Thanks Astaroth for all your teachings and blessings.

Hail Duke Astaroth!

“Genius is composed of two sides; the active and the passive. The power to execute the Will is but blind force unless the Will be enlightened.” Aleister Crowley Magick Part III Chapter 18.

An individual’s divinatory skills may be accurate or elsewise. Not everyone can play the piano either and even if they can, there are styles as diverse as Mozart and Joplin. Nonetheless, most aspiring diviners destroy their innate ability before they even begin. This is extremely easy to do. Just purchase a book on divination!

Magick is a personal system, not a theology – although there are still some who think so. Therefore, there is little to be gained – at least initially – by learning someone else’s ideas, prejudices and practices. “The answers to one’s questions in divination are not conveyed directly but through the medium of a suitable series of symbols. These symbols must be interpreted by the diviner in terms of his problem.”

Aleister Crowley Magick Part III Chapter 18.

It begs the question as to why someone else’s interpretations deserve your attention. This is not to suggest that you re-invent the wheel – although some have tried. Those beginning in divination should at least initially work out their own understanding before programming someone else’s ideology into their head. After all, someone had to write the first Tarot or I Ching book and where did they obtain their arcane knowledge? From the same place you should!

Meditate long and broad and deep, O man, upon this Wheel, revolving it in thy mind!... Then, when thou know’st the Wheel of Destiny complete… thou art past through the Abyss.” Aleister Crowley Liber 333 Chapter 78

Experiment with your own methods of consulting your chosen divinatory system. Make notes in your Magickal Diary of divinations you have performed and their accuracy. Only at this point should you purchase other people’s books– because when you are being spoken to by a superior intelligence it's rude to ask someone else what is meant.

“Symbols are easy to come by; any system can be used – the difficulty lies in forging the magic link…It should become a basis for lateral thinking (or intuitive guesswork) rather than as a final answer to be mechanically interpreted.” Liber Null (Liber LUX Divination) Peter J. Carroll

The divinations of the Officer, the Digger, the Statesman and the Whore differ. They ask questions according to their expectations. Not so the Magus!

Considerations

1. Whichever divinatory system you decide upon can be approached in any number of ways. If you were to ask a surgeon, a nurse and the patient about a surgical operation that was about to be performed you would get three distinct sorts of replies. All would be concerned with the same event, but all would bring to the description their own perspective. The same is true of divination. You can use your system as an interesting amusement at parties or you can consult the oracle as a King or Queen seeking wise counsel. Either way will yield the appropriate results!

2. The Tarot is a system most appropriate for spiritual matters. It has a long timeline upon which to advise. The I Ching is more constrained and practical in its approach to questions. Although both the Tarot and the I Ching can be consulted for any manner of inquiry and although both will yield accurate results, the former can often do so from on high, while the latter answers with clarity more attuned to the mundane.

3. An analogy of the difficulty that faces Intelligences called upon to answer divinatory inquiries is that of Professors who agree to give a one-hour lecture and answer questions, only to discover their audience are infants. The Professors will do as best they can, but their audience will not understand much.

4. I knew a guy who fashioned for himself three wooden cubes and a black velvet draw-string bag. Upon the seventeen sides he carved and painted symbols with his own blood. Then he finished them with bee’s wax. The Symbols where: ?, !,  ., …, “” ,+, -,x,÷,Yes. No

5. There are many different divinatory lay outs for Tarot cards and Runes. As most sheeple are comfortable within the parameters of the herd they do as they are told. As an individualist, the practitioner of the Left-Hand path is mandated to develop their own systems. This can include divining for a single card to advise upon the coming day or the inverted pentagram spread where a Tarot card or Rune is positioned at each apex of the pentagram.

                                                                 4              5

                                                        3                              2

                                                                        1

Work out your own meanings for the inverted pentagram and the relationships between each card, rune, etc.

The Septenary System

                                                                       7

                                                                6             5

                                                                       4

                                                              2                 3

                                                                       1.

1.Unconscious Factors

2.-3. The Past (the unconscious becoming more conscious)

4. The Present

5.-6. The Immediate Future and Beyond

7. The Outcome

1,2,5: Are negative Elements/ Energies

1,3,6: Are Positive Elements/ Energies

1,4,7: What needs to be done to bring The Outcome into reality, or prevent it from arising.

