You Will Need:
A charm or talisman. (A medal or Mass card of Saint Anthony or Saint Jude, a dowsing rod, a crystal pendulum or an arrow-shaped hagstone will work best.)
A glass bottle filled with the waters of Lethe, the underground river in Hades that makes the drinker forget. (Poteen is an acceptable substitute. Must be hand-distilled in a pot still and infused with ancient magic.)
A length of silver string.
Red ink.
Olive oil.
A handful of rowan berries.
A hazel branch.
A vine of ivy.
As many rose thorns as you have losses.
Moss gathered from under an oak tree.
Human blood.
To Cast the Calling:
Gather fresh moss from under an oak tree.
Soak it in olive oil and crushed rowan berries.
Anoint it with human blood.
Snap a hazel branch in two and form an equal cross.
Bind the bloodmoss to the center X with an ivy vine.
Tie one end of a length of silver string tight around it.
Fix the cross to the branch of a tree.
Write your losses in red ink on the branches around it.
Pin each word in place with a rose thorn.
Wind the string around each thorn.
At the opposite end of the string, attach your talisman.
Let neither the cross nor the talisman touch the ground.
Wait for a sign.
If the lights go out, you will know the lost are listening.
If you hear dogs barking, you will know the lost have heard your call.
If you hear the howling, you will know the lost have answered.
Be careful what you bargain with;
Every lost thing requires a sacrifice—
A new loss for every called thing found.
What will you let go of?
What can you not afford to lose?
Consider carefully before you cast the calling:
It may not be for you to choose.
Be careful what you wish for;
Not all lost things should be found.