Majokkid - Magia Records

Banishing

Okay, so let's talk banishing. What it is and how to do it.

What is banishing?

This is admittedly confusing because the standard banishing rituals are not intended for banishing. A banishing may cleanse a space but often it is a side effect. More on this at the end...

A banishing ritual is a ritual that prepares you to do magick.

Think of it as your badass magical girl transformation sequence. It calls together all your robot lions. It readies your tools. It calls in the energies you will need to do the work.

Some solid aspects of a banishing ritual:

Knock you out of normal consciousness

Mark out your working space

Invoke something into yourself

Evoke entities/forces that you may work with

Use tools you will use whether they be physical, astral, or just hand gestures.

Examples of banishing rituals include the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual, Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram, the Star Ruby, and calling the quarters... but I recommend that you develop your own banishing ritual to suit how you work and whatever paradigm you work in. It's good to start with some established rituals, but then adapt them. Don't call on angels if you don't work with angels. Your banishing should call on whatever you actually work with.

How to banish?

Practice. I can't repeat this enough. Practice your banishing. A well put together banishing that includes aspects above becomes the foundation of your work. It is how you develop the power of your magick.

Now, you'll need to figure out the details, but here's the gist of it.

Do something to mark that the banishing has started. A shout, a clap, taking a stance, picking up a tool, making a gesture... the ways are endless, but have something that you do that marks the start. With practice you may find that just this one action may by itself carry the full weight and association of the full ritual!

Next turn focus inward. Do something to bring energy in or open yourself up. Classic approaches are bringing energy down from above or up from below. Both if you like. Or you could make gestures over you body. Touch your forehead, throat, heart center, etc.

Next turn focus outward. Turn to the quarters or physically walk around your space. The stuff you are working with is out there. It can be a central altar or four quarters, or divide it up however makes sense to fit in the elements you intend to work with. Some people add above and below, or within and without.

If you have too many things to work with to sort into four quarters then you might be working with too many things. It is okay to have multiple banishing rituals or mix it up depending on the work at hand.

Once you have done whatever outward motions are needed, bring it back to center. A finishing gesture is good here to connect up with the opening and tie it all together.

But what about actually banishing?

So, here's the thing. Once you get started with work like this you will likely find that whatever you might want to banish just disappears. You sense bad energy or a spirit with ill intent and so you ready your tools and find that they just got the fuck out of there.

Bad woo woo shit also tends to prey on or be attracted to people who are vulnerable. It's the classic formula like demon that feeds on fear starves when you stop being afraid. Practicing a daily banishing that focus on building up your power is a great spiritual immune system.

A word of warning

The primary danger of this work is becoming ungrounded from reality, the world, and the people in your life. Magick requires a bit of obsession to get good at it so it is easy to get wrapped up in the work in an unhealthy way. Beware identifying with a delusional egomanical version of yourself. If you are on the right path you should find the work helps you be more secure, engaged, and connected, not less.

What is a Witch’s Kiss?

In Puella Magi Madoka Magica and related works, a Witch's Kiss is a marking, the personal symbol or calling card of a Witch, used by a Witch and its Familiars (or Minions) to control the minds of humans and to mark their Labyrinth. These markings can be used to exacerbate pre-existing negative emotions and thoughts, change personalities, make people commit crimes or self-harm, or lure them into a Labyrinth to be consumed by the Witch inside. Some of these actions may not necessarily lead humans to being consumed: some Witches may merely desire to spread evil and misfortune regardless if they get sustenance. Furthermore, a ‘kissed’ human may not always die from it. Familiars can also kiss humans well outside of the Labyrinth they hail from in order to bring them to their Witch.

Note: In the magical hero community, I’ve heard these markings referred to as ‘sigils’ as well, but I hesitate to use that terminology for this case because I think it can cause unnecessary confusion for practitioners who regularly use sigils in their own magia. I can acknowledge that a Witch utilizes their Kiss as a sigil for their own gain, however.

If a puella magi or other magical hero is in possession of a Witch’s Kiss, it generally means that they came across it somehow in their day-to-day or astral travels and took note of its components for later exploration into the corresponding Labyrinth. The Kiss can contain visual elements that reveal attributes of the Witch including her appearance, nature, or even aspects of her Labyrinth or Familiars; this information is extremely helpful for any magical hero who is preparing to engage in magical combat with a Witch. The Kiss itself can also be used as a portal into its owner’s Labyrinth.

As a chaos magick practitioner as well, I assert that one can also reverse engineer a Witch’s Kiss for their own spellcraft. Is there something that you want to combat magically? Sigilize components of whatever you want vanquish and create a Kiss. This, in turn, can help conceptualize the trouble you are facing into a Witch and thus easier to focus energy towards defeating.

If you need a template for understanding or documenting a Witch, whether found or created, I recommend this format that was used for many of the Witch Cards that were displayed on the original Japanese website for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime:

[NAME], the [DESCRIPTOR, NOUN] Witch with a [DESCRIPTOR, ADJECTIVE] nature. The Witch is mainly colored [COLOR], is [DESCRIPTOR, SIZE], and resembles a/n [NOUN]. This Witch is [DESCRIPTOR, STRENGTH] and her weapon is [NOUN]. Her Labyrinth resembles [NOUN/DESCRIPTION] and her Familiars are named [NAME].

You can also add any additional information that helps you further visualize the Witch and its influence.

This post is part of my Magi Praxis series. If you have any suggestions for future topics, or you have attempted anything I have shared and want you share your experiences, please send me a message! I am always happy to go back and provide further explanation as well. ☆

Signal boosting for my partner ♡

Anyone around NW Connecticut? or SW Massachusetts? or over into NY Hudson / Hudson Valley area?

I was thinking this morning about loneliness, particularly how for those of us into witchcraft and the occult. It can be hard to find people to talk to about this weird stuff. Back in Chicago my partner and I would go to open conversation nights at the Occult Bookstore. I miss having something like that.

Anyway, if anyone out there is around the region and looking for witchy friends, send me a message. Maybe we could get a discussion group going around here.