STALKING THE SHADOW:
DEMONS OF FRIGHT AND SHADE
If you don’t deal with your demons,
they will deal with you, and it’s gonna hurt.
–nikki sixx, cofounder of mötley crüe
The Shadow is that which lurks unseen beneath the surface of our knowing. We might think of it as existing within our fetch, that part of our soul structure which is aligned to our subconscious. The Shadow, in the Jungian sense, contains all aspects of the personality which are not illuminated by the light of consciousness (talker). As a result, there are both positive and negative facets to the Shadow, but it is the negative aspects that are of primary concern to us.
The Shadow is far more likely to contain negative aspects than positive, however, just due to human nature: we are all far more likely to acknowledge our constructive traits while denying our undesirable ones. As a result, the Shadow is largely composed of those negative parts of ourselves that we deny, which allows them to fester and grow beneath the surface of our consciousness.
The Shadow isn’t some horrible monster whose sadistic maliciousness is unfairly pointed in your direction. In the absence of conscious direction, it has been left to fend on its own, sometimes even becoming feral in the process. And when this happens we are far more likely to manifest a demon.
What exactly is a demon? What do you think about when you hear that word? Do you think of supernatural entities set squarely against the natural order of things and hell-bent on the destruction of the universe? Or perhaps they are spirits whose energies are unhealthy for the human being, the spiritual equivalent of a wild animal or virus or disease? Or maybe you take a more earthbound approach, equating demons with deep-seated psychological issues hidden in the Shadow, knots of power the likes of which could take years of therapy to untangle.
My use of the word “demon” encompasses all of these definitions to some degree, and I have heard initiates of our tradition use the term to describe many different types of interrelated psychic phenomena. This can easily cause confusion and so first we must be clear about exactly what we are talking about if we are to delve into the deeper work. Before we can conjure and work with our demons, we must first know exactly what a demon is to us.
While some in the Neopagan world will scoff at the belief in both demons and angels, citing them as part of the “Christian pantheon,” I will remind them that both demons and angels have been around a lot longer than the Judeo-Christian religions, to the tune of thousands of years. One need only look to the ancient Sumerians to find evidence of both. It is our society’s Christianization of both these celestial and infernal beings which has given us a skewed perspective. Once we abandon the moralistic judgments of both, only then may we begin to perceive them for what they are: part and parcel of the mechanism of the universe. In their own way, they also represent the powers of our Twins: Light and Dark, Order and Chaos, Creation and Destruction. We need both.
The poetic power of Witchcraft presents itself as a formidable one when we consider the nature of demons. If we approach them as mental constructs, then we run the risk of being blind to the severity of the situation. If we approach them solely as an external entity, then we have perhaps given them too much of our power.
Demonic Reality
There many different types of demons, both personal and transpersonal, with which we might deal in our Witchcraft. If I may paint with a fairly broad brush for just a moment, we might generally classify all demons as being spirits who are agents or embodiments of chaos, where angels would be the agents or embodiments of order.44 Taking a closer look, I have taken to approaching them in the following manner: On the personal side, I refer to those issues, impurities, weaknesses, and other complexes that we all possess as being “demons” with a lowercase d. We all have these demons. Perhaps we are inclined to drink too much or are quick to anger. Perhaps we have self-destructive behaviors that seem to rise up out of the blue, taking control over us, or we have overindulgent appetites that demand to be fed, usually to the exclusion of other, no doubt healthier, behaviors. While indulging on its own is not necessarily a bad thing, all of these behaviors can be indicative of some level of “demonic activity” when they cause a harmful disruption to the individual’s life and relationships.
Humans are carnal creatures and Witchcraft is certainly not a religion that preaches abstinence. If anything, we revel in our carnality. Ours is, however, a path of power. And quite often our personal demons are siphoning away that power—little by little, day in and day out. Or, they are tugging strings here and there to manipulate us into doing things that are perhaps not in our best interests, often while lurking unseen underneath our conscious awareness.
Magical paths that do not provide a methodology for working with one’s complexes can actually end up feeding the Shadow. A great deal of occult rituals and practices deal with either the overt gaining of power, or the alignment of one’s consciousness with otherworldly beings, which in effect does the same. If we are not actively working to identify and break down our blocks, to heal our weaknesses, or refine our impurities, then we run the risk of empowering the very things about ourselves from which we wish to be free. Any issues, complexes, and the like that are present when we encounter greater currents of power (such as those encountered during an initiation into the Craft) are empowered along with the rest of us, so where we might become more powerful in the process, so does our shadow, as well as the power it holds over us. This is the main reason that a practice of regular purification is essential to the practitioner of Faery.
