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APOTROPAIA

APOTROPAIA
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Magical Approaches
To Repel
The Law and Its Enforcers
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APOTROPAIA
Table Of Contents:
1. Stopping Them In Their Tracks
-Jack Dracula
2. For Victory Over the Police at Protests
-Sfinga
3. Sefer Ha-Razim Law Charm
- ‫כהחשבבד‬
4. A Working for a Troublesome Beat Cop
-B.Key
5. Using the Gorgoneion to Stupify the State
-Moira Chrysy
6. On Timing
- Ali al Abjad
7. Galdrastafir for Protection and Concealing
- Eirikr Róður
8. A Bath of Laetitia
-Caspar
Art:
1. Mano Figa
-Girl of Industry
2. Evading The Law
- son_of_minerva
3. Incantation
-Boz Mugabe
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APOTROPAIA

Cur ated by Psychepomp

Cov er art by Ali al A bjad
Designed by Nick Doorman
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Stopping them in their Tracks
In the 1990s we used this sigil when providing magical
support for protesters at sacred sites they were trying to
develop. We had good success with bulldozers and other ve-
hicles developing sudden mechanical faults! It can be drawn
with a finger discretely on the vehicle (on the bonnet if pos-
sible).
Just draw it on their vehicles and petition “Nemesis, pro-
tect the innocent and mire the oppressors in inertia”.
- Jack Dracula
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For Victory Over the Police at Protests
Make an offering to the spirits of the revolutionaries and
civil rights activists of your town, at minimum a glass of fresh
water, praying for their protection and mastery over the cor-
rupt law. Leave it out long enough for the water to become
grimy. Then, during the Saturn hour of Saturday, print off the
picture of the chief of police in your city. Across it, write their
name and date of birth three times and place it in the core of
a black or blue poppet. Fill the poppet with a mixture of pop-
py seeds, black mustard seeds, and dirt from a police officer’s
footprint. Baptize the poppet as the chief of police, naming them
as the leader of the legions of your enemy, and submerge it in
a jar of the grimy water you had set out for the revolutionary
spirits. Fill this jar with an odd number of cursing and domina-
tion herbs chosen carefully for the specific task you have at
hand.
On the lid of the jar, draw out the Fourth Pentacle of
Saturn from the Key of Solomon, which serves to bring ruin,
destruction, and death. Burn a black candle on top of this
jar which has been fixed with your choice of Domination or
D.U.M.E. oil. Optionally, if you are at liberty and have the
time, you may wish to continue burning candles upon it daily
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from the full moon to the new moon, shaking the jar between
each burning. Then, on the new moon (or the next day if you are
short on time), take the jar to a cemetery.
Pay your entrance with coins and a cigarette and pray at
the largest crucifix (or wherever you can best commune with
the cemetery’s lord) for the hungry dead to swarm forth, rav-
aging your target through the medium of the jar and its waters
that had once brought coolness and refreshment to the dead.
Direct them to punish, subjugate, and tear apart the target and
their legions inside, commanding the dead of your city to rebel
against the police, so that every spirit, plant, and shadow turn
against them, and that no institution or public space grant them
protection. Invite the dead to attack the vitality and animating
force which is trapped within the doll of the chief and their le-
gions and render it lifeless. Bury the jar in a grave you divine to
be conducive to this goal by communing directly with the spirits
of the cemetery. Leave an offering for the spirit who agrees to
house the jar and take some of the dirt from that grave home
with you.
Take a hyssop bath that night when you return and recite
Psalm 51 as you do so. Sprinkle the dirt from the grave of the
spirit that assisted you in the four corners of your home along
with some oregano, fennel, and black mustard seed to keep your
home safe while you are protesting.
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When going to protests, carry the Sixth Pentacle of Mars
with you, which protects the magician from weapons and turns
the weapons of her enemy against them, having constructed it
on virgin parchment using red ink during a Tuesday Mars hour.
You may also wish to baptize another picture and petition of the
chief of police and keep the paper in your boot when you are out
so that you may continue to dominate them.
- Sfinga
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Sefer Ha-Razim Law Charm
Here is an incredible charm for silencing your enemies who
sit in the thrones of Law and Enforcement. This is an effective
working for driving away the evil tongue in the mouths of Gov-
ernment (locally and/or nationally,) and exonerating those
who are in need of releasing themselves from the grasp of the
law and keeping the law away.
This incantation is directly from Michael A Morgan’s
translation of the Sefer Ha-Razim (Book Of Mysteries) - a 3rd
century CE grimoire of practical Greco-Judaic Angel magic.
This texts predates the Zohar by centuries, and I was surprised
and excited when I discovered that much of the ancient text is
still workable for modern conjurors. Since Morgan’s English
edition does not contain a vocalized transliteration, I have
adapted a transliteration from the Hebrew spelling of the An-
gelic names listed below:

