The New Witchcraft Live

Failing Up

This is the story of how failures can still be productive and a warning to those thinking they're too good to perform a reading before some magical operation.

I received a request to dispose of a man that was harassing the women at a friend's volunteer group. Having met this man in person, I had previously sensed the parasitic nature of his energy. His "aura" was extremely lopsided and appeared to pour out the front of his body. A bit unusual but not exceptional nor intellectually stimulating. I had also picked-up through direct conversation with him that he had taken it upon himself to "steward" the young women of the group, whether they wanted or needed such stewardship.

So, I accepted the request and thinking so little of him, I didn't even perform a reading before crafting the spell (something I always do). Do keep in mind that as I describe the operation, the steps mentioned were actually considered afterwards. I often don't know what I'm doing until I do it.

The first effort was entirely astral. I knew a place he had been and could harvest a bit of his spirit. With the help of some nearby trees, a shallow creek, and an impromptu rhyme, I bound his eyes, mouth, and hands.

Later that week, my friend reported that he arrived to the group extremely upset. He had had a bad week. His girlfriend and primary means of transportation had broke up with him. Then while doing his laundry someone stole his phone. He apparently encountered other obstacles that week upon which he did not elaborate. Unfortunately now a stag in need of a ride, his advances towards women in the group became more overt.

I decided a health crisis might give him some perspective. Again, I did not bother with a reading.

I began by forging his spirit in effigy using a jar and candle. I let my spice cabinet tell me how to manufacture a facsimile of his spirit (crushed red pepper, smoked paprika, and cloves for reference) and made the link using the essence I collected earlier. I filled the jar with an inch of water for him to "drown" in. I burned him for three days before letting him drown. Each day I added a bit of animosity I harvested from the other people in the volunteer group and directed the spell to make his life "go away."

My friend reported that the man was missing at the next meeting, and that the trustees were going to meet with him to throw him out should he return. This is after years of complaints. Success? No, of course not. He managed to survive and made it to the following meeting, though he kept to himself and was withdrawn.

Now, I should be satisfied that I managed to "kill" him socially, politically, and financially, but that was not my intention. So, I did a reading and what a fucking mess.

His energetic makeup is literally backwards. Presume each incarnated person has a cycling field about them that goes through four phases. Let's call them Earth, Water, Air, and Fire in that order before starting again at Earth. This man's cycle is backwards. This doesn't make sense. Such a cycle would leave you bedridden or worse.

Unless... there was some other thing sustaining this process and wouldn't you believe, there it was at a much higher level than I had bother looking without the full reading. Some thing had attached to him like a spiritual symbiote. This complicated things.

Attacking the thing directly did not read well, but I could see a weakness in his cycle lower down; a weak link in the chain. His mental energies were extremely weak. I expanded the reading at this level and holy hell this man has mommy issues. He attempts to exert control over women through the pretense of being a "white knight" because he had a domineering maternal figure and "saving" women makes him feel like he's in control. I can use this. I have much more experience breaking minds, than I do breaking bodies.

As it stands, things in the group may yet improve, even if he's not Dead dead. So, I'm discussing with my friend how much further she would like to go. In any event, I have a target I can experiment on.