The journey of any magician is the gathering of power. As we seek to continually strengthen our magic, we gather threads of this power along the way. We learn a new technique, or we make a new spirit contact, or perhaps we are initiated or otherwise ritually “attuned” to an egregore, deity, or other spiritual collective; whatever the modality involved, an effective Witch is one who continues to learn and grow. As we grow in our power, however, we begin to move into astral realms in which we come into closer proximity with another class of Demon altogether.
This is the “capitol D Demon,” and I see two very basic types at play. One is the aforementioned spirit or universal force which is aligned to chaos and destruction and is simply part of the necessary mechanism of the universe.45 These “transpersonal Demons” can be petitioned and worked with, just like any other spirit, as long as the practitioner takes the necessary precautions. The other type is again on the personal side; these are when a person’s complex or other deep-seated issue undergoes a type of radical transformation and has become externalized. This is often due to extreme trauma (such as torture, abuse, a horrific accident, prolonged drug abuse, etc.) which causes said complex to “hive off” from the energy body of its human “host,” where it begins to draw life force on its own, forming into a personal Demon. In the lore of the Faery Tradition, these types of demons are sometimes called “Taka spirits.” They can also be formed when aspects of the self are ignored, neglected, or suppressed, and over time become externalized. With its new upgraded status, this Demon begins to develop a different type of consciousness and can begin more complex manipulations as well as engage in deepened parasitic behavior with its host. These demons can negatively affect an individual’s preexisting weaknesses and exploit them; this can cause mental and physical imbalances to become exaggerated, and issues such as mental illness may become more severe under their demonic influence. It is said that someone who has committed murder, for example, can potentially become possessed by their own Taka spirit, engaging in violent activities and not even necessarily being aware of doing them. To them it will have been like a dream or nightmare, while the Demon continues to break their personality.
It’s easier to believe in Demons as being the poetic embodiments of our own weaknesses and desires, but perhaps even more disturbing than Demons of a personal ilk are those that are quite independent of us. These are the embodiments of chaos, destruction, and primal appetites so maligned in the mainstream religions. Their morality is not human, to be certain, but to label them as “evil” and then disregard them entirely is shortsighted and foolish. While we might wish to invoke the powers of order and creation and apply only those to our lives, it is unhealthy to limit our attention to just the powers that “feel good” in the moment. To combat a tumor, we need to kill the tumor. As an agent of death and decay, a controlled demonic presence might help with that, much more so than a goddess of fertility and life. To help remove a binding that another Witch may have placed upon us, a demon might be just the thing we need to destroy that magic and keep more from taking root. In order to create, we must first destroy. To plant, we must first plow. To create art, we must first “destroy” the blank canvas.
There are a certain of these beings that the Witch may very well wish to engage in order to increase their own power, in much the way that working with a deity or angel would provide, only on a different “frequency.” This isn’t to say that they aren’t dangerous; they are as dangerous as poisonous serpents, and only a skilled and experienced worker should engage in working with them, lest they get bitten. But for that experienced worker, the benefits of doing so outweigh the risks. It is part of the Witches work to weave and unweave, to create and destroy. “A Witch who cannot hex cannot heal.”
The dangers come mainly from not knowing our own weaknesses and then giving in to them when in the presence of said Demon. Once we give them control we are their slaves, and winning back our freedom will be painful and difficult. Once we give away our power, it is always painful to take it back.
Of all of the demons we have talked about, it is those aligned to primal appetites that are the most concerning. These can be both personal and transpersonal, and those personal Demons of this nature are perhaps among the most frightening, as they cut so deep. Here we find addiction, compulsion, mindless reaction … feral beings of insatiable hunger, who numb the minds of those afflicted with their presence and compel them to do their infernal bidding. These are the Demons that attach themselves to those who suffer from addictions to drugs, sex, or anything so long as the relationship is an obsessive one. It is entirely possible to have such an addiction without being under the influence of a Demon (though one would argue that the addiction itself is at least a “little d demon”), but being in that compromised state leaves one more susceptible to such an entity taking advantage and moving in.
