I never got around to having Barbatos reconcile the Africans that were having issues. It wasn't important enough to me, and I don't know if that's a failing on my part, or a message in itself. My world, mine, is very small and very personal. Not private, necessarily, but personal.I have, however, been working with Barbatos. I like the name, for one thing. It conjure images of pirates and the Carribean. Arr. I also have a plethora of pets in my house.We have several goldfish, three ferrets, two cats, and until a couple of days ago, one dog. We had to get rid of the dog because the allergies were killing us.
I love having a dog. I was working with Barbatos, and I developed a communion with the dog. She and I got along really well, and she was brilliant. Training was going great, except for crapping in the house, but that was because when we first got her, I yelled at her when she crapped in the house. She learned crapping was bad, and to hide it. After a while, I realized this was the wrong tactic, and stopped making a big deal when she pooped inside, and made a really big positive deal when she did it outside. Things were getting better, she had at least begun pooping BY the door, and I think a couple more weeks and we would have gotten things straightened out. Figuring out what she was thinking and feeling became really easy when I started Working with Barbatos. She didn't understand me any better, but I was able to understand her in new ways.
I also developed a communion with the ferrets. When Rosco passed away, we got a couple of friends for Badger. One is his "wife," and the other... well, he's this HUGE fat ferret, older than Badger, and kind of mean spirited. He's pure white and beautiful, but he's just mean. He dominated Badger, and wouldn't let him eat. Rosco had done the same. So the fat mean one is on the way out. Fuck him.
The other night, my daughter came running in with Badger, all in tears. He wasn't eating, and he wasn't playful. I told her he was depressed, and needed to be separated from the fatty, given lots of attention, and his own food. No, she wailed, he's sick and must go to the vet hospital. :sigh:
$165 later, the vet explained that he was depressed, should be separated from the dominant male, and played with. I knew that was the problem, without having any training in animal psychology or anyhting, I just had this communion with the ferret. I took one look at him and knew what his deal was.
And then there's the goldfish. They're easy to forget about. The other night I dreamed they were dead. Specifically this really cute little frog, one of my favorites. In the morning, I went down to check on them, and the frog was alive, but VERY HUNGRY. We hadn't fed them in a couple of days, as my wife has been ill. She usually asks each night before the kids go to bed if anyone fed the fish today, and since she's been sleeping by the time they go to bed, I have been derelict in her duties.
So the fish were communicating with me, or Barbatos sent me a dream about the pets, I dunno.
His powers of Reconciliation aren't quite universal. He seems to be best at reconciling people in positions of authority. There's a manager here at work who doesn't get along with another manager at all. They are career employees, have worked here for years, and have disliked each other for most of their time together. I'm working with Barbatos on them, as I've been pulled in to take notes on a meeting between them, and they've managed to get along well enough so far on this project.
However, I recently had a person join the RealMagick yahoo group who conflict revolved around. Whatever residual reconciliation powers might be residing in my sphere from my work with Barbatos weren't enough to bring peace and harmony to that particular person. Not that it was a great loss, and maybe if I cared enough I'd send Barbatos to influence her directly, but honestly, she's too annoying to worry about. It was nice to have a fresh voice on the list though.
do you get a sense of character from him, or any of the others? In my meager dealings with Barbatos he seemed very serious, inpatient but earnest, and very uninterested in me, rather then whatever i had to say
ReplyDeleteHonestly, he isn't that interested in me either.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very business-like interaction I have with the spirits of the Goetia. Even Bune, with whom I have developed a strong relationship, is not like a friendly fellow who asks how the wife and kids are doing before we get down to business. They aren't human, after all.
I would say that I got the same kind of feeling of character from him as you did. I recently read something by a magician who prays that the demons he works with are restored to their previous places in heaven. I don't follow the Fall cosmology that way, but maybe that would help in getting more interest from the spirits.
Short of hiring the Dog Whisperer, do you suppose Barbatos could be of any help with my dog and cat? I don't know what started it, but my female dog and my male cat seem to have this weird love/hate dynamic going on. They used to play but it seems when my cat tries to initiate play lately, the dog gets really stroppy and growls and shows her teeth at him. It creates temsion in my otherwise happy household and makes me feel sorry for my downtrodden kitty.
ReplyDeleteHi, Evette,
ReplyDeleteYes, I think Barbatos would work to help you understand what's going on with your dog and cat. He may not be able to fix it, but he can help you understand what's going on. She might just be getting old and is sick of the damn cat.
Have you thought about telling the spirit to cause reconciliation in all aspects of your life/sphere? It'd be no different than saying to Bune you want riches in all aspects of your life/sphere.
ReplyDeleteLook at it from the spirit's perspective: someone calls you up on the spirit phone and they say they want your help to do something, the reconcilation of a pair of people. You, as the spirit, are gonna find other places that your energy is gonna spread out just by the simple fact that your presence is there. It's natural for you to move like that, but what happens? You bang your head against a concrete wall repeatedly because the one that called you up has built something up that screws with you making choices and makes it harder for you. Even masochists have a limit to how much pain they like.
It's the same with spirits like the enochians or a spirit in sphere magick that's bringing a particular trait into your life/sphere.
Think less Harry Potter where someone flies on a broomstick and more Wishmaster when he lets loose hell in a casino for a descriptor of area of effect.
Not minute, but large areas of effect is easier on the spirits and that makes them more willing to go back to you because you've allowed them greater movement in the lower realms. At that point, they tend to schmooze more with us on this level and understand us more personally to keep the lines of communication open for future workings. They're spirits, but they understand terrestrial affairs to a degree and will forget less about it the more they're intereacting with us.
Increased reconciliation in your life will come back to you as your life getting easier and you getting more of what you want. It's not a gaurantee you'll get everything, as you're first starting out that way, but over time, the average will increase. Increased riches means success and not just in terms of money.
Now, as you are telling them you want the aspect in all areas of your life/sphere, there's nothing wrong with specifying some things. It's just an additional avenue for them. The specificities from us and them accomplishing those things does increase the spiritual bonds between us and the not incarnated and makes things easier to get done.
If a spirit is being business-like with you, chances are it's because some aspect of you is being business-like with them.
The question becomes just how willing you'd be to let your life get easier. Consciously and materially, you can want it easier, but spiritually you'd still prefer the 'growth through pain/sacrifice' bit. It's something you'd need to work on.