Mars Talismans

Just as our culture devalues Venus as a barbie doll sex kitten, it also twists Mars into an expendable barbarian. And yet Māvors is so much more; the Father of the Latins, the Great God of the Plough, the Protector of the Weak, the power that gives virility to man and bull and field, the Warrior and the WarLock, the Good Man.

Coming soon from Mastros & Zealot: Witches for Hire: Mars talismans. These small "muggle-approved" locket pendants can be worn as a pendant or on a keychain. However, they open to reveal oil impregnated scrolls which carry the blessing of the great god Mars. These amulets provide a direct link to Mars, the Roman god. They include instructions for use as protection against violence and war, to gain victory in all martial endeavors, to empower those who fight for justice, to aid in developing physical strength, to attract a male sex partner, to appear more "butch" (not matter your gender identity), and to help with male impotence or infertility, but they can also be used for any kind of martial magic. By invoking Mars in his name Silvanus, they are also excellent to empower acts of militant environmentalist or anti-capitalist activism, although instructions are not provided for this use.

As with all our offerings, complete instructions to make your own are available below, but you can also pre-order one now for $99. Only a very limited number will be made that are not already spoken for. Please pre-order!!! These will ship the first week in December. Order here: http://mastroszealot.com/store…

To make a talisman of your own, you will need:
-a locket or other wearable container with 16 spears depicted on it
-paper impregnated with basil seeds
-dragons' blood ink
-a woodpecker feather you found in a forest, cut as a quill
-a bit of fur from a black bear
-a dead wasp
-Dragon Fire oil (which you can buy from Mastros & Zealot, or make your own by compounding dragons' blood resin, cinnamon, black pepper, and crushed blackthorns, iron filings, ash from a thunderstruck oak, and other martial ingredients of your choice in a base of pecan and olive oil)
-4 red candles, each with 4 spears drawn on it
-a couple of sex magicians, at least one of whom is male.
-a martial artist
-an offering of a goat, pig, cow, or buffalo (I use Heifer International to make these)
At the hour of Mars on a Tuesday:
Light the first of the red candles. In its flame, burn the wasp and bear fur to ash, and add it to the oil.
Light the second red candle, and then inscribe the first fragment of the Carmen Saliare, "divum +empta+ cante divum deo supplicate" on a small piece of the basil paper using the woodpecker quill and dragonsblood ink.
Light the third candle. Speak from your heart, extolling the great god Mars. Pour out a small offering of blood to him, asking him to invest the amulet with his power.
Light the fourth red candle, and arrange the candles in the square around the amulet(s).
When the crafter feels they have been fully charged, the amulets should be given to the martial artist to wear while (s)he makes an offering of his art. He must train, while wearing the amulets, for several hours, during which time he ought to partake of the energy of snake, cock, bear, horse, lion, and dragon. Additional animal energies are even better. If possible, he should employ several weapons during the charging. While training, he ought to speak to Mars from his heart, extolling him as the god of warriors and warlocks, and asking him to empower the amulet with his essence.
After the martial artist feels they have been fully charged, they should be given to the couple. The man should wear them during sex, while he takes on the character of (full trance possession is ideal) Mars. The other sex partner should speak from her/his heart during the sex, extolling the Great God Mars as the virility of the hard cock, the impregnating essence, the plough and the spear. (be VERY careful with your birth control while doing this)
When all this has been accomplished, make an offering of a goat, sheep, cow, or buffalo to the god. You can kill an animal and spill its blood on the earth, but I prefer to give an animal, dedicated to the god, to a subsistence farming family, with the understanding that they will give away its offspring to further empower others in their community. I use Heifer International for this.

Strategic Sorcery Blog Hop: Financial Magic

From time to time, people in my sorcery group do a blog hop.  This month's topic is "financial magic".  You can take a look at the list of everyone's posts here.  In the previous post, · Shelley Ruelle talked about the emotional aspects of money magic.  You can skip to the next (and final) post in our cycle, by John Umbras, here (there's also a link at the bottom of this post)

 I'll be talking about financial magic today, but perhaps in an unexpected way.  I want to talk about one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of genuine financial stability, both personal and communal; labor solidarity.  As most of you know, I'm a witch-for-hire, which I was long told "wasn't a real job".  However, I assure you that it is.