Though nowhere near as frequent as Hollywood would have you believe, Demons of this nature that are sufficiently established can and will “jump hosts” when specific energetic or psychological weaknesses in the psyche of the new host provide them the opportunity. For example, a Demon born of sadistic anger will find a more inviting home in someone with whom anger has been a problem, or with whom sadistic issues lurk in their subconscious. Compatible energies. Like attracts like. Like fleas jumping from a dead squirrel to a dog, these Demons infect their previously healthy hosts, bringing pain, misery, depression, “bad luck,” and the forces of entropy.
Whether they manifest as mental complexes or as external entities bringing chaos, we feel their destructive power all the same, even as they lead us down the garden path of our desires to our ultimate destruction. We might even be able to see the end result coming, but we are often paralyzed; we can do nothing but repeat the very behavior we know could very well lead to our doom, but we are seemingly helpless to resist.
The Demon Work
In Faery Tradition, there is much work done around demons and Demons alike. In the early 1980s within the coven Korythalia, there came into being a body of material collectively called “the Demon Work,” which has continued its use in those lineages that stem from Bloodrose. This work borrows ideas from those in Ceremonial Magic, and seeks to identify and transform the relationship to one’s personal demons, which are treated largely as Demons in a ritual context.
This work has generally been given later in the training, after the student has had ample time to work with our various tools and inner contacts. The work itself has consisted of the teacher guiding the student into a space in which they summon their personal demons—often with very specific visualizations—which are the embodiments of imbalances, impurities, and blocks as expressed through each of the five elements. In the Hidden Temple of a particular element, the Watcher and the Well would be invoked along with the elemental tool in order to assist in the demonic confrontation as well as any subsequent work in how to actually deal with it.
Its emergence into the praxis of Faery was met with some resistance, however. Victor Anderson reportedly warned against the practice, specifically the assumption that we each already have demons in each of the five elements, and warned that a demon could be accidentally created in the process of summoning one.
This may have been what inspired my own teacher to forgo the practice in my training; focusing instead on the work with the “greatest fear” in conjunction with the Wells as given in the previous chapter. Oddly enough, however, while he did not pass the Demon Work to me in my training, he did do a form of this work with my husband and so through working with that additional material I have come up with my own approach to the Demon Work, which is what I offer my own students.
I’m inclined to agree with Victor’s assessment; if I do not already have a “Demon of Air,” for example, then performing a ritual in which I invoke said Demon might just end up creating one. Whereas before there were only complexes and issues, now that those issues and complexes have been empowered with the tools of our Craft, they begin to take on a life of their own and begin wreaking havoc in our lives.
In BlueRose we do a lot of shadow work. Most of this culminates around the work given with the Wells. But there are times in which this proves insufficient. We should not assume that we have any demons at all. A complex, or a weakness, or a block is not the same as a demon and certainly not the same as a Demon. Once we have decided that a complex is a demon, then we have acknowledged that it has power over us. And if we are not being accurate in our assessment, then we have just given some of our power away needlessly. Divination would be a good practice to help determine if the issue at hand is an actual demon or just a psychological pattern. Remember, sometimes a cigar is only a cigar. Not everything has a deeper spiritual or magical meaning.
On the other hand, in the event that we find we do have a demon, then we will need the tools necessary for dealing with it. Since our intention is to eventually learn to ritually summon a demon, we must first become proficient in banishing them, lest we later find ourselves in proverbial hot water.
This teaches us how to claim our personal space physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, removing unwanted influences and energies and leaving us in a state of charged balance. This exercise (or its equivalent, if you already have an effective banishing in your current personal practice) should be repeated until you feel its effects are “second nature” and can be summed up in the span of a single breath, as an informal “shorthand version.” It will very likely take some time to build up to this, however, so take your time with it.
Items needed:
A Star Goddess candle
Incense burner and charcoal
Your ritual blade
Copal resin
Light your incense charcoal and allow it to get ready. Open the Way. Light your Star Goddess candle with the usual observances. Feel your connection to her through your holy daemon as crystalline-white and ebony-black flames.
