Itsy Bitsy Spider

This time of year spiders start multiplying in the greenery of our canal, and naturally, spiderwebs soon follow. In no time at all there will be sticky webbing across windows, doorways and pretty much anywhere hospitable to our arachnids’ architectural efforts. And it’s this time of year therefor that the spider's sticky web gets incorporated into various areas of client work.

The spiderweb holds powerful magical sympathies that are especially well suited to tying and trapping magics. Consider for a moment how spiderweb has tensile strength approaching that of steel and you will begin to understand how it is that enchantments wrought with its aid are exceedingly difficult to break.  And by virtue of its metaphorical associations I have found it especially useful for tangling up liars and enemies in their own tricks. Similarly, men and women hoping to snatch a lover (especially if that person is already involved) might find the small eight legged predator’s ancient trap amenable to their questionable desires.

Example:

To tangle a manipulator in their own lies proceed by wrapping a black figural candle (baptised and dressed in reversal oil) in a large mess of spiders webbing while calling for their own words to tangle and tie them. Set it facing a mirror and sit back and watch as they get twisted up in their own schemes .

Reversals Without Tears

An issue that many people run into when reading with tarot reversals is the confusion that happens when interpreting distinctly negative or distinctly positive cards when they are reversed. Is the negativity in a difficult card such as the Tower worsened or improved by the reversal, for example? There are a lot of opinions and approaches. Some will read the negativity as diminished while others will increase the negativity in the meaning, and some even have rules for individual cards that are applied on a case by case basis. The same confusion happens with positive cards. Are otherwise happy cards to be read using flipped meanings, or merely weakened?

Add to this the tension of an emotionally charged topic and it becomes all to easy to begin spinning the reversal in a certain way based on what you would like to have it mean.

This is one of the reasons some readers maintain that tarot reversals are unnecessary since the tarot already expresses the whole range of human experience - good and bad. No need to add that additional twist.

Personally, I think reversals can be very useful provided they are approached in the right way.

My Approach

When we decide to use reversals we are inviting the cards to speak in distinctly dualistic terms - and therein lies the key to rationally interpreting reversals. All the cards have so called ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ meanings contained within them; reversals then allow as to clearly define when and where we are going to apply these meanings.

My approach therefor is as simple as it is intuitive. When reading with reversals, upright cards are always read as positive and reversed cards are always read as negative. The Tower, for example, only means "ruin, calamity or destruction" when reversed. When the Tower is upright it is read something along the lines of "breakthrough, inspiration, fertilising jolt, explosive joy" etc.  Like this all negative and positive meanings are parsed by the upright or reversed positions without exception. To give another example; upright the Lovers only talks about unions, relating and harmony and reversed only signifies discord, splitting up and so forth.

You get the idea.

The ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE OF MANIFESTATION

This spell is particularly well suited to conjuring up a material item such as a new car or home. Or a lump sum of money. Something that you can own and touch. This has to do with the secret geometrical properties of the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE OF MANIFESTATION. You can however use it to manifest more abstract qualities such as strength or love, should you choose.

You will need:

1 vigil light of appropriate colour
X number of taper candles of appropriate colour
suitable condition oil
magnet oil
petition paper
herb

Preparing

First you will need to decide on a word that describes what you want to conjure into existence. If you want a new house, for example, your word will be HOUSE. If you need new employment then your word might be JOB. If you need five thousand dollars then your ‘word’ is $5000.

Let us assume for the sake of this example that I intend to manifest a motorcycle. I will opt for the word BIKE. The longer the word the more candles you will need. The ideal range is four or five letters, but as low as 3 and as high as 6 is workable.

You should select a suitable condition oil. If for example you are trying to conjure up a quick sum of money then you might opt for something like Fast Luck, or another money drawing oil. Another approach is to work astrologically and to use a planetary oil. You will also select the colour of your candles based on your goal - green for money etc. Lastly, you will want to select an appropriate herbal component to grind and sprinkle on the candles to add some botanical power.

The Petition Paper

B

BI

BIK

BIKE

Write your word using the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE FORMULA. In order to succesfully call upon the awesome geometrical and occult properties of the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE, start on the first line with the first letter of the word adding letters on subsequent lines until at the base of the triangle you have the entire word.

Remember, the full word should be at the base of the triangle.

Beneath this you should write your full name. Dress the paper with oil, place a hair from the crown of your head in the centre of ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE and fold it towards you.

The Candles

As mentioned the quantity of taper candles is dependent on the length of your word.

3 letters = 6 tapers
4 letters = 10 tapers
5 letters = 15 tapers

Start by dressing and fixing the vigil. Place the petition paper under the vigil light. Next, taking into careful consideration the letters of the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE FORMULA, use a pin to carve each letter into a candle. One letter per candle. That means in my example I will have four candles with the letter B; three with I; two with K; and one with E.

(B)

(B)(I)

(B)(I)(K)

(B)(I)(K)(E)

Once you have done this you will dress the candles with condition oil, sprinkle with your chosen powdered botanical - and finally arrange the candles standing in the form of the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE OF MANIFESTATION; making sure that it corresponds to the formula used in the petition.

The Work

Activate your incense.

Light the vigil in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and then recite Psalm 23.

