spirits, Magic
Taylor Ellwood
The relationship between sacred kingship and ...

One of the books I’m reading lately is King, Warrior, Magician, Lover by Robert Moore and Doug Gillette. It’s a fascinating book that explores the archetypes of the mature and sacred masculine. This is currently part of the spiritual work that I’m engaged in as I explore my own relationship with masculinity and heal the ancestoral and contemporary wounds that I’m becoming aware of as it relates to how masculinity is treated and perceived in modern times.

One of the aspects I’m exploring in particular is related to sacred kingship and the land. I am in the process of exploring the new city and surrounding areas that I live in. While I’ve lived here for a year, I didn’t have much opportunity until recently to really begin exploring the area and developing a relationship with the land. I find it fitting and useful that part of the process has also involved cultivating a relationship with the land, particularly on the basis of the relationship has with their home and how that relationship plays out in sacromagical work one does in connecting with the land.

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Creating The Beltane altar for Coalessence

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Picture courtesy Joanna Brook

Recently I was given the opportunity to create an altar for the Coalessence Ecstatic dance community which has dances every Sunday and Tuesday. It was the Sunday before Beltaine, and on a spur of the moment I decided to volunteer, feeling moved to create an altar. I decided that the theme/focus of the altar would be around Beltaine, and I would dedicate the altar to my patron goddess Aphrodite and patron god Eros.

My approach to creating this altar was also informed by a desire to consider the aesthetics of the deities I was working with as well as the energy I wanted to call into the dance hall. I wanted to make the altar into an art magic working that would call forth the divine power of Aphrodite and Eros and inspire the dancers to celebrate the energies of Beltaine.

I started my process by choosing the items I would bring from my home to the space I was going to be working in. I brought my statues of Aphrodite and Eros, conch shells I had placed on the altar, a bracelet with the inscription of “Live in the Moment,” some crystals in the shapes of hearts, a Lapis Lazuli necklace, a crystal goblet, and roses I recently bought for my beloved, but also as an offering to Aphrodite, since we both work with her.

How to work with different currents of natural rhythms

Photo by Drew Rae: https://www.pexels.com/photo/eclipse-digital-wallpaper-580679/

Recently the new moon occurred on the same night as the solar eclipse. When you have two different natural events occur that effect each other, it can bring up some interesting challenges around how to work with those differing natural rhythms in your magical work. On the one hand the new moon is the potential seeding of possibilities and on the other hand, the solar eclipse is the choice to clip away what isn’t working. Of course, another interpretation of the new moon is that of the dark moon when you do shadow work.

I’ve been gradually exploring and experimenting with the natural rhythms of the seasons in relationship to the sun and I’ve also been experimenting with magic on different phases of the moon. I find this work relevant to my space/time magic but also to continuing to develop a deeper relationship with the natural cycles of the world and the astrological currents that can influence this work.

For the most recent confluence of the new moon and a solar eclipse I approached the work with a consideration of how I could factor in multiple currents that could accomplish specific goals for my magical work, while also not doing a separate working for each current. I wanted to do all the work in one ritual, which would still encompass both currents.

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The Somatic benefits of martial arts

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Photo by Craig Adderley: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-a-man-and-woman-doing-martial-arts-1543932/

I recently started learning Kung Fu at a local studio. I had been interested in studying Martial Arts for a long time and had gotten into Qi Gong because of that interest. While I continue to practice Qi Gong and appreciative the meditative and energetic aspects of the practice, I also wanted to branch out to a more martial form in order to better understand the differences, but also see how one practice might comment on the other.

While I definitely have gotten that benefit from starting to study Kung Fu, what I also came to appreciate about Kung Fu were the somatic benefits of the practice. As I learn a given move and enmesh it within my body memory, what stands out to me is how the practice engages me on multiple levels of knowing and consciousness. My body consciousness is engaged when I learn how to step or move a part of my body, but my memory is also engaged, both in learning the move, but also considering how I might have applied it in different situations in my life. My emotional consciousness is also engaged and I am able to work through and release emotions with the practice.