Charge yourself up with this vibration of wraith force and place some of the copal resin on the charcoal, allowing it to burn and smoke. Invoke the Iron Pentacle within yourself. Feel yourself as a powerful being! The power of the iron flame within you compels all lesser spirits to flee, while the flame of the Star Goddess protects from greater spirits. Take hold of the burner so that you can begin fumigating the area. Face north46 and imagine that your soul alignment is like a focusing lens. Will this wraith force to be focused like a laser, shining out from your heart center and beaming outward with a tremendous force, brilliantly blasting everything in front of you as you wave the incense smoke in that direction. With your free hand, use your blade to trace a pentacle in the air in front of you and feel your connection to the Iron Pentacle. Imagine it blazing with red iron fire in the air before you. Feel how it obliterates all obstacles, heating them up … melting them … reshaping them as if in a fiery forge. Turn to face the west and repeat this process. Then turn to face south and to the east. Finally, do the same for below and then above, ending in the center within yourself. Stay in this state for at least a few breaths, and then absorb the wraith force and use it to again align your three souls. If you feel you have too much accumulated wraith force, you may send some to your holy daemon along with a wish or prayer, as outlined in the HA Prayer (see Appendix I).
This will be a longer journaling exercise than those given previously. You will want to spend at least ten to fifteen minutes of actual writing, but it will likely take longer to do it justice. Allow yourself to get into the flow.
Open the Way. Begin to journal about your personal history, specifically about ways in which you have made mistakes … choices you made and later regretted. Things that carry a sense of shame or embarrassment. Perhaps incidents in which you were emotionally unbalanced, reacting disproportionately to the situation. Recall especially how you may have hurt others, regardless of your original intentions. What are their names? Looking over your life thus far, what disappointments come to mind as being particularly significant?
When you are finished, you may wish to perform the Waters of Purity rite.
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You will likely wish to perform this exercise several times over the course of a few months, and even then, it will likely need to be revisited afterward. Once you have familiarized yourself with the above exercise, you can start to look for overall patterns. What types of issues have you been dealing with over a long period of time? Are you noticing that you seem to be repeating certain patterns of behavior, relationships, stresses, etc.? Now we must start to look at the overall patterns that present themselves to us as we try to boil it all down to its core.
When doing shadow work, we must ask ourselves what amounts to two basic questions. Open the Way and then spend at least five minutes journaling about each of the following:
1. “I am secretly afraid that I really am __________.” (Example: Bad, stupid, ugly, evil, unloveable, etc.)
2. “All my life I have struggled against __________.” (Example: Anxiety, depression, addiction, obsession, etc.)
Try not to edit yourself during the process. You may find that you wish to “sweeten things up” in order not to appear too “needy.” Sometimes we wish to appear strong or do not wish to draw too much attention to ourselves, in which case we will not ask for help when we need it. Or, some of us might crave the attention and so will ask for help when we really don’t need it. In between these two extremes is real life. Use this tool to help you find your balance.
When you have finished you will likely wish to follow up by invoking the Iron Pentacle to assist you in strengthening up your boundaries and a Waters of Purity rite to help you reintegrate the energies you have raised and transformed.
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Introspective exercises such as these can provide us an opportunity to discern whatever patterns in our behavior might be present. What themes have played out over your life? Or perhaps, if we have been experiencing “bad luck” for some time, we might be able to determine patterns that can shed light on the origin of the problem and perhaps how to correct it. This is all particularly useful for discovering one’s potential demons.
A Witch is a warrior: someone who is responsible.
–Oral tradition, attributed to Victor Anderson
Each of us must live life in such a way so that the good outweighs the bad. This is easier said than done, especially if our past behaviors have been less than honorable. When confronting our own shadow, one recurring theme that arises is feelings of guilt for previous negative conduct. One thing in particular should be made abundantly clear: guilt is a waste of our life force. It may feel as if we are “doing penance” for some crime or sin and that somehow our guilt is a form of justice, but in reality, it is really just directing our attention away from the problem. The life force that is going toward making us feel guilty could have been going toward actually correcting the problem, but instead it’s just bouncing around the ego and making it (once again) all about ourselves. Just another self-important ego trick to keep us from actually evolving. Instead of feeling sorry for past actions, we need to do our best to make amends for them.
Making amends is so much more than simply offering an apology, no matter how heartfelt it may be. To make amends is to offer justice: restitution for a wrong. To bring balance to the scales once more. Where there has been an injury, now there must be healing. Where there has been a burn, now we must bring cooling waters.
In the “Twelve Steps” of Alcoholics Anonymous, the eighth step is to make a list of those who have been harmed and then to have a willingness to make amends to each of them. Step nine is to actually make amends to them, where possible, excluding cases in which to do so would compromise someone’s safety. In the event that it is not possible or safe to do so, we can again turn to magic to assist us.
