Tuesday, October 20, 2020

The Nuclear Option?


I recently came across this article about a paranormal investigation team in New Zealand dealing with a haunted house. So far, pretty routine - at least in the paranormal world. The article discusses details of the haunting and reports of paranormal activity in the house. It also has skeptics weigh in with their take on possible mundane explanation for the activity. But it was a quote from investigator Karen Williams that really caught my attention.

Williams, a practitioner of Wicca and a British Traditional Witch, said spirits often didn't want to move on.

"A ghost is a person who is no longer a corporeal being, they don't have a body anymore, but they're still the same person that they were before. "They have free will. If they're in a place, they might not want to move. You have to be persuasive."

Williams said she would be using the "nuclear option" to remove the spirits. "This is where my Wiccan training comes in. There's a ritual I like to use which is called the lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, it's a very powerful banishing ritual."

Williams shared some details of the ritual with the Herald. The ceremony would be conducted using the Hebrew language and would call on the "divine light" to help cleanse the house.

Willams' comments about ghosts are generally accurate, but hopefully she was being tongue-in-cheek about the LBRP being the "nuclear option." It's the first and simplest ritual that ceremonial magicians learn. It also doesn't banish a space, even though there are people out there who teach that it does - and with a serious haunting that might be an issue down the line.

It is true that LBRPs will temporarily chase away intelligent entities a lot of the time. Ghosts usually avoid magicians, and one of the easiest ways to clear out a haunted house for somebody living there to take up a magical practice. I've lived in old houses my entire adult life, and the previous occupants of my current home did report some paranormal stuff. But there's been nothing since I started living and practicing here.

Ghosts recognize that any magician who can do an effective LBRP is also capable of harming them, and that's a bit of a shock - ghosts get used to being immune to things, since most material actions don't affect them. They also don't like being the presence of the four archangels while the ritual is being performed.

But if you walk into a house, do an LBRP, and leave, the danger is that it can work just like those "house blessings" that you see on paranormal shows that almost never work. The activity quiets down for a short period of time and comes back with a vengeance.

To actually clear a space and make it stick, you need to use the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram along with the LBRP, because that will extend the banishing into macrocosmic space and actually clear out the building. That combination is much more like a "nuclear option" than the LBRP on its own.

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11 comments:

Alex Scaraoschi said...

Hahaha those paranormal shows are killing me! Those people can call on a magician and he or she would cleanse the place properly and possibly even leave some sort of talisman charged with a powerful spirit behind so keep away future nasties. But no! Their solutions consist of getting a medium or saging the place or that sort of thing. I think of some magician were to go cross-country and deal with these events those shows would stop airing hahaha!

Scott Stenwick said...

I do think it would be really interesting seeing one of these paranormal teams with a real ceremonial magician doing real, effective magick. I would totally watch a show like that!

To be fair, British Traditional Wicca is a real school of magick. I suspect that Williams was being tongue-in-cheek, but still, it's funny to see that in the article.

Alex Scaraoschi said...

Yep I'm aware of that tradition being a real thing. I wanted to point out these shows tend to focus on the wow factor instead of actual magical work. Like you said, she was probably being tongue-in-cheek, but the producers probably wanted to amaze the average general public with some "over the top woo-woo" :)

HalcAre said...

I don't think the Wiccan was being tongue in cheek. Does British Traditional Wicca have it's own ritual that can effectively banish a space?

I haven't spoken to any, but many wiccans I've seen on online forums and subreddit seem to use the LBRP as their go to banishing.

At least modern magick taught how to do the LBRH afterwards, but I don't think it was phrased as a banishing ritual in that book, more like an invocation, so maybe people who read it wouldn't pick up on that.

I'm pretty sure Scott Cunningham's Wicca, a guide to the solitary practitioner has a modified LBRP as it's default banishing ritual.

boogie said...

Just curious, what method would you use to permanently chase out a reluctant spirit?

Scott Stenwick said...

I never have practiced any sort of Wicca, so I honestly do not know for sure. I have known a few Wiccans here in the states who are really solid magicians and know a lot more than the LBRP.

To get rid of a reluctant spirit - LBRP/LBRH on the house. That's not a nuclear option, it's the first thing you do. See if it works.

If not - if the spirit is a ghost that was formerly a living person, conjure the angel of Scorpio. Scorpio rules necromancy, which is work with the spirits of the dead. Charge the angel with empowering a talisman to keep the spirit away and leave it at the location.

For other types of spirits you may need to work out its place in the spiritual hierarchy to identify the spirit that rules over it. Conjure that spirit, whatever its attribution, and use the same charge - empower a talisman to keep the spirit away.

Ghosts are by far the most common, though - particularly the "restless dead" who died traumatically or have unfinished business that they don't want to let go. Scorpio usually will do the trick.

HalcAre said...

Wait, does that mean you could conjure the angel of Scorpio, and charge it to empower a talisman to draw the restless dead to the talisman, and then leave the talisman in a location?

It could be a great way to experience paranormal phenomena! Why ghost hunt when you can bring them straight to you!

You could also use it against someone as a prank, but that comes with ethical dilemmas as they might be hurt by the ghosts. Random misfortune, getting ill, etc.

Or you could give it to a skeptic, explicitly tell them that it's a talisman to draw ghosts, then say you'll give them $20 if they keep the talisman in their house for a whole month and don't experience a haunting. Funny but still unethical. But very funny.

Scott Stenwick said...

If you wanted to expend your magical power on something like that, you could do that. If you charged the talisman right it would probably work.

Personally I find that it's more helpful and useful to focus the magical power that you have on making your own life better. It's not even ethics so much as realizing that doing pranks and trying to prove things to skeptics don't help you in any way.

Still, to each their own. If you ever do experiment with this, let me know how it goes.

Alex Scaraoschi said...

@HalcAre I did that on a neighbor. It ran for more than an year. But idk what he felt because he's one of those hard headed individuals and I couldn't just ask him. I sent the amgel to his home to unleadh ghosts insteadof making talosmans. If you want to do that to someone you don't have to pay them imo. Simply hide the talisman inside a painting or statue or something you would give someone as a gift ;)

HalcAre said...

Nice! Shame you couldn't tell what the results were. Still, hiding a talisman inside a gift is a good idea if you want to put an effect on someone else's home.

Alex Scaraoschi said...

Yep. You can try it out for other purposes, of course ;)