Ask a Witch

Puck asks: I kinda want to have a long talk about life with Hermes/Thoth/something that represents communication or writing. Would writing about him(her? It?) Be a good way to do that? 

NOTE: These instructions were originally written for a Jewish 16 year old, so they're framed with more Jewish and more protection than I usually would.  You can frame it anyway you want.  Automatic writing is not a religious activity, it's one available to all humans at all times.

Absolutely!

My go-to method for speaking with beneficent spirits is automatic writing; it's not a good method for dealing with less-friendly or less well-known spirits, because it doesn't offer a lot in the way of protection.  Basically, it's just writing while you're in trance.  Here's how I do it, but there are lots of other methods.  I developed this method when I was a freshman in college, after I read Austin Osmond Spare's essay on "Automatic Drawing", but I've refined it since then.

I find it much easier to write long hand than to try to type automatically.  My computer goes a little crazy when I try to use it for magic.  However, many other people get excellent results with "cyber magic", so try it both ways.  This guy: http://boundary-crosser.blogspot.com/ for example, is the techno-magician in my circle, but he rarely updates his blog, because he's a loser.  (Love you, Jason!) 

I find it easiest to use a "magic" marker and unlined paper.  I like felt tip markers ("flair" pens by papermate are very perfect) because they come in lots of colors and they require the minimum of manual dexterity.  My writing becomes quite indecipherable when in trance, even more so if the ink is skipping and smudging).  I transcribe the writing into a more readable format (usually typed) after I'm done.  That helps me process it, and also collect it.  Make sure to have LOTS of paper on hand.  I write very big, with lots of white space when I do this, and there's nothing more frustrating than running out of paper.

Start by "setting the mood".  Pick some incense or oil that's associated with the spirit you want to make contact with.  Listen to some thematically appropriate music.  Print out a picture of the spirit and stare at it.  Whatever.  

Get into your magic headspace somehow.  Lately, I've been partial to the "Deep Meditation" tone from here: http://iso-tones.com/index.php/tones/spiritual with very deep slow breathing and circulating the microcosmic orbit, which I only recently figured out how to do.  I don't really know how to teach it to you.  Many people, however, seem to find that sort of thing much easier than I do, so give it a shot.  I suspect you will be good at it.  Like with all things, don't force it.  If it feels injurious or sickening, stop, banish, and rest.

Once I'm feeling relaxed and "in the zone", I begin writing out an oration.  An oration is a kind of a preliminary prayer evocation that lists the names and qualities of the spirit you're looking for.  I always call Hashem first. (That's a total lie...I occasionally call Hashem first, but not often, unless I'm doing "big mojo" kind of work.  However, you can do it all the time until you know what you're doing if you want.  You don't have to.)  I write them spontaneously, but they follow a general format, that goes something like this.  

El Elyon, Adonai HaOlam, Immediate and Eternal, Instantaneous and Timeless, Emptiness beyond Darkness, Light Without Limit, Father of Heaven and Earth, Mother of the Ten Thousand Things, Mystery of Mysteries, Door to All Wonders, make open the way.  Open my eyes that I might see, open my ears that I might hear,  open my mouth that I might proclaim your Glory.  Send NAME to me, that we might freely converse.  

I call you NAME, LONG LIST OF TITLES AND ATTRIBUTES.  Come to me, attend to me, speak with me, move my pen and answer my questions.  NAME, TITLES, ATTRIBUTES, I am Sarai, inheritor of the line of Abraham, daughter of the house of Jacob, with the voice of my ancestors, I call out to you, with the hands of the patriarchs and matriarchs of my tribe, I reach out to you, with the magic of Solomon, the Sorcerer King, whose blood is my blood, I call you forth, blah, blah, blah...  (This part can vary widely depending on the spirit and my mood)

After a little while of this (about a page worth, usually), I start to feel inspired to write things.  Often, it's just a list of words to start with, like Freudian free association   For me, I find that, they tend to phonetically circle around a "key word" (often a "magic name" or "mantra" type phrase), and once I find that, the words just start to flow.  When I was new to it, the first part of what the spirit (in those days, it was almost always Arbatel, the Revealer, Angel of the East) had to say was usually an effusive outpouring of love for me, and happiness that I'm finally listening.  Depends on the spirit though.  I try to write both end of the conversation, both whatever they spirit has to say and also any questions I have to ask.  Sometimes the spirit breaks into drawings or math or not-English or sometimes nonsense words.  If it's nonsense for more than a line or two, I just remind it that it has to speak in clear and intelligible English.  If I get stuck in the middle, or loose the connection, I go back to free associating words.  After a while, we run out of things to say, and I say thank you and good bye.  Then, I banish.  In particular, I wash my hands and put some water on the top of my head.  Then I transcribe and ponder.

Good luck!

Your Fairy Godmother