Servitors in General

[SWM]

Can everyone give their base explanation of servitors? I'm interested in everyone's opinion.

Then if you could tell me how to get one...Lol.

[Lady Dunsany]

There is a thread about servitors here some where. Usually a magickian conjures them up in their mind or what ever works for them. They serve your needs and when you are finsihed with them you banish them as it would be cruel to keep them. They eventually will either wander or become strong with a life of their own. In my practices it is a kind thing to do to banish but others think different.

[SWM]

But is there a ritual in specific, or does one just come up with one from their own energy? Are they spirits or are they you?

[Odin]

you conjure with your own mind, you think it and believe that it is real it is made up of energy and they are your child and you ask it to serve you, help you with your magic

but you give it life for only a certain amount of time and then banish it this is called responsibility to the Servitor and the other people around you

the banishing is done because the Servitor can become stronger than you and can and will probably create havoc not only in your life but again to those around you

[SWM]

So if I make an image in my mind associate it with a task, set a sigil to it and make it a body out of clay, this servitor basicly becomes a spiritual Golem. I don't know if I want to do this yet but school finals are in 2 weeks! I think I know what task I cold set it to...

[Lady Dunsany]

You do not have to do a sigil or use clay, envision it before you go about your day before you go to bed. Now having said this some need to use sigils I have never had the need. Do what feels right for you.

[Odin]

to me it is visualization of the energy ( but before this ) I do a protection me the LBRP
I have never used the clay or sigil as of yet

but I go into a meditative state see the energy build in myself as well as the Servitor I tell it what I would like it to do and a time frame for the task to be done and at the end of the time frame I thank it for what it has done and banish it

this is very archaic for I am still learning myself to better perform this task

[SWM]

I just need more practice in visualization and meditation. I'm not at the point where I can successfully create something.

[S33k3R]

Lady D...just a question?

My understanding is that as a servitor grows and becomes more powerful, it becomes an Egragore...able to sustain itself independent of its creator.

Surely there is no intrinsic harm in this process?

PS: I'm not advocating that any second rate muppet, (like myself), attempt such a working...

[Kouya]

It depends on the entity made in question, in addition to possibly the initial information source and circumstances that brought the 'maker' to the position of forging an entity.

For that is not truly possible to speak in 'general', since even amongst the not so always competent human magi, there is a wide berth of various knowledges/understandings, perceptions and ways of handling things. In lame essence, the 'servitor' regardless of whatever it supposedly would be for that particular individual is just something that 'works' for that individual. But then again that is transcribed via the human mind.

[daecon]

My understanding is that as a servitor grows and becomes more powerful, it becomes an Egragore...able to sustain itself independent of its creator.


Not exactly. An ordinary servitor can be weak or powerful depending on the skills and needs of its creator(s), but is still a servitor however powerful it becomes, and a servitor of any power level can possess independent existence by design, or "go rogue."

An egregore is something different. It's composed of the collective thoughts and beliefs of a large number of people. It's the functional equivalent of a god, but just like "servitor" does not imply weakness, "egregore" does not necessarily imply strength. The qualifications for an egregore are that it must be known by a large number of people and be capable of being "personified." Any god automatically qualifies, as does any named folkloric entity, such as Santa Claus, Jack Frost, Uncle Sam, etc. Certain fictional characters can also qualify, provided they have a significant cultural impact. Examples of this category include such entities as Cthulhu, Paul Bunyan and Darth Vader.

It is in this later category that a route is found for a servitor to evolve into a true egregore. The servitor must become widely and generally known within a culture, and invoked or summoned by a large number of unrelated magicians. This has happened a few times. Ellis and Squat are widely enough known to qualify, and Fotamecus seems well on His way.

[S33k3R]

Ok cool...Egragore is a group thing.

But now that you've brought up Santa Clause, heres something I've always wondered about...

Has anybody successfully summoned him?

I mean, of all the cultural mythos figures in humanity, who has more reinforced belief than Santa?...hell even if you don't "believe", a shedload of energy goes into him as a concept...worldwide.

He would represent materialism over spirituality in society...this a massive energy at the moment. If Santa Clause doesn't "exist" now as an abstract being or Egragore by now, then I've missed something. I realize he wouldn't be a particularly coherent structure because the belief that goes into him comes from millions of people all doing their own thing...but SOMETHING has got to result from all that?