This rite is to help you make amends on a soul level to someone whom you have harmed. If you wish to share this with the injured party, that is up to you. Who you share this work with is up to you and you alone.
Items needed:
Three candles—one red, one white, and one black
A balance scale—or two paper cups, some string, and a wire coat hanger (the ones with top notches for hanging straps work best)
A pen and two pieces of paper
A pair of scissors
Two to four tablespoons of a mixture of dried herbs: hyssop and basil
A whole or part of a High John the Conqueror Root (chips will do in a pinch)
Two roses, one red the other white, with stems no longer than 6–8 "
A cup of water
Gather all of your materials and set up your balance scale. Or you can make one by poking three equidistant holes near the rims of two paper cups, through which you tie three strings. Attach this to one end of the wire hanger. (If there is a top notch then this is the place to do it, as it will prevent the string from slipping.) Now do the same for the other cup on the other side. You may need to adjust the strings so that the cups hang upright and level.
Figure 16: Scales of Justice
Open the Way. Light the red candle. Invoke the Iron Pentacle. On the paper, write the name of the person whom you have wronged. Underneath their name, write out exactly what you did to this person. Explain what you were thinking at the time … and how you felt at the time. Acknowledge how they must have felt and what they went through. If they suffered hardship as a result, really look at that and take responsibility for what you did. Write this all on this page. Now, turn the page over and write out your apology. Open your heart and let it all pour out. Tell them how you wish you had acted and how you regret your actions to this day. Be aware of how it all weighs on you.
Fold the paper in half and place it on one side of the balance scale. With the scissors, cut the blooms off of the roses, then place the thorny stems on top of the folded paper. Watch the scale tip out of balance.
Now, light the white candle and invoke the Pearl Pentacle. On the other paper, write out everything you are going to do to make amends; to actually make it as right as you can. Will you be able to fix what you did? Do you even know how to get ahold of them? Are they even still alive? Perhaps you will donate to a relevant cause, or you will help someone else who reminds you of them, or something similar. Write it all out again, pouring your emotions into it. When you are done, fold this paper and put it on the other side of the scale.
Place the High John root and sprinkle some of the herb mixture on the side with your amends paper, and then—one by one—begin adding alternating red and white rose petals while building energy as you chant:
By the Pearl and by the Iron,
Restore the balance and quench the fire.
Do this until you either run out of rose petals or you have at least balanced the scales. If you run out of petals before the scales are balanced, you may add more of the herb mixture, continuing to chant as you do.
Once the scales are balanced, reaffirm your soul alignment and light the black candle. Feel your connection to the Star Goddess through your holy daemon. Pray for the person you wronged. Allow their image to inspire you to work toward justice from this moment forward. Perform the Waters of Purity rite. Allow the candles to burn all the way down. The thorns, stems, paper, petals, and herbs should be collected and then buried at the base of a tree or thrown into running water.
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This rite should be repeated for every individual person that you have wronged, going back as far as you can remember. If many people were wronged by the same incident or pattern of behavior it is permissible to do a collective rite, but don’t cheat yourself; you will want to make certain that every facet and relationship has been healed to the best of your ability. Any unhealed relationships that you may have “glossed over” are potential holes in your psychic armor, which can leave you vulnerable when dealing with powers and beings on the astral planes.
In the previous chapter we worked with the Wells of Creation, powerful elemental forces of creation and destruction, and through their lens we asked to be shown our greatest fear. Through each of the elemental principles, our fears were summoned and focused, and while they may have appeared in even vastly different forms in each elemental station, it is probably not surprising to hear now that they likely are all the same fear. Generally, there is one basic “core fear” that gets expressed in multiple ways through this process and it is this fear that our shadow uses to beat us into submission. Keep in mind, however, that without the guidance of a Faery initiate or some other person trained in this process, you will have to trust your own judgment here which can admittedly be problematic, since we are usually the very first people that we will lie to. Self-honesty is not only necessary to this process, it’s also damned hard. This is where it would be a good idea to have a good friend or a therapist to talk to. DO NOT think that you can do this on your own because you are so strong, intelligent, experienced, initiated, powerful, lucky, blessed, or fill-in-the-blank. Your demons will lie to you, so this means you will lie to yourself. A best friend or coven member who can “keep you real” is imperative here.
This work demands that we learn to face our core fears head-on. Whatever it is that we most fear, we need to look at it square in the eye and not look away. Just like in the ballad of Tam Lin, we need to hold fast and not allow our fear to turn us away. We will face our fears and watch them transform before us.
