holy water

17
Mar
2015

Elixir Applications


In my previous post I gave an adaptation of a Buddhist method for consecrating a liquid through continued ritual work with a god. Now I want to talk a bit about how to use it. I’m sure most sorcerous folks out there have already clued into a few ideas, but I thought I’d add in some more, traditional or otherwise.
The first thing you can use the liquid for is continuing your work with the deity in the same way. Use part of it as a “starter” liquid in the bowl when you begin your next month’s work. It’s a great way to feed back into the current and keep building. It already has their resonance, so it makes calling them easier.
The next obvious use is imbibing it. Trust me, vodka with paprika in it isn’t the tastiest creation out there, but it can be worth consuming. When you go to invoke or evoke the god, take a shot, and you’re pulling their essence right into you. (If you want to mix basic bio with magick -which is questionable and perhaps better seen as a metaphor- alcohol isn’t absorbed like most liquids and passes into your blood stream and through the blood-brain barrier rather quickly. So by drinking the liquid you’re actually going to have their holy water coursing through your veins and into your brain.) It’s even more effective if you “refresh” the image. So say their mantra or name a few times, and picture them sitting in the liquid, and then you drink it.
A more complicated use, that again I can only partially explain and simplify, is to use it in offerings and purification of food. This is done in a lot of devotional practices, retreats, or all the time if you have that commitment. When you go to eat, have some of the liquid with you (I carry a 1oz flask on my belt for this purpose), dip your left ring finger in it (traditional reasons), and with your palm facing down curl the finger under, grab it with your thumb, and then flick it at your food. See the god (preferable in hundreds of little forms, but whatever you can manage) flying out from your finger and casting out everything unwanted from the food. Base impurities, imbalances, “negative energy” whatever you see it as, or how you understand it. Dip your finger in the liquid again, and this time do the same flick, but with your palm facing up. See the blessing of the god shoot up, and then come down in a rain of their essence onto the food, imbuing it with their traits. Now you’ve consecrated the meal to them, which is great as a general offering, or a way to maintain connection with them.
(I’ve had to do the full version of this in retreats, with the idea that everything is that god, and you’re just returning it to that purity, that way everything you see, think, hear, and eat is that god, to completely fascinate and immerse yourself in them. This food is now for them, and of them, it sustains them and brings them into you. When done right, and continually, it’s a very powerful way to begin living in and as the deity.)
Even if you don’t have time for a proper invocation/evocation it’s a great way to get a boost of their essence. Running out the door, late for a meeting, take a shot of the god to help fortify you. Or it’s great to have on hand when you have the time, but are unable. If you’ve worked with a healing figure, if you’re too sick to actually do some magick to clear things up, drink some of the holy water and it will help, at least to put the symptoms aside enough for you to properly do some healing.
Feed the current by using it in other related magick. Say you did it to a wealth deity, anoint your talismans and yourself, sprinkle it on your cashbox (from The Sorcerer’s Secret), put it on your petitions, pour it out in strategic locations (like if you’re looking for a raise, spread it around your office). Turn it into another materia for your workings.
Even if it’s not directly applicable to a working, you can still use it as a way of establishing divine authority. Let’s say, hypothetically, that the only god/spirit you really work with is Aphrodite, but you have an unruly spirit around the house. Aphrodite isn’t traditionally used in banishing, but if you just need to prove you have a strong ally, using the holy water to her is a way to show it.
Really the possibilities are endless when you think of it as both a connection, and materia. People burn incense to their god to fill the space with appropriate forces, if you have a humidifier or desktop water feature, toss in the liquid there and let it work in the same way. Whenever I have leftovers of this stuff that I can’t really make use of, I toss it into my house’s humidifier to let it carry the essence all through my house. Also if you use high proof alcohol it can be burnt if you know what you’re doing.
When I don’t use an alcohol base I sometimes offer the liquid to appropriate plants that I grow for magickal purposes. Cook with it, clean with it. While I don’t mean to devalue it, it’s something you can work into your life and your sphere in hundreds of different ways, make it complex, keep it simple.
Let your imagination run with it, and feel free to share any other ideas.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
13
Mar
2015

