One of the things I value a lot is hearing and reading about other people’s magical praxis. So I hope maybe other people might value hearing little snippets from me: in this case about some old-school Chaos Magick, the creation of a Servitor.
I don’t intend to rehearse the theory in detail as it is widely available online, a Servitor is a spirit created by the magician to perform single, ongoing tasks. There is some push and pull among theorists about the nature of what is going on but, in its essence, in practical terms it is like the creation of imaginary friends for grown-ups.
Let me introduce you so Socius. Socius is the Latin for Ally. I have primarily practiced my magic alone and have been very happy doing so, I am not really a ‘joiner,’ I have enjoyed meeting others in online spaces and at real-world events but always head back out to the woods, or to the shore on my own in the end. But tides change, and I begin to feel the pull of lack, the desire for relationality in my praxis, other voices, friends. And so, I decided to focus that into the creation of Socius.
Her function, I decided was to bring me magical allies. Ally-ship seemed the right framework because people don’t have to be friends as such, but that wouldn’t be ruled out, it would be people to talk with, maybe work with, collaborate with perhaps, who have an understanding of a magical universe.
So, what would Socius be? A wolf I decided, a pack animal used to being a part of a group. Looking for a planetary governance for this piece of ritual I decided after some back and forth that Venus and her ability to attract and to form relationships seemed indicated, and immediately Socius’s fur took on a green iridescence. Green candles and Venusian incense (which I didn’t have in my store cupboards) were purchased and an appropriate Venusian hour on a Friday was marked off in the calendar. I designed a sigil for Socius too and formulated what is usually, dryly referred to as a ‘statement of intent’ and which I, because I am me, like to call an invocation and to write in the form of poetic text. I also found that I had been given just a few days before, by my partner, a keyring fob in the shape of a wolf’s head. Having a place for Socius to live which meant she could be carried around with me seemed like a good idea. I gathered some Venusian herbs from the garden.
At the appointed time a circle of herbs was scattered around the tabletop and four green candles lit at the compass points of the circle. In the circle I placed the sigil and the wolf’s head. Incense was lit. After a moment of quiet, Venus is invoked. I did this is two ways, first by reciting the Orphic hymn to Venus/Aphrodite and then by settling into a period of mediation and, because I often swim in the sea at night, and Venus is often above me in the sky, I used that memory image of Venus to align myself as much as possible to her powers. Astrology is real planets after all. There comes a point in such a meditation when you know you are ready to move on, eyes open to the main event.
This then becomes an exercise in intense visualisation. Socius was created in such detail standing on top of her sigil until I could see her, smell her, even hear her snorting breaths. And when she is alive there on her sigil I read her ‘invocation’
Socius.
You are my wolf
Venusian wolf
iridescent with green
in the sheen of your fur.
She-wolf, fierce and
full of intent, eyes
made of emeralds,
tail like the spray
in the pearls of the sea
Ally by name, allied by nature,
this is your doing for me.
Draw to me magical allies
to talk with, to walk with
to work with: to teach
and to learn.
When I breathe on your token
you leap to my side,
you howl in the wind,
You call to them, carry them
cross them my path.
Feed on my breath and
my kiss on your face
and should I say ‘go’
return to oblivion
unmade in no-place.
As soon as the invocation was complete, Socius dived into the small metal wolf’s head in the circle with her and there she lives until such time as decide to let her go back to where she came from.
This is very simple magic but it works. Fruitful email conversations, the joining of a magical ritual drama group, the conversion of some twitter conversations into real-life magical acquaintances have all come on the back of feeding and nurturing the beautiful green wolf in my pocket.