Toolkit for Magical Activism
If you’re going to do magic, you’ll need to gather some tools. Luckily, resistance magic has grown from folk traditions that use simple, easy-to-find items. A basic toolkit is all that is required to accomplish very powerful magic. Any items you don’t have already can be acquired cheaply and with minimal effort (especially now that things like resin incense, colored candles, and specialty herbs are easily ordered online).
Magical Tools
Candles
Ever since our ancestors gathered around communal fires to tell stories and stay warm and safe from predators lurking in the darkness, the dance of flames has held us entranced. Fire creates, destroys, changes food, and turns liquids and solids into vapor and smoke. Of all the classic elements, it seems most alive, as it eats, grows, and spreads warmth.
The manufacture of candles of various shapes and colors in the early twentieth century allowed us to bring the magical aspects of fire into our lives in a controlled, safe manner. There are entire systems of magic built solely around burning candles of various colors (the classic The Master Book of Candle Burning: How to Burn Candles for Every Purpose by Henri Gamache is still in print seven decades after it was originally published).
Candles come in an enormous variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. If you can’t find the type or color you’re looking for in a store, you can easily order it online. I generally use freestanding candles (cylinders or tapers; many tapers, however, require holders) and glass-encased candles (also known as prayer or novena candles). Glass-encased prayer candles are my favorites because you can affix photos or images to them, turning a plain white or colored candle into a symbolic, radiant powerhouse. They’re also safer than freestanding candles because the flame is enclosed (although the glass bottom can get hot when the candle burns down).
My preference is for unscented candles. Many scented candles are made with artificial ingredients and, frankly, smell horrible and disgustingly fake when compared to natural oils and fragrances. Your main scents will likely come from incenses and oils deliberately employed for their qualities anyway.
Most of the spells in this book utilize candles. If you absolutely cannot have open flames in your living space, battery-powered candles and tea lights that mimic a flickering flame are now available. You can paint them the color required for the spell.
Cauldron
A cauldron or other fireproof container or ashtray of some sort is a necessity in resistance magic, as a number of spells in this book require you to burn paper and other items. If you get one with a handle, you can carry burning incense around in it for suffumigating (smudging) an area. But any fireproof container filled with sand, such as a large seashell or dish, will be fine.
Incense
Let me start by saying I have nothing against smudging with sage. It is an all-around excellent purifier and does a superb job dispelling negative energies. But please allow me to introduce you to the dynamic duo of magical incenses: frankincense and copal.
If you grew up Catholic, as I did, you’ve likely smelled frankincense. This resin, extracted from trees of the Boswellia genus, has an unmistakable scent and has been used in spiritual practices for over five thousand years (and was one of the gifts given to the newborn Christ by the magi). Recent studies have shown evidence for frankincense’s utility as an antidepressant.29
Copal is another tree resin, but unlike frankincense, which is mostly harvested in Africa, it comes from Central America and Mexico. I first encountered its unforgettable scent in a Maya village church in San Juan Chamula, Mexico, as Maya shamans performed healing ceremonies (yes, they did their healing rituals inside the church—the Maya, like many indigenous peoples, are not averse to a little religious syncretism). The smell, which is paradoxically bright and also deeply layered, instantly transformed my consciousness in such a powerful way that I’ve been using it ever since. The Maya and other peoples in Central and South America use it for purification, cleansing, healing, and to call upon spirits. It is my go-to magical incense.
Although it’s easy to find stick incense (also known as joss sticks), I suggest burning resins, woods, and other plant materials on charcoal. You can add your incense a bit at a time, when needed throughout the ritual (as opposed to sticks and cones, which burn continuously). You can also craft your own mixes or burn materials that aren’t conventionally incorporated into commercial incense (like herbs and spices).
Charcoal gets very hot (especially the easy-light variety), so you need to keep it in a fireproof container on a layer of clean sand. A variety of commercial censers can be found in stores or online, but any nonflammable container filled with sand will suffice.
You can get charcoal disks made for incense in many new age and occult retailers, health food stores, and botanicas. The self-lighting charcoal disks are made with additives like saltpeter, which has a scent of its own that some people find unappealing and others consider harmful. They are easy to light, and I used them for many years. When you hold a flame to them, they begin to crackle, and you can watch the flame spread across quickly.
Nowadays, I use Japanese charcoal bricks made from coconut or bamboo, which are preferred by serious incense aficionados. They have a barely discernible but appealing scent of their own and have no additives, so you get nothing but the pure incense smoke. I recommend looking for them online, especially if you don’t like the saltpeter smell of the quick-lighting disks. They take longer to light, but it’s worth it. A fireplace or grill lighter with the flame held against the charcoal for thirty to forty seconds is usually enough to get a corner lit, after which you can place it in its container and let it do its thing.
Whichever charcoal you use, the process for burning loose incense is the same.
Light the charcoal—the easiest and safest way is to use tongs or chopsticks while holding it over a candle or lighter flame until the edge begins to glow red. Place it on the sand or screen of your censer or container and wait until it gets covered in a thin layer of gray ash. Then put a tiny bit of your resin, wood, or herb on top. When I say tiny, I mean a pinch. And be careful—a little goes a long way! If you’re worried about the smoke setting off an alarm (and trust me, nothing ruins a ritual like a high-pitched electronic shriek), consider temporarily removing the battery. Just don’t forget to replace it when you’re done!
