From reading all your questions and comments I’ve got a pretty good idea about which rituals get used most. And I’ve noticed there are some rituals – some of my absolute favourites – that people don’t mention much. I think that they’ve slipped through the gaps and been forgotten.
People ask us for new magick, and we are so happy to share what we know. In the next two years we will explore aspects of magick that you’ve never seen from us before, and we think you’ll love them. But new works can’t be rushed, so now’s a good time to look back at some of the gems hidden away in the books you already own. And then I’ll tell you a bit more about the book that’s coming out next.
Before that, let’s dig deeper into the missing magick. Maybe these ‘lost’ rituals were named in a way that didn’t sound so exciting. Perhaps they seem weird or unclear. I think it’s worth drawing your attention to them now. When you look a bit deeper into a book you already own, it can be as good as buying a new book.
When you need guidance
There are many rituals that give you insight and clarity but Receive Guidance from The Greater Words of Power is one of the best. Some of the other guidance rituals are amazing, but they are much longer and more complicated. This one takes a few minutes and gives insight into situations, people and problems. You might use it and find that, oh well, you still need to dig deeper and use a bigger ritual. But often, this is all you need, and you find you’re able to make good decisions, understand situations and see a way forward with minimal effort. There’s a lot of power hidden away in this one.
To recover time and energy
The world is moving faster than ever, and I know loads of people whose lives are overrun with too much work, too many jobs, endless demands and never a moment to recover. In The 72 Angels of Magick there is The Power to Regenerate Energy with the angel Rehoel. The catch is that you have to set aside some time every day, for eleven days. But if you can make that commitment, it is so worthwhile. A few of our rituals work by making more time available, and this is one of the best. You experience more spare time in which you can relax and rejuvenate. The ritual also feeds a calm energy to you, aiding recovery. You don’t have to be at the point of burnout to use this, and if you can, use it before things get too out of hand. (If you just want more time to get things done, then Expand Available Time from my book, Sigils of Power and Transformation, is the one that works the fastest, from what people tell me.)
To solve problems with communication
In The 72 Angels of Magick there’s a ritual called The Power to Make Wise People Communicate, and even Damon notes that this power sounds a bit strange. You might wonder when you’d ever use it. But think of all the times when you’ve looked back and gone, ‘What were they thinking? It’s so obvious what they should have done. They’re not stupid people.’ So you do need a bit of skill to know when this might be useful. But imagine you’re involved with a project, and the big decisions are being made in the coming weeks; you could use this ritual to make all the wise decision makers communicate well. It can work on things as small as your family choosing a home together, right through to something as big as a business deciding on it’s overall objectives. It’s OK to consider yourself one of the wise people. It can also be used on a group of people you’re not part of, but it’s best if you have some connection to them. You’ve got a good chance of getting this to work if the decision will affect you directly. Trying to influence a bunch of politicians that you’ve never met wouldn’t be as effective.
To discover why the path is blocked and what you really want
If you don’t like working with demons for any reason at all, ignore this one and try The Identity Ritual instead, but if you’ve felt the majestic, dignified power of working with demons (with the protection and empowerment of Angelic Emissaries that Gordon reveals in Demons of Magick), here is an overlooked power: Buer – To give a greater understanding of personal urges, and the degree to which they help or hinder your current path. What on earth is that about? Well, you know those times in your life when you’re desperately pursuing something, and it just feels like hard work and a struggle, and you’re not sure why. You feel like you’re chasing a true dream and that the universe should join in and help you along, but nothing seems to work. Could it be it’s the wrong dream for you? Sometimes, when all else fails, the wise and brave thing to do is look within and see if your dream is still real.
If you’ve been trying to become the world’s best graffiti artist, cake decorator, or lion tamer for a decade, it’s hard to let go of your dream. But what if that dream isn’t real for you? What if you only think you want it? What if you’re pursuing this because of mistaken ideas about who you are and what you want? Many desires are driven by beliefs that were drummed into us in childhood, or from approval-seeking behaviour. I meet people in their forties who are still trying to get their parents’ approval, even though they think they are pursuing their own dream.
Finding your true desire is better than pursuing the wrong dream for another twenty years. Although we published The Identity Ritual to help you find personal breakthroughs, the power that Gordon lists is slightly different. It doesn’t show you new ways forward, but lets you understand who you are now, why you are pursuing these goals, and what they mean to you. The result is that you either see you’re on the wrong path (which is a painful gift, but a gift all the same.) Or you see the values and desires that are driving you, and that can make your efforts more clear, more powerful. All your magick becomes more effective.
It’s scary to look within like this, and sometimes you see nothing obvious at all, at first; the truth just seeps out gradually. But this is a ritual that’s worth trying when you’re feeling lost, stuck, confused or uncertain about what you want, or when a dream is struggling to manifest. When Gordon talks about ‘urges’ it’s because he’s too reserved to say ‘dreams’, so I’ll say that this isn’t about gentle urges, but more about the drives and underlying forces that motivate you.
To release magick
In all our books we talk about detaching from results. A detachment from lust allows magick to work. There’s a ritual that can help. Look to the power of Lahach in The 72 Sigils of Power by Zanna Blaise. With the power to help you let go of desire or attachments, this Name can be used when you find you’re obsessing or worrying about magick. It makes it much easier to allow the results to come when they can and will. The ritual is quick and easy. It makes your chances of success much higher. You don’t need it every time you do magick, but if you’re lusting for result, it’s a great way to let go of that urgent desire and free up your magick.
Speeding up a decision
In Archangels of Magick there’s a ritual that I was really wary of using for ages. It’s called To Accelerate a Decision, and it’s used to speed up a decision being made by somebody else; a decision that affects you. My fear was that it might rush somebody into making a bad decision. But it doesn’t work like that. It just means that the decision you’re going to get eventually, comes sooner. You find out whether or not you’ve got the job, landed the contract, or made the deal, and it just sets you free to get on with things or move on. I know it’s also been used by people who are living in torment waiting for a financial decision (such as being given a mortgage), or for a legal decision. Magick is often about patience and allowing, but sometimes you just want to find out what somebody else has decided. It can be such a relief to find out what you need to know.
Stop the inevitable
This is from one of my books. It’s a power of the spirit Arathron from The Master Works of Chaos Magick, and it’s to Stop something in motion, whether it be a person, project or idea. This is another ritual that manipulates time. It stops or slows time around a situation, giving you a chance to influence what’s happening. There might be a person plotting against you in life or business; if you slow things down it gives you more time to respond, react and outmanoeuvre them. Or it might be a project you’re involved with (say at work) and you just want time to make changes. Or it could be an external project, like if they’re planning to knock your house down to build a new road, and you need more time to put in a protest. (That’s a real example!) And if it’s an idea, that means somebody close to you might have an idea that you just don’t agree with, and you want to stop them making a mistake. Maybe they want to join a cult, make a terrible business decision or marry the wrong person. It might not be any of your business, but if you think it is, or if you just want to give them more time to see sense, you can slow the momentum of that idea. I’ll admit this is a strange sounding power, but used creatively, this can be a great way to solve problems.
These are just a few rituals that I like, and I know they don’t get used much. You might want to scan through the books yourself, and try to spot rituals that don’t have any obvious appeal, and then have a good think and see if there just might be a crafty way to use them in your life. You might surprise yourself and find a perfect solution when you least expect it.
– Adam Blackthorne