Somatic work has become a kind of buzz phrase of late in the holistic sphere of activities, but somatic studies have been around for a long time, and whenever I learn a new form of body work I look at how I can integrate it into the existing body practices I already practice. For example with Kung Fu, one of the experiences I’ve been paying more attention to is the angle of a movement. I first learned about the angle of a movement by studying the dance disciplines of Laban, who broke movements of the body into the platonic geometric shapes and showed how a given movement could be performed with these geometries in mind.

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Fear as an Ally in Your Magical Practice

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Fear, in all of its guises, can be a force in our lives that either stops us in our tracks or motivates us to make changes The relationship we cultivate with fear can either turn it into one of our greatest allies or one of your greatest enemies. In this video I explore both aspects.

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How to Fuel your Magical Entities and get better results

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Picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2023

Recently I was asked a question about how I fuel magical entities. The person asked if I relied upon deities, elemental or planetary currents or other traditional forms of fueling that are typically used with magical entities. It's a good question to ask, because there are many different ways you can set an entity up, both in terms of how you fuel it, and in terms of other specifications and customizations you can make to the entity.

While I can and do draw on more traditional methods for fueling entities, these methods are only one part of my process for fueling entities (or doing any other kind of magical work that requires a fuel source). The benefit of drawing on more traditional sources is that they are tried and true. For example if you create an entity that's focused around love, it makes sense that you might draw on the Venusian current or seek the aid of a love deity to help you with empowering the entity to perform it's specific tasks.

On the other hand, one might rightfully ask why not just go directly to the source and work with the love deity or the planetary energy without drawing upon an entity for the purposes of doing the spiritual work? Certainly that's a good question to ask as well.

The reason I choose to work with a magical entity is because I can tailor the entity toward the specific needs of the situation, which can be useful, especially if the situation doesn't exactly fit within the domain of a given spirit's influence. Another reason I might create an entity is because I want some distance from the situation, but I still want a magical working to be done, but through a lens that focuses in on my understanding of the situation. A deity or more traditional spirit may not have the exact understanding of the situation that an entity can be programmed to have...and that can be very useful with specific examples.

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Deep Cleaning as a form of Release and Healing

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Photo by Riya Kumari: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photograph-of-person-sweeping-the-floor-1433350/

Just this past weekend I decided to do a deep cleanse of my house. My roommate was moving out so I was going to need to clean anyway, and it gave me the perfect opportunity to do a physical deep clean of all the rooms of the house and in the process also do a deep clean on the emotional/mental and spiritual levels of the house and myself. I had previously done a deep clean in the fall and this process helped me realize that this should likely be a twice a year event.

I do a lot to keep my house clean normally, but a deep clean is different. With a deep clean what I'm doing is getting everything cleaned on every level. I'm also getting a work around as I move furniture around and so this process becomes a purification on the body level as well.

I also treat a deep clean as a cleansing of emotional and energetic residue that needs to be released. For me, this deep clean was about releasing the residue from 2022 that had been acquired through various experiences I had. Before I started cleaning I called to the spirit of the house and land and asked their blessing for the cleaning. Then I called on patron deities and asked their blessing because I'm cleaning this space as a devotional activity for them as well. Once the blessing is received, the cleaning becomes a work of service to the house and deities, as well as to inhabitants of the house.

Sensory over stimulation and scrying

Image courtesy of Taylor Ellwood 2023

I've been continuing to experiment with scrying using a combination of tools for the purposes of overstimulation. For this particular process I've been working with Andras and Haures, two of the daemons from the Goetia. The initial process has involved setting the sigil for the given daemon up so its between a candle and the black mirror I have set up. I evoke the daemon using the enn for it and then stare at the at the mirror through the candle flame...but set up an optical illusion so that it seems like the candle is doubled in appearance.

I also have been filming these sessions live on instagram and I have the camera propped up so its directed at the flame. The camera creates a halo effect with the flame which can also be used for scrying purposes. I use it as an additional layer of sensory overstimulation. I'm chanting the enn, looking at the candle and mirror and then sometimes scrying via the instagram live video.