For some rituals, I suggest “washing” or “smoking” yourself with the smoke. Here’s how I do it.
Using your hands, pull the rising smoke toward your head and down over your body. Do this a few times. You should feel an unambiguous shift in energy as the smoke cleanses you. For me, it feels like full-body chills and is immensely pleasurable. You can also use feathers to wave it toward you.
If you’re allergic or hypersensitive to smoke or if circumstances prohibit you from using incense or having an open flame, consider an electric incense burner or heater, which will release the scent of your woods or resins without smoke. You can also use an essential oil heater or diffuser, or mix essential oils with water in a spray bottle and spritz yourself or your environment.
But there is something special about incense smoke, as I think you’ll agree if you use it ritually. It has been part of magical practice since antiquity, and when you’re in a heightened state of consciousness, the smoke can sometimes shape itself into an image. In some traditions, evoked spirits make themselves visible via the twisting tendrils of smoke.
Holding an object in rising incense smoke is an excellent way to purify it and is part of the basic Consecration Ritual you will find in chapter 9, “Preparation for Ritual.”
Oils
Magical oils are used throughout this book, and most you can easily craft yourself—and you should, because creating them is a magical act in itself. No store-bought oil will have the energy of something you empower with your intention and energy. If you buy commercial oils, try to get the purest, most natural possible.
My go-to, multipurpose spiritual oil is made from hyssop and a vegetable oil base—you’ll find the recipe in the section on getting clean in chapter 9.
Herbs and Plants
Fresh and dried plant products are a vital part of most magical traditions, and scores of encyclopedic books have been written about plant magic. There are plants used almost exclusively for magical purposes, such as High John the Conqueror root and mandrake, and those you already are likely to have in your kitchen, such as cinnamon, basil, and black pepper. Although I focus on substances useful for resistance magic in this book, I encourage you to delve deeper into the incredible world of plant magic in the books mentioned in the appendix. You’ll find that the plants themselves are powerful teachers if you simply learn to listen.
A good rule for using plants is to get as close to the natural state as you can—that is, unprocessed or minimally processed and free from pesticides and other chemicals. Wildcrafted or harvested plants are optimal, but use what you can find. If you harvest a plant yourself, it is customary to leave an offering or, at minimum, a prayer of thanks.
I also cover the controversial use of psychoactive plants in the section on the ritual mind (see page 146).
Mortar and Pestle
A mortar and pestle is good to have around for grinding herbal material, roots, incense resins, and other spell ingredients.
Stones and Crystals
Though it makes me a bit of an outlier in the magical community, I place more value on special stones I’ve found in nature or had gifted to me than on store-bought crystals and gemstones. Over the years I have found rocks that resemble faces, one that looked like an eye, another a snake, and several that don’t look unusual but continue to carry the memory and energies of magic locales I’ve visited.
There are also ethical reasons why I don’t spend a lot of time buying and using crystals, including environmentally destructive mining and exploitative labor practices in the industry. So if you do purchase crystals, do your best to assure they have been mined in sustainable ways by ethical companies.
There is a reason gems and crystals have been a common element in magic and witchcraft since the dawn of time, however—because they work. Crystals, in particular, are powerhouses for magical work because they readily store and transmit energy.
I have suggested certain gems, crystals, and rocks for a number of the spells herein, but use your intuition and consult the correspondences in the Appendix for creative options.
Small, Wearable Bags and Pouches
Although I spent the early years of my magical practice making complex (and often costly) talismans and amulets, it was my explorations in Hoodoo and Conjure that led me to work with the much cheaper and simpler—but just as effective—mojo bags.
Traditional mojo bags (also known as hands, gris-gris, and tobies) are made of flannel because that was a common fabric among the poor, enslaved Africans who worked with them. But any material will work—felt, leather, silk, cotton, you name it. You can even use a handkerchief.
Amulets and talismans, including mojo bags, are some of the most practical and useful magical tools. Many people carry something special for good luck, but magically empowered objects can provide protection, draw positive energies, repel negativity, and boost your confidence and charisma. If you’re an activist, you’ll likely run into tense, uncomfortable, or dangerous situations. Having a protective mojo bag may give you just the edge you need to avoid unpleasant confrontations.
You can also make these bags for others, personalizing them for an individual’s needs or for the particular activist goal or campaign.
Images of Power
Tarot cards, statues of gods or saints, photographs, drawings, or other powerful, iconic images are frequently employed in rituals. The Justice tarot card is an obvious choice for spells related to social justice workings and for anything involving the legal system. The Tower card was used in the Trump binding spell, as it could be associated with his garishly branded towers. A printed photo of a politician target of a binding spell (perhaps with a sigil drawn on it), a drawing of the Statue of Liberty, a polluting company’s printed logo, or other photos, drawings, or printouts may take their place on the altar as needed.
Name Papers, Prayer Papers, and Sigils
Paper on which you’ve written the name or names of your targets are known as name papers. If you write out a prayer or spell, it is called a prayer or petition paper. You can use any sort of paper and pencils, pens, or markers. Some people emulate ancient Egyptian spellcasters and use brushes and ink on papyrus (available online), while others use scraps of paper shopping bags, as is common in Hoodoo and Conjure. Use recycled paper whenever possible. One thing to keep in mind is making sure there is enough contrast between ink and paper that you can read or write on it under candlelight.
