Hmm. Giving them task to accomplish will increase the useful signal to noise ratio amidst the astral flux. .
There are classes of entities (daimons, in the Western Neoplatonic framework) that want to exercise their strength in the world and are not just astral chatbots. However, for magic, weak entities taking you for a ride are a well-known problem in working with spirits.
I recommend telling a weak performer to put up or shut up, and if they still play games, kick them to the curb.
Jason S. Black (no relation) has a very instructive story about conjuring Afro-Caribbean spirits - without initiation, I will add, which can be problematic, but whatever.
The general approach he outlines is useful, and a different way working than the mental shaman approach. Without being too grandiose this is the way of the Sorcerer. The real point being by using more traditional conjuring techniques , once you get them HERE you have more leverage, for a variety of reasons. And the added added structure also helps to cut down on noise. That is partly of what it's for.
l'm short on time this morning so I'll just post the section from his magical diary here:
--------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
I had identified what I considered a class or “family” of
intelligences referred to in the Haitian tradition as Lords of the
Crossroads— like Legba— and in Macumba as Eshus and in
Santeria as Elegguas. All, it seemed to me, were different names
for the same class of beings. I selected a spirit called Eshu
Marabo, one that could perform healings, bring luck, defend the
magician, and so forth. This was partly to further my career, but
partly just to see what would happen. It became a rather cute, but
frustrating, relationship with what religious historians refer to as
“the trickster.” The family of Eshus (sometimes spelled Exu)
were generally considered devils, which made the whole thing
even more attractive to me.
The Orishas of Santeria and Macumba are basically the same.
They come from the Yoruba tradition while the Haitian spirits go
by what are largely Dahomean names. From the Brazilian
literature there is a whole constellation of graphic talismans and
signs used in the magic. Most of this cannot be obtained in the
U.S. and we will supply some of that obscure material in this
book. One of the reasons I selected Eshu Marabo was that he was
one of the few Eshus for whom I could find a magical signature.
I began with pendulum divination to decide what would be an
appropriate way to propitiate the spirit. Somewhat to my horror,
the oracle insisted on the heavy use of cigars rather than incense
as a fumigant. As a lifelong non-smoker, I had visions of making
myself sick at each conjuration, but this is what it said, so I went
along.
I performed the conjurations at least five times a week,
requesting money, status, and a number of personal things. I
must say that I was not impressed by the response to my specific
requests, but there was enough genuine strangeness to make me
believe that I had conjured something—Marabo or not.
I began seeing apparitions. These usually occurred at random
times during the daylight hours. On one particular occasion, I
was on my way to work, heading down the stairs of my
apartment building, when, turning the corner at the stairway
landing, I saw the figure of a man leaning over the railing above
looking at me. I say the figure of a man, because that’s all there
was. He was transparent and a sort of tan or smoky color, like the
hologram of a mannequin. I stopped, we “looked” at each other,
and he faded away. The hallway was well lit with both light
fixtures and the mid-morning summer light coming through a
large nearby window. There were no shadows from people
walking by—no one else was in the hallway. I looked at it for a
long time—close to half a minute—before it disappeared. It was
as if it wanted to be sure it had been seen.
While this was happening, a friend of mine, an experienced
technician in the video industry, was being harassed by his
employer. The strategy was apparently to force old personnel to
resign so the company could avoid paying benefits. He was also
involved with an occult group that I frequented and wanted to try
an experiment to protect his situation. I told him to bring a “link”
with the person or persons harassing him. I performed a ritual to
ask what, exactly, to do for my friend. I was told that he should
bring a potted plant as the focus for the “spell.”
We met at the home of a mutual friend and performed a ritual
of protection cobbled together from what I knew. He took the
“link” and buried it in the potted earth. The spirit said that so
long as he took care of the plant, his job would be intact and his
persecutors would get retribution. According to his testimony,
this worked.
I continued to make requests regarding my personal
glorification and enrichment. These were answered in toweringly
average terms. Strange things would happen but they seemed
like efforts by an inferior spirit trying to appease me and look
big— something of which many of the old magical texts warn.
For example, I requested money. As it happened, I also
needed a new wallet. Walking in front of my office building I
saw, laying on top of a newspaper vending machine, a brand new
eelskin wallet, apparently never used. It was the same style and
size of my old one, even to the color. Coincidence. Fine. But I
had never seen a new wallet sitting in the open ignored by
passersby as though it was invisible.
That same day, after work, I walked down the hill to the
aforementioned Bodhi Tree bookstore. On the way, something
caught my eye caught underneath the leg of a bus bench. I bent
down to pick it up, and it was a ten dollar bill. I continued to the
used book section of the Bodhi Tree and found a copy of a book
that I had not seen in nearly twelve years, and never in that store.
It was Macumba, Teachings of Maria-Jose, Mother of the Gods,
by Serge Bramly. It cost ten dollars.
The frontispiece to chapter one was a graphic representation
of one of the spirits. It was Eshu Marabo.
In addition to this, during one ritual, a stone weighing just
under two pounds crawled slowly nearly a foot across a level
altar table.
The final straw on all this utterly useless psychic silliness
came when, frustrated at the lack of positive results, I asked what
I could do to increase the spirit’s power in the physical world.
The response was that I should pile the altar with yams and
smoke more cigars.
This was really too much. I dismissed the spirit and burned
the related talismans, thanking it for the wallet and the book, and
pointing out that it had done nothing that I requested.
It should be noted that yams are a traditional offering— along
with animals— in both Afro-Caribbean magic, and in the original
African religions. It should also be noted that during the period
of this experiment— two months or more— I began to smoke
more and more cigars during the ritual. I was and am not a
smoker. I got the distinct feeling that the spirit— whatever it
was—was using me to enjoy sensations that it couldn’t, and tried
to keep me satisfied with little tricks. This sort of thing is not
unknown in either the occult literature or psychic research.
Do I think it was really “Eshu Marabo”? Probably not. People
shouldn’t put too much faith in conjurations or symbols on their
own. I saw enough to think “something” was there. What it was I
have no idea. Whatever it may have been, it was nothing I
needed.
Eventually I went on to a “better position” than working in a
personal management firm. I have to say that the improved
position was due to an answered request from whatever it was
that wanted to be called Legba. I performed the ritual as
described and made a detailed request regarding money, location
and atmosphere. I repeated this for several nights. Within the
month I was informed by a director I knew of just the kind of
opening I had requested. I interviewed after work and was
immediately accepted for the job. The next day I was preparing
to give notice, when the owner informed me that due to financial
problems he was closing the office in a week.
I had been saved from trouble that I didn’t even know was
coming. This sense of “protection” or “good luck” has increased
as time has gone by.