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Further Scrying Experiments

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I took a little break from my scrying experiments because of a weekend trip I took where I did a lot of intense shadow work. I knew I needed to make time to integrate that work back into myself and that doing scrying work on top of that work wasn't a good idea.

But on Saturday night I decided I as ready to start the scrying experiments up again. This time I chose to work with Goetic Daemon Andras, around helping me release and let go of some fear I'd been feeling and to help me also get to the core of that fear.

I chose to evoke Andras via a candle and the black mirror. I also recorded a video of the scrying via Instagram, in part to set up the phone recording as another version of the scrying. What I've noticed is that when I record the scrying, it actually creates an intriguing effect with the candle, where the light of the candle creates a sphere of light in the recording that can also be used for scrying.

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How to Integrate Initiatory Experiences in your everyday life

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This previous weekend I went away for a weekend retreat where I went through an initiation process. I can't really share any details about what happened there, as its part of a mystery tradition, but what I can share is that I came into the event as one person and came out of the event as a changed and more grounded person.

That is part of the purpose of initiation. We go into an experience, not knowing what will happen and we are changed by that experience in fundamental ways that we may not even fully understand but that nonetheless become part of our rooted being.

Over the years I've had the fortune to attend other events where I've experienced an initiatory change from who I was, wherein I felt a shift in my state of being. This happens any time you remove yourself from mainstream society and immerse yourself in a different environment physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Some experiences may be more intense and driven than others, but all experiences that take us out of the comfort zone will inevitably bring about change.

The question arises though: How do we integrate that change back into our everyday lives?

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The nature of attachments and how to liberate yourself from them

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image courtesy of unsplash

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of work around attachments, and my relationship with myself and those attachments. I’ve come to recognize something fundamental about attachments: They operate from a place of fear and scarcity and possession. You think you have something or someone (you don’t) or you want to have something or someone (you won’t) and all this comes from a place of fear that leads to attachment. Attachments operate from a place of control, a desire to make the world around you conform to your will, but they ultimately weigh you down.

Understanding the nature of an attachment can help you liberate yourself from it. An attachment is ultimately informed by a sense of scarcity, but also a limiting belief that if you don’t have something or someone in your life you won’t be happy. Ironically you give away the very control you seek when you are attachment, because you are basing your sense of happiness and well being on something or someone external to yourself. Even if you temporarily attain what you are attached to, it doesn’t provide happiness. You might feel a sense of pleasure, but pleasure is fleeting and immaterial and if you don’t attain the attachment it becomes a perceived source of unhappiness because you are holding on to a limiting belief that the desired object, event, person etc., has the key to your happiness, when in fact the opposite is true. If anything the struggle around attachment keeps you from truly appreciating and enjoying whatever experience you have as well as whoever you are with. Most importantly it keeps you from enjoying yourself.

So what do you to liberate yourself from an attachment?

First you need to recognize that the attachment won’t bring you happiness. Your attachment is to a sense of happiness originating from an external source. When you recognize that happiness comes from within and that no one or nothing else has that happiness then you can let go of trying to find that happiness somewhere else. You’re looking in the wrong places when you look for happiness from someone or something else.

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Sound baths and audio magic scrying experiments

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image copyright Taylor Ellwood

I have been continuing to experiment with scrying, and I recently decided to switch from candles and mirrors to using modern technology.

My initial experiment was inspired by a Gong ceremony I attended. The Gong ceremony put me into a deep state of altered awareness and I ended up experiencing a sensation of time dilation. It was a deeply fascinating experience and it prompted me to consider how I could attempt to replicate the conditions of a sound bath, while using my black mirror and a candle for scrying.

What I did was set up a cd player with two speakers so that one speaker was to the left of me and the other was to the right. I then picked out music that would be helpful for stimulating the mind via biaurnal beats and soundscapes. I used music from Coil, Rapoon and The Anti Group Collective. I played the music and then lit the candle and proceeded to do my usual scrying, but with the music creating a sound batch effect for the purposes of deeper states of altered consciousness.