I knew a magician who used whatever small change he could lay his hands on. He was a sage of the Tao and I Ching!

Active Taro

The cards represent energies, inter alia. If You can find a deck that you wish to work with as talisman then go for it. Even an inexpensive, lightly used second-hand deck could be used.

I don't use plastic. For me plastic just doesn't allow the energy to pass through. Maybe you will be different in that regard. Anyway, take the second-hand cards from their box, wrap in aluminium foil and bury for at least twenty-four hours in your backyard, park or similar. Doesn't work if the soil is contained, as in a flower pot or window-box. Unearth and charge by way of dedication and sacrifice - the setting apart and thereby making sacred.

As the cards represent energies you can tailor-make the energies you wish in your life by selecting a card or cards and placing these between those cheap picture frames made of two pieces of flat glass (or plastic if you can work with it) and help together by metal clips. There are various sizes. Then charge your Taro talisman by whatever method you use. When finished with the operation just dismantle frame, store cards and create another Taro talisman.

DON'T use the cards you divine with as talisman. If you do you'll screw up their energies. You'll start picking cards not because you were meant to but because these cards were charged.

The deck to use is one with the requisite symbolism which when charged will attach the energy or energies sought. Lee Bursten's & Antonella Platano's 'Gay Tarot' doesn't cut it for me. Maybe if I were gay it'd be a different story. 'The Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot' is also pretty bad – as is the 'Granny Jones Australian Tarot'. What these decks lack is the symbolism required to attract energies – whether from the deep subconscious or externally.

The other element is that you must have a feeling for, an affinity with the art and symbolism of the deck you're using. The Golden Dawn gave birth to the Rider-Waite and Thoth decks. Two different decks: similar energies. These designs have stood the test of time. Nonetheless, if you don't like the particular deck, it'll be next to impossible for you to use that deck as talisman. No connection.

A number of Magicians use runes to divine and to create Magick via rune-binds and carved rune script. A number of left-hand path groups employ runes both passively and actively.

Hardly anyone uses Taro as active Magick. Why is that?

How are we going to do this? Well, if you can't feel the link, then my suggestion is a pendulum or some other quick method of determination. You don't need some 15 card tarot spread for a “yes, no, or maybe” type of response. You could also ask for signs in your dreams, but only if you trust dreams. 

If it says (or you feel) it isn't enough, repeat the process and see if that strengthens it. My several year gate was done with less than 5 minutes of daily work over an entire month, but the energetic backup anchors for each item varied with one needing it three times, another twice, and the third only once. There were several servitors that fed the gate, too, while it was open. My graveyard anchors took less than a few minutes to set up. If it needs to be done more than once, then do it. Better to get it right than for the whole thing to fall flat and have to be done all over again from scratch with a lot of wasted time in between.

Verify the link is open and then move to strengthen it, especially by use.

Item is singular here, because we're only depositing our anchor in the location. Our linked item will be in our ritual space or similar to allow for access to that energy. We need the anchor item at the location of power (or peace or similar) to funnel that energy to us. I've already spoken of using an object that will blend in if we want to remain unnoticed. A good idea with magical asshats about with too much free time.

I know I've said it already in this tome, but kindly use natural or degradable materials, if you can. We're working with more natural entities here and it would be an affront to them to suggest otherwise. We likely won't need something to last greater than 30 years. A rock is a good middle ground for this. Take a picture of your anchor and if you want to renew it or show someone else, then they can pick it up from the picture or ask an entity to make a quick connection that can then renew the old one. 

I'm not a tree hugger. I don't devote my free time to cleaning up every scrap of trash I see and I will choose a plastic bag to put my muddy hiking sandals in. But my anchors are energetic, natural shells and stones, and sometimes wood or metal when I work with those spirits of the land and those types of energies. That seems to work out pretty well for me and should for others, too. 

“Those who regard this ritual as a mere device to invoke and banish spirits, are unworthy to possess it.” Aleister Crowley (Footnote to ‘Palace of the World’)

With the possible exception of wine, cigars and coffee, more shit has been written and believed concerning Banishing Rituals than almost anything else. “Therefore the kings of the earth shall be Kings for ever: the slaves shall serve.” Liber Al 2:58.