If you can get a signature of your target, that is also an excellent link to them. Even if the signature is a facsimile, it will be effective. You can often contact your government representatives (via letter or email) and get a signed document in response.
Pyramid as Energy Tool
This is a tool you won’t find in many other books of magic, but I’ve used it since I was in my early teens.
One of my first concrete experiences of magical energy happened after I read a book on pyramid power in the seventies. (Yes, instead of comics, I was reading books about witchcraft, UFOs, and pyramids. I was a bit of an odd kid.) I decided to build my own pyramid to test some of the book’s assertions. I cut sheets of cardboard and taped them into a small replica of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, cut panels into the sides (so it was open), and proceeded to do some experiments.
I was floored by the results.
First, I placed a section of an orange beneath the pyramid and one right outside it. The fruit beneath the pyramid dried up completely, while the piece a few inches away became covered in green mold. Then I tried the same experiment with a piece of raw bacon. Again, the bacon inside the pyramid dried up, while the piece outside quickly rotted.
The most impressive experiment used small cups of milk. I covered each cup with plastic wrap. After a couple of days, I uncovered the cup beneath the pyramid. It had a very neutral smell, reminiscent of yogurt, and had formed a curd. When I removed the plastic wrap on the milk outside the pyramid, I made the mistake of lifting it to my nose and smelling it. I gagged and could barely keep from vomiting. It was thoroughly spoiled, and to this day I have an aversion to milk.
I also did experiments with bean sprouts, and the seedlings under the pyramid grew dramatically faster and taller.
Duly impressed (as were my bewildered but supportive parents), I typed up my experiments on a manual typewriter, took some Polaroid snapshots, pasted it all on poster board, and submitted it to my school science fair with the title “Do Pyramids Affect Decomposition?” I won first place, which qualified me for the Maryland state science fair.
My first lesson in how mainstream science treats things outside of its orthodoxy took place as I watched the state science fair organizers debating where to place my project. Was it biology? Chemistry? Physics? They spent a half hour puzzling over the question before finding me a spot in between categories (a liminal zone I’ve learned to appreciate in the years since).
Today I use a frame pyramid made of brass to charge items I place beneath it. When I make a batch of incense or oil or a mojo bag, I keep it beneath the pyramid’s center for a few days after I consecrate it to further energize the item.
If you want to try it, you can find metal frame pyramids online—I recommend them over solid models because you can see what’s under them and easily access the items inside. Or you can make your own, of course, and instructions are available in books or online.
There is something as yet unexplained about how this particular shape creates a field of energy empowering growth while paradoxically arresting decay. After the fad passed in the seventies, research declined in the United States, although it has continued in Russia. Though I don’t know how it works, pyramid energy has proven to be undeniably real and useful in my practice.
Other Items
I always have the following near my altar for easy access:
• Spare candles in a variety of sizes and colors
• Charcoal blocks or disks (for burning woods, herbs, and resins)
• My collection of incenses, oils, and plant products
• Glass jars, vials, and droppers
• Matches or a lighter (I keep a fireplace or grill lighter to reach inside tall glass prayer candles and to light charcoal)
Where’s the wand, dude?
So where’s the magic wand? How can any witch or magician expect to be taken seriously without a wand?
I have a number of wands, some of them very beautiful. I spent a dozen hours carving, sanding, and painting one of them with intricate sigils and symbols (because that’s what Kabbalistic magicians do). And though it may seem counter to everything you know about magic—and heretical to Harry Potter fans—I seldom use any of them. Why? Because I’ve found my hands are exponentially better at directing and manipulating energy.
If you feel compelled to use a wand, or if your tradition includes it, go for it. As you’ll soon get tired of me repeating, magic is an art, and a personal one at that. What works best for me might not for you.
Consider, though, the intimacy of our hands and fingers and how we transfer our energy via touch. If your pet cat or dog is in pain and suffering, would you rub it with a stick? I doubt it. You’d caress it gently, and your love and healing energy would be transferred through the powerful magic instruments known as your hands. Think of the way even the lightest touch from someone you are madly in love with makes you feel—is there anything more invigorating? Entire healing systems are based on what is called in religions the “laying on of hands,” including one practice, Therapeutic Touch, that has been widely embraced by medical professionals.
In this book you will be encouraged to use your hands or your fingers to generate, hold, transfer, or direct energy. I suggest trying it that way unless you’re already using an energized wand in your practice and are happy with the results. When you begin working extensively with energy, you’ll be surprised at the change in sensitivity in your hands.
Knives and Athames
I sometimes utilize an iron knife when very strong defensive magic is required, and the energetic effects of a ritual blade can be extremely potent, even when wielded by beginners. Much of that is due to our ambivalent associations with blades and acts of cutting and violence. In general, there’s no need to use ritual knives unless they are a component of your tradition.
Tarot in Resistance
Tarot cards, especially the major arcana, make excellent charms and talismans. They’re portable, potent power images you can tuck in a backpack, purse, or coat pocket.
Consider choosing a card to carry when you head out to an action or other activity. You can also adopt a card to use as a symbol or focus of a campaign or project (as the Tower card became associated with the Trump binding spell).