What I found is that with the right music I definitely achieved a deeper state of altered awareness which led to more visions and experiences via scrying, both for behavior alteration and spirit work. I then decided to move on to another experiment...

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How to work with a memory box

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Picture copyright Taylor Ellwood 2023

I was recently asked a question about the memory box tool, which I’ve shared in my book Magical Identity, and how it’s created and can be worked with. This prompted me to follow through on a decision I had made a while back: Namely to offer the Memory Box as a magical Tool for sale. To get a memory box from me, click the button below. I’m also going to describe how it can be worked with below.

I created the memory box to be a physical representation and aide for working with the web of space and time. The web of space and time is an intersection of nodal space points and trajectories of time which bring possibilities through those nodal space points. The memory box serves as an interface for accessing the web of space and time, but it also has a few other functions that may be of interest to someone who wants to work space/time magic with it.

To access the web of space and time, place your hands on the sides of the box, with the thumbs touching the interior of the box. The lid needs to be open. You can stare at the web glyph I’ve created on the lid or in the box itself and use it as a visual guide to access the web. You may also wish to call on whatever spirits you work with that are space/time spirits to help you navigate the web of space and time. I can also provide a list of said spirits when I send you the box.

Nodal space points are people, places, things, events…nouns. The trajectories of time are the lines of time that go through the nodal space points. When you work with the web you occupy a given nodal space point and if you want to change your identity or move to another nodal space point you use the lines of time to move you to a different nodal point.

I’ve used the web of space and time to help me shift my identity from one point of identity to another identity. This has been a helpful practice at different moments of my life, where I really wanted to shift to a new point of space and time and leave the one that was no longer working for me behind. For example I used the web of space/time to help me with the process of moving to a new city. More recently, in conjunction with my self-love practice I’ve been using the web of space and time to help me manifest opportunities that move me toward creating the life I truly want to live. This is helping me making changes in my career, life, relationships, etc.

One of the other ways I use the memory box is to store physical items to saturate them with chronal energy. I place the items in the memory box and allow it to take in the energies of the web of space and time. These items could be photographs, or small jewelry or whatever else and you can then use them in your space/time magic workings.

I also have stored memories in the box, like in Harry Potter, the Pensieve, using the memory box as a battery for those memories, but also as a way to clear out whatever I don’t need or to store raw information away for when I want to draw on it. In one sense the memory box can become a physical representation of your mansion of memory.

I’ve also used the memory box to cultivate closer relationships with spirits by storing their sigils in the box. You can use the memory box for a variety of different purposes. It’s only limitation is your imagination and what purpose you apply it for. If you’re interested in getting one for yourself, click the button below.

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What makes a spirit a spirit?

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Image courtesy of pexels

I've been thinking about the question, "What makes a spirit, a spirit?"

I'm currently writing Walking with Nature Spirits, and in the writing of this book I've been thinking about this question because of how I approach the work with nature spirits, but also because of the stereotypical imagery associated with nature spirits, which usually has them set up with imagery of gnomes, undines, slyphs, etc., basically humancentric shapes and appearances. The benefit of the humancentric shapes is that it makes easy for us to identify with those spirits. The downside however is that we all too often get stuck filtering our experience of a given spirit on the basis of the human oriented shape we associate with it. This isn't limited to nature or elemental spirits either.

We see this same tendency to humanize the appearance and experience of spirits with Daemonic spirits, angelic spirits, and any other type of spirit out there. This tendency brings with it a kind of entitlement as well: Namely the entitlement that the spirits are really here to serve or work for us. It's a naïve belief that isn't fully accurate and can create potential problems when we adhere too strongly to notions of what we think spirits are or are not.

One of my main purposes for writing the Walking with Spirits series is to present an alternate perspective to spirit work that is rooted in building a collaborative relationship with the spirits, but also recognizes that to experience the spirits we must be willing to experience them on their terms as much as possible.

What does that look like?