Banishing

The purpose of any Banishing ritual is two-fold: primarily, to isolate the Magician from mundane consciousness and to a lesser extent, to clear and re-enforce the atmosphere chosen for Magickal work. Both purposes are inter-related and indivisible. Properly performed, Banishings allow the Magician to more rapidly gain Magickal concentration (a la Pavlov’s dog) and to better resist unforeseen and unpleasant consequences which usually manifest in pedestrian consciousness but have their genesis in the rarefied atmosphere of Magickal working. A Banishing or Invoking ritual – like all Magick – works both on your individual (internal) world and on the mundane (external) world.

Many practitioners recommend a Magickal weapon to assist in Banishing and Invoking. Your Wand, your Dagger (Sword or Knife) or your magickal ring can work just fine, for in banishing (or invoking) a Magickal weapon is good, but not mandatory advice! The first and second finger held like a gun can work just as well and are always to hand!

A common problem is that practitioners rarely spend the time required to even rudimentarily use the Pentagram ritual, let alone develop it. To properly use the invoking or banishing pentagrams takes more time than may first be apparent. One method of assisting in proper tracing is to keep your eyes on your left hand as its fingers (or the weapon it manoeuvres) traces the pentagrams. You should strive to see the pentagrams as and after these have been traced – eventually you will.

Perhaps the best method of developing your banishing/invoking ritual is to image you are doing it in front of a large crowd of people. You need to impress them as much as yourself and the more you practice the more you will learn.

Al.

Ps. Hope this helps.

This de-stressing exercise is simple but requires commitment. If you feel more comfortable by doing so, take off your shoes. Lay flat on a rug, mat or carpeted floor. Do not use a pillow or a mattress. The object of this exercise is to get your body to conform to the flatness of the surface you are laying on not to have that surface conform to you.

Start by taking a deep breath and expelling that breath as a sigh. The secret is to sigh like everyone and everything that you love in your life has just been taken away from you. Sigh like it could not get any worse. Sign three consecutive times and then commence to relax your toes. After you have relaxed your toes, relax your feet. Continue to relax your body all the way to the top of your head.

By the time you get to relax your knees you may find that your feet are no longer relaxed. This is not a failure on your part. It is natural. Simply sigh and start again at the toes.

As you work your way from the feet to the head and discover that a previously relaxed part of your body has tensed up again you must give a deep sigh before recommencing. This exercise should be continued for at least fifteen minutes and may require several sessions before you start to obtain results. It can be effectively used to induce deep sleep. As you maintain your regime you will find that within a few days your sleeping patterns, comprehension and energy levels improve. You will also notice a diminished level of nervous energy in your everyday life.

A ‘Pavlov’s Dog’ side effect of this practice is that you can induce a state of deep relaxation at any time you need, simply by sighing. I was once caught in abysmal traffic and in desperation and while not thinking I let out an involuntary sigh and experienced deep relaxation instantaneously, to the point where I had to be careful not to fall asleep in the traffic.

Al.

"But Behavior - Behavior always exposes reality eventually." The friend that says they care when they somehow don't have time over weeks (and aren't in a high priority job). The excuses, the shallow, fake responses...

No...I don't think so. I'm not a tool that one can grasp and forget when the job is done.

That's not friendship. In any way. It's ironic. They've complained about shallow relationships in the past.

Fine.

But I'm not powerless. I KNOW the "using" wasn't that way until recently. We've been friends for years and this is what happens when there's a shiny new thing for weeks on end?

You're maintaining your scheduled appointments. You have spent plenty of time sightseeing, going to cafes, gone shopping for several days...but there's no 5-10 minutes for supposedly deep friends? You left Germany and the rest of us with it.

Except it isn't. You go to social media platforms we shied away from for privacy reasons. But only for me and that's where the silence has been for months. I can see you've been online. I have noted.

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that this isn't a "location" shift. I was simply disregarded as my role wasn't needed anymore. I didn't know it, hadn't for years, but I was the Great Distraction from an unhappy relationship. It wasn't obvious until the relationship ended and I was...abandoned.

There were 5-6 RED FLAGS for human trafficking in the situation and the only person I cared about was casting me aside as an afterthought. That hasn't changed. 