Achmariel Hadriel Ratziel Hassaiel D’mimiel Z’vadriel Ranziel

Ehnshael Katvarel

If you wish to silence a great and powerful people, or a

governor, or the citizens of a city, or of a state, take a hand-
ful of ashes from beneath the bread offering of an idol and say
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it over backwards seven times the names of the angels written
above and say:

“I ask from you, angels of silence, that in this place, you

silence every mouth and every heart of the children of Adam
and Eve who arise against me to (say) anything evil. Let their
mouths utter good things about me and let me be exonerated in
my lawsuit; do not permit any mouth to speak evil about me.”

Then sprinkle the ashes, either in the city or in the state,

either before the governor or before the judge, and you will be
exonerated
- ‫כהחשבבד‬
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A Working for a Troublesome Beat Cop
Regardless of innocence or guilt, being of a marginalized
race, gender, sexuality, economic status, or some combination of
the aforementioned is all too often criminal in the eyes of the
law.
The biases, sexism, racism, homophobia, etc of the cops who
frequent the same areas as you can easily cause you troubles as
time goes on.
The Sixth Pentacle of Saturn, as described in the French
La Veritable Magie Noire (Grego and Peterson, 2017) is a useful
tool which, with some modifications, can be used for precise
baleful workings.
Begin by printing or drawing the pentacle on a new sheet of
paper in the day and hour of Saturn- for those unfamiliar, this is
always the first hour or so after dawn on Saturday, in addition
to 3 other times throughout the day- there are a number of apps
and websites with which the hours can be easily calculated- be
sure to remove the dots around the center of the spokes from
the drawing.
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In the center of the pentacle, where the dots formerly
were, write the name of the officer around the spokes letter by
letter, while praying the verse written around the pentacle:
“Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his
right hand.”
Cross yourself with holy water or some similar blessed
water, and sprinkle the same water with your right hand on the
pentacle, praying the entirety of the 51st psalm (Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness...&c) as you do
so place a small drop of a condition oil such as Law Keep Away,
Black Arts, DUME, or similar onto each letter of the name
Dress a black taper or chime candle with the same oil, pray-
ing with all the animosity you can muster while envisioning the
venom of your words dripping onto the candle .
Light the candle while reading the 109th psalm (Hold not
thy peace, O God of my praise...&c) during the day and hour of
Saturn, and allow 9 drops of wax to fall onto the center of the
pentacle.
Set the candle aside in some fireproof candle holder, dish,
slate, etc, and place the pentacle beneath the candle holder
once the wax has solidified.
Allow the candle to burn down, ideally uninterrupted- if
the candle need be put out and relit later, snuff the candle
as opposed to blowing, and pray the 109th psalm again when
re-lighting.
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The pentacle can then be tucked away into a Bible or Psal-
ter atop the page with the 109th psalm in the text, or left on an
altar to recieve more candles, oils, etc. for the duration re-
quired.
When the pentacle is to be disposed of, it should ideally be
burnt in a crucible, fire pit, or other safe receptacle, and the
ashes scattered at a police station.
Naturally, this working can be extended to include sher-
iffs, chiefs of police, prosecuters, judges, and extended with a
few modifications to oil and disposal location to bigoted offi-
cials, politicians, coworkers... the list goes on, and is only lim-
ited by your imagination and stock of black candles.