Fool: Beginning a new action or campaign, helping the homeless (the Fool iconography in the earliest tarots derives largely from medieval and Renaissance depictions of wandering, homeless, rejected people)
Magician: Anytime you’re working resistance magic (or other magic)
High Priestess/Papesse: Study, academics, secrecy, reconnaissance, reproductive rights, feminism
Empress: Working for a female politician or leader, women’s empowerment, fair pay, equal rights, maternal health
Emperor: Confronting politicians, fighting empire, antiwar, capitalism
Hierophant/Pope: Education and academia, spiritual instruction, combatting and exposing sex abuse
Lovers: Physical and spiritual love, reproductive rights, sex worker protection, breaking a physical or sexual bond (inverted)
Chariot: Public transportation advocacy, pedestrian or bicycle advocacy, public speaking
Strength: Any project requiring or promoting strength (particularly women’s strength), animal welfare, nonviolence
Hermit: Spiritual or moral guidance, enlightenment, leadership, elder advocacy
Wheel of Fortune: Revolution, social progress, fighting the gambling industry
Justice: All matters involving social and legal justice, legal issues, court cases, and trials, the broad goal of justice via the “righting of the scales” or karma
Hanged Man: Death penalty, torture, prison reform
Death: Death penalty, war, violent crime, gun law reform
Temperance: Peace, community healing, social welfare, addiction, water rights
Devil: Rebellion, slavery, religious fundamentalism, addiction and recovery, predatory capitalism, fascism, human trafficking
Tower: Trump binding, antiauthoritarian, crony capitalism, wealth inequity, corporate excesses, opposition to construction projects
Star: Peace, water rights, human rights, environmentalism, astrological influences
Moon: Feminism, animal welfare, pet adoption, water issues, nighttime actions, psychic abilities, art advocacy
Sun: Transparency, solar and renewable energy, farming and sustainable agriculture, transparency in law
Judgement: Legal matters, revolution, uprisings
World: World peace, all environmental issues, trans rights, vegetarianism, animal welfare
Disposal
A few words about disposal of spell remnants:
Many traditions suggest disposing of spell remains (candle scraps, wax, ash, liquids, paper, pins, etc.) at a crossroads, in running water, in a graveyard, and so on. Do not just leave your spell refuse in the middle of a crossroads! Spiritual practice does not excuse littering. One option is to find a convenience store or gas station located at a crossroads and place the material in its trash receptacle or dumpster. Voilà.
If a material is to be buried, you can bury it in your yard (if its aim is healing, defensive, or beneficial) or in a circumspect location away from your home (if it is for binding, hexing, or repelling). Never bury anything toxic, nonbiodegradable, or dangerous to animals or people. Err on the side of caution and don’t break any laws.
Leftover glass (such as empty prayer candles) should be recycled.
If a spell directs you to dispose of objects in a public place (say, a courthouse or a vigil location), follow this rule: for every object you leave for magical and symbolic purpose, pick up three times the equivalent in litter and dispose of it. Keep the scales in balance, and tip them in your favor by always doing a little extra remediation.
Altars: Creating Your Magical Dashboard
If you’re going to take magic seriously, you’ll need to set up a proper workspace. As with any endeavor, having a space separate from your day-to-day activities and the proper tools at hand will allow you maximum effectiveness in your magical workings. In most traditions this space is called an altar, and I like to think of it as my ritual dashboard or spiritual cockpit, the control center from which I launch into, and navigate, magical space.
It’s helpful, but not necessary, if your altar occupies a permanent space in your home. Obviously, a permanent altar is not always possible, whether due to a need for secrecy from roommates or spouses, to keep away from pets, or simply because of space constraints. In that case, temporary altars may be set up when necessary and taken down and packed away into a suitable container.
The altar serves as a focal point for your energy and sets aside a sanctified space for magical workings. It houses your working tools and, over time, will acquire a palpable energy. Merely standing or sitting in front of it will allow you to quickly slip into a heightened state of consciousness.
You will need to ensure privacy while working at your altar. Nothing kills the magical vibe more quickly than a roommate or child wandering into the middle of a ritual. Do whatever is necessary to ensure your absolute privacy—make it known to others that they are not to interrupt except for absolute emergencies. If you have a companion or roommate who is antagonistic to your practice, tell them you are meditating or working. If you have young children, you may need to wait until they are asleep. Of course, privacy means shutting off your phone and other electronic devices, too. Time at the altar is sacred and should be treated as such.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a secluded yard, beach, or nearby field or wooded area, you can set up an outdoor altar, though you may want to carry your working tools with you versus leaving them exposed to the elements or to curious people or critters.
Options for permanent or semipermanent altar spaces may include the following:
• A section of your desk
• The top of a dresser, cabinet, or table
• A dedicated section of a bookshelf
• A hearth or mantle
• A specially constructed altar of wood or other materials
• A slab of stone or wood
• A large rock, tree stump, or other flat area outdoors
If a permanent altar is undesirable or impossible, find a suitable spot where you can set up a temporary workspace. Some people use a covered box, crate, or other unobtrusive container (such as a plastic tub) to store their working tools, perhaps covering it with a cloth during rituals to make it less drab and utilitarian. When finished, the tools go back in the container until the next working.
