Tag: deathdemonic

Odin – A Sigil and Enn

Today I’ll share something a little different: an enn and sigil gained through an Ascension with the Daemonic. As I recently talked about in my article about an alternate Rite to Eurynomous, there can be many types of Daemonolaters, including Norse ones. I’ve spent over twenty years working with Odin now—or Odhinn, as I prefer. The All Father goes by many names walks in many guises. He was the first divine intelligence that came looking for me… and he is the one that have never truly went away.

It can be said that Odhinn embodies one side of the Death daemonic. To gain the wisdom of the runes, he hung as if dead for nine days on the great tree Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear, forbidding any of the other gods to help him. Finally, on the ninth day, the runes spoke to him from the well of Urd that lay of the bottom of the tree, and Odhinn let out a cry of triumph. In completing thise ritual, the god saisthat he was “given to Odin, myself to myself,” a sacrifice that helped him gain the wisdom of the cosmos.

Because of this, Yggdrasil is sometimes known as the “Odin’s Gallow’s tree.” I believe the sigil here reflects a noose. I find it curious, too, how the sigil for the All Father reflects that of Satan, who is also the All.

Hail Odhinn!

demons daemons sigils odin odhinn daemonolatry demonolatry norse

PS: The similarity in some enns that have to do with the dead just makes my brain twitch! I love analyzing these things!

 

Thanatos – O Death

thanatos death deathdemonic demons greek mythology
“Thanatos” by William Briar created with modified stock art from Pixabay.

While I did spend time with my Lenormand deck today and even completed my Month of Spreads reading, I spent far more time contemplating my Death Daemonic card of the day: Thanatos. In Greek mythology, he is the personification if death, but rarely appears in any stories. When he does appear, he can occasionally be outwitted—a good thing, since Death was originally meant to be feared by both god and mortal alike in the Greek mindset. Over time, however, Thanatos became associated with gentle passing.

When depicted in art, it is typically with his twin brother Hypnos, better known as Sleep. Thanatos is sometimes shown as winged and bearing an inverted torch, symbolized life snuffed out. He carries a sword at his side. Other symbols include butterflies and poppies.

An Orphic hymn to death begins:

“Hear me, O Death, whose empire unconfin’d
extends to mortal tribes of ev’ry kind.
On thee, the portion of our time depends,
whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.”

Not the similarity to “O Death,” a traditional American folk song. Jen Titus made this track famous through its association with the show Supernatural, where it became the theme song for the character Death. It also featured in the video game “Until Dawn.”

Tarot and Lenormand: The Second Layer

A recent post by S. Connolly has inspired me. I want to take a look at yesterday’s Lenormand spreads using the cards’ Tarot correspondences. Maybe they will give me more insight into why the Coffin card is stalking my readings. Yesterday, I attributed it to the fact that my practice has focused on the Death Daemonic this month, but there could be more to it than that.

First of all, when I peek at the Coffin card I see it matched up with Nine of Diamonds, which in Tarot becomes the Nine of Pentacles or Disks. This immediately brings to mind material wealth and self-sufficiency, both of which have been on my mind of later. In the Lenormand, this card has to do with endings and financial hard times.

Spread 1:

Reason the Coffin is stalking me – The Snake – Queen of Clubs / Queen of Wands – This card signifies fiery female in the Tarot. Fire can warm or burn you, of course, but the Lenormand emphasizes the negative side of this kind of personality. However, instead of the Snake being about other trying to “steal your fire,” the Queen of Wands reversed indicates that a fear failure hampers my self-expression / activity. That is definitely true in relation to my making money.

How I can better understand the Coffin’s message – The Bear – 10 of Clubs / Ten of Wands – This card also emphasizes the negative side of power, i.e. the burden of responsibility and hard work. If I want to achieve anything, I have to go out and get it.

Spread 2:

Reason the Coffin is stalking me – The Birds – 7 of Diamonds / 7 of Pentacles – I’m investing in my future. I know I have to persevere if I want my vision to manifest in reality as long-term, sustainable wealth.

How I can better understand the Coffin’s message – The Heart – Jack of Hearts / Knight of Cups – Listen to my creative process and imagination. Listen to my heart. Perhaps consult my loved ones.

Conclusion?

In all likelihood, devoting my practice to the ancestral worship and the Death Daemonic is drawing those energies closer to me. That’s the way these things are supposed to work, after all. However, I think it is far more likely that the Tarot interpretation is the primary reason why the Coffin card keeps showing up in my readings. We just moved so that I could have an office, and money is problem on my mind a lot of the time since then—even when I don’t know it! Much like the Above and Below spreads, reading the Tarot as well as the Lenormand helped my figure out what what was on both levels of my psyche.

Coffin Card – Why Is it Stalking Me?

As you may have noticed, I took a couple of days off. It was Thanksgiving up here in Canada, and while my family doesn’t get overly excited about that, I blogged now for nearly 40 days in a row. I needed some time to myself if only to get the beginning of my next book in order. I’m pleased to announce the ideas behind it are starting to solidify!

I didn’t abandon my cards or my work with the Death Daemonic during my time away, however. I continued daily personal readings and contemplation. Today’s Month of Spreads doesn’t interest me terribly much, though, so I think I will skip it too and go back to Day Nine: Stalker Cards. It’s aimed at helping you figure out why certain cards so up over and over in your readings.