-B. Key
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Mano Figa
-Girl of Industry
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Using the Gorgoneion to Stupify the State
The gorgoneion, the talismanic image of the gorgon usual-
ly understood to be a depiction of Medusa, is an apotropaic sym-
bol of such startling chthonic import that it is given by many
historians to have been used as a temple marker for the gateway
to Hades. Athena, the bearer of the aegis emblazoned with this
grizzly head, is in ancient Greek religion a patroness of the
city; a strategic sculptor of civilization. In this capacity we
can begin to work magically with the gorgoneion as a tool of
protection and the catalyst for a restructuring of the way we
organize and empower our communities.
A pragmatic and historically efficacious use of the gor-
goneion is as the painted face of a shield. Useful in a demon-
stration against teargas, “less lethal” projectiles and a push
of brute force, a simple wooden shield bearing this image would
be a constructive barrier both physically and metaphysically
against any state-aggrandized aggressor. Algol, the malefic
fixed star depicting the eye of the gorgon, is given by Agrippa in
his Three Books of Occult Philosophy to have an association
with the diamond, an understandable correspondence when
contemplated as a nearly indestructible stone in the context
of the hardening effect the image mythologically connotes.
Inlaying the shield with a diamond of any size or caliber would
imbue it with this talismanic power to immobilize. Another
methodology to further consecrate the shield would be to mix
the iconic paint with jupiterian and martially consecrated oils,
or to fumigate with hellebore, another of Agrippa’s Algol at-
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The aegis, worn by Zeus and Athena, conducts its Jupite-
rian influence in the form of a garment as well. Athena is not
only the patroness of the city, but also of weaving, and a tex-
tile amulet bearing the gorgon will draw forth poetic tradi-
tions of the interconnectivity of weaving and spellcraft. The
Aegis is described in historic reckonings as being bordered by
tassels, sometimes interpreted as the snakes that compose the
gorgon’s hair. Tassels have their own apotropaic use, their
power of multiplicity exploiting the tabulating bureaucratic
compulsion that demons and law enforcers share. To create a
textile gorgoneion, soak red thread in olive oil, then sew or
embroider fabric in the likeness of a gorgon with teeth bared,
tongue exerted, and coif coiled to strike. Crudeness is no det-
riment, inducing horror is the goal. Whilst sewing, recite the
Orphic hymn to Pallas, or Athena Polias, the guardian of the
city.
As you sew, or create your shield, speak aloud in prayer
for the order you hope to craft in your community, the justice
you seek to see brought to the disenfranchised. Speak of the
victorious recrafting of a city made over in the image of libera-
tion, nourished, as Athens was by its olive tree, by a sustainable
model of mutual aid and solidarity.
- Moira Chrysis
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APOTROPAIA

Evading the Law

- son_of_minerva
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On Timing
We push and we pull, and mirroring the waters we find our
temporary shapes in this or that, here or there. Radiating light
we focus in and out, illuminating and darkening as we move
about. We fight and we find peace, yet there are times wherein
the achievement of certain ends is more auspicious than another.
From the Book of the Moon:
“The Eleventh Hour of the Day is known as Yebrim or Yeh-
rim … At that hour the Righteous will have joy, and images of
friendship, love, and peace will be made.”
“The Eleventh Hour of the Night is known as Alako or Al-
atho … At that hour make images of Peace, Strength, and Love.”
Card 11 of the Tarot, Strength, or the achievement of de-
sired ends with the most efficient application of force; the
lion is groggy and relaxed, therefore amenable to the opening
of his jaws and the display of razored teeth without injury. The
premise here is that certain times of the day, certain times of the
year, certain counts of the number cycle, certain times of any
life cycle will yield superior results through acting at partic-
ular times for the desired effect. This is a matter of practical
time keeping in general which applies to even the most mun-
dane endeavors. Farmers, businesspeople, and astrologers are
not only well aware of this but base their entire frameworks