Close your eyes and formulate a clear image of the thing you desire. Do not attempt at this point to animate it in your mind yet however. Merely hold it as a still image. When you feel ready light the apex candle declaring: “Through the All Powerful Triangle do I manifest my hearts desire!”

Meditate upon the flame for a while, seeing if you receive any impressions and then leave it to burn.

The following day return to the spell, recite Psalm 23 twice. Visualise your desire but this time begin to animate it. Bring movement into scene. In the case of the example, I might see myself turning the key and starting up the motor of my new bike. When the moment feels right light the next two candles declaring: “ Through the All Powerful Triangle do I manifest my hearts desire!”

On the third day return to the spell and recite Psalm 23 three times. Close your eyes and visualise your desire bringing yet more detail into the visualisation. For example I might feel the vibration of the bike and wind in my face as I zoom down the freeway. When the moment feels right light the next three candles declaring: “ Through the All Powerful Triangle do manifest my hearts desire!”

Continue like this each day adding an additional recitation of the Psalm and more details to the visualisation - until you feel, see, hear, touch and know it to be manifest. Each time light the next row of increasing number candles declaring: “ Through the All Powerful Triangle do manifest my hearts desire!”

Continue like this until all the candles have burned then collect the wax remains, herbal remnants and petition and tie these into a packet to keep until your desire has manifest.

Closing Comments

Those adept in the mysterious geometrical properties of the ALL POWERFUL TRIANGLE will recognise that its formula can, with some modification, be altered so as to produce a TRIANGLE OF VANISHING.

But let us not speak of such things here.

Balthazar’s Heart Card Technique

The following Lenormand technique requires only three cards: the Lord, Lady and Heart. It provides a quick and accurate snapshot of a romantic relationship. I use it as the springboard for a relationship reading.

Where the heart falls in each combination is the key to interpreting the combination.

First find the heart, lord and lady cards - putting the rest of pack aside for moment. You will need to use a deck where the Lord and Lady face opposite directions since their facings form part of the technique.

For this example let us assume we are reading on John’s romantic relationship with Mary. Shuffle the Heart, Lady and Lord cards while focusing on their relationship, and then lay them out in a strip.

There are six possible combinations - each with its own twist:

This is the best combination. The heart connects the Lord and Lady and they are facing. The affection is mutual and they are both interested in the relationship. This bodes well for the relationship since both parties are on board.

The combination is more troubling but holds hope. The heart connects the Lord and Lady but they are not facing as before. The feelings are mutual but there are issues. They do not see eye to eye. Often this indicates a relationship where the couple is fighting but still remain attracted to each another. Otherwise it can show circumstances pulling them apart.

This is somewhat more negative since there is no heart connecting the Lord and Lady. It does however reveal on whose side the problem lies. The Lord and Lady face each other but the heart falls on the side of Lady. Mary and John appear to be trying but Mary is either consciously or unconsciously doing something to mess it up. This can indicate that Mary is emotionally unavailable in some way (her heart is not in it). If Mary is the client I might tell her that this combination is a clue that she is doing something to sabotage the relationship. Playing games, blowing hot and cold, or otherwise withholding in some way are all possibilities. If John were the client I would be concerned that despite Mary's apparent interest in him her affections lay elsewhere.

This is the least fortunate, especially for John. The Lord and Lady are facing apart. The heart does not join them. The lady faces the heart. Mary is pulling away and is withdrawing her love. Mary most probably wants things to end, or is otherwise not interested. She wants out. 

(The final two combinations are the same as the previous two but are of application to the Lord instead of the Lady and are therefor interpreted in the same way.)

Now that you have the snapshot of what is going on your can can use the rest of the pack and lay three cards above and three below to create a 3x3 for details.

The Broken Candle

Considering that candle magic is one of the most popular forms of magic it’s not all that surprising that often spiritual attack takes the form of candle spells.

The following counter spell will break the effect of most garden-variety candle spells. And since the majority of spells done by your average spell-caster involve candles in one way or another - chances are good that you are going to swat a spell using this whether it's an outright attack or some other kind of manipulative spell.

You will need:

black candle
mason jar
urine

The Work

Start by seeing if you can divine which direction the spell is coming from. Divining with a pendulum is one way to discover this. Or, if you already have a clear idea of where your attacker lives then face in their general direction when doing this work.

Urinate in the mason jar. Leave it open. Then, stand facing in the direction of your attacker, black candle in hand. Next, take the (unlit) black candle and ‘clean’ yourself with it. That means you take the candle and briskly wipe yourself down starting with your head and ending at your feet.

Then light the black candle, hold it up and peer into its flame. Do so until you get some sense of your attacker. You may see their face in the flame, or some other scene related to them. It could simply be a feeling in the pit of your stomach if you are not particularly visual. A certain knowingness. The information received like this can be quite enlightening as to the nature of both the spell and enemy. Whatever the case may be, peer into the flame till there is a psychic connection.

In an angry voice say:  their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bow shall be broken!*

As you say "broken" swiftly break the lit candle and drop it in the urine; screw the lid on and immediately dispose of it away from your home. I repeat, do not leave it around the house, or near the house.

Get rid of it.

(If you suspect that you are under spiritual attack but unsure - a reading is a good place to start. Not all misfortune is the result witchcraft)

*Psalm 37:15