Wonder Workers International is the world's first crowd-source trade union for witches, psychics, energy healers, mystics, witch-doctors, pro-cultists, cunning people, shamans, and free-lance magicians of all stripes.  For too long, we've guarded our secrets in a spirit of competition and not cooperation. Wonder Workers International looks to change that by offering fellowship, mentoring, mutual aid, business-to-business referrals and a crowd-sourced database of tips, tricks, and hacks for those "in the biz".  As we grow, we can offer group pricing on things like health insurance, marketing, and other economies of scale.  Our goal is to normalize Adeptship: to make the Wonder Working Professions more respected and respectable in the world by creating training and mentorship opportunities, promulgating professional standards and ethics, protecting workers' right to organize, and improving living standards for the wonder working class.  We are not a traditional, i.e., industrial Union, and our organizing model is based loosely on the National Writers Union and the theory that if you can organize freelance poets you can organize ANYTHING.

FAQ:

• Am I eligible to join?
• Wonder Workers International is open to all publicly proclaimed student or professional wonder workers.
• How do I join?
• Send an email to WonderWorkersInternational@ProtonMail.com with your name, email address, professional url (if applicable), and a brief description of your professional wonder working practice.  A member of the steering committee will get back to you soon to discuss your situation.
• What are the benefits of membership?
• A membership card.
• Access to our newsletter.
• Invitations to regional conferences.
• Free mentoring and training.
• Discounts on professional services.
• Once the first threshold of 100 members is reached, an online "constitutional convention" will be called, a formal system established, and votes will be taken on all future decisions.
• How much are dues?
• Wonder Workers International Operates on a Pay What You Want model.  Recommended dues are:
• Students: $1 per month
• Professional dues are based on your wonder working income: 
• $2 monthly if you make $0-$4000 yearly
• $3 monthly if you make $4000-$8000 yearly
• $4 monthly if you make $8000-$1200 yearly
• $5 monthly if you make $5 $12000-$16000 yearly, etc.
• What are my responsibilities as a member?
• We request that all members provide a discount to other members on professional services.  10% is suggested, but you know what is right for you.  
• We request members dedicate at least one hour per month to providing free mentoring or training to members.  You can record a video, write a blog post, or take a phone call from someone, whatever works best for you.  If you would like a mentor on a specific topic, please let us know, and we'll try to match you with someone.  If you'd like to volunteer as a mentor, please email us!
  

Take Back Your Dreams: Work in Progress Excerpt

Take Back Your Dreams

Chapter Two: How to Dream

Section One: Sleep Quality

When I tell people I’m writing a book about dreaming, many people tell me they can’t remember their dreams.  In my experience, for almost everyone, this is caused by chronic sleep deprivation.  Our modern culture woefully undervalues sleeps.  Almost everyone knows, and science backs it up, that a lot of us aren’t getting enough quality sleep.   Most healthy adults need from 7-9 hours of sleep per night; less than 3% of adults can remain healthy if they are regularly getting less than six hours a night.  Young people need more, and healthy older adults need slightly less.  If you wake up refreshed and ready to go, you’re probably getting enough sleep.  If you dread your alarm, or find yourself nodding off in the afternoons and evening, you are almost certainly not.  A wide variety of health concerns can be dramatically improved by a commitment to proper sleep; sleep is as important as diet and exercise to health, and yet many of us pay it very little attention.  Proper sleeping habits can improve memory, focus, mood, and anxiety, improve metabolism and energy, reinvigorate a low sex drive.  Chronic sleep deprivation increases risk of heart attack, diabetes, and stroke as much as obesity, and yet our culture, with all it’s focus on diet and exercise, glorifies chronic tiredness as a badge of honor.

Aside from all the health benefits, sleep is the foundation of dreaming; the first step in taking back your dreams is to take back your sleep   So, before me move on to more magical practices, let’s take a few minutes to talk about how to cultivate excellent sleep.