You may sometimes find the need to construct a temporary altar outside of your home. For a protection ritual for an endangered wooded area, for example, you may want to build a temporary altar for your spell on a rock, stump, in the crook of a tree, or just on the ground. You might even set up a temporary altar in front of you on a sidewalk during a protest ritual, as many witches did outside of Trump Towers in New York and Chicago during the very first binding spell in 2017. Just be sure to take all of your components with you when you’re done—the “leave no trace” ethic should be part of magic, too (with certain exceptions, as detailed later in the book).
Sometimes you may want to construct a secret or hidden altar, perhaps to protect an area from development or to bind the energies of a corporation on its property. Archaeologists and historians have found evidence of hidden altars and other magical tools made by enslaved African Americans in a number of historic residences. You may want to do rituals at the site of an injustice in a surreptitious way by creating an altar that blends in with its surroundings, but at which you can perform regular workings to keep it empowered.
You may also put together a portable altar, especially if you are traveling as an activist or want to do regular rituals at different locations. Any easily carried container works, or you can simply keep the required altar materials safely wrapped in your backpack.
The key to creating your altar is to make it truly yours, reflective of your personality, your aesthetics, and your magical affinities and goals. Strive to make it a singular work of art. After each monthly Trump binding spell, members of the official Facebook group post photos of their altars. Their beauty and diversity are breathtaking. Some have specific themes, whether Egyptian, Wiccan, or Greek. Others are composed of shells, plants, rocks, crystals, wood, and other natural materials. Many are very simple, with just the spell’s components artfully arranged, while others use a collection of colored candles, deity statues, personal symbolic items, and handmade art.
Work to make your altar beautiful so that even if someone didn’t realize its magical nature, they would see it as a work of art (and if a nervous fundamentalist Christian neighbor visits for coffee, you could tell him or her that’s exactly what it is).
Your altar may include any or all of the following:
• Candles
• Representations of the four classic elements (earth, water, fire, and air), as detailed below
• Incense burner and incense
• Deity, animal, saint, or other statues (any of which may be animated or “enlivened”—see Chapter Nine)
• Flowers
• Gemstones and crystals
• Shells, feathers, bones
• Herbs, roots, leaves, seeds
• Small bell
• Personal items and mementos
• Photographs or illustrations of target people, groups, or institutions
• Drawings, sigils, or other power images
• Cloth covering or special altar cloth
• Broom
• Magical tools from your tradition
Many of the spells in this book require specific items that may temporarily take a prominent place on your altar, and they are noted in the instructions.
The Four Elements
Many of the world’s magical traditions honor the four classical elements: earth, water, fire, and air. I recommend giving them each a place on your altar. If your tradition has an association for each element and direction (such as air in the east, water in the west, fire in the south, and earth in the north, as found in many Western esoteric and witchcraft traditions), then you should arrange them as such. Otherwise, simply having the four elements present and arranged in a pleasing manner is sufficient.
Some suggestions include:
Earth: Container of soil or salt, rock, crystal, geode, petrified wood, plant, pentacle
Water: Chalice or other container of water, cauldron, glass bowl of blue gemstones or crystals, seashells
Fire: Candle (red, yellow, or white), container of ash or burnt wood, volcanic rock
Air: Feather, incense or aromatherapy burner, fragrant herbs or flowers, wind chimes
You may want to align your altar to the four cardinal directions if you are part of a tradition (like Wicca) that is directionally based. Otherwise, you can decide to follow the broad esoteric tradition that aligns altars facing the east (where the sun rises and the metaphorical source of spiritual light). But directional alignment is not necessary because your altar becomes the symbolic center of your spiritual practice wherever you place it. The key is to locate it somewhere you can have privacy when doing your ritual work.
My Basic Altar Arrangement
A white “spirit” candle (seven-day glass prayer candle) goes in the center and toward the back of my altar and also serves as the symbol for elemental fire. For special workings, I will sometimes swap it out for a similar white candle with a sigil affixed it (sigil creation and use is detailed later in this chapter).
Arranged artfully in front of the white candle are these:
A feather, representing elemental air. My old neighborhood hosted an enormous number of crows, so I have a collection of beautiful crow feathers on hand for rituals.
A chalice, representing elemental water. My chalice is a relic from the days when I practiced the Golden Dawn system of magic and is hand-painted with sigils and Hebrew lettering.
A small dish with consecrated coarse sea salt, representing elemental earth.
I also have a classic three-legged copper cauldron, which I serendipitously found in an antique shop when I started practicing Wicca as a young adult. It serves as an incense burner (I place disks of charcoal in it, on which I burn loose incense) and also a place to dispose of burnt materials.
Looking on over the elements is a statue of the ancient Greek god Hermes (also known by his Roman name, Mercury), the patron of magic. It’s a reproduction of an ancient statue that I ordered from Greece, and as with many of my magical “action figures,” it has been enlivened—a process you can read about in chapter 9. I have a number of enlivened statues and devotional candles that I swap in and out depending upon the job that needs to be done. When they’re not “at work” they rest on a special shelf of their own. And even when they’re not actively working, I make sure to give them regular attention, as I would any guest in my home.
