Technically, asphalt is a liquid. Which explains why walking across a parking lot has a different feeling than walking on the road. When tired, walk on the side of the road that has you going the same direction as traffic. No point in walking upstream.
For the last two months, Liber Coven has been spending time puzzling through the actions of fictional spins on Anasi and the animals he tricked. Now, we’re back to studying magical practice with a trip into chaos magic. Our book club book for the months of July and August is Condensed Chaos by Phil’s Hine.
“Magic leads us into exhilaration and ecstasy; into insight and understanding; into changing ourselves and the world in which we participate. Through magic we may come to explore the possibilities of freedom.”
We are taking a look at what can be done with the unpredictable, the malleable, and the magical with our next read. Join us as we look at ”results-based magic” and the techniques used to apply it to everyday practice.
As used for tech magic, but can be an outline for general servitor creation. It is suggested to establish these in this particular order, as function/behavior informs shape, and shape informs physical requirements/limitations.
Function: [what it does, expand into multiple numbered functions to prevent confusion, give explicit active/command functions as well as a passive/downtime function]
Code of Conduct: [ethics guidelines, parameters for offensive/defensive action, parameters for giving out information and practitioner privacy]
Motivations:[why it seeks to perform its function(s), what interests it, does it have a drive to achieve a goal]
Feelings: [how it feels, why does it seek the motivations, is it lonely/bored, is it subservient, is it happy, etc, use feelings to give the motivations meaning]
Behavior: [how it works, what processes does it go through in order to achieve motivations and function(s)]
Energy:[how energy signature feels/looks, be descriptive in color, texture, feeling, smell, any senses derived from manipulation of above data]
Alignment:[elemental type, if any, primarily used to associate servitor with a specific type of magic as defined by the system of the practitioner]
Shape: [type or species, drawing or using a doll maker for ease of design, does not have to match energy feeling colors/senses but helps to be similar]
Name: [name, something easy to remember/spell in case of emergency]
Residence: [where it lives during the downtime, give it a home to return to]
Food: [what it eats, whether aether/astral food or energy sources, give it multiple sources of energy]
Resonance: [object that can be used to call it or, alternatively, object that it is bound to, not immediately necessary]
Limitations: [where it can go, what defines servitors spatial limitations and boundaries, does it require the practitioners permission to go past boundaries]
Abilities:[what it can do, include magical abilities here, offensive/defensive, healing, travel, and communication]
Referenced from “Servitor Magick” by Oliver P. Hart (on Kindle).
My personal commentary:
Servitors are intended to be entities that feed off of a practitioner’s energy and exist only as that practitioner demands.
You can design alternatives for your servitor to decide/enact as their personality is established – if they want a secondary human/creature form for shapeshifting, if they want to be able to learn new abilities/functions, etc. It is important to note in your design that these additional traits or alternative actions are to be approved by the practitioner first.
Although servitors are meant to be dependent on the practitioner, one should consider their lifespan and how you intend to use them. If you would like to give your servitor extra motivations/feelings that guide them to become more independent (with permission first), be sure to plan how they would potentially survive. I designed a drive for my research-oriented servitor to bond with a consenting independent entity in order to learn new things and live a full life.
Most servitors are destroyed/reabsorbed by their practitioners, and as a whole, servitors do not have independence or negative feelings towards being reabsorbed. Unless an alternate lifestyle is programmed in for them.
Tech magic servitors can be written in code or in text in a secure program and activated by the practitioner’s method of choice, and can be altered as desired. If your servitor has a form of sentience, I would suggest speaking to them before making changes.
Servitors are artificial spirits that are made by the practitioner, and are used to complete tasks, or goals set by the petitioner to help him or her in their life, or magical practice. Before you jump right into creating a servitor there are things you must plan out beforehand. It’s a lot like building a blueprint. You don’t just start making the house before you have a blueprint. Here are the things you’re going to need to think about before building your very own servitor:
1) Purpose
Everything needs a purpose, and it’s your job to pick your purpose for your servitor. A purpose can be anything. You could want your servitor to protect you, or your family. You could want your servitor to help you pass a test. You could have your servitor torture people in their dreams… You know whatever you want. It is important to give your servitor a purpose, because it is dangerous to make a servitor without a purpose. If your servitor does not have a purpose it may go rogue, and we may have a situation like that Jewish story of "The Golem of Prague", who goes on a murderous rampage. Once you have your purpose feel free to move on to the next step.
2)Spiritual appearance
Now you must create an appearance for your servitor that it will take on the astral, and etheric planes of existence. It is important to keep in mind when making your servitor’s spiritual appearance that the spiritual appearance should reflect the task that they were assigned to complete. If the servitor is for better communication with your peers, then it’s spiritual appearance shouldn’t be a Azathoth looking creature, but maybe perhaps some type of human or anthropomorphic entity. Besides that the you can create any type of spiritual appearance you would like. Male, female, tall, short it’s up to you. You can even say “f*** it, and I’m making this one a shapeshifter”. So have some fun, and do whatever you would like. You also might want to draw a picture, or get some representation of their form once you decide upon it for later steps in the servitor creation process.
3)Personality
This one’s pretty self-explanatory, and again you can pretty much pick whatever you would like. All we’re going to do is think of some personality traits that you would like your servitor to have, like charming, intelligent, funny, friendly, loyal, etc… So this one is pretty easy, and now that I think about it I have no idea what happens if you don’t give them a personality. I guess they turn into Kristen Stewart, or something. Anyway pick out your personality traits that you like, and move on to the next step.