So where the hell is he?, (please, nobody say "in the north pole" I know he is, with the reindeer and all the little elves etc etc....)

Hey, I think I see a thread here...

PS: I do a lot of long distance driving, I use Fotamecus to make the journeys seem shorter... remarkably usefull.

[daecon]

I've used Santa Claus as an aspecting focus, assuming His avatar. It was the year I was volunteered to play Santa for the library.

Also, "He would represent materialism over spirituality in society..." All gods have positive and negative aspects. You've named Santa's dark side. In the positive sense, He represents generosity of spirit and the joy of giving.

[S33k3R]

http://picayune.uclick.com/comics/ch/2009/ch090202.gif

...life imitating art imitating life....

[bakeneko]

My thought on the "banish or not":

When you actually create a servitor I see different choices. In the "classical" literature on the subject (e.g. Bardon) there are 2 distinct types: a fairly low one which is more like a simple computer program and a higher evolved one which is like a "magical child".
While I have no problem to just set the low one to perform a task and then dissolve, the higher ones are from the beginning designed to stay there a longer time and to evolve. And there comes a thing called responsibility into play. So, you create a kind of "magical child" and basically raise and educate it and give it a task. So you are responsible for your actions. If you do your work good...why should you "banish" it? If you mess up, why "banish"? If your child in the physical plane would misbehave would you kill it?
(Well, if things go *totally* wrong you should still get rid of your servitor)
When you summon some entity that qualifies as a egregor or tap into its energies you are on a different ground, as banishing would just kick it out the door :rolleyes:

Just some thoughts...

[Kouya]

To add to Bakeneko's comments... if individuals who create entities of whatever kind have those entities go dysfunctional and crazy on them, they should technically not have done so in the first place, instead developing themselves before choosing something like so; but then again they are mostly unable to perceive such an issue.

[isis]

like the posts but dont know anything about this and dont know were to start lol i will find out later lol

[daecon]

Banishment is not the only option. You can,of course, create them to expire naturally after a period of time. This is a good solution for weak, one task daemons that you don't intend to maintain. For the more powerful, self willed servitors, you can reassign them to continue their work indefinitely, or until a preset condition is attained. For example, a guardian daemon might be set to continue to protect a house for as long as it stands, regardless of who actually lives there. If and when the house is eventually taken down, the daemon expires. Another option is to model your daemon on an existing mythology, and return it to that paradigm when it's no longer needed. For example, a daemon in the form of an angel returns to heaven when its task is completed. My own primary familiar is a dragon created with the Chinese legend of a carp promotion and will return to the Celestial Bureaucracy upon my death.

[mindway]

Ok cool...Egragore is a group thing.

But now that you've brought up Santa Clause, heres something I've always wondered about...

Has anybody successfully summoned him?


Look at any marketing during the Christmas season.

Serious magick going on.

[Azrael69]

i believe that servitors i practically like a Igor to a Frankenstein he is the go-to-man does all the dirty work like drawing energy and such.

[suburban_user]

i'm wondering if it would be possible to somewhat unknowingly bring about a servitor through a buildup of energy, desire, need, etc..

to be more personally specific, one that manifests in dreams.. i am talking about what i had come to view more as a shamanistic animal guide as a child.. that explanation should be fine but what makes me look for another is the fact that after some time and teaching this friend told me it was time for him to go and asked me to kill him.. i want to say he felt guilty while asking me to do this, like it was somehow his or my fault that he had to die.. (my current readings into shamanism have not explained this) anyway, as a child i could not do that to my new best friend, but he insisted.. eventually i may have performed somewhat of a mickey mouse banishment.. and he went away..

as a side thought, if this were possible my experience might cross over into another thread i saw addressing the idea of learning skills from a servitor.. while creating him (if that's what i did) my intent surely would have been to have him as a guide/scout for my increasing experimentation with lucid dreaming.. i remember a few times i would ask him occult questions and send him off to find the answer.. sometimes it would take him days or weeks.. perhaps less of a teacher, more of a knowledge scout.. though i have no idea where he found such information..

i appologize for any ignorance, i have explained briefly somewhat in other posts about my repression.. not much of my memories of these things are currently available to me.

[S33k3R]

What an interesting way of looking at servitors...I'll have to have a look and a think about that implication.