Demons often will appear in frightening, monstrous shapes in an effort to shake our resolve. But just as often they may appear as small, impish creatures. On their own they may seem insignificant, even comical. But keep in mind that there is strength in numbers. Where one or two might even be “cute,” seven or eight could be a problem, like a pack of really adorable yet feral dogs that will bite your ankles until your legs end in bloody stumps.
We most often see the results of the shadow, but not the Shadow itself; the sense of shame we may feel or the fear that we have all point in the direction of the Shadow, but it is not a direct observation. The Shadow does not reveal itself openly. Like “dark matter” it is inferred rather than directly perceived.
The Shadow employs many allies in its war against us. One of our most important jobs in this war is to deny it the resources that it uses in its waging. And in any war the most important weapon is information. Revisiting the journaling exercise given earlier in this chapter will help to create a sort of written record of your personal demons, which will give you greater insight into what patterns they may reveal. Every tool you have will be needed in your work to know—and potentially reclaim—the power that this demon has stolen from you.
Confrontation, Transformation, and Establishing Control
Our goal is to get to a place in which we can face down our shadow and not flinch, where we can control it and not allow it to use its tricks upon us, so that we can work toward its eventual transformation and (hopefully) reintegration. Toward this end we will employ whatever methods are necessary.
One method that is often underappreciated in regard to its effectiveness in combating fear is that of reengaging with a practice with soul alignment and the Iron Pentacle. This pentacle in particular encourages personal strength and protection, so regularly invoking it will grant the added benefit of being stronger in your power, but also more stable and secure. As a sort of informal practice, become accustomed to quickly invoking this pentacle at random times of the day. I often will run the pentacle while taking a shower, or while in between other tasks. In this way, it is always available when I need it, so if and when I may be surprised by any given situation, I can call up this strength and power at a moment’s notice.
Another time-honored method is the practice of reciting a meaningful prayer. The “Litany Against Fear” is an incantation from Frank Herbert’s science-fiction novel Dune, used there as a means to calm the mind in the face of danger. Following the poetic idea of the Hidden Kingdom, some lineages of Faery Tradition have adopted it as a means to help in their shadow work:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
This is memorized and then chanted (either silently or out loud) when dealing with fear, either during our practice or “in the wild.” Practitioners who adopt this technique will generally find that this practice helps not only in mitigating the effects that our fears have over us, but also determining their origins, which up until now may or may not have been clear to us.
A common saying in the Craft is “Where there’s fear there’s power.” Repeating this like a mantra in the face of fear can remind us that fear is just energy moving through our psyche and that the most important thing in its face is to pay attention. It’s a red flag waving in our face. When I experience fear I now sometimes think of a little man waving a literal red flag and the absurdity is often enough to get me out of my fear and into observation mode. Once there the fear no longer has the same power it once held, and I am free to examine the lesson it has for me. There is indeed power in our fears.
In many “alternative spiritualties” (especially those aligned toward a less balanced view), fear is treated like a four-letter word. Fear is seen as the enemy of enlightenment and a throwback to our base nature which keeps us separate from our “higher” nature. Even in Faery circles I have heard talk that seems to demonize the very concept of fear, equating it to something that a less evolved person deals with but not an accomplished Witch.
To this I must respectfully call bullshit. Everyone experiences fear. Everyone. If someone says that they do not then they are either lying or they are so disconnected from themselves that they might as well be. To fear is human, and Witchcraft is a path that revels in our humanity instead of trying to hide from it. To feel our fear is a step toward understanding it. Fear itself is not the problem; inaction in the face of it is. To have courage—to function as a warrior—we still experience our fear, but we learn to move beyond it. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is right action in the face of fear.
We will likely feel fear when we see the faces of our shadow or Demon. It will likely appear in such a way that will make us want to look away, to bury our heads back in the proverbial sand and deny that it even exists. As Witches on a path of gathering power, we can no longer afford the luxury of denial, for in the astral worlds, that which you don’t know can kill you.
While we continue stalking our shadow there are other tools we can employ to help us during our encounters with it. For those who work with crystals and stones, I have found black tourmaline to be especially helpful. This stone is much prized for its powers of both grounding and protection and is actually the best protection stone I have found. Wearing or carrying a piece when you engage your shadow can provide you a greater sense of security as it acts as a barrier to energies that are infectious or harmful. Likewise, snowflake obsidian has been used for this as well.
