Posted by In Part I, I talked about the principles which make creating an artificial spirit work. In Part II, I hashed out correspondences, and a little bit of ritual philosophy to work toward a Greek-Pagan Theurgic approach to this ritual. Now, I’m going to give some procedure.
Creation Overview
Here is the outline of the ritual process for creation:
- Prepare the name and instructions for the artificial spirit
- Purify the space
- Cast a circle
- Invoke the deity whom you will ask for help.
- Meditate on the force
- Create the empty shape
- Chant the names of the deity and fill the shape with that power
- Name the artificial spirit
- Give commands to the artificial spirit
- Give the artificial spirit an expiration date
- Send the artificial spirit off to do its work and close the circle
Name and Instructions
Before you even start, make sure that you have already decided on the name you will give you artificial spirit and the exact instructions you are going to give it. Also, decide in advance what the expiration date or circumstances will be. Have these written on a slip of paper before you get started.
In fact, while you are at it, make sure you have any and all material components you will need inside the circle.
I recommend: A dagger (for defining a boundary), a bowl (for khernips), a cup (for offeratory), a plate (for noms to offer the deity), a bell (for dispersing energies), some sage, a print-out of the 3D shape to refer to, your instructions for the artificial spirit and your invocation that you plan to use, and any equipment that you need to cast the circle.
Purifications
According to the methods which I have defined, you will be calling Greek deities for help in the construction of your artificial spirit. Consequently, you will want to purify your space before you do any sort of working in it. Greek deities, generally speaking, care about purity.
I like to purify my space using khernips.
Casting a Circle
An artificial spirit is a construct that you are sending out into the real world. Circles are barriers. Consequently, when you are using this technique, you need to give careful consideration to how and when your construct is going to leave the space that you are working in.
My personal approach would be to be declarative about allowing the artificial spirit out. Using the stone guardian method, one has the opportunity to say, “allow the artificial spirit named Spanky out when I command it to go, empowering it with the magic of Land, Sky and Sea.”
Another option is to specific to the spirit that you are creating that it should wait until the boundaries are taken down before it leaves.
Invocation
Pro-tip: make the deity at home by offering them something to drink before you ask them for any favors. In ancient Greek hospitality customs, it was considered rude to ask a guest any questions before offering them food and drink. Also, be sure to compensate them for their time and energy with a gift of some sort.
The invocation to the deity can include as many ritual flourishes, or as few, as you feel appropriate, but this is key: the spoken invocation should include the epithets that relate to the deity’s role as a deity of that force, you should explain that connection in words, and lastly, you should ask for their help.
Here is an example:
“Ares, god of courage, god of valor, Obrimos the Mighty, Lassoos who calls people together for ambitious purpose, Aphneios who, through strength, brings much bounty, come. I ask you to lend your aide in this work of magic, and guide my powers with wisdom, for the force of Mars belongs to you.”
Be aware that the deity might decline your request. If they do, there is probably a good reason for it. Give them the gift you planned to give them anyway, because they probably just saved you from your own damnable foolishness.
Assuming the deity does not halt you in your tracks and/or berate you for doing something dumb, move on to the next step.
Meditation
Meditate on the force. If it is Mars, think deeply on action, ambition and strength. Fill yourself with the energies of that planet, and become that force.
Create the Shape
Hold your hands out in front of you, and imagine the shape you have chosen forming between your hands. Imagine it very strongly, flashing white and black at the same time. You may have a system of colors that you like to use for the planets. Usually, these are derived by corresponding them to something else. The popularly used colors come from a mash-up of the Christian variant of the Tree of Life and the Chaldean ordering of the planets. It would be just as valid to overlay the visible light spectrum onto the Copernican ordering.
That said, imagining colors is good. You should do it. Choose a way that makes sense to you.
Imagine that the colors which make up the boundaries of your three dimensional shape pouring out of your eyes and causing the framework to solidify.
Filling the shape
The epithets that were spoken in the initial invocation, wherein you asked for help, should now be chanted as you our all of that planetary force you spent time meditating on into the three dimensional shape. Imagine it glowing brightly with the force of that planet.
Name it
Make a statement to the shape declaring it alive and giving it a name.
Example: “Spirit of Mars, I command you awaken! I name you Meletus.”
Give it a command
Now, you should give the artificial spirit all the instructions that you very carefully planned out in advance.
Example: “I command you to lend motivation and encouragement to all of the members of my start-up company, causing them to rally together to act in the best interests of all who work there.”
Give it an expiration date
You may choose a date, a set of circumstances, or both for your expiration date.
Example: “This you will do until such time as the company goes public, or until I call you and command you otherwise. When the company goes public, disperse, returning your power to Ares. If the company will clearly not go public, disperse nonetheless, returning your power to Ares.”
or
“Do this until June 15th, 2015, at which time you will return your power to Ares.”
or
“This you will do until such time as the company goes public, or until June 15th, 2015, at which time you will return your power to Ares.”
Closing and Sending the Artificial Spirit Forth
Depending on what kind of circle you cast, you will either send the spirit forth immediately, or do so after the circle is closed.