Next to Hermes sits a very special monkey I named Voodoo Monkey when I received him as a gift in my early twenties. He didn’t need any enlivening—the person who sculpted him was clearly a magician and knew how to imbue spirit into wood (or call the spirit out of wood—either way, an artistic genius). Ever since the day Voodoo Monkey came into my life, he has been with me, following me through multiple moves, relationships, traumas, and joys. He’s as dear to me as any of my human or animal friends, and once, while I was under the influence of a magic form of fungi, he opened up and shared some of his secrets. Maybe you have a similar object in your life, and maybe it already occupies a space on your altar. You know it if you do.
Depending upon the season, I may have fresh or dried flowers, leaves, or herbs. Since I often employ tarot cards in rituals, I frequently have a tarot card in place. A couple of very special shells and rocks round out the tableau.
And that is my basic altar. What will yours contain?
Ancestor Altars
Many cultures keep altars to their ancestors. It is probably one of the oldest extant spiritual practices, and you can see it in our era in African spiritual traditions, in Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, among Spiritualist churches, and in some nontraditional Christian homes.
For a number of reasons, some simply intuitive and aesthetic and some traditional, I do not believe in mixing working altars and ancestral altars. First, your ancestors may not care for your type of magical practice—Great Grandma Judith, who went to Mass every Sunday, may not be too keen about hanging around while you’re doing your skyclad Wiccan rituals.
There is also a strong prohibition in some traditions against mixing photos or mementos of living people with the dead. I agree. It makes me uncomfortable, and I suggest keeping the living and the dead separate.
The spirits of the dead who went before you are some of your most important and useful magical allies. But if you want to work with them, give them their own sacred space. Keep it simple—photos or items from their lives, special food or treats (like cigars for my dad), a cool drink of water, and a plain white candle.
A Living Altar
An altar is a living being. Like all living things, it will grow and evolve as you grow and evolve. Just as your body sheds hair, perspiration, and skin, your altar will shed candle wax, ash, husks of flowers, crumbled herbs, and evaporated water. While some elements may remain for years, others will change, mutate, or go away completely as you grow in experience and your needs shift. If you’re engaged on a long-term campaign for racial justice, for example, a statue or tarot image of Lady Justice or the Egyptian goddess Ma’at may take up long-term residence. When that campaign ends and a looming confrontation with a developer over a local forest demands your attention, a blown-glass image of the earth or a Neolithic goddess statue may take her place.
The world changes, you change, and your altar will change in response. Let your intuition and your artistic, aesthetic, and metaphorical impulses guide you in creating your ever-evolving magical dashboard. Before long, it will be a glowing power center, always on, always ready for you to go to work.
The Art of Sigils and Magical Writing
Written and carved images and symbols have been part of magic since prehistory, probably since early humans could draw a triangle in the dirt with a stick. The symbols found on cave walls and carved into rocks by Neanderthals in Europe and at Tassili n’Ajjer in Africa were likely part of magical or shamanic practices. Some of the oldest magical writing dates back to ancient Egypt, where hieroglyphics and protective spells were carved into amulets and excerpts from the Book of the Dead were written on papyrus before being inserted into cylindrical gold cases to be worn as pendants.
Spells may be written out or words may be broken into parts or arranged in shapes, like this well-known bit of text from the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) that was worn for protection:
Abracadabr
Abracadab
Abracada
Abracad
Abraca
Abrac
Abra
Abr
Ab
A
Magical symbols, names of spiritual beings and deities, and seemingly nonsensical words (known as voces magicae) like abracadabra have been used in magic since the dawn of writing.
Textual magic was used throughout the ancient world by Pagans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The texts were often rolled or folded and worn on the body. In Jewish magic, sections of the Torah are worn as talismans or placed around the home (like the mezuzahs placed on doorposts). In the grimoires of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, writing, symbols, and images were combined into glyphs or sigils and employed in natural magic, spirit summoning, and protective circles.
In the modern era we can see a continuity in magical writing traditions going back to antiquity. In Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure, sections of the Psalms or torn pages from the Bible are carried as apotropaic (protective) magic. Written names have sympathetic power, and personal signatures even more so. Names, petitions, Biblical verses, and curses are written out and manipulated to magical effect. Nearly identical traditions are found in witchcraft.
Graffiti and tagging are also forms of sigilization, with their own rules and culture.
Words and symbols are extraordinarily powerful magical tools. Manipulating written words and symbols is an important technique in magic, and you’ll find it employed through the spells in this book.
Let’s look at one of the most practical and potent forms of symbolic magic: sigils.
Sigils
Sigils are magical symbols designed to influence and cause changes in the inner and outer worlds. The magician, witch, or shaman may utilize existing sigils or create her own.
Sigils are not the sole province of magic, either. If I asked you to visualize the logos of popular soft drinks, computer companies, and fast food chains, you could very likely call them to mind and even draw them. Corporations spend an enormous amount of money to design and test logos, and whether they call it magic or not, they are using the same techniques as magicians. A successful logo can spread across the world and be understood in any language.
Imagine what you can do with a magical logo.
In resistance magic, a sigil can be created for a single spell or to encapsulate an entire movement. Historical examples are the peace symbol, the black power fist, and the symbols for ecology (created by artist Ron Cobb in 1969) and women’s rights (and notice that the feminist sigil is based upon the astrological symbol for Venus).