During the month I devoted to the nine Daemonic Divinities, both the Snake and the Coffin card showed up repeatedly. While I think the situation involving the Snake card has been put to bed, I want to make sure that the Coffin card is appearing purely due to my work with the Death Daemonic this month. It is one of those challenging Lenormand cards I’ve mentioned a few times, and can point to upcoming misfortune. I want to be careful!

To find out why a particular card has been stalking you, shuffle your divination of choice until you feel satisfied, and then turn your deck over and find your stalker card. In this case, I looked for the Coffin card. The card to my left represented the reason why the Coffin card keep showing up in my readings. The card to the right of the Coffin indicates what I can do to better understand the Coffin’s message.

Reason the Coffin is stalking me – The Snake – a difficult person, jealousy, arrival, envious behaviour, complexities, lies, pride, upset

How I can better understand the Coffin’s message – The Bear – boss, power, influence, capital, protection, empowerment, benefits, accumulation

The Coffin itself – end, finish, misfortune, illness, final, unlucky, redundant, declining, silent

If I read this as a sentence, it could mean that silent complexities are piling up. Since we read towards the bear, it could also be read as an end to complexities brings protection. I think it is more likely that I’m being told to end the some of the complexities of my life, and that Death has entered my life as a protectorate. I often pray to the Death Daemonic in this way.

As suggested by Tarotprose, I checked with another deck to find out why the coffin card was stalking me. These were what I pulled:

Reason the Coffin is stalking me – The Birds – discussion, talks, gossip, rumour, anxiety, nervousness, phone calls, busyness, disquiet

How I can better understand the Coffin’s message – The Heart – love, romance, affiliation, connection, attraction, connects, loves, flirts, desires, favours

The Coffin itself – end, finish, misfortune, illness, final, unlucky, redundant, declining, silent

To me, this would indicate that I’ve drawn the Death Daemonic to me simply by talking about it so often. The best way to understand the coffin’s message is to open my heart to this energy. I’ve been doing that already, but must continue to do so. This interpretation is supported when reading the triplet as a sentence, which comes out as, “Discussions about death attract.”

Spirit Communication Spread for Lenormand or Tarot

This morning’s Month of Spreads’ prompt encourages us to have a conversation with our divinatory tools and have a conversation with them. After shuffling your deck until you feel satisfied, pull six cards you ask some version of:

The Deck Conversation Spread:

  1. How are you feeling?
  2. What is the foundation of our current relationship?
  3. How can I become more open to the messages given through your use?
  4. Are there any types of readings you prefer?
  5. What limitations do you have as a deck?
  6. How can I improve our relationship in the long run?

This is definitely a valuable spread, but it left me wondering… What about those of us who also use the cards as a way of communicating with deities or other spirits? With minor adjustments, this spread can easily be used to deepen our relationship with Spirit as well. Just as the following questions instead:

The Spirit Communication Spread:

  1. What is the foundation of our current relationship?
  2. How can I become more open to your messages?
  3. What is limiting or blocking our communications at this time?
  4. How can I improve our relationship in the long run?
  5. What is the most important thing you need to tell me right now?

Since I am concentrating on working with the Death Daemonic this month, I decided to use the second version of this spread instead of the first. (You’ll notice I use only five cards too—one four each of the four elements, plus spirit. It simply sat better with me than the original six.) Here are my results:

What is the foundation of our current relationship? The House – home, family, familial relationships, foundation– haunted houses have special symbolism to me yes, but I also have a mentor like relationship with a face of the Daemonic and pay homage to her everyday

How can I become more open to your messages? – The Letter – Writing, written messages – either journa;ling about it, writing out my thoughts, finishing the novel without end

What is limiting or blocking our communications at this time? – The Bear – power, influence, force, protection – Ignore what I sometimes do not want to hear, or listen to the opinions of others when I don’t want to hear my own intuition? This card can also mean patron or matron, so this one baffles me a bit

How can I improve our relationship in the long run? – The Sun – grow in confidence, listen to myself more

What is the most important thing you need to tell me right now? – The Lady – Female energy, but usual denotes myself, listening to my intuition

If I read this as a run of five, the Bear would be the topic, meaning the main issue with the Death Daemonic right now is protection and power. Again, this card can mean patronage, so this has me wondering a bit. It seems they want to look after me and steer me towards something. Basis of our relationship is summed up in House + Letter, which I read as a “deed to a house” or writing about a house. Given the topic of the novel that won’t leave me alone, this is a little eerie. On the other hand, my readings are becoming a tad repetitive when it comes to ways I can improve my connection to Spirit. Sun + the Lady can be read as “feminine confidence or charisma…” or that I need these things. I definitely need to work on listening to my intuition.

***

Death Daemonic Card for Meditation and Contemplation – Bifrons – Bifrons is said to invoke and light candles on the graves of the dead. This makes him especially useful in ancestral work. When contacting Bifrons, you are supposed to wear a lamen bearing a drop of your own blood. Note the long horizontal line in his sigil, which could represent a funerary barge or procession honoring the family line to which you wish to connect. Traveling the red thread of a family’s blood line is much easier when you have Bifrons to guide you. He is also known as Janus Bifrons, a two-headed god able to look in backwards and forwards at once. He can direct you along the path of ancestral line should you seek out his wisdom.