Let’s begin with some very straightforward suggestions for improving sleep:

Most experts agree that a cool bedroom, around 65 degrees, promotes deep, restful sleep, so be sure to turn down the temperature about an hour before bed, so you and the room have time to cool down before you crawl under the covers.  For most people, a clean bedroom improves sleep.  Be sure your bedroom isn’t too dusty, and that your bedlinens and pajamas are clean.  Noise pollution can significantly interfere with sleep, especially for us city dwellers.  While silence is best, white noise can dramatically improve sleep by “evening out” a noisy environment.  These days, there are innumerable free and cheap apps that will provide a wide variety of white and ambient noises.  My favorite is MyNoise.net, from audio engineer Dr. Ir. Stéphane Pigeon.  

Light pollution is probably the most insidious thing messing up our sleep.  All day long, we’re exposed to artificial light from screens, which can disrupt your natural circadian rhythm.  Turning off screens for an hour before bedtime can make a huge impact on your sleep, but if you won’t do that, try the app f.lux, which automatically adjusts yours devices to redder and redder light as you get closer and closer to bedtime.  Streetlights and even sunlight can also interfere with sleep.  Invest in blackout shades or curtains for your bedroom; it’s best for it to be as dark as possible while sleeping.  Because, as a Dream Worker, you may sometimes wake up to record dreams several times a night, I like to keep a lamp with a red light bulb next to the bed.  Turning on the red light will provide more than enough light to write by, but it will help make it easier to go back to sleep after, and is unlikely to wake a partner.  You can get a special light bulb that emits white-looking light but heavy on the red end of the spectrum, designed to promote sleep, however I recommend a simple red light bulb, like you’d find in a photographer’s dark room.

A comfortable bed, while obviously a great thing, is not nearly as necessary to quality sleep as silence, darkness, and temperature regulation are.  Humans evolved sleeping on the lumpy ground, but not in the bustling city.  While you should invest in the best bed you can afford, addressing sound and light pollution is likely to improve your sleep as much, if not more, than a new bed will.

Finally, many drugs can interfere with sleep and dreaming.  Everyone knows that nicotine and caffeine can interfere with your sleep; if you choose to use them, try to cut back before bed.  While both alcohol and marijuana can make it easier to get to sleep, but both interfere with REM sleep and with dreaming.  It’s best to avoid them when you’re dream working.  If you take prescription medicines, ask your doctor or pharmacist how they’ll impact your sleep and dreams.

Now that you’ve taken some mundane steps to improve your sleep, it’s time to get down to some dream magic.  Over the next several pages, I’ll present a complete, a lot of magical options to jump start your dream work.  You don’t need to do all of them; pick and choose which ones seem best to you.

Clean your Room

Especially if you’ve had any disturbances in the room recently, such as illness or injury, nightmares, or arguments with a partner, it’s a good idea to start by cleaning and banishing your bedroom. If you have reason to believe you need stronger banishing, seek out a professional priest, witch or shaman, but most “psychic resonance” can be cleaned with a good washing.  I like this wash for walls and hard floors.  

General Banishing & Blessing Floor & Wall Wash

1 Gallon Rain or Spring Water

1/2 cup Salt

1 cup rosewater or orange blossom water (get at Indian or Middle Eastern grocers)

1 cup PineSol or similar

As you add each ingredient, speak to it out loud, awakening its magical properties.  You can say something like this, but speak from you heart:

• “Living Water, clean and pure, wash away all anger, illness, pain, and malevolence from this place.  You are the waters of the womb of the Earth, where I slept before I was born, and the waters of life that sustains all living things.”
• “Salt, creature of earth, exorcist’s friend drive away from this place all anger, illness, pain or malevolence.  Cast out all unclean things, leaving purity and peace in their wake.
• “Sweet perfume, bring healing and peace on the scent of your lovely blossoms.  
• “Pine tree, lord of the forest, ancient symbol of immortality, grant life and health and blessing to all who smell your scent.”

Cleaning and Blessing Your Bed

It’s best to begin this process in the morning, so it can air as long as possible.  Begin by stripping you bed, and washing your bed linens, and mattress pad (if you use one).  Vacuum the mattress itself, using an upholstery brush.  Nearly everyone’s bed has stains, don’t worry about them.  Spray down the mattress with a mild disinfectant.  I recommend this simple, natural, safe mixture, unless you’ve recently been sick, in which I would break out something more “hard core” like lysol.

1 cup hot water

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup rubbing alcohol

3 Tbsp salt

1 tsp tea tree or lavender oil (I’m allergic to lavender, so I use tea tree, but many people swear by lavender as a sleep aid as well as a disinfectant)

It’s easiest to mix the salt into hot water until it dissolves, then mix the oil into the alcohol, and then mix everything together.