Consecrating Elixir


The following is a simplified variation of a Buddhist method for creating consecrated liquid (what I tongue-in-cheek refer to as “magick skull vodka”). Simplified and altered because there is some stuff that can’t be shared (oh, how mysterious) and other things that really only work in a Buddhist context (oh, how pretentious). Since it’s meant to be adapted for you own practice I’ll leave out some specifics to be worked out in your way.
This method is for creating a holy water that is dedicated to a specific figure, and by extension their sphere of influence. I’ll use the word god in this post, just because it’s easier than saying Buddha/Bodhisattva/God/Saint/Angel/Demon/whatever, but don’t think this is actually restricted just to a god. Really you can make this in a single sitting, but ideally it’s something that you will take a month to consecrate.
You will need:
A bowl*
A round mirror
Liquid**
Herbs/spices*** (Powdered)
Oil
Thin wooden sticks (Kabob sticks work great)
Thread
*Traditionally a skullcup, but I’ll assume most people don’t have a skull cup hanging around (boring). Just use a white bowl, or a bowl of the appropriate colour for the god
**Liquid: Personally I use vodka. There are a lot of reasons that are relevant in Buddhism on why to use alcohol. If you use alcohol it should be something of a high alcoholic content, and low in sugars. It’s going to sit out in a bowl for a month, and high alcoholic percent will keep it sterile, and low sugars will prevent it from spoiling and/or attracting fruit flies and the like. You can use water if it is more appropriate.
***Herbs/spices: Pick something that is appropriate by either herbal/magickal associations or colour. My practice uses chili powder or paprika for that deep red/rust colour.

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup


Take the sticks and tie them into a shape that is appropriate to the god and of an appropriate size to place over the bowl to hold the mirror up. In my practice it’s a chöjung (a hexagram). If there isn’t an appropriate shape you can use I’d either use a triangle or hexagram, to symbolize manifesting the work into our reality, giving it form. Pour your liquid into the bowl, and place the stick frame on top.
With the mirror on top

With the mirror on top, stop judging my tile floor


Now take your mirror and make sure it’s clean. (There is a good Buddhist analogy about clean mirrors, but really this is just for hygiene) Now coat it with a thin layer of oil, just pour it on, tilt the mirror, nudge it with your finger until it’s completely covered. Sprinkle a layer of your spice on top of it, I use a small tea strainer to help shake it on more evenly, cover it thoroughly and then blow off the excess. Inscribe the seal, sigil, mandala, whatever of the god you’re working with onto the spice, so you can somewhat see the mirror through their image. Place this on top of the mirror, and you’re ready to go.
Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.

Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.


You might have to tweak how you work with the figure, because the Buddhist method has some specifics regarding self and front generation. Every night (or whenever) do your ritual for the god. In the Buddhist ritual I use, first I invoke the person into me, then I evoke them onto the mirror, then we do the ritual of offerings, and whatever is required.
What you should do is find a way that works for you to call whomever you’re working with onto the mirror. Think of it like their throne, or the base for whatever they’d sit/stand on. In a simplified Buddhist approach you can just visualize them sitting on the mirror, recall their appearance and traits, then when you have a good solid mental image of them actually call to the real god and get them to inhabit the visualization. Basically you’re making an energetic/mental receptacle that looks like them, to make it easier for them to be in your space and work with you.
Once they are present work with them how you see fit. Sing their praises, give them offerings, make your requests, negotiate with them, whatever. When you are done, thank them, but don’t dismiss them. You’re not forcing them to stay, but you’re not dismissing them either. You’re welcoming them into your sphere and life. The idea is that every day the energetic form becomes a little bit more solid and powerful. Every day you build on the previous, collecting more and more merit/blessing/energy/whateveryoucallit. Eventually you can build up a pretty powerful presence in the mirror. Every day when you do this, refresh your liquid, usually you just need a splash, you don’t want to lose it all to evaporation.
Traditionally this is done for a lunar month, new moon to new moon, but depending on purpose and practicality you can change that, though if you really want it to have some umph behind it, do it for at least two weeks.
When you’re done and ready to finish the consecration perform the rituals just as you have. Make the visualization, call the god into it, give the offering/praise/requests. Then when you’re done you dissolve everything. The simplest way to do this is to see the figure as made of liquid light, and let it lose cohesion. See the figure melt, the real them and the visualization (because there is no difference at this point) through the mirror into the liquid, purifying and transforming it. Spend some time making sure they’re “blended” well, that the energy you’ve built up over the month is now really in the liquid. Then take a knife, or a flat edge, and scrape the spices into the liquid, to carry that physical component of the blessing, after all your god or whatever has been sitting on that for a month, using it partially as their connection to your space.
Put the consecrated liquid in a bottle, and you’re ready to go. After a day or two you can strain the liquid if you don’t want it to have as much of the spice physically in it. (I do, but it’s a bit of a pain to let the vodka drip through a coffee filter.
There you have it, consecrated liquid to a specific figure, or purpose. While I trust folks out there to be inventive, I’ll probably post about things to do with it in a few days.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick