Koko Crater Botanical Garden Anchor

21MAY24

NO! It was very clear that I was not to put my offerings at the Koko Crater Botanical Garden. I was confused. I had specifically saved these two forms of bread and a fresh banana as offerings and was told to bring them with me to be used as offerings. Doesn't get much clearer than being told to give all of them. Yet, when I was there, I was being told not to offer them. I assumed that meant I wouldn't be anchoring here - which was fine. 

There are places I know I will likely be dropping anchors, but the timing isn't right. I assumed this was the case here, which is totally fine. I won't go against those spirits whose help and acceptance I would like for a harmonious relationship to exist with the publication of these locations and symbols. Part of the delay is to prove oneself to the land spirits at these locations. There's no sort of King or Queen over them all in these areas. The local spirits are the decision makers. It's their land. Having said that, getting in good with one or more groups can go a long way, as can getting on well with Goddesses and Gods of the Islands, whether minor or major. My welcome is much warmer here, across all of the parts of the island I've been to these past 9 days, but that doesn't give me carte blanche to do as I please.

I bowed, put the bread back in my bag, and went about my hike. About 200 feet later, I got the HERE feeling and I started tearing up the bread and tossing it into the bushes. This was very welcome and I didn't know why at the time. I can guess now, but more on that later.

I was given a second location to also toss some of the remaining bread and did so. This was also greatly appreciated. I knew at this point that I would be dropping an anchor here and started looking for a suitable rock to mark and bury. Once again, I got a NO. All right. I figured I needed to put more work in and if it never happened, then it never happened. This land and these spirits do not belong to me. It does belong to them much more so than it ever will to me. I respect and accept that.

The hike kept on and finally, I was told to stop. My gaze was directed to an existing stone and I was told to mark it (with blood). The blood will get washed off in time, but the marking will stay. I did so. At that point, I was bid to place my other offerings as I saw fit on the rest of the trail. I dispensed the rest of the bread and did the same with a banana, carrying the peel out with me.

2026 note - Things are going to be more mixed from here on out as I add in ritual elements to break the places up a bit.

Ritual Work

Charging Items with a Place's Energies

When we decide to attune an object to a place (or an entity), there is a dance that has to happen to eventually imbue the item with the energies one wishes to have in it. This could be for a variety of reasons. We may wish to have an entity's power running through it, such as a wand for Leviathan's energies or storing and focusing energies of the Dead. 

There are many, many ways to do this. Some are simple and some are not. Here, we aren't concerned with making sure Pluto's Full Moon is pointed towards Uranus. We're going to use a few simple, effective methods to leverage access to external energies we have available to us. What are these methods? Burying, evocation, and entity empowerment. Each provides different benefits and while shortcoming doesn't quite seem appropriate, there are some differences that could be seen as such.

Burying

This is the standard way of empowering items for things like necromancy and Death current energies in graveyards. The premise is that the energies of the place will seep into and “flavor” the item based on the environment. There are some significant boons to this method and there are some limitations, some of which can be negated or reduced by using an entity or appealing to the Dead themselves, in this example. Typically this is done for some period of time dictated by the practitioner's beliefs or that of the author dictating the practice.

I don't like fixed duration charging for anything other than an initial attunement. The reason is that not every space in the cemetery is equal in its energies. Not just limited to cemeteries, but places in general have different energies and those nuanced differences can provide significant differences in the end product. You can get volcanic energies on Oahu, but the volcanos here are “dead' (only on the surface). An active flow would provide more “fresh” volcanic energies. Similar to a creek versus a white water rapid. Same base material, but the locations will likely provide different types of that energy.

What would I do instead? Use a pendulum or similar divination method or  have an interested and trusted entity let you know when the charge is ready for use. There is always the Time issue. If you only have a few days or less at a location, it's best to drop an anchor and go that route, if possible. There are other ways, such as portals to places, astral equivalents, etc…, but those are largely outside the scope of this tome at this time.

Part of the difficulty in suggesting X number of days is that each goal will be different. If you only need an initial link that will grow over time, then a short duration would work, with the expectation that the rest would be provided over time through the magician or some other means using the link to strengthen it over time. This strengthening is similar to an egregore created though means of standard symbology and intent - with or without heavy ritual.

Since going to these locations would be prohibitively expensive for most people to pull off during their short stay (including me, if I wasn't here for work), I will be linking these items both physically and energetically, for others to then charge up their items over time.