However, for now, Servitors are inherently creatures without will. Think of it more as the crystallized distillation and manifestation of YOUR will. An extension of an essence of you if you please. The creation a of a servitor takes out an aspect of yourself that you wish to enhance or bring manifest and focuses it into reality, so you can work with it or gain benefit from it.

The reason that a servitor can never have free will is simple...only God can grant true free will to any creature. This was his gift to mankind and what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. As servitors are inherently creations of the human mind...free will was never really an option.

Interestingly, servitors can evolve into Egregors and perhaps into God-forms. Essentially attaining a god-like status. However...they will always be within a defined parameter set. God as we mostly conceptualize him, has no defined parameter set at all...he is that which defines.

This is one of the fundamental differences with the theological God of the 3 great religions and the Pagan Gods of antiquity...they usually followed a Pantheon of various Gods, all tasked with overseeing the different aspect of reality while the God of Judaism/Christianity/Islam is an overarching single concept that manages it all.

So don't worry about the free will of your sevitor...you couldn't give him one. This is not to say that you can't lose control of a servitor...your instruction sets and formation must be coherent and balanced, lest chaos slip through the cracks. This does not meat your servitor is rebelling in accordance to his will, simply that it was somewhat half baked.

...bit like the guy who wrote on his insurance claim..."I was proceeding safely down the road when all of a sudden this tree jumped into my path..."

[dragonus18]

i'm wondering if it would be possible to somewhat unknowingly bring about a servitor through a buildup of energy, desire, need, etc..

to be more personally specific, one that manifests in dreams.. i am talking about what i had come to view more as a shamanistic animal guide as a child.. that explanation should be fine but what makes me look for another is the fact that after some time and teaching this friend told me it was time for him to go and asked me to kill him.. i want to say he felt guilty while asking me to do this, like it was somehow his or my fault that he had to die.. (my current readings into shamanism have not explained this) anyway, as a child i could not do that to my new best friend, but he insisted.. eventually i may have performed somewhat of a mickey mouse banishment.. and he went away..

as a side thought, if this were possible my experience might cross over into another thread i saw addressing the idea of learning skills from a servitor.. while creating him (if that's what i did) my intent surely would have been to have him as a guide/scout for my increasing experimentation with lucid dreaming.. i remember a few times i would ask him occult questions and send him off to find the answer.. sometimes it would take him days or weeks.. perhaps less of a teacher, more of a knowledge scout.. though i have no idea where he found such information..

i appologize for any ignorance, i have explained briefly somewhat in other posts about my repression.. not much of my memories of these things are currently available to me.

To address your question.

Imaginary friends.

[S33k3R]

To address your question.

Imaginary friends.

Yes...and your point is?

[suburban_user]

well thank you for atleast addressing my question.

[Azaziel]

here is an advanced technique for servitor creation that I have used. If you use it, feel free to change it as you will.

This is a sexual method of servitor creation, and is largely and loosely inspired by the techniques practiced by the members of the Fraternis Saturni. The rite requires a few simple tools, some of which can be dispensed with according to the preference and skill level of the magician. A circle should be erected, using salt, natron, chalk or what have you, you'll need a black hilted knife prepared on the day and hour of Saturn, a Chalice filled with a strong alcohol, a single candle, a pin or needle or other such device to prick your finger with, and a large amount of Lunar incense such as Jasmine, camphor, or Myrrh bark. Also, you'll need to have ready a sheet of parchment with the sigil/s of the sevitor spirit painted onto it.
The room temparature for the rite should be high, and you should be prepared by abstinence, meditation and sexual arousal, ingesting a small amount of hashish may help as well. The rite is opened by the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual as outlined by Peter Carroll ( Gnostic Pentagram Ritual (http://www.chaosmatrix.org/library/chaos/rites/gpr.html) ) This rite is preferable to theurgic rites such as the Lesser Banishing ritual of the Pentagram, as the LBRP and its accompanying symbolism may not be suitable to workings such as these, and may cause a form of internal conflict and anxiety during the rite. Also, such rites depend on the invocation and aid of Divine and Angelic Names, whereas in this rite, all magical force is drawn from your own body and your sexual forces. Though the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual has no direct relationship to actual Gnostic practiecs of antiquity, it suits the rite for two reasons 1) the intoning of the vowels and such subtly awakens the occult power zones and 2) the tracing of the Pentagrams in the four quarters reinforces the circle. In the opening of the rite, this ritual is performed holding the knife in the left hand, tracing the Pentagrams inverse and moving counter clockwise around the circle, in the closing it is performed moving clockwise, while upright pentagrams are traced.
Well, I suppose I'll get on to the rite itself, which is broken down into five major parts, 1) opening with Gnostic Pentagram ritual 2) Preparatory conjuration 3) Charging of the sigil 4) application of sexual force and 5) the closing of the ceremony and testing of the servitor. Also it should be noted that beneficial servitors should be created on a full or waxing moon, while dangerous and malevolent servitors should be created on a New or waning moon.