If you send it off immediately, you might say something like: “Go now, and do as I command. Kan toh!”
If you will wait, let the artificial spirit know by saying something like: “But stay you and wait while I close the circle. When all others have departed, I will send you forth.”
As a part of your closing, be certain to include verbal thanks to the deity that is helping you.
Dismantling Overview
Here is the outline of he ritual process for recalling the spirit and dismantling it
- Purify the space
- Cast a circle
- Invoke the deity whom you will ask for help.
- Invoke the artificial spirit by name.
- Command the artificial spirit to die and return its power to the deity.
- Disperse the energies
- Close the circle
Most of this should be fairly similar to the creation process, so I will focus primarily on 4, 5 and 6.
Invoke the spirit by name
Having purified the space, cast a circle, and called the deity that helped you to create your artificial spirit, you will now call that 
spirit.
Since you gave the spirit a name, you’ll be able to use that name to summon it back into your circle. Probably, there is more than one spirit with the same name, so you’ll want to be a little more specific. Specify that you mean the artificial spirit of that name, who is also a spirit of the planetary force you chose, and who operates under the divine authority of the deity you called.
Example: “Meletus, spirit of Mars, under the Divine authority of Ares, I command you to return to me.”
If you wish to recall a thought form that does NOT have a name, the process is similar, but you will have to be extremely specific.
Let’s say that you did a spell to attract hummingbirds, for whatever reason. You did it for the purpose of showing your friend that spells can have a measurable effect. You used a small skein of blue yarn, a few turkey feathers, and called Hermes, the god of bird omens. You cast the spell on a Wednesday afternoon. Now, it’s been months, and you lost all the material components, but the Hummingbirds are still coming, and you want the energy from that spell back.
You should say: “I call to the spirit of my hummingbird spell, cast with the aide of Hermes, god of bird omens, for the purpose of impressing my friend, Sally. Return to me, energies of my hummingbird spell, and be present in my circle.”
Then, you should really name those energies so that you can get a better handle on them.
“Spirit of my hummingbird spell, cast with the aide of Hermes, god of bird omens, for the purpose of impressing my friend, Sally: I name you Muffy.”
Command the spirit to die
In a way, you are killing a living thing. You have the right to, of course, since you created it, even if you created it with the aide of a deity. Nonetheless, be respectful of the fact that you are ending the existence of a creature that you made. All things which are born must die. If you do not lay it to rest, it will deplete your power until you do. In it’s afterlife, its consciousness will become a part of your consciousness, and its power will return to the deity you drew it from. A little ceremony will help bring closure to the working.
Example: “Meletus, I thank you for your service, which must now come to an end. All things which are born must die, for the sake of the renewal of the world. Return, now, your power to Ares, and to the force of Mars which pervades the universe, and be gathered up to the soul of your creator.”
Disperse the energies
Once you have ended the life of the spirit, you should disperse the energies. An easy way to do this is with tonal sound. You may sing a wordless song, ring a bell, play an instrument or whatever else you feel is appropriate.
Closing
Before you close the circle, be sure to thank the deity again for their aide and for any goodness which came your way as a result of the working. This little bit of politesse will ensure that they will answer your call the next time you are doing this sort of working.
Magick From Scratch 
Reblogged this on hocuspocus13.
Does this work for someone over long distances? Assuming a magickal connection can be made and you’ve already met the person, that is.
I think so, but it might cost you a bit more, in terms of will and energy. My apologies, but I’m going to do a brain dump:
This type of servitor is an extension of your will, supervised by a deity.
For influencing another person, rather than a set of coincidences with a particular abstract goal in mind, you need to actually inspire the other person’s imagination.
This can happen on the unconscious level, but works best if you have some concept about what the local symbolic lingo is with respect to the aim in question.
In a sense, the real work is convincing the local consensus, or even the unconscious mind of your target, to play along with your game, and invest their own energy into bringing it to fruition. You don’t just need their consent, you need their help.
“But they don’t want that to happen,” you might say. Well, no. On the surface, no. But it’s amazing how much people are prone to self-sabotage, when they know that they are doing something wrong. If the person really is hurting others, there is a part of them that wants to stop. That’s the part you need to appeal to. Or, conversely, the people around the individual, on some level probably realize that deception is going on, but want to believe for some reason. Giving them super-powers of truth-seeing boils down to inspiring that part of them that wants to see the truth, giving it strength and encouragement.
Giving the servitor an outer shape (starting with the plantonic solid, and then giving it a costume, or morphing the platonic solid into a more complex shape) which is meaningful to the unconscious minds of the people you wish to influence is the best approach. Giving the servitor instructions to “persuade them to stop lying, for their own good,” or “inspire them with love for the truth and courage to see it,” might be a good approach. Then, the image will hopefully propagate through their local egregore (every social environment has one), and they’ll keep the ball rolling from there.
If you have ever watched a tv show, and knew exactly what was going to happen next, because you just ‘got’ the writer’s formula, then you probably have some idea of what I’m talking about. Real life kinda has that too, at least in social settings. A certain ‘current’ or way that things tend to flow. Work with that, not against it.