I spent a few days developing a sigil for the Trump binding spell, and within hours of my introducing it on Facebook it had spread like wildfire through social media. Many of the spell’s participants adopted the sigil as their avatar on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and added it to their altars during their monthly binding rituals. People asked to have it printed on T-shirts and hoodies, and I soon set up an online shop to sell 3D-printed plastic and metal sigil pendants and altarpieces.
So let’s look at the process of sigil creation and then how to empower or “charge” them.
Sigil Creation
There are a number of techniques for designing magical sigils. I’ve used most of them, and the following combines attributes from a variety of authors (and you can find their books in the resources section and the bibliography). The most influential is without question artist and magician Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956). Spare’s technique was adopted and popularized by chaos magicians in the late twentieth century, and his practical techniques remain the basis for most modern sigil magic.
First you must condense your spell’s intention or goal into a short, concise phrase. For the Trump binding spell, it was easy: bind Trump.
Then write it out without spaces between the words and remove duplicate letters:
Bindtrump
Many people remove the vowels, leaving:
Bndtrmp
To use or not use vowels? Spare didn’t use vowels because Hebrew, a language considered magical in many Western esoteric traditions, doesn’t have vowels. I sometimes incorporate them, sometimes not. The key is to create a sigil that feels and looks right—and that takes time and tinkering. Try vowels or simply leave them out.
If you use vowels, the letter O can always be drawn as a bounding circle around your sigil. Magical symbols from the medieval era were often drawn inside of circles and crafted into talismanic disks.
You may also want to incorporate other symbols. If you want to work with the energies of Venus or Mars, for example, you could incorporate their astrological symbols. Ditto with alchemical or elemental symbols. If you’re doing a spell to expose a corrupt corporation, you could incorporate the drawing of an all-seeing eye. For a spell for peace, you might include the well-known peace sign. If your goal is to commemorate an important date, say July 4, you could use 7 and 4. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination and creativity.
Now comes the fun part.
Take the letters (and other symbols if you are using them) and begin combining them creatively. Don’t worry if you’re not a great artist—you don’t need to be. Combine the letters. Overlap them. Merge them. Turn them upside down or sideways. Distort, mangle, flip, break apart, and otherwise work your letters until you have an image that looks … well, magical. It should be simple enough to draw easily but should feel like it is more than just some lines and squiggles on paper.
When you think you’ve nailed it, work with it and try to finesse it even more. You will often know exactly when it is finished. I often describe my best sigils as looking like an alien alphabet or a hieroglyph from a lost civilization. You might not know what it means, but you can tell immediately that it has meaning.
Voilà! You have created your sigil.
Preparing the Sigil for Magic
For most spells, it’s easiest and most effective to draw your sigil on a piece of paper before employing it. You can use any kind of paper, but after reading a suggestion in Gordon White’s The Chaos Protocols, I now regularly use metallic ink pens on black card stock. In candlelight the sigils really come to life, seeming to glow, glimmer, and pulse.
I also sometimes use papyrus (available online or at specialty paper stores) because of its ancient magical provenance, especially for sigils I want to keep on my altar (papyrus holds up very well).
Experiment with different pens, paints, markers, papers, and other media. But don’t confine yourself to ink or paint on paper. I’ve fashioned my sigils into pendants made with clay, especially polymer clay, which comes in an enormous variety of colors and styles, including metallics, fluorescents, even opaque and transparent. You can create exquisite faux-gemstones that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
Any surface can be covered in a sigil—crystals, wands, cauldrons, ceramic, leaves, clothing, envelopes, even your skin (a very ancient and obviously still common practice). You can even paint surreptitious and invisible sigils onto surfaces with water or oil or trace them onto objects or in the air with your finger.
One of my favorite techniques is to add the symbol to a glass-enclosed prayer candle. You can draw it directly on the glass with a permanent marker or draw or print the sigil on a piece of white paper and use a glue stick to apply it to the candle. Especially if you are doing a long-running working, you can use the sigil candle on your altar for days, weeks, or even months, depending on how long you leave it burning. The effect is quite extraordinary for such a simple and easy-to-make object.
Charging Your Sigil
Now it’s time to empower or charge your sigil.
I view the process as bringing the sigil to life—taking a purposely crafted symbol and imbuing it with magical energy. After the charge, it transcends simple lines on paper and becomes an image of power, carrying your intention into the spiritual realm.
Methods of charging sigils are just as varied and diverse as those for creating them. I’ve tried many, and all have been effective, more or less. I suggest trying the following, which has worked exceptionally well for me.
First, we’ll consecrate the sigil. Have the four elements represented on your altar, along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual (see page 152).
Light your incense. Hold your sigil in front of you and say,
Bless this sigil, powers of earth (touch the object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold the object over your fire symbol), and air (hold it in rising incense smoke or touch it to the feather); spirits of the heavens (lift it toward the sky) and of the underworld (lower it toward the altar or ground).
Still holding the sigil in front of you, say,
Consecrate this sigil so that it may (state purpose/intent). May it serve the highest good. So mote it be.
You can expand upon your purpose or intention—you don’t need to stick to your simplified statement. For the Trump binding sigil, for example, I would say, “so that it may bind Donald Trump and all those who abet his wickedness.”
