In my previous post I gave an adaptation of a Buddhist method for consecrating a liquid through continued ritual work with a god. Now I want to talk a bit about how to use it. I’m sure most sorcerous folks out there have already clued into a few ideas, but I thought I’d add in some more, traditional or otherwise.
The first thing you can use the liquid for is continuing your work with the deity in the same way. Use part of it as a “starter” liquid in the bowl when you begin your next month’s work. It’s a great way to feed back into the current and keep building. It already has their resonance, so it makes calling them easier.
The next obvious use is imbibing it. Trust me, vodka with paprika in it isn’t the tastiest creation out there, but it can be worth consuming. When you go to invoke or evoke the god, take a shot, and you’re pulling their essence right into you. (If you want to mix basic bio with magick -which is questionable and perhaps better seen as a metaphor- alcohol isn’t absorbed like most liquids and passes into your blood stream and through the blood-brain barrier rather quickly. So by drinking the liquid you’re actually going to have their holy water coursing through your veins and into your brain.) It’s even more effective if you “refresh” the image. So say their mantra or name a few times, and picture them sitting in the liquid, and then you drink it.
A more complicated use, that again I can only partially explain and simplify, is to use it in offerings and purification of food. This is done in a lot of devotional practices, retreats, or all the time if you have that commitment. When you go to eat, have some of the liquid with you (I carry a 1oz flask on my belt for this purpose), dip your left ring finger in it (traditional reasons), and with your palm facing down curl the finger under, grab it with your thumb, and then flick it at your food. See the god (preferable in hundreds of little forms, but whatever you can manage) flying out from your finger and casting out everything unwanted from the food. Base impurities, imbalances, “negative energy” whatever you see it as, or how you understand it. Dip your finger in the liquid again, and this time do the same flick, but with your palm facing up. See the blessing of the god shoot up, and then come down in a rain of their essence onto the food, imbuing it with their traits. Now you’ve consecrated the meal to them, which is great as a general offering, or a way to maintain connection with them.
(I’ve had to do the full version of this in retreats, with the idea that everything is that god, and you’re just returning it to that purity, that way everything you see, think, hear, and eat is that god, to completely fascinate and immerse yourself in them. This food is now for them, and of them, it sustains them and brings them into you. When done right, and continually, it’s a very powerful way to begin living in and as the deity.)
Even if you don’t have time for a proper invocation/evocation it’s a great way to get a boost of their essence. Running out the door, late for a meeting, take a shot of the god to help fortify you. Or it’s great to have on hand when you have the time, but are unable. If you’ve worked with a healing figure, if you’re too sick to actually do some magick to clear things up, drink some of the holy water and it will help, at least to put the symptoms aside enough for you to properly do some healing.
Feed the current by using it in other related magick. Say you did it to a wealth deity, anoint your talismans and yourself, sprinkle it on your cashbox (from The Sorcerer’s Secret), put it on your petitions, pour it out in strategic locations (like if you’re looking for a raise, spread it around your office). Turn it into another materia for your workings.
Even if it’s not directly applicable to a working, you can still use it as a way of establishing divine authority. Let’s say, hypothetically, that the only god/spirit you really work with is Aphrodite, but you have an unruly spirit around the house. Aphrodite isn’t traditionally used in banishing, but if you just need to prove you have a strong ally, using the holy water to her is a way to show it.
Really the possibilities are endless when you think of it as both a connection, and materia. People burn incense to their god to fill the space with appropriate forces, if you have a humidifier or desktop water feature, toss in the liquid there and let it work in the same way. Whenever I have leftovers of this stuff that I can’t really make use of, I toss it into my house’s humidifier to let it carry the essence all through my house. Also if you use high proof alcohol it can be burnt if you know what you’re doing.
When I don’t use an alcohol base I sometimes offer the liquid to appropriate plants that I grow for magickal purposes. Cook with it, clean with it. While I don’t mean to devalue it, it’s something you can work into your life and your sphere in hundreds of different ways, make it complex, keep it simple.
Let your imagination run with it, and feel free to share any other ideas.
Elixir Applications
