More enjoyment

Raising the Long Dead This will be a serious change of gears. Whereas reviving the recently dead is an intense, draining, strenuous, fast process where manpower might be the deciding factor in your success, reviving the long dead is intensely personal, somewhat slow, and will not be nearly so difficult for most people. That said, one is often more skilled with one form of resurrection over the other, and some people have a much easier time with the previous ritual than this one, which demands a lot of focus, and has a greater complexity. The golem is well known enough as to not require a rehash here. If you don’t know about it already, just look it up, particularly the first, truest mentions in history. We’re making one, with some deviations from the usual golem template. Ideally, the center of our golem will be a complete or nearly complete human skeleton, belonging to the subject you wish to see reborn. If it simply is not available, use whatever parts of the skeleton you can. If you have so little as to be unable to make it any kind of center, fuck it and do your best with bone powder, and any close possessions of the deceased. Use whatever for the center model. I recommend wood, but it won’t matter very much, it’s all a poor substitute. Mix it in as best you can, but do not break the possessions any moreso than they were already. If you cannot get a more or less complete skeleton, even your best efforts may fail, but that’s no reason not to try. You might succeed, too. Whatever you use as the armature for the golem, don’t forget to put it on a sturdy base, and use whatever supports are necessary to comfortably support the skeleton or its substitute. Assuming things went your way and you have a good skeleton, build the body around it with their grave soil, decomposed matter (if it came from the subject’s body, that would be just terrific and really help this out a lot), and an organic binding agent, such as oatmeal and powder, to hold it together. If the decomposed matter doesn’t come from the actual dead person you’re trying to raise, don’t worry about it too much. If you’re trying to revive a human, human remains are best, though. Even use your own if you must, such as your hair, nails or if circumstance permits, teeth. Whatever you have laying around. At least 75% of your golem at this point needs to have come from something that was once living. Again, don’t be skimpy on the supports, both internal and external. Sculpture wire is your friend here. Don’t phone it in, either. Keep your purpose at the forefront of your mind. You are attempting to revive a corpse, so be careful and mindful of what you’re doing. Feel the power of this act. Let your emotions run freely, and think much of the subject being revived. With this accomplished, add in the details. If you can use more necrotic matter in doing so, be it plant or animal, it would sure be super-special awesome, but you can succeed without it. Paint it, clothe it, give it its former face, whatever you feel is a good idea. It’s your golem, so follow your own instincts above all. Create it with not only yourself in mind, but the person who will be reborn as this golem. They will have to live in it, so be thoughtful of this, and do your best. Take nothing about this lightly, for you are performing incredibly advanced magic, and in the unlikely event that something goes wrong (other than not working if you don‘t have enough of the remains and didn’t charge the golem sufficiently), something is going to go very wrong indeed. I will not discourage you with horror stories about it, but consider the worst thing related to this you can imagine, make it three times worse, and you’ll have an idea. Do not wear gloves if you can possibly help it. Your skin contact will help charge the golem. If you do not know the face to make, or feel that you are not up to the task of recreating it, close your eyes, and let the forces surrounding you guide your hand to create what is in your mind’s eye. It is a degree below full-blown possession, and if it’s happening, you’ll know it. It may take some time, so be patient. It would be beneficial to fill the room you are working in with sights, sounds, and scents that would appeal to the deceased. Use the room for nothing else while you are creating the golem, and if possible, only use that room for golem creation. Treat the golem as a living thing even while constructing it- speak to it, touch and infuse it with your emotions, keep it in your thoughts. You are feeding it this way, you ken? It will not be perfect, and will never be perfect by your hand. Accept this, and don’t let it keep you from giving your best effort. Even during its creation process, you may find the golem starting to move around in little ways. Allow this, and go with it. It will often happen while you rest and are not with it. You come back, and it has changed posture, or perhaps moved an arm. Take the hint. You may have noticed by now that I haven’t given in-depth instructions on the finer points of sculpting the golem. I’m not going to. If you don’t already know how to make a standing sculpture like this, consult your local library or bookstore for a book on the subject. Moving on, it will eventually come time to truly animate your golem. You can do this indoors or outdoors. I recommend doing it indoors, but I have two really nice homes which may be biasing me. Do it in the dark, with a single candle’s light. Face the sculpture to the West, to Death’s Gate, and anoint the forehead, heart, wrists, and the top of the feet with a mix of jasmine oil and a drop of your own physical blood. You could do worse than burning jasmine incense, too. This is only a finalizing of sealing the soul into your construct, though. You should have been evoking, rebuilding, and channeling the deceased every step of the way up to now in all your actions and intentions. Stand in front of the golem, and speak, “In the name of the Gods of Death, I have given of my own life’s fount to infuse this form with the spirit of (your subject’s name).” Put out the candle at once, and take a seat in the dark, arm’s length from the golem. Close your eyes, and visualize the golem beginning to move. You must not be afraid, or the whole thing’s going to be wasted. You will need absolute silence, because you now must listen intently for any noise from the golem- cracking, cloth rubbing on cloth, breathing, or even speaking. Reanimation may take many days, and may take on many forms. Footsteps or other sounds of movement in the night, objects moving, the golem’s expression changing, fingers having moved, the whole thing changing direction, or any number of other notable happenings. It would seem that a sculpture, particularly one attached to a base, would not have an easy time physically moving, but it bears keeping in mind that you are performing top-tier magic, and what is held by most to be impossible is well within the plausible of your world now. It may appear fully animate to you in dreams rather readily. It may physically move or speak, too. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, sometimes more than you would have imagined possible. Typically, it will not, the revival being primarily an etheric one, but you’ll see for yourself that it can be quite the resurrection sometimes. You may wish to keep the golem in your room if it is not physically moving very much. This seems to allow it an easier time appearing in dreams.