Summoning spirits w/ others

[Kapalika]

So a witch friend of mine (and older woman) is up for getting together and doing magic. She's mostly an energy-worker and I really wanna blow her socks off with some good ol' black magic.

I'm thinking of using blood magic as the primer, but I've not really summoned anything in so long... and I think I need something that isn't routine for me... something slightly more involved, something that I'd need to plan out and do over several days to build up energy and intention. The fancier the better

I got some old spirit buddies but last time I was gauging her she couldn't seem to perceive that part of my subjective reality. All I can figure to do is a little more prodding into what symbols are most powerful to her... I've tried to explain how I see it and how it works for me but I think there is a disconnect because a lot of what I believe (left hand path/tantra) is very philosophical and somewhat foreign to her.

Anywho's she's really big on circles, either physical or imagined. Would it be bad if i were to try to convince her to forego them? Or could that open the door to pushing her out of her comfort zone into the area I want to move her into magically? As something to help give me more power over the ritual.

I think either way it should go alright to some degree... another local witch (a mutual friend) has a really good/accurate grasp on my energy/power so if this goes well it will help me bolster my reputation with them, which should open up doors to doing more group magic in the future. It's kind of important to me as it's kind of hard to find people of the magical persuasion in this area who actually know WTF they are doing lol

So uh any advice? The only people I've done magic with in person before I was romantically involved with and we understood each others beliefs pretty well. So this is actually a first for me doing it with someone I know as a casual friend at best.

 

[Adramelek]

So a witch friend of mine (and older woman) is up for getting together and doing magic. She's mostly an energy-worker and I really wanna blow her socks off with some good ol' black magic.

So uh any advice? The only people I've done magic with in person before I was romantically involved with and we understood each others beliefs pretty well. So this is actually a first for me doing it with someone I know as a casual friend at best.

Hi Mandi. Why not try some chaos magick with this woman? Do a ritual working with her where she does her own thing and then you do your own thing and let the individual magickal essences mingle with one another. This could be a good way for you both to gain an understanding of each others being and approaches to Magic.

 

[lovesong]

I really wanna blow her socks off with some good ol' black magic.

Mandi, Mandi, Mandi, come on now. Magic should never be done for shock value, it is a very real and powerful force in our world, if we don't know what we're doing we could end up hurting ourselves or others. Don't try to go over the top to "knock her socks off," if you really want to impress her, read up! Also, a huge pet peeve of mine, "black magic." Magic, and energy, is not black or white. Energy is grey, magic is grey, there is "good" and "bad" in all things. Nothing in the world, no energy, force, being, event, or object is purely good or purely bad. Assigning certain types of magic to "black" and others to "white" reinforces the stereotype that magic is a binary when in fact it is very fluid.

I'm thinking of using blood magic as the primer

I hate to do the whole "warning" thing, but please read up before trying blood magic. I'm not telling you not to, but if you don't know anything about it try to study even a little before you go for it. Blood is a very powerful, energy rich substance that can be used to represent both life and death. If you've never worked with death energy, try working with it in a safer environment so you can get accustomed to it. Also take the animal into consideration, the source of the blood matters! Blood contains very highly concentrated "life energy" as well as "death energy" and you want to make sure you don't end up using the wrong one.

Anywho's she's really big on circles, either physical or imagined. Would it be bad if i were to try to convince her to forego them? Or could that open the door to pushing her out of her comfort zone into the area I want to move her into magically?

I really wouldn't suggest trying to get her out of the circle. Those of us who cast them do it because we firmly believe that a barrier is needed (not necessarily always, this too depends on the person) to protect us during the ritual. Ritual is a very unique time for a person, we become both very powerful and very vulnerable. While we're caught up in our frenzy of the working we often become absentminded of the other things around us, our full attention goes to the task at hand. This leaves us in a very vulnerable state. We cast circles to protect us from ill-intentioned forces wanting to attack us during this time, at very least it's like a security blanket, it makes us feel safe. Asking someone to abandon their circle when they feel they need it is asking someone to put themselves in harms way. Not only could this make them feel unsafe, but this feeling of un-safety could very easily detract from the energy and attention they would put into the ritual, taking away from the results.

 

[Kapalika]

Thank you for the responses. I'm posting this post kinda drunk and not at home (had some nice and cheap merlot) so I'll come back to it later tonight when I'm sober lol. So maybe I'll have more to say then.

Hi Mandi. Why not try some chaos magick with this woman? Do a ritual working with her where she does her own thing and then you do your own thing and let the individual magickal essences mingle with one another. This could be a good way for you both to gain an understanding of each others being and approaches to Magic.

Hm, perhaps yes it is best if we both do what's most natural for us to see if it works well together, wouldn't want to force anything.. in that case she can use her circles if it makes her feel safer, it might allow her to peer into my own practice more clearly as she will feel comfortable.

Mandi, Mandi, Mandi, come on now. Magic should never be done for shock value, it is a very real and powerful force in our world, if we don't know what we're doing we could end up hurting ourselves or others. Don't try to go over the top to "knock her socks off," if you really want to impress her, read up! Also, a huge pet peeve of mine, "black magic." Magic, and energy, is not black or white. Energy is grey, magic is grey, there is "good" and "bad" in all things. Nothing in the world, no energy, force, being, event, or object is purely good or purely bad. Assigning certain types of magic to "black" and others to "white" reinforces the stereotype that magic is a binary when in fact it is very fluid.

I hate to do the whole "warning" thing, but please read up before trying blood magic. I'm not telling you not to, but if you don't know anything about it try to study even a little before you go for it. Blood is a very powerful, energy rich substance that can be used to represent both life and death. If you've never worked with death energy, try working with it in a safer environment so you can get accustomed to it. Also take the animal into consideration, the source of the blood matters! Blood contains very highly concentrated "life energy" as well as "death energy" and you want to make sure you don't end up using the wrong one.

I really wouldn't suggest trying to get her out of the circle. Those of us who cast them do it because we firmly believe that a barrier is needed (not necessarily always, this too depends on the person) to protect us during the ritual. Ritual is a very unique time for a person, we become both very powerful and very vulnerable. While we're caught up in our frenzy of the working we often become absentminded of the other things around us, our full attention goes to the task at hand. This leaves us in a very vulnerable state. We cast circles to protect us from ill-intentioned forces wanting to attack us during this time, at very least it's like a security blanket, it makes us feel safe. Asking someone to abandon their circle when they feel they need it is asking someone to put themselves in harms way. Not only could this make them feel unsafe, but this feeling of un-safety could very easily detract from the energy and attention they would put into the ritual, taking away from the results.

I am very experienced in blood magic and to be honest I don't know if I would ever sacrifice an animal; all my blood magic is mostly make sigils out of my own blood and then burning them. Using a razor blade to make a single shallow cut on a finger is almost always adequate to draw the right sigil.

The thing about circles is that they tell the spirits that you don't trust them which I find can kind of offend them if you are aligned with them. I would never use a circle for most spirits I work with. But if she feels safer with one I guess I should allow her to have it.

Also I said black magic perhaps in more the sense that @Adramelek might understand it as a tranformative force. I wouldn't want to imply "bad" or "evil". I simply mean by pulling at my western occult roots before I turned to Hinduism... as I will tell her later, I feel that will be the bridge from her personal practice to her understanding what i do now as mostly Tantric. I guess it's not really too much different, it's just the approach, mindset and symbols are kind of different. I don't feel that the mechanisms differ.