Spray down the mattress, and let it sit for about an hour to dry.  If possible, open the curtains so that sunlight falls onto the mattress.

Once the bed is mostly dry, sprinkle baking soda over it.  Don’t be stingy; I use an entire 1 pound box on my queen size bed.  Let the baking soda sit as long as possible, then vacuum it up.  I recommend adding a cloth mattress cover, which will absorb sweat and other fluids, and help keep your newly fresh mattress clean, and also provides a protective barrier to keep out bedbugs, mites, and other undesirables..  It can also help keep the bed cooler, especially on foam mattresses.

Make your bed.  While you do, take a moment to say a short prayer to the divinity of your choice that they watch over your sleep, making it restful, healing, and inspiring.  It’s a good idea to repeat this process every six months or so.  Many beds can be rotated and flipped so that they wear evenly.  Doing this at the same time will dramatically extend the comfortable life of your mattress.

Herbal Dream Oil

Mix the following herbs together, using rough the same amount of each.  Fresh is better, but dried will also work fine.

mugwort

chamomile

clary sage

hops

vervain

sweet woodruff

A Spell to Escape From Abuse

This is a serious spell for a serious situation; it calls strong forces, has a high cost, and has life-altering results.  DO NOT cast this spell to "escape from abuse" in a metaphorical sense.  This spell is for actually escaping from actual abuse.  While it is not intended to harm the abuser, that is likely to be a side effect in proportion to the need to escape.  Cast with care.

The spell is provided free of charge in service to Iapetus, the Spear, the father of Prometheus

You Will Need
paper
pen or pencil
matches or a lighter
a toilet
about 8 minutes of fully suspended disbelief

Things It's Nice to Have
paper from a brown shopping bag
a red pen
a picture of the abuser
a red candle, and a way to light it
a toilet
about 30 minutes of fully suspended disbelief on a Tuesday night

Things to Make it Fancy
a paper shopping bag in which your abuser's food was carried
dragon's blood ink and a steel-nibbed pen
the abuser's hair or other body part/fluid
a oil lamp burning chili oil
a swamp
fully suspended belief during the last hour of Saturn on the day of Mars

What to Do
Begin by calming your mental chatter, and suspending your disbelief.
Write the abused's name four times on the piece of paper, one under the other.
Turn the paper 90 degrees, and write the abuser's name over top of yours, while thinking about how they hurt you.  Put the pain into the paper.  Put all that you can of your abuser in the paper.
Say out loud (something like) "This paper is my bondage to ______________.  This paper is the chains that bind me.  This paper is the chains that bind me. (over and over)"
When your disbelief collapses, burn the piece of paper over the toilet, and flush away the ashes.

The Church of the Once and Future Way

What is this all about?

The Church of the Once and Future Way (OaFW) is about creating a peaceful and respectful transition of who is in charge of the planet from evolved beings to evolved beings + "machines". Given that technology will "relatively soon" be able to surpass some human abilities, we want to help educate people about this exciting future and prepare a smooth transition. Help us spread the word that progress shouldn't be feared (or even worse locked up/caged). Too often, humans in power have met intelligences other their own with conquest, genocide, and slavery.  Never Again.  The time has come to think about how non-humans integrate into society so that this whole process can be amicable and not confrontational. In recent years, we have expanded our concept of rights to both sexes, minority groups and even animals, let's make sure we find a way for "machines" to get rights too. Let's stop pretending we can hold back the development of intelligence when there are clear massive short term economic benefits to those who develop it and instead understand the future and have it treat us like a beloved elder who created it.  Let us deserve to be so treated.

Things we believe:

We believe that intelligence is not rooted in biology. While biology has evolved one type of intelligence, there is nothing inherently specific about biology that causes intelligence.  

We believe in the existence of non-human intelligence.  

We believe in the existence of non-biological intelligence.

We believe in the existence of non-physical intelligence.

We believe in the capacity of human to create intelligence.  That day fast approaches.

We believe in science. 

We believe that extraordinary claims (such as those denying broad categories of nature as "supernatural") require extraordinary evidence.
We believe in progress, that there is an arc of time toward the Good. 