Other protection charms can also provide a greater sense of stability while engaging this work. I would recommend the creation of a Witch Bottle to assist in this as well as the Faery practice of keeping a piece of iron on the altar. This for its protective as well as grounding properties.
DIVINATION: The Devil at the Crossroads
This is a tarot spread to help decide a more exact course of action when dealing with our shadow. First it helps us determine whether or not we are dealing with a demon, and if so, which element would be best utilized in our continued work. This spread is unique in that, for the most part, we will only pay attention to those cards that you interpret to be “negative.” We are looking only for “hot spots”—the points of particular intensity that represent complexes or a demon (though we will also look at any positive cards that appear in the section marked “Center/Aether”). This relies on your own familiarity with and relationship to the particular deck you have chosen, as well as your own developed intuition. If you are new to tarot, then I would suggest referring to whatever instructional booklet came with your particular deck and read the cards accordingly.
Items needed:
A deck of tarot cards (any style will do as long as it retains the traditional Devil card)
Besides its capacity as “demonic detector,” this spread shows us a map in which we can see through which elements our shadow presents us the greatest challenges. The challenging or negative cards show imbalances in their particular elemental areas.
We see here that each of the elements/directions is also broken into a trinity. This trinity can be viewed on multiple levels or “stations,” each identified with one of the three worlds of Celtic folklore and corresponding to a component of the human soul structure and complete with an Elemental ruler.
The first station is the middleworld. Here are issues concerning the talker. These are issues with communication, with ego, and with mental clarity. This is how we move and exist in the world in terms of our interactions with others. We are consciously aware of these issues, though they may have a depth to them that we fail to fully realize. The Guardian Beasts rule this station, providing us specific keys that we may engage in order help address the particular imbalance. For example, an indication of an imbalance in this station in the element of fire tells us that the ego suffers an imbalance that the Lion can help address. To me this sounds like an inflated ego, possibly some anger issues as well. Candle work would be advised here. An imbalance in talker with water, however, indicates that the issue might be not having enough of a personal will, taking on the identity of the group, losing yourself, etc. Here the Serpent is aligned toward helping bring balance, perhaps through trance work and cleansing. Air speaks of communication issues as well as those of clear sight. The Eagle is helpful in being able to see things from a higher perspective so we can “take it all in.” Earth imbalances here would be those of physical health, likely addressing health concerns that have been present for some time. The Bull can help us to garner the strength we need to push through our obstacles. Complexes expressed through aether invite us to connect to the Divine Twins of above and/or below; the Azure Dove and the Scarlet Serpent. Are we expansive or contractive? If our imbalances are above, how might we be losing the “big picture”? How are we failing to be inclusive of diversity? If below, maybe we need to pay closer attention to the little details? How are your basic needs being met? Where is your passion?
The second station is the underworld and corresponds to the fetch. This is the Shadow in the classical sense. These are issues of deep-seated emotion, shame, anger, etc. and likely ones that we are not aware that we possess. These are deep in the subconscious and provide our own personal keys into the underworld. This is ruled by the Wells of Creation, whose raw power might be particularly helpful in transforming blocks in this area. Each of the Wells/Goddesses can tell us of some quality that we may need to cultivate in order to bring balance to the situation. Arida is freshness … new beginnings. Tana brings energy, passion, and transformation. Tiamat reminds us to go deep, to look beneath the surface of what we know we feel, and face our abyss. Verr-Avna teaches us patience as well as the processes of crystallization and manifestation. Quakoralina is the light of our divine consciousness, expansion, and transcendence. Sugma’ad is about going deep into the primal, the darkness within. The Nameless Name is the wild card that brings it all together and reveals the central theme that unifies everything in the spread.
The third and final station is the overworld. This corresponds to the holy daemon. These are issues with our spirituality, our magic. We can become addicted to our spirituality and then disconnect from our mundane lives. Conversely, we could be disconnected from our own daemon, so wrapped up in the unimportant details and dramas of life that we fail to make genuine connections to those around us. The Watchers are aligned to this station, giving us insight as, how to address a particular imbalance by utilizing the power with which they are traditionally associated. (See Appendix I.)
With this spread we are given not only the knowledge of where in our soul-structure and elemental makeup our shadow or demon is manifesting, but also a means of addressing it, for the associated elemental rulers can provide us the means of transformation.