1) Enter the circle and perform the inverse, counter clockwise Gnostic Pentagram Ritual with the Black handled knife(if you have one)
2) Cast the incense and draw a small circle in the North and sprinkle it with seven drops of the strong alcohol. Begin to evoke the appearance of the servitor using visualization, rhythmic breathing and the mantric use of the U-vowel. The best method is to visualize an astral cord coming from the solar plexus or better the region of the genitals and filling the space just above the small circle and using this as the media to form the image of your servitor.
3) Having accomplished this, place the parchment sigil within the small circle. Charge the sigil by drawing energy from your heart/solar plexus area, your stomach then your genital region and sending this in a steady stream into the sigil with your hands. You can also draw the energy from each energy center in turn with your left hand, and direct it into the sigil with your right hand. Repeat this process a total of nine times, while breathing rhythmically and repeating the servitors name as a mantra.
4) While maintaining strict focus on the sigil, slowly bring yourself to an orgasmic climax. Mix the released sexual fluids into the Chalice of alcohol, and use this to soak the sigil. Prick the middle finger with the needle and place three drops of blood upon the sigil and very very carefully dry it over the candle flame (be very careful not to ignite it, hold it well above the flame)
5) Close the ceremony by performing the Gnostic Pentagram right, tracing the upright Pentagrams in the four quarters and moving clockwise. The presence and strength of the servitor can be tested with a pendulum. The servitor can then be strengthened with more sexual force every monday or friday.

Excellent ritual.

[daecon]

Is there a way of creating a Servitor without forcing ones will onto it?

There are two different paradigms that are used to create a servitor (and numerous variations of each.) First, there's creation. The servitor did not exist in any real sense before the spell was cast. The action of the magician takes a quantity of raw magic and forms a quasi-living being out of it. The servitor might appear to have an independent intelligence, but it's really just an extension of the magician's own will. "Enslavement" of a servitor of this type is no more meaningful as enslavement of a computer program, Turing test or no.

The other paradigm is summoning. Rather than creating a magical force, the spell is designed to attract a pre-existing entity that satisfies a set of conditions. Once attracted, the entity may be given a substantial boost of power, and perhaps some extra abilities, but it existed in some form before the magician came along, even if that form was wholely mythical or imaginary. Servitors of this type are also referred to as "daemons." They should not be confused with demons, which are evil (from the POV of a human) supernatural creatures, although it's certainly possible for a demon to serve as a daemon if that is what the magician desires. Now, daemons can be enslaved, tricked into servitude or made to act against their own interests. In fact, for actual demons, this is necessary as the creature's natural instinct is to harm its summoner. For other, non-infernal daemons, though, enslavement is not necessary. A more useful model can be that of an employee. The caster offers to supply the daemon with magic and power in return for its services. The daemon might also demand some other service or sacrifice appropriate to its nature. For example, a daemon in the form of a faun can be "paid" with libations of wine.

[monsterbetty]

I have made a few servitores. One of which was accidentally. I was very very upset and fairly lonely and I was painting. I named the demon before I painted it. Kreevosh? Anyway as I painted I let whatever energies I had spill out of me from the tips of my fingers into the brush. I chanted the demons name all the while. I was utterly exhausted afterward and napped for a little while and dreamt about Kreevosh and when I woke up he was just . . . there. I wasn't sure what he was made for but at some point I realized that it was just general. He kept me company. I had someone to bounce ideas off of and he did in fact gather information on things for me. I've been toying with the idea of making another servitore. For research purposes.