around it. Our actions betray a fundamental human behavior,
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and yet many who are magically inclined still neglect the no-
tion of proper timing.
From Shams Al’ Ma’arif Al Kubra:
“On Sunday … The Eleventh Hour is from the Moon: Work
on it whatever you desire because it gives good results”
“On Wednesday … The Eleventh Hour is from Jupiter:
Write on it the magic squares (or talismans in general) [for]
meeting with the judges”
“On Saturday … The Eleventh Hour is from the Sun: He
works in it for the acceptance, affection of the rulers, the
ministers, the authorities, the judges, the governors, and the
scribes; and it is also appropriate for the affairs of love and the
reconciliation of those who have hatred for another.”
The reader may find it useful to familiarize themselves with
the timing systems found in books of magic like The Hygroman-
teia, The Heptameron, and many others, all based upon what
is known as ‘The Chaldean Order’ of planets: Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and back to Saturn. Each day
begins with the respective planet of the day at sunrise. Timing
will fluctuate throughout the year as seasons change. This
information is readily available online as well as constituting a
whole series of smartphone applications and technologies.
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Rather than focusing on any one particular working or
technique, the purpose of this brief exposition is to remind the
reader, of course, the focus being for those activists who are
engaged in struggles with the law, that something as seemingly
simple as timing can go a long way in the directing of change for
one’s cause. Herein we have an approach which can only bolster
one’s already existing repertoire of magical defenses and at-
tacks. The above examples may be used to illustrate the virtual-
ly endless series of potential applications.
When one chooses to approach the law can make all of the
difference. The mouth of the beast is numb. Strike now while
the muscles are relaxed.
Your physical charms may not be enough; draped about your
neck, yet what of your peers who wear no charms? What of your
peers who possess no magical arms?
Move as one group within the auspices of intentional time:
observing, watching, waiting, to strike while the iron is hot …
or cold … or every temperature and mood in between.
- Ali al Abjad
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These staves are talismans in and of themselves, car-
ried for practical use; however they can be used as spells
cast from afar.
The first is for protection, specifically protection
from aggressive offensive forces (the police, right wing
hate groups etc). To cast from afar, light a black candle
in the centre. Organise any protective materia around the
candle inside the stave to add potency to the spell before
lighting. Speak intent over the stave and candle for those
who you want protected and the areas they are in (e.g.
“I cast this stage for protection for the Chicago protes-
tors”). You can leave the candle burning as long as you
feel comfortable. Add some protection oil to the candle
for extra potency.
The stave can also be carved into a protective tee
(Rowan/Mountain Ash, Oak, etc) anointed with protective
oil and carried on your person. To charge this talisman
when carved into wood speak about what you want specific
protection from.
The second stave is used to conceal things or people
from view. This one would be particularly useful to pro-
testers who need their faces to stay hidden/those who
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might actually need to hide from the police. This one works
carried as a wooden or paper talisman but it would help to acti-
vate it by lighting a black candle and chanting “Grímnir (Greem-
near) Fjölnir (Fee-ull-near)” and also stating “hide my face
from the police” etc. You can sub out police for racists/hate
group/attackers, or anything you need to be hidden from. the
subject or intended thing to be hidden can also be changed when
needed to whatever is appropriate, such as: “hide me from those
searching for me”.
So an example of the full repeated chant would be: “Grím-
nir, Fjölnir, hide my identity from the police”.
If using this as a paper talisman, then charge it and anoint
the paper with protective oil. Carry it hidden in your pocket or
inside your clothing. Crafting the charm as a wooden carved
charm works in the same way.
- Eirikr Róður
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APOTROPAIA