As another thing to consider: What are *you* going to get out of this? Before you outlay energy for a magical aim, ask yourself if you are going to get any meaningful return on that investment. The energy you put into this working will be tied up for a while.
If people are getting hurt, and you need to save them, then the gain is a moral one, and probably worth it. You need to be sure that it gets done.
Under other circumstances, the amount of your will that would go into this might not be worth it, and you might do well simply praying to a god of truth (like Apollon) and asking them to handle it. Then again, divine politics. A wee bit if a crap-shoot.
I know you mentioned Helios and Hekate in regards to working from afar, but what about Apollon?
As for his wanting to stop, he tried to rationalize to me that the women he is using are okay with it, and projected onto me saying that *I’m* the liar. This implies to me that on some level, he knows what he’s doing is wrong; he just doesn’t want to answer for it, and claims he ‘doesn’t have to explain himself.’ He’s VERY evasive and outright dishonest (the only matter is finding hard evidence for each and every lie), and pretended to be my friend; suffice it to say he hasn’t been one, despite his offering. He has an ex-gf who committed suicide, and he drove me (as his former gf) to self-harm – who knows how many others there were or are. So yeah, I’m pissed off that he continues to hurt women. I don’t know them, but I do know him very well.
Yes, Apollon is also called “distant archer”
If you choose to work with Apollon, you might think about a “Know Thyself” angle. It sounds like he’s not just lying to the people around him. He’s in denial. Does he suffer from addiction by any chance?
If this is an issue with abuse of romantic partners, Ares and Aphrodite might top my list of deities to meditate with to get advice about how to approach, even if it is not their help that you will ultimately call for in your working.
Yes, denial is the right word.
In Sarah Anne Lawless’ stories about curses, someone wrote that one way of establishing a connection is using their favorite drug.
Anyway – he *could* be addicted to hashish. Why?
Another Apollon connection. He’s a god of sobriety. Also, oftentimes, addicts use their drug of choice to help numb them to their self-loathing, and ultimately, this prevents them from facing the truth and seeking positive change.
Wow. I’m like the last person to argue against hashish or weed, and I’d even say it’s kind of necessary sometimes for anyone over there, but that insight is…astounding. I def agree if someone has to be under the influence of a substance all the time, they’re avoiding an issue (or issues).
I’m not anti-weed either, and marijuana addiction is practically unheard of. But people can technically become addicted to anything that gives pleasure. Food. Sex. Video games. You name it.
Addiction makes sense with the “self loathing that I’m doing nothing about” and “Evasive and in denial” — I have a lot of friends and family members in recovery, and have heard some stories.
Also, I don’t know if this is relevant, but: I know that the women want a relationship, while he doesn’t.
Right, because he’s insecure and full of self loathing. Evasive and defensive. Knows what he is doing is wrong. Downward spiral of toxic relationships which only make him feel worse about himself, leading him to ever-more toxic relationships.
Sounds like a gem.
Thanks a lot for your comments, btw. I have a good idea of what forms will appeal to his subconscious. So I will work on this servitor some more.
Excellent. Good luck. Don’t push too hard. He’s not as strong as he looks.
Here’s a synchronicity: His last name is Afkir, and he’s gone online under the aliases of Sam and Adam. Well, a few days ago I got a text from a guy with the name Sammy Alfakir, a.k.a. Adam (different guy, but from the same country) – too similar to be just a coincidence.
I am actually a tiny bit surprised that people who aren’t me do this, although I don’t do any sort of complicated rituals for it – it’s just something I naturally DO, y’know?
Magic is just imagination empowered by will. There are some who take a wild approach, and others who require the methodical confines of a ceremonial style. I find that I do both, but that, when seeking reproducibility, this approach works best. And yes, people who aren’t you do this. It’s a technique employed by Heremeticists, Thelemites, and even Chaos magicians.
I hope I didn’t come across as arrogant; that wasn’t my intention at all. I just don’t usually ‘talk shop’ with any pagans who know what they’re talking about. (and there I go being arrogant again; what I mean is, I don’t usually talk about magical workings with pagans who aren’t either super beginners or extremely casual in their workings)
You make a good point about reproducibility; it’s just not something I personally happen to be super concerned with, seeing as I do very little magical work myself, and when I do, it’s generally for myself. (the fact that I almost never work with tools may have something to do with it too) I can see where it’d be useful, though.
:: shrug :: I didn’t see your note as rude. I have literally zero interest in finding fault with people. With philosophies? Yes. With people? No.
I blog about these topics because I can’t really find anyone in my community who is interested in discussing these sorts of workings. So, I hear what you are saying.
The people in my immediate community are not beginners by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly not casual, but our community is a faith community, not a magical one. I’m kind of an odd duck — not Wiccan, not interested in Golden Dawn anymore, but still interested in magic. It’s kind of isolating, but I have little interest in joining a tradition I’m not comfortable with just to have some working partners.
I’d rather seed the inter-webs with my ideas, and hope that it catches on enough that I’ll start to bump into people with ideas similar to mine.
It would take nine years, give or take, to get a third degree in Wicca. I think I might be able to accomplish this aim in a similar amount of time.