4)Feeding
You like to eat, so do servitors. Feeding a servitor is a lot like charging a Sigil. and you can use all the same methods in order to feed a servitor in the same way you use to charge a sigil. You can also set up some methods of feeding for the servitor that the servitor can do on their own behalf. You could tell your servitor to feed on something like sunlight, or crystals that you have lying around. Not setting up feeding methods, or not feeding your servitor will result in it going rogue, or it finding its own food sources which may not always be more preferable.
5)Lifespan
There are some people that say the servitors lifespan should not be very long, but in my experience this has not been a problem. In my experience servitors only act up once they do not have a purpose anymore, or if acting up is programmed into their nature, or if they are not being fed. Life span is very based on purpose. If you want your servitor to help you pass a test, then its lifespan should only be until after the test then it will return back to the energy of source. If you wanted your servitor to protect your property then you would need a lifespan that you can end at any time. So then you would need a phrase, or ritual to end its life when the time comes. This phrase, or ritual would not have to be elaborate. It’s never happened to me before, but being on a system like that one could in theory make the servitor want to have self preservation. You would be the only thing that could kill it. So if they took you out then they could go on living. I don’t know if it happens, or not, but that’s just a theory. A Servitor Theory! Thanks for watching…. <– (Tell me if you get that joke.) I always tell my servitor if they try to harm me or anyone I care about they will be terminated immediately. That’s a good enough safety net I guess let’s move on to the next step.
6)The Housing
Now we need housing to ground the servitor to the physical plane. Housing can be things like a rock, a staff, a doll, something you made out of clay, etc… Servitors by nature do not need housing, but it is better to have a physical representation of them for control, and feeding purposes. Housing can be anything, but I would stay away from certain metals because energy does not flow as good through them as it does other materials. It is also better to have a housing made, or created by you, and your hands. Once you find what housing you would like to use you are ready to go onto the next step.
7)Naming
This one is super simple all you have to do is pick a name for your servitor. Literally can be anything Meaningful, or otherwise. All you have to choose a name, and then you can move on to the next step.
8)Making a Sigil
Now you should make a sigil out of the name of your servitor, or out of the purpose of your servitor. You will use this sigil as a true representation of your servitor. If you do not know how to make a sigil you can always Google it, or you should be able to find it by searching back through my posts.
Once you have your sigil you can draw it, or carve it into your housing for your servitor. This would be recommended, but if you do not want to mark the sigil on the housing you can always put the sigil on a piece of paper, and put it underneath your housing during the “Bringing the servitor to life” step.
9) Bringing the servitor to life
Now we just bring together all the materials that we have gathered thus far into a ritual. First thing you’ll want to do is cleanse the area. This can be done through any cleansing method such as the Lesser banishing ritual, smudging, or clap cleansing. Next you’re going to want to cast a circle or use some other form of protection technique. Then you’re going to want to start charging your housing, and your sigil through any form of charging method. Now you’re going to want to enter a Gnostic state of consciousness where you can strongly in vision the energy that you are manipulating. Close your eyes, and in your mind’s eye begin to mold the energy into the spiritual appearance of your servitor. Strongly visualize every little detail of your servitor’s being. Then breathe life into your servitor by just intending for the energy to be alive and to be conscious. Once you have molded your energy into the spiritual appearance of your servitor, then in your head, or out loud call to the servitor. Tell the servitor it’s name, it’s purpose, it’s personality, it’s feeding methods, and it’s lifespan. More focus, and intention you use to create the servitor more put together the servitor will be. Now your servitor is done, and it is alive. Undo your circle, and before you send out your servitor for the task you want them to complete I usually wait one day, and feed my servitor a couple times. I find when I first create a servitor it is incredibly weak so I gave it one day to become a little bit stronger before it starts its task.
I decided to follow my dream of being a woodcarver. It turns out that carving is really easy for me and the way I think about forms, so I thought it might be fun to cut my teeth on carving some wooden icons for my altar. I tried to make some sculpted icons several years ago but didn’t really feel the results because I knew that I wanted them to be wood, but didn’t, at that point, have the skills. Now I do! Here’s Eris. S/he is made out of fenland blackthorn, taken from the country park up the road, hand carved, and dyed with tea and iron. The gold is Stuart Semple’s Goldest Gold on the face, and gold leaf on the Apple. Patreon got a whole post about it.
tune in for live illustration of a last-minute, one-off, unplanned Catsastrophe as I create the whole content of my long-threatened Cats zine, re-imagining the Cats Cats as divinatory archetypes
If you’ve been in need of quiet,tranquility, and freedom from disturbances, this sigil is for you. It will also help with meditation, calming your emotions,and acting logically in stressful situations. Find your inner peace!
Soon I may begin working on a Witchcraft Masterpost. This one would be a little different from my other masterposts as it would be strictly image based (some might be animated). Think “witch tips” but organized in a way that would allow a beginner to actually learn things in order. Images will be original and designed by me~!
This is going to be a huge undertaking (sooo many topics to touch on, this is probably like a year or more in the making) but I’m ready for it and I think it’ll be a fun journey for both myself and all of you witches out there, both experienced and new! ❤
Please leave a like and/or reblog if this is something you’re interested in!
Well it looks like I’m doing this!! You guys seem as excited about this as I am. Thank you all~! ❤
This drawing has been on my tablet since the first “Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness” teaser was released and I couldn’t get myself to finish it and post it. I finally made up my mind, even if it’s not perfect and it doesn’t do justice to my beautiful Wandina. I like her since before WandaVision and I hope they don’t want to make her the villain of the new movie. I would never forgive them.
