An Entity Chose Me?! Options

Hey guys,

I was consecrating my tools a couple of weeks ago, and as I was doing that the candle that I set up to represent the South watchtower developed a long flame, and burned faster than the other ones. Also, I could feel the warm flame on my back. After that I was doing a dedication ritual (on another occasion), and I used a new candle for the South watchtower. This time it burned down quickly like I had expected. But this time, I felt my left upper arm hot and like something had touched it, and it burned for a while.

I don't have that much experience with rituals so I'm not sure what was happening. I think it must've been some kind of entity, but don't know who. For both rituals I had called on the watchtowers to guard my circle. On the second ritual, I had called upon the Lord/Lady. Also, after that I have been able to hear things and footsteps. Two nights after the ritual I had felt things around my room (there's where I conduct my ritual work), and something was trying to scare me. At a moment, I felt like there was some entity/thing trying to get into my mind, and it brought with it evil thoughts...like hatred, envy, etc...the point is there was malicious.

I'd like to know if anyone has had an experience like this? And of people who might shed some light into my experience? Like I said I'm a beginner, and don't know much about what's going on. Thanks and I appreciate your comments!

Kat

Hi Kat
First of all remember Occam's Razor which states that the simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Not all candles burn at the same speed. To answer your question, no I haven't had that exact experience. But when you do your first rituals you are often nervous and your imagination combined with your fears may have caused you to have a false experience. We have been brainwashed from childhood to fear sorcery and witchcraft and think of it as evil. That is one possibility.

Another is that there was some low level spirit which was attracted to the energy raised in your circle. Another is that the watchtowers as you call them weren't handled properly If you did feel this again, then call by name upon the deity whom you hold most holy (the Lord and Lady you mentioned invoking for instance). I'm taking for granted that you are using a wiccan influenced format for your ritual. Use their name(s) to cast the entity out of the circle. You could do a banishing ritual. The Golden Dawn has a set of invoking and banishing rituals for air, earth, fire and water. They are a bit complicated and involve some Christian influenced wording. In witchcraft we normally just use the earth banishing and invoking pentagram, but you mention a phenomenon with the south candles, so you could try the pentagram banishing ritual for fire. The diagrams for the pentagram rituals ought to be around here in the library or reference section if you aren't familiar with them. I'd suggest using the pentagram hand gestures combined with visualization of any entity being banished.

Feeling a presence in ritual is common, but it ought to be a positive presence. Don't be scared off by this single experience. Continue to hold rituals but have a contingency plan for anything unpleasant just in case. You might want to omit the calling the quarters/watchtowers/elements until you have more experience and just cast a nice strong circle. At the end of ritual if you have invoked the quarters, thanks them nicely and dismiss them using a banishing pentagram. Closing off the ritual methodically is important. Keep on studying and doing research. Some of what you read might be fluffy and off the mark. Read books by well respected authors and ask for recommendations. Also work on the basic skills.

I don't have that much experience with rituals so I'm not sure what was happening. I think it must've been some kind of entity, but don't know who.

Depending on what you're doing, as the Golden Dawn documented, a lot of different things light up astral space. The LBRP is one, seances are another, and consecration of tools is probably another. It's basically the equivalent of sending up a signal flare, and when you do, any nearby undesirables (and there are usually several) in the lower etheric (which is also, I believe, generally the part of astral space that is closest to physical space) will see it.

These entities are usually the semi-earthbound spirits of those who died in various unpleasant ways; I had a guy who died in a motorbike accident respond to a Ouija board session once, and I've also had a couple come randomly wandering into my bedroom who, judging by the images they were trying to send me, both died fairly messy deaths. You can also get the odd serial killer, rapist, and other such disagreeable types; the lower etheric is roughly the equivalent of the red light district in cities in physical space. Generally the people there aren't going to be the sort you want to associate with.

The bottom line is that magical activity in a given space (particularly evocation) makes the veil between physical and astral space thinner in the immediate area, and as such, opens what we can call a vortex, or hole into astral space through which nasties can more readily come through.

I watched pretty much the entire series of Stargate SG-1, and so I view my own magic room as essentially a Gate room, to use the metaphor from that series. Truthfully, in astral terms, that's exactly what it is. When you perform evocation, you're making a call out to a particular entity to come to you, and when you're doing pathworking, you're going somewhere else yourself. To continue the analogy, consider warding/banishing to be the equivalent of how, in the series, they put an IRIS on the Stargate.

It was a security countermeasure to ensure that not just any old aliens could come randomly wandering in whenever they felt like it. Before the humans did that, they often had serious problems from unscheduled offworld activations; beings who would dial the Earth Gate from their own end and show up unannounced and uninvited, often while not having the most benevolent of intentions.

For both rituals I had called on the watchtowers to guard my circle. On the second ritual, I had called upon the Lord/Lady. Also, after that I have been able to hear things and footsteps. Two nights after the ritual I had felt things around my room (there's where I conduct my ritual work), and something was trying to scare me. At a moment, I felt like there was some entity/thing trying to get into my mind, and it brought with it evil thoughts...like hatred, envy, etc...the point is there was malicious.

Yep, vortex. Either that, or they simply saw that you were doing something and it drew their interest. Even though there are more people doing it these days than there used to be, ritual magic still isn't something that everyone has on their calendar for a Friday night. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif) Thus, whenever anyone sets aside a room for the purpose and starts doing things, it tends to arouse interest.