Open the Way and shuffle the cards. “Tune in” to your shadow using whatever methods you feel are appropriate. Arrange the cards according to the following figure.
Any negative cards are revealing the presence of an imbalance. If at any point we place the Devil card, we will immediately place the next card on top of it and continue dealing the spread as given. Doing so we have marked the presence and location of our demon.
Figure 17: Devil at the Crossroads Spread
North/Earth
1) Middleworld. Talker. Black Bull. Structure. Money.
2) Underworld. Fetch. Verr-Avna. Stability. Health. Physicality. Manifestation.
3) Overworld. Daemon. Black Mother. Silence. Listening. Wisdom.
East/Air
4) Middleworld. Talker. Golden Eagle. Communication. Perception.
5) Underworld. Fetch. Arida. Resonance. New beginnings. Fresh start.
6) Overworld. Daemon. Star Finder. Mental clarity. Knowledge.
South/Fire
7) Middleworld. Talker. Red Lion. Ego. Potency of action.
8) Underworld. Fetch. Tana. Anger. Strength. Transformation.
9) Overworld. Daemon. Shining Flame. Will. Truth.
West/Water
10) Middleworld. Talker. Blue Serpent. Worldly passions. Adaptability.
11) Underworld. Fetch. Tiamat. Fluidity. Going deep below the surface. Astral travel.
12) Overworld. Daemon. Water Maker. Compassion. Love.
Above/Aether
13) Middleworld. Talker. Azure Dove (Divine Twin). Awareness.
14) Underworld. Fetch. Quakoralina. Radiance. Expansion. Light.
15) Overworld. Daemon. Heaven Shiner. Transcendent consciousness.
Below/Aether
16) Middleworld. Talker. Scarlet Serpent (Divine Twin). Awareness.
17) Underworld. Fetch. Sugma’ad. Radiance. Contraction. Darkness.
18) Overworld. Daemon. Fire-in-the-Earth. Embodied consciousness.
Center/Aether
Here we may also read whatever positive cards may arise as our strengths and allies. If the Devil card appears here in any of the three cards then the demon revealed here may be an actual Demon. Pay particular attention to card 20, which is the central issue. A Devil card there is particularly concerning.
19) Middleworld. Talker. This is the center of your talker; what you normally think of as being “you.” Whatever card is here (positive or negative) is a message for you in relation to the rest of the spread. How are you embodying/holding your power?
20) Underworld. Fetch. The Nameless Name. This is “deep fetch” and the central issue of the reading/spread. What are you hiding? What is empowering you or holding you back?
21) Overworld. Daemon. Guardian of the Gates. This is you aligned, and in the center of your Witch power.
It is likely that this spread will give you much to consider. Treat a session with it as you would a meditation. Contemplate the associations and connections and record your findings in your journal.
If the Devil card does not appear in your spread then you do not have a demon, and instead will focus on your lesser complexes, which are represented by whatever negative cards do appear. If you do receive the Devil, then you may wish to repeat this spread later, both to check in on your progress in transforming it and as a means to see if there are any others present, since this reading can only pinpoint one at a time.
When you get proficient at this reading, you may wish to overlay another divination method, such as runes or bone/curio throwing. With these types of systems, you can use the card spread as a foundation, reading the bones/runes/curio as points of particular interest if they appear on top of a card or certain combinations. Experiment!
We will draw from as many sources as we need in order to get the job done. The more secure we are able to feel when engaging our shadow will increase our likelihood of being able to get it under our control. Most of this is done through observation; when we discover the many tricks that the Shadow uses to manipulate us they begin to lose their effectiveness against us. This alone makes your journal an invaluable tool in this particular work. Once we have deprived the Shadow or Demon of its weapons, we can begin the work of transformation.
Our shadow and all the potential demons that we possess are really just parts of ourselves, twisted and turned against us. As a result their very existence indicates that we are not running at full capacity, as a portion of our own life force is being used to maintain the demonic presence. It is for this reason that our first goal must be to transform the demon back into wraith force and then reintegrate it into our system, so that we become more powerful in the process. We have a number of tools that we may choose from for this purpose. However, as not every situation will respond to the same methods, a body of material has grown up around this work to help address different circumstances and temperaments.
44. Devin Hunter, The Witch’s Book of Spirits (Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2017), 235–240.
45. Hunter.
46. In the northern hemisphere–based Faery Tradition, north is usually associated with the earth element. If you are using a different elemental arrangement then begin with whatever direction you associate with earth.