To Ask the Familiar For An Agent.

This is imported from my small, practical book "Pagan Spells", which also contains a rite for making alliance with a Familiar Spirit.

In many cases, when you have a specific need for magic, it can be answered by asking your allies for aid. The Ancestral Teacher can convey many things to and for you, and the Familiar can be your herald or your guardian. But no spirit has every power. If your Familiar should be of the Wise, then martial tasks are not best suited to it, if it is of stone then it might not work the weather. Yet the Familiar is a spirit, free in the realm of spirits, and it can be asked to find a proper agent among the spirits to do as you wish.

            For those with a developed relationship with their allies this can be as simple as an inner conversation, the spirit called by will alone. In moments of immediate need, the simple charms in the calling section of this work can bring the Familiar quickly, without formal ritual. For newer students, it is well to set this request into a ritual format. Even for the experienced, we find that our calling and speaking with spirits takes on a repetitive, ritualized tone. In my opinion that is simply the spirits’ way of communicating with mortals.

            In this simple charm you will need only a simple fire-offering for the Kindreds, and whatever offering has been customary between you and your Familiar. If you are regularly offering to your allies at your shrine, you can simply ask them for aid in honor of your relationship. If you have something more serious or unusual a special offering is best. When in doubt, make the offering.

           

The Work:

• Find your basic trance, and attune to the Two Powers

• Offer to the Fire, Well & Tree, saying:

Mother of All, Let this Well be blessed.

First Father, kindle magic in this Fire.

Let this Tree be the Crossroads of All Worlds,

That the Sacred Grove may be established.

• Sprinkle all from the Well, and cense from the Fire, saying:

By the might of the Waters

and the Light of the Fire,

this Grove is made whole and holy.

• Make an offering into the Fire, and say:

Keeper of Gates, aid me to open the Ways.

• With your work hand, make a welcoming triskel (in to out, deisil) over the Fire, saying:

By Land, Sky and Sea;

By Gods, Dead & Sidhe;

By Fire, Well & Tree;

Let the Gate be open!

• Turn once deasil, saying:

So the Way is opened and this place is claimed. Let no ill or harm come to me and mine, and Wisdom, Love and Power flow to me through this gate. So be it!

• A short invocation to the Kindreds, with a simple offering, can be done if this is being done formally at the shrine:

Gods and Dead and Mighty Sidhe

Powers of Land and Sky and Sea

A gift I give, from me to thee

Come and lend your aid to me.

• Prepare the Offering and envision the Familiar, calling to it both with your voice, if possible, and aloud in your mind, saying perhaps:

O spirit (spirit’s name) O Noble One

I call to you by Well and Fire and Tree

Draw near, and come in peace, I bid you now,

Take you this gift, O (spirit) come to me!

• When you feel the presence of the spirit, greet it with a flow of love and welcome in your heart, asking it your boon, saying perhaps:

Welcome (spirit), to my fire in peace. I would ask a boon.

Can you send a spirit, O (spirit)

Can you send a spirit?

I would work my will, whether you are sent or you can send a spirit.

To: (state intention clearly and specifically)

Do this for me and I will give to you due offering.

This can be repeated, often three times. After each repetition, open your Inner Eye to the Familiar, and seek a response, conversing as is useful. Can the Familiar find an agent? What are your specific needs? – include a time-based deadline if you need to. If you like, use a simple divination to see whether your visions are true. After three repetitions, you may spend some time communing with the Familiar, perhaps meeting the agent that is found for the task, perhaps not.

• When you know that the work will be done, thank the Familiar, saying something like:

Depart now, my friend, O (spirit’s name), and remember your oath, complete the charge I have given you, with harm to none, and come again at the proper time, or whenever I might call you, and I will make to you due offering.

• A Short Closing

Let bound be bound and wound be wound;

Thus all is done, and done, and well done,

And thus I end what was begun.

Make a banishing spiral (out to in, tuathal) over the Fire, saying:

The sacred center has held well,

Now, by Tree and Fire and Well,

Let this gate be closed!

To the Three Holy Kindreds I give my thanks.

To the Keeper of Gates I give my thanks.

To the Mother of All I give my thanks.

Let wisdom, love and power kindle in all beings

The rite is ended!