[Nightgaunt]

Waaaaay back in the mists of time, around 1992, I found a course in magick by a fellow named Phil Hansford. In it, he discusses "thoughtforms and elementals", but he was basically talking about servitors. I created one following his method, and it worked spectacularly. I used his method a few times over the years and I once got independent confirmation of the efficacy of the technique. This course is still available online from many sources. Here's one (specifically about creating "artificial elementals"). (http://www.necronomi.com/magic/hermeticism/mag7.basic_ritual.txt)

The story of getting independent confirmation that this simple method works is worth relating. In 1994, I transferred from the college I was attending in Michigan to an art school in Philadelphia. Because I didn't have time to look for an apartment, I spent a quarter living in the school dormitory. A group of students I had befriended had been screwing around with a spirit board. Based on some extremely negative past experiences with such things, I did not attend these sessions. They had attracted the attention of a particularly nasty entity that monopolized the sessions and actually showed quite a bit of strength by throwing the spirit board planchette across the room and causing actual clouds to form in the room. At least, this is what I was told. Unbeknownst to the group, I created a basic, "robotic" servitor that I called "Hendrix". Hendrix took the form of a metallic armadillo and was tasked with patrolling the room that they used the spirit board in and interrogating spirits as to their names. If the spirit gave the name that belonged to the spirit that had been vexing the group, Hendrix was tasked to deny entry to that spirit.

"Duh," you say, "all the spirit has to do is lie about its name." I know, I know. It was an oversight on my part. :P Anyway, the next day, I received an account of their session with the spirit board. Apparently, the nasty entity in question had been enraged. It kept demanding to be told who had evoked Hendrix! The group of course, had had no idea what it was talking about. This was a huge step on my path of working magick. It was the first "proof" that I had gotten that it wasn't "all in my head".

So, yeah, I heartily recommend this Hansford fellow's work.

[Shadow Weaver]

The reason that a servitor can never have free will is simple...only God can grant true free will to any creature. This was his gift to mankind and what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. As servitors are inherently creations of the human mind...free will was never really an option.


An interesting theory, but only true for a certain mind/ belief set. Namely that of a folower of one of the Abrahamic faiths.




*Edit*
Made the quote tags work.

[Sara D]

yes but an option is never free will.

[Vir Sapiens]

Free will is an illusion anyway. Whenever you talk about free will it is usually in the context of humanity however our brains are little better than a difference engine. We accumulate a bias of data and by the time we're 3 we have developed a bias towards reward. That is to say we inherently choose the more rewarding option based upon the information we have gathered up to that point. Can free will exist when the choice is always predetermined? I submit that once we cease to be infants then free will also ceases to exist. By that same token a servitor could be given "free will" just by implementing the same decision making process that we use in the servitor's design. Again it wouldn't really be free will in the way we think of it, the ability to choose any of a number of choices, but, it would be "free will" in the way we exercise it in which the most inherently rewarding choice is always selected.

[daecon]

"Free will" is a philosophical idea and a subject of considerable controversy. It would be better to say that servitors can possess autonomy. That is, within the context of achieving their programmed goal, they can alter their strategy without the direct input of the magician. This is, of course, a double edged sword. Poor programming is the #1 cause of "rogue" servitors.

[controlledchaos]

it is my understanding that they can also be drawn back into and transfored into raw energy. Besides it is your thought there for it will always be ONE with you./ if you don't assign fear to it there is nothing to worry about.

[Sigata]

Does servitors always turn on you or starts bothering you if you dont banish it or give it a certain time to exist?

Lets say you made a servitor to keep you company and maybe help with your magic somehow ...

I mean you want it to help you all the time right?

[Shadow Weaver]

it is my understanding that they can also be drawn back into and transfored into raw energy.

Yes, but that is also true of any spiritual entity that you are stronger than. Just as very nearly any small animal is edible if you catch it and kill it.


Does servitors always turn on you or starts bothering you if you dont banish it or give it a certain time to exist?

No, you can successfuly keep servitors indefinatly if they are built correctly and treated with a certain ammount of respect (ok, you don't need to respect them, but I suspect it helps). Any long term general purpose servitor is going to have to have a certain ammount of intelligence to be able to perform a variety of duties effectively and eventualy is likley to resent being treated like a slave and find ways to rebel. it's often easier to say please and thank you and address it politely than to remake the entity every six months, and you have a helper willing to take it's own initiative to assist you.

[Sigata]

Thank you shadow Weaver :D