Lift the sigil to your mouth and blow into it. Feel your personal energy empowering the sigil’s intention, the breath of life moving into it and awakening it. Say,
Awaken to your power.
Then hold the sigil in front of you. Relax your eyes and gaze at it. Don’t strain your vision. The sigil will likely blur, shift, wiggle, even double as your eyes soften. Just breathe slowly and let it remain the sole subject of your attention. Enjoy the process as it mutates. This is when it is gestating. As you are gazing at it, visualize the end result—the goal—of your intention. Allow yourself to experience the satisfaction you will feel when the sigil’s purpose is accomplished. Really feel it as if it has happened.
At some point it will simply seem to go dead. What was a living, breathing thing now looks like a dull collection of lines.
Place the sigil within the triangle of candles. Let it settle or bake for as long as you would like. When the process feels complete, blow out the candles and place the sigil upright (lean it against something) on your altar.
Setting It Loose and Propagating It
At this point, your sigil is charged. Duplicates of it will carry that charge in the same way a yeast starter culture can propagate infinite loaves of sourdough bread.
The key to effectiveness is putting the sigil in front of as many eyeballs as possible. It doesn’t matter if those eyeballs (and the brains behind them) understand its intent. I don’t know why it works that way, but it does. The image gains power and effectiveness the wider it circulates, even if those who see it have no idea what it means.
Some traditions suggest burning or otherwise destroying the sigil, under the belief that it is then utilized by the subconscious to work its magic. My experience in advertising and marketing, as well as decades of practical magical experimentation, have convinced me otherwise. Contrary to A. O. Spare’s opinion, keeping the sigil alive and spreading makes it far more effective.
So create a sigil for your cause and incorporate it into your spells. Then set it loose in the world. Here are some possibilities to get you started:
• Paint it on banners or signs for a march.
• Get it printed on t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, and other forms of clothing. There are numerous web-based shops that will print and produce them.
• Turn it into jewelry or an object for your altar (using clay, polymer clay, plastic, wire, wood, etc.). If you create it in clay, consider making a mold so you can mass-produce them for your fellow activists. You can also incorporate appropriate roots, leaves, herbs, resins, and other materials into the clay before drying it (see correspondences on page 226).
• Turn it into a model via 3D printing. It’s very easy to take a 2D symbol and convert it to a 3D file via website conversion tools. Then it’s just a matter of submitting it to a 3D printing company, paying a fee, and getting your sigil delivered in a huge variety of materials, from plastic to pure silver. You can then create a storefront to enable others to use or wear your design.
• Print small versions of them (perhaps fifty or more on a single sheet of recycled paper), cut them out, and distribute them discreetly, leaving them in unusual and unexpected places. Years ago, I came up with the term “meme microdots” for my tiny (one-half-by-one-inch) propaganda flyers. I loved the process of leaving them in heads of lettuce in grocery stores, in stacks of newspapers or magazines on a display rack, in the coin slots of vending machines, and tucked into rolls of toilet paper. The more unusual and surprising the better.
• Have your design printed on stickers. But please, be judicious and thoughtful about where you place them. Don’t put stickers on business property (unless, of course, you’re targeting the business), private homes, public art, trees or plants, or anywhere else they infringe on others or detract from a pleasing environmental aesthetic. The best locations are on utility structures (electrical boxes, the backs of street signs, parking garages), spots already tagged or covered in flyers or graffiti, or other dull, unsightly surfaces. There is an art to stickering—do your best to do it artistically and responsibly.
• Draw or paint it on crystals or rocks, and then consecrate (see the Consecration Ritual on page 160) and deploy them in strategic locations.
• Trace it with your finger on the surface of campaign materials.
• Print postcards and mail them to a person or targeted organization (for support or to bind). You can print the sigil on the postcards or trace it energetically or with oil or water.
Countersigil Magic
What if your target or opponent has a widely distributed sigil—that is, a logo?
Corporations and politicians hire high-priced magicians (logo artists) to create sigils to manifest their intentions (which largely involve making money). It’s almost as if marketers have studied books about magic like this one!
So if you’re going to resist their magic, you’ll need to counter their empowered sigils. Luckily for you, with a printer and a few keystrokes you can have a printed copy of their logo on your altar in minutes.
Antilogo Magic
Print out or draw the logo of a corporate target. You can then write a message across it, put a giant X through it, or otherwise deface the image. In my Hex the NRA spell (page 201), an excerpt from Psalm 37 is written across a printout of the organization’s logo. In written magic, writing across a word or image imposes power upon it. Burning is an age-old form of sympathetic magic, with good reason. It was employed to great effect in the Trump binding spell, during which an “unflattering” (is there any other?) image of the forty-fifth president was burned while the participants chanted “You’re fired!”
Another option is to alter the image. I once saw an alteration of a famous soft drink logo in which the logo’s half circles were transformed into a cartoon human’s distended belly. Now I can’t look at the logo without seeing a gut bloated by excessive sugary soft drink intake. That, friends, is antilogo magic at its finest.
Sigil magic, like all magic, has defensive applications. Use it or lose it.
29. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, “Burning Incense Is Psychoactive: New Class of Antidepressants Might Be Right under Our Noses,” ScienceDaily, May 20, 2008, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520110415.htm.