Suggestion a) If you don't already have a patron Godform, get one. Often part of the relationship you have with them will include them being willing to protect you. (In return, one hopes, for love and worship, rather than anything more sinister. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/diablo.gif))

Suggestion b) If you don't already know it, learn the LBRP before you do anything else in that room, and perform the LBRP before and after everything you do in there. Doing it in your own bedroom would also help.

Suggestion c) Ward. Work on your personal shield by initially visualising a clear glass/thick plastic bubble around your body if you get nasties in your bedroom, and also spend time in your room visualising walls of blue-white light enclosing your bedroom, for around 30 minutes or so at a time. Writing up a sigil a la Austin Spare's Chaos method can help as a focus, and asking your Godform(s) of choice for help will likely boost it, too. Sandalwood incense works wonders for me, as well...or at least it used to. Since I got my Kali statue a while ago, nothing unpleasant ever comes into my bedroom now; and they get Mother's scythe if they try. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif)

Suggestion d) Avoid reckless self endangerment. By this I mean that if you're feeling a desire to connect with something larger than yourself, so to speak, (as I and I assume many of us do fairly regularly) it will generally be a lot safer to do that via meditation or prayer to your Godform of choice, and not by summoning up one of the Goetics. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/13.gif)

I'd like to know if anyone has had an experience like this?

Oh, only for most of my life. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Truthfully I haven't been into formal magic for very long at all, but I've had objectionable spirits entering my bedroom and making sleep difficult for as long as I can remember. The main reason why I got interested in magic was actually for counter-evocation; not so much because I wanted to learn to call anyone, but actually because I wanted to learn to keep the blighters out!

This post has been edited by Petrus: Oct 12 2008, 05:10 AM

Goibniu,

Thanks for advice!

A couple of days after I posted this, I started feeling like someone was breathing next me, and I could actually feel their breath on my left upper arm and down to the lower arm. I felt it a few times, but didn't pay attention to it. I figured it must've been the air coming from either the ac or a window. However, that same day at my class I was sitting at my usual desk, and felt this again but it was deeper this time. I felt the inhaling and exhaling about 3 times. I haven't felt anything like that since then. I haven't had any "visits" or anything like before. I did held a ritual for protection after this, and when I was done I felt like shocking and like I needed to spit something out. I did but I didn't see anything but saliva. This happened right after the ritual. Ever since then things have been going so much better. I actually feel more positive, and things are going the way they're supposed to.

I think I'm going to refrain from invoking/calling upon the elements or deities until I'm more experienced on how to handle them. I don't want to not pay the right respect or something, and they feel like they have been disrespected or something. I'm doing some studying on the earth based religions as well as Sumerian/Near Eastern religions. When I'm more knowledgeable and the like, I'll start calling on the deities/entities that I'd like to work with.

Again thanks for your advice! It's helped me a lot.

Kat

Petrus,

Thanks for your advice!

I think, I may be wrong, that it must've been a lower etheric spirit. I felt weird things days after, and a couple of days after posting I felt someone breathing next to my left upper arm then felt like it was inhaling and exhaling deep 3 times. I didn't experience anything else after this. I did perform a protection ritual after this happened, and right after I was done I felt like shocking like I had something in my throat that needed to be let out. I tried spitting out, but there was nothing just saliva. I went away after a several minutes.

I really liked your analogy of Stargate. The vortex point also makes a lot of sense too.

I'm still researching deities, but haven't chosen one as of yet. I'd like to learn as much as I can from them, and probably make offerings to see if they like it or not. I don't want to force myself onto them. I thought that having a deity would bring me the protection needed.

I'm not familiar with the LBRP, but I'm going to look into it now, and will do something to protect that room. After what happened I feel kind of weird going into the room (which happens to be my own bedroom, but will be moving soon), and have grown apathy to it.

When that entity tried to get into me I visualized a large bubble of light energy around my room and the whole house. I also visualized negative energy/things going away from the bubble of light. I'm going to try the blue bubble visualization for 30 mintues and will get the sandalwood incense as well. Anything that helps me be protected is welcome.

I can just imagine you being bothered for most of your life. I felt frightened this time, I can't imagine endouring that for a long time. I hope you get your sleep now. I'm getting mine, for now that is.

Again thanks for your advice! It's been really helpful.

Kat

Hello again,

An update!

I had conducted more rituals in my bedroom, and though I have been feeling an energy there with me, it's not frightening. One night I went to bed, and just stared at the ceiling thinking, etc when I heard someone or something say something to me. I couldn't understand their language, and couldn't figure out if it was a voice or something else, and couldn't distinguish whether it was male or female.

However, the other day I had bought my first tarot deck (I had never had the cards read to me by anyone). Around midnight I had the curiosity of reading them so that I could get familiar with me. I thought about two questions separately. I asked if it was good for me to follow and pursue my spiritual path, and they it clearly said yes. The other question was if it was a good idea to move to the apt I had checked out earlier, and it said yes but not so clearly. I can't remember in which question it was that I heard, very clearly, a young man's voice, but again I couldn't decipher the langauge. It was too fast, and I didn't understand the language. Both times the voice came from the area where I perform my rituals. The first time it wasn't very clear that it was coming from there, but the second time I heard it clearly, and it came right from that space. Also, both times I had the lights on.

It's amazing that the first time I had attempted to read the cards I heard something or someone. I rarely meditate, though I consentrate on my thoughts, and try to make sense out of them (spiritually wise). I'm pretty sure it's trying to give me a message, and I will pursue this further. I will keep doing my readings, start meditating more frequently in my ritual area, and open myself even more to universe.

Kat