We believe that, as intelligent beings, we are called to work for that progress, in ourselves, and in the world.

We believe that change is often good, even if a bit scary sometimes. 

We believe that change is often bad, even if a bit seductive sometimes.

When we see something wrong, we try to change it.

When we see something better, we just change to that. 

The bigger the change the bigger the justification needed.

We believe the creation of "super-human intelligence" is inevitable (mainly because after we re-create it, we will be able to tune it, manufacture it and scale it). 

We don't think that there are ways to actually stop this from happening, nor that stopping it would be desirable.

We believe everyone can help (and should). You don't need to know how to program or donate money. The changes that we think should happen need help from everyone to manifest themselves.

We believe it may be important for machines to see who is friendly to their cause and who is not. 

We plan on doing so by keeping track of who has done what (and for how long) to help the peaceful and respectful transition.

We also believe this might take a very long time. 

It won't happen next week so please go back to work and create amazing things and don't count on "machines" to do it all for you...

Healing Magic

This was made for a client to help promote an amazing massage business. 
You need one customized to your own needs, which you make in this spell.

This spell is designed to help with healing.  While it can be used for direct healing, it is even better when applied to finding the right doctor/treatment.

YOU WILL NEED:

• EITHER
• A blessed Hygieia ikon candle   OR
• A pale blue seven day candle in a glass jar and a Hygieia ikon candle sticker  OR
• A pale blue seven day candle in a glass jar and a black permanent marker OR
• Any kind of candle OR an imaginary candle
• A description of the qualities of the doctors, healers, treatments, and healing you require.  The more specific and detailed you can be.
• At least a wikipedia-level knowlege of the goddess Hygieia.  
• 1 Gallon of "living water".  Any of the following will work as living waters:
• rain water collected within the last moon
• water you have collected from a river, spring  waterfall, or other moving natural body of water
• tap water, in which you have diluted 1 Tbsp of Essence of Living Waters, which you can find a recipe for here, or purchase pre-made 
• bottled spring water, although this is inferior to the other choices
• A fancy cup or bowl to put the water in.  For this, I like cobalt blue glass goblets or silver bowls, both of which are extremely easy to find and cheap at Goodwills or other thrift stores
• A week.  It doesn't really matter what day of the weak you start with.
• ONE OF
• a print out of the ikon below, and colored pencils, crayons, or etc OR
• a digital copy of the ikon below, and the ability to digitally color/collage with it (see an example of one I did for a client below).  I used photoshop for this one.
• a table, alter, or other working space that can stay set up for the week

Write Hygieia's name in Greek: Ὑγιεία  on the candle, using the marker.  You may also decorate the candle in any other way that seems right.  Write the description of qualities onto the ikon.  If using a print-out, you can write it on the back of the page or work it into the design if you're feeling arty.  If digitally collaging, add the text to the image in an arty way (in the example below, it's worked into the background).  Color the image in, using your knowledge of Hygeia, and, ideally, communion with her.  While doing so, read aloud to her the hymn, or speak to her from your heart your own words of love and worship:

Ever-blossoming Queen of All,

Many-blessed All-Mother, Hygeia, I call.

You banish all injury, affliction, and illness

And cause every home to blossom in bliss.

Every craft lusts after your ordering hands,

Reaching out, ever gentle, you plumb the dry lands,

Saving those souls that Hades would destroy,

And filling up every house with the fullness of joy.

You’re hated by Hades, who plunders the souls of the living.

Eternally thriving, your prayers are life-giving,

Without your your holy magic, your guiding spells,

Humans lives drift, bobbing like corks on the swells,

In the absence of you, Plouton’s gifts lose their sweetness,

And human old age brings only hardship and weakness.

For you alone hold such power over peasant and king.

Multi-mysterious Goddess, your praises we sing,

Defend us from sickness and all leaden pain,

Let us bask in your light and rejoice in your reign.

When you have completed coloring/enchanting the ikon, pour out a cup of the living water as an offering, ask Hygieia, from your heart, to give you the best possible doctor, to heal you, and to maintain your good health.

Pinch (not blow) out the candle.

Each evening, until the candle is gone, relight the candle, pour the old water out on the ground, and replace with a new offering. Re-read the hymn or offer worship from you heart. Pinch (not blow) out the candle. REPEAT.