the rich amount of traditions and rituals out there? After all it’s a bit ignorant to focus only on your own system seeing as you’d be missing out on so much. This method can also be used to tweak and adapt existing rituals and traditions.
Example:
John wants to adapt this ritual from Pow-wows or Long Lost Friend by John George Hoffman:
“FOR GAINING A LAWFUL SUIT.
If anyone has to settle any just claim by way of a law suit let him take some of the largest kind of sage and write the name of the twelve apostles on the leaves, and put them in his shoes before entering the courthouse, and he shall certainly gain the suit.”
Since John works with the Irish pantheon and not Xtianity he decides to substitute the names of 12 gods for the apostles and John decides to use leaves he found while drifting instead of sage. He puts the leaves in his shoes and declares that having those leaves in his shoes during an altered state of consciousness will magically manipulate probability so that he will win his lawsuit, he also states that writing the names of the gods will serve a preparatory invocation that will strengthen the ritual. After the declaration John lies down and enters trance through breathing.
But what about a ritual that’s too long to do during trance? The solution is to break it down, declare that doing the steps prior to the final action will serve as preparatory sub-rituals.
Example:
Susan wants to adapt this chant from the James Mooney book Sacred Formulas of the Cherokee:
“Tsïgë’! Hïkayû’nl-Une’ga, tsûltâ’histû’n gûlitâ’hïstani’ga. Nâ’gwa tsûda’ntâ talehï’sani’ga.
Sâ’gwa igûnsi’ya ts?skwâlï’ udû’nisate’stï, ts?su’ltï nige’sûnna. Wane’(ï) tigi’gage(ï)
tali’kanëli’ga. U’ntalï udanû’hï tsägista’`tï.
Hïkayû’nl-Une’ga, anu’ya uwâtatâ’gï agi’stï tätsiskâ’ltane’lûhï. U’ntalï u’danû’
te’tûlskew?si’ga.
Hïkayû’nl-Une’ga, nûnnâ’(hï) kana’tï skwatetâ’stani’ga. Unigwalû’ngï te’gatûntsi’ga.
Nûnnâ’(hï) kana’tï tati’kiyû’ngwita’watise’stï. Unigwalû’ngï tigû’nwatû’tsanû’hï.
Hïkayû’nl-Une’ga, Kana’tï, sk?salatâ’titege’stï, sa`ka’ni ginu’t?tï nige’sûnna. Sgë!”
This chant is a ritual designed for hunting birds (improving the odds of finding game and so forth) Susan has decided to say it Cherokee for the sake of authenticity; but she has neglected to dress up like a medicine woman seeing as she’d like pretty foolish since she’s white. First Susan declares that saying any part of the chant during an altered state of consciousness will magically manipulate probability so that she will successfully shoot a bird on her hunting trip. Susan also declares that saying any part of the chant prior to final words (when she’s not in a trance) will strengthen the ritual.
But what about applying this technique to practices like evocation?
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