Evocation

Evocation is my preferred method for empowering items. We're going to use it a little loosely here, which will leave a bad taste in some people's mouths. They can wipe it out later.

It's a pretty versatile tool. You can empower the item with evoked energies to attune it for you. You could evoke an entity into an object the same way, but I would suggest getting their blessing for that. It's an active process, which may not appeal to some or those with busy schedules. The less specific the evocation, the harder it is to do without a fair amount of experience.

The most straightforward method is to open a sigil with the intent of flooding an item over time. When you open the sigil underneath the object, open it actively with the energy visualization method, rather than the passive wavy line method typical of beginner evocationalists.

I'm going to shamelessly copy my own work from another grimoire in production at the moment.

Opening A Sigil for Active Use

There are several methods for doing this. For the easier to trace sigils, like Leviathan's, one would trace their finger over it and see a colored light flickering like a flame. Even if the lines are not continuous, like Leviathan's energetically, the sigil takes up that entire space inside that circle. Finger, wand, or anything else is fine. If I were doing Leviathans, I would describe it like this.

I would trace the lines and see a bright, flaming white and blue light as I drew the two cross arms. I would trace the circle around the sigil in the same color and contain that space. Everything with the circle is now part of that sigil. 

I think of my goal for opening this sigil. Visualizing the task as best I can, imprinting this onto the energies inside that circled space. When I feel the intent become part of the energies, I open it like a flood gate and then see the actions being done according to my intent.

When the time feels right, I then cover the sigil with my hand and extinguish the flames keeping it open.

A second way is to draw the sigil onto paper, wood, etc… and visualize the flames happening as it is drawn. The intent is pressed into the ink as the sigil is drawn. This could be saved for later, if you're going to reuse it over a period of days. When it is done, I would burn it. Personally, I would burn and draw another one as needed.

A third way to do this for a sigil in a book or on a tarot card, is to send energy down your finger and light the sigil up that way. This can be beneficial for really complex sigils that would be hard to draw properly. You will also want to send the intent that it is an enclosed, focused space. This is better for callings than for an active ritual working, in my experience. 

The last way is to trace it into the air in front of you with the same visualizations as the tracing and drawing method. This is typically how I do my active workings. The circles are typically 2-3 feet in diameter. The size isn't as important. The energy will flow whether it's large or small.

Some tips for this:

  You shouldn't have to focus excessively hard for this to work. This is just like a spell. You energize, imprint, fire it off, and get out of the way. Practice makes it easier for the mind to hold onto the intent while focusing on the energy portion (until that, too, is practiced and natural).

I would also add the intent that the sigil would open itself when it has enough energy to do what you want. This can feel a little awkward, but eventually it will flow more naturally and take some of the guesswork out of whether there is enough for the task or not.

For our purposes, we would open the sigil with the object on top, having opened it with the intent to attune and fill the object. Keep it open until you feel it is filled or you start getting tired. Don't wear yourself out if there isn't a  genuine need to. Plenty of mages get burned out that way when they overdo it too many times, for too long. Don't be one of them.

Since I mentioned “the less specific the evocation”, I should probably say what that means in this context. Places. Calling the energy of places into the triangle. There are other ways of doing it, but, just like an energetic signature of an entity (or person), you can call upon the energetic signature of a place and bring it forth. Not quite as neat and tidy as opening Belial or Leviathan's sigil. You have to call that area's essence or ask an entity to do it for you (but that wouldn't be your evocation). I realize that most people consider evocation to be the calling of entities, but that is a specific collection of energies that has a name and maybe some history, too. Lines start to blue the more of an energetic practitioner you become with things like evocation, invocation, and similar. It becomes something you learn and then “know” from practice. You can evoke areas and places, too. The boundaries of what comes through are somewhat limited by what you can fix and remember in your mind of the place and the way it feels. I've been experimenting with doing this with energies from the past, too, but that isn't for this grimoire.

I can see there being questions about how to open the inward IN symbols and there are a few ways this can be done. The active method listed above could work for that just fine. If you'd like to experiment more with your energy skills and sensing how you're directing the energy, then you can open the IN symbol by sending the energy to activate it and then “opening” it by an inward flowing suction, similar to water running down a drain. You would want to keep the intent that the energies would flow to the anchor spot and this would add an additional nuance to the flow that you could sense.