Incantation
- Boz Mugabe
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A Bath of Laetitia
For Replenishment, Uplifting Hope, Cheering Comrades,
and Revitalising Against Burnout
Laetitia is a Jupiterian geomantic figure of delight,
appreciation, and amity. when it makes a significant appearance
in a reading, it counsels the benefits of good company, good
music, and good clean fun. it is a figure of excited optimism that
can refresh jaded hearts to find new hope as easily as topping up
a champagne flute for another round of toasts.
Effective activism requires prolonged engagement, and
effective prolonged engagement depends on our strategies of
replenishment and care. we can work with the spirits and occult
virtues of Laetitia to powerfully revitalise ourselves, as well
as to boost morale, to re-energise in the face of burnout, to
bring back cheer in our solidarity with our comrades, and re-
ignite the fires in our bellies and the good faith into our hearts.
Here’s how to have a magic bath about it.
You will need:
1 x large bowl
1 x cup/small bowl
blue pigment (chalk, paint, etc)
water
marjoram
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nutmeg, pinch
amethyst stone/chip/ring etc (you can have it back afterwards)
grapefruit*
seltzer and/or sparking wine
clean change of warm comfortable clothes
*grapefruit messes with a variety of medications, from anti-
depressants to various heart condition prescriptions, so please
check it’s safe for you - and folks around you - to use. if not,
substitute a citrus you find uplifting. i have found lime, orange,
and even mango have been useful alternatives.
Do any of this in the hour of Jupiter. or whenever you
really really need it in a pinch.
Gather water - spring water for help from the dead, rain
water for aid from celestial powers, river water for strength
from the earth, or tapwater from your kitchen for protection
and revitalisation here and now in your space. thank the source
of the water.
Whatever the quantity of water, pour it in sevenths - that
is, pour it in roughly in seven portions - into a pan or kettle and
boil it, asking for strength, protection, and guidance from each
of the seven planets or their ministers with whom you work as
you pour.
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Pour the boiling water over marjoram and a pinch of nutmeg
or allspice, having implored marjoram to heal and assuage grief
and lift up your spirits, and the spice to dissipate stressors in
good-natured stability and optimism.
Mark a bowl with four sigils of Laetitia drawn in blue
pigment at equidistant points inside the bowl. mark the seal of
Hismael on the underside bottom of the bowl.
Place an amethyst stone in the bowl, asking it bring upright
sober reflection in the midst of this cheer and hope that it not
become blind abandon or pollyanna-ish.
Pour the marjoram tea into the bowl over the stone.
squeeze a grapefruit* into the tea, asking for its uplifting
virtues of vitality, optimism, revitalisation, and fruitful joy.
Top it off with your favourite flavoured seltzer, soda
water, or sparkling wine. add more water from various sources
as you wish. i usually top it up with warm water in the shower -
you are looking for just-hotter-than-lukewarm.
Bring the bowl into where you shower. bring a cup or
smaller bowl with you. if you want to be extra you can mark this
smaller container with nine sigils of Via inside it and the seal of
Chasmodai, preferably for white, silver or purple.
Remove the amethyst and thank it for its service. shower
or bathe as usual, with your favourite unguents and potions.
get physically clean. take an extra minute to enjoy the water on
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your skin: take two such moments actually.
Place the smaller container at your feet and then take the
bowl of your Laetitia bath and hold it to your heart. pray for
joy and hope and strength and kindness and care and compassion.
In terms of Scriptural quotations and psalm-charms, i am
particularly keen on Philemon 1:7 - ‘your love has given me great
joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed
the hearts of the Lord’s people.’ for works of Joy in the face
of enmity, i have found Psalm 27:6 a comfort and aid: ‘then my
head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his
sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and
make music to the Lord.’ for chasing away melancholy, Isaiah
35:10: ‘and those the Lord rescued will return. They will
enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing
will flee away.’
Libations, asperging, and bathing can also be empowered by
speaking forth this line from the Fifth Call of the so-called
Enochian Keys delivered to Dr John Dee in the Angelical
tongue: ‘amipzi nazarth af, od dlugar zizop zlida caosgi
toltorgi’ - ‘ I have fastened pillars of gladness 19, and gave them
vessels to water the earth with Her creatures’.
Pour the bath over you, especially your heart and your back
and your feet. try to ensure some of the water runs off you into
the smaller cup or bowl at your feet. allow this pour-over bath
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to wash away all the gunk and astral detritus of sorrow and
doubt and anxiety and sour rage. stand there and feel re-newed.
Once you have brushed the stray pieces of marjoram off
yourself and air-dried a little, step out and into fresh clean
comfortable clothes. if these garments can be pale blue so
much the better. i have found wearing amethyst, azurite, and
rose quartz after this bath helpful for further integrating its
benefits, although this additional observance is not necessary
to the operation’s efficacy.
Take the smaller container of cleansed run-off bathwater
as far off your place as you judge comfortable and pour it out.
this can be as simple as hoying it out a window, or as complicated
as taking it to foot of a mighty oak tree in celebration of and
petition to its strength and wisdom in all your endeavours
forward. however you dispose of the bathwater do it that
night. and don’t make it a whole saga, but if you have a nice tree
to hand...
Any parts of this operation can be assisted by intoning
planetary incantations to Jupiter: whether Orphic Hymn or
Sabean prayer or any number of the invocations of the Picatrix.
batteries of four repetitions are especially effective. likewise
talismans, tools, and vestments dedicated to Jupiter may
greatly empower you in making and taking this bath drawing
strength from the virtues and spirits of Laetitia.
I’ve found this most effective either first thing in the
morning or towards the end of the evening. if you elect to do
it in the evening, make and take the bath before winding down,
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and ensure you relax by enjoying good uplifting art - preferably
beautiful music - before going to sleep. don’t set yourself
something stressful to do after, and try to avoid serious
intoxicants and especially avoid melancholy topics for tonight.
This last point - avoiding things that make you miserable
like the news, social media, or stressful social entanglements
- can be especially hard for some of us at first, and downright
impossible in practice sometimes; but consider attempting to just
avoid stressors on this evening a condition of this working. this
spell you are working, after all, in order to fight twice the
injustice more in the longer term by taking care of yourself now.
warriors must know when to rest. try to remind yourself what
you are fighting for as much as against. consider further that
you owe it to the cause not to ruin yourself with sleeplessness
and pushing yourself too hard or beating yourself up or
worrying. rest well to plot well, to organise well, to act
well, and to celebrate well. rise like lions after slumber in the
morning ready to pick up the fight once more.
Take care of yourself so you can take care of your
comrades. our joy is in the joy of every one of us.
we are many, they are few.
-Caspar
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