Strung along while the initial adjustment period happened. The response fake and hollow. Forced as an obligation.

Plenty of those I've helped have vanished and there was a largely clear-cut reason or several for such. Abandoning me after 6 years over...what? You ex-husband even said I was nothing but a good friend. 

This will be answered. Friends leave all the time. Good friends, too. "I care deeply for you" friends leaving me with messages of normalcy while ignoring posts and leaving generic, idiotic posts is not what friends do.

So, I stood up for myself and said that you had time (true) for a good friend (supposedly true) in the 5-10 minute range. We used to "talk" 3,4,5+ times with substantial messages. You left for Egypt and can't squeeze one substantial one a week? You're unemployed and have the same time as when you were in Germany. It's pretty clear that there isn't room for old friends in a new life. 

You will be treated as I was. And those agreements you made and broke...that I smoothed over with my relationships...are now back on with interest. By their request and the removal of my protection. But you'll see that soon enough.

The ironic part is that I do not want to live forever or anything like that. Let me go when my time is finally up. I've cheated Death too many times to take the time between for granted. It would also set me on my next path and I would get to see if those agreements and responsibilities (mine and others) are truly fulfilled. 

There are plenty of people in this world whose time is cut short. Some were my friends. I can't give them their life back, but I can try to reduce the amount of time asshats get to ruin other people's lives and degrade their Quality of Life while doing so.

Finally, the linking! How this happens will depend on your chosen method. If you're creating it via the recommended symbols for this grimoire, then the instructions are pretty straight forward. The linking is built into the charging! Cake.

The “how” is this - the symbol acts as the linking agent, because it connects the location holding the anchoring agent I've left there. The symbol acts as the link that then feeds the item. Doesn't get much simpler than that. I've talked about anchoring portals, spirits, etc. in the past, so let’s talk about that next for those wanting to do it on their own.

Linking is and isn't a hard task. If you remove an object from a ‘haunted’ house, you may end up with some nasty energies or a nasty entity as a result. Or both. Why? Because objects, like people, have attachments over time to the location and people they are with. This then results in links to that place. The larger the number of them (small minor ones over time), the larger the emotional charge towards a place, and so on, the greater the overall link. Similar to a sacred grove or a ritual space that's seen heavy, repeated use, the imprints are there and these result in energetic links.

Yes, this is a simplification, but it does stand. This isn't meant to be an advanced collegiate course in energy work, linkages, and the nuances of substantial anchoring against competent magicians or advanced spirits. Most of the explanations out there have some truth and none have all. It can be a really complex topic, but doesn't have to be to get started with using links and creating our own intentionally. 

For the purposes of this grimoire, we will keep it at the beginner -> intermediate range. It's a skill that takes practice and using these practices in a variety of ways can result in skills to then lead to additional use cases the practicing magician will discover. Vague and intentionally so. I've spoken of the shadow gate that is still here and ready for use after almost 4 years of not touching it. I've also spoken of energetic links to graveyards that feed into a local spot set aside for those energies. The uses will come when one develops/practices the skills. Now, let's move one to something productive.

You have several choices if you want to do this on your own for those places whose energies you want to accumulate. The “Charging Items with a Place's Energies“ portion can also act as linking agents. Sometimes we don't want this to happen that way and want to link it to fill it instead. What's the difference?

Intent goes a long way here. It isn't “everything” in this case. You need to put more than “intent” into something to link it significantly in a shorter time span. Burying is a good way of doing this over time without introducing opened, unconstrained energy sources into your environment. We've spoken about having entities do it already.

One of my earlier methods for doing this is as follows:

I will place the object onto the ground or whatever the source is I want to link to. This is typically something I can hold or touch. 

I then touch the ground or water or similar that I want to link the object to.

I act as the linking agent and visualize the energy bond running from the item to the ground and back to the item. I will do this until I feel them start to feel similar where my hands are touching. The link has happened.

Repeat the last part until the bond is strong enough that you can touch the item, think of the space,  and feel the link vibrate. This is also useful for strengthening the link and renewing it.

There you go. Most of the steps, all wrapped into one easy practice, nestled into a space some may not read. Requires physical access or an energetic one, say, like a symbol acting as an anchor link, but you likely get the process now at a better level than it all being spread out. Kindly keep reading.