by Sarah Thompson, November 2010

The Book of Spirits

Though the Circle of Cerridwen does not use a Book of Shadows, we do recommend the creation of a Book of Spirits.

The idea of keeping a Book of Spirits dates back to Renaissance Ceremonial magick. The idea is that, whenever you encounter a new spirit, you record details of that spirit in a book, such that it can be accessed again later. Many published grimoires of the time are effectively books of spirits that were made public.

The Guardian Daemons

After having worked with the Feri guardians for some time, I found the Alexandrian approach of calling the spirits of a particular direction and then bringing in the element of that direction as part of the classic triple casting effective, though sometimes I felt the need for something a bit more definite. Though calling guardians from another tradition (i.e. Feri) into an Alexandrian circle works, I was motivated to find a solution that was entirely of our line.

As readers of this web site, and people who work with me magickally, have probably already realised, I do practice Goetic magick and have a relationship with several daemons. I have in the past had some success asking to be given familiars, so it occurred to me to ask (very nicely) for a set of four directional, elemental spirits that could serve as guardians for our tradition. In a fairly extended working with Buer, I was given four such spirits, and scryed their names and seals.

The daemons are specifically bound to the tradition, not me personally, and they are bound to do no harm to ourselves or others, and not to interfere (or indeed even assist, beyond protecting the circle).

Notes

The four daemons are intended to be used together. Using them singly or in combinations of two or three will not provide complete protection. They are bound to not interfere, so don’t expect them to be chatty. Nor will they do your bidding — if you want a familiar, you should work with a daemon that is known for giving them and ask very nicely.