One last hurrah by an unwanted influence?

General Discussion
1

Here’s the story.

For well over a year now, I have had that gut feeling that something has been tripping me up. Specifically with business and financial dealings. Some of the things that have happened businesswise were clearly my fault. But a whole lot of things went south due to seemingly random and bizzare behavior by others and pure bad chance.

I decided to attempt a full evocation of Opfaal using the circle of pacts. I did feel a presence surround me during the ceremony. I asked him to remove any unwanted negative influences that were getting in my way, both external and internal. I thanked and dismissed Opfaal and then ate a fried baloney sandwich while watching Firefly reruns. Lol.

Things got bizarre a couple of days later. A guy that I have been friends with for over 20 years got on Facebook and proceeded to rip me to shreds. I have no idea what set him off. We had a falling out almost a year ago and haven’t talked since. This isn’t the first time we have had a disagreement, but he has never done anything like this to retaliate. Frankly, I am so pissed at him that I’m not sure that I care to ever talk to him again. He is legitimately bipolar, but this was just way too much for me to look past.

I was beginning to think that my ceremony completely backfired until I got a call a few days later that was nothing but good news as far as my financial situation goes.

Could that bizarre out burst from my former friend have been one last attempt to hurt me by some sort of negative influence?

Tell me what you think.

2

Sounds like it’s exactly that - if he was a friend, he has his kind of claws in your affections a bit, even if you’re sometimes competitive or even outright “frenemies,” and if you did this spell and he blows himself out of your life, well, I don’t believe in coincidences.

And I know the harm an unstable friend can do, I have one, a bipolar gal who I love to bits but sometimes when she flakes out of just drops contact, it makes me feel like shit, like I’m bugging her and totally worthless, so anyway (obviously that’s my stuff to deal with) I can kind of feel for that situation.

Also it reminds me of this bit in Lon Milo DuQuette’s book Low Magick where he does this exorcism and as he calls the demon, the maintenance guy comes into the room, and long story short he figured the guy had, probably unwittingly, been the channel for this big problem.

So my vote is yes based on what you’ve said, but bear in mind that’s through heavy (and maybe distorting) lenses of my own “stuff” and experiences etc., and with humans, not spirits, and believe me I’m less good with handling homo sapiens most of the time! :\

3

I don’t think his blow up was a coincidence either. I will take it as a hint to leave him in the past.

I don’t have any experience calling entities to get rid of mysterious negative influences, so this will be interesting to see what shakes loose.

I read “Low Magic”. I remember that story. It would be a bit of a surprise if my old friend was the conduit for this negative influence. On the other hand, he can be literally batshit crazy sometimes, so who knows.

4

The actions of this so-called friend are the results of Opfaal’s work. he was caused to come out and show his true face to you. And from that you should know that he should no longer be accepted by you, or believed to be a friend. So from now on, simply cut him from your life and be done away with him.
I would love to see that from all so-called friends who smile to your face, and hate you vitriolicly in private. such stealth feelings affect you when they are directed towards to.

5

Note to self… Opfaal causes hidden enemies to expose themselves.

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6

Today will be one week since I evoked Opfaal. One thing I have noticed over the past 24 hours or so is a feeling of calm and clarity; like a dreary, hopeless, dark fog has quietly lifted to reveal a world rich with goodness and possibilities. I haven’t done any meditating or anything in several days to account for this.

Opfaal is supposed to be most powerful during the full and new moon. I think I may evoke him again during the full moon.

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7

Well, getting back to the topic Epsilon touched on here recently, whereby everything and everyone in our lives is a mirror for our selves (which btw both my partner, and my hero David Neagle, also believe heavily, and the “isolate consciousness” thing is a key idea of the Left-Hand Path) this means that this guy represented some dysfunctional part of you that you’re now ready to move on from.

This is, not so much like he was literally channelling dark forces - and, if you remember Low Magick (the title itself, Low Magick: It’s All in Your Head …You Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is - that about sums it up) he also found when he divined the demon’s name, that it was also intimately related to his own psyche and the issues he was dealing with at the time.

I’ve done a lot of healing work, and almost every client and friend, family, etc., had some issue that was close to something I’ve had to deal with, and sometimes was still dealing with - hell, even all my dogs have been almost like avatars of my own flaws, the first was terrified of every other dog and therefore tried to savage them (that’s like me, aged 12 - 21!), and every one since then has held a part of my shadow, and healing them has also healed me, and that’s in everyday terms and not just magickal.

Normally I go about treating people as people, sovereign King & Queen of their own realm, and I try to be positive and polite, but also, on a deeper level, I believe that everyone in our lives is either something we can aspire to (so, envy’s the dumbest emotion ever) or something we need to leave behind.

My own bipolar friend is very VERY pretty, I mean I’m no dog but I feel honestly insecure compared to her even though she never sees it, and she has a lot of things in her life I kinda want but am not willing to do what it takes to get them (or keep them) so when I see her pain, it’s a reminder to me that the grass isn’t always greener, and that nobody’s life is as perfect as an outside audit of the bare facts might make it seem.

If this seems like psychological/psychobabbling bullshit so be it, I like that stuff and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there’s a saying we’re the result of our five (or three, seven - it’s only a saying!) closest friends, and in this case it looks like that percentage of you was ready to move on?

8

I think that guy may have been putting a lot of negativity on you without you knowing it and was kind of unintentionally or unknowingly jinxing you.

In certain traditions people are told not to speak of mundane things they are doing until they have manifested to help prevent jealousy or negative thoughts to be placed on you or your ventures and stop their progress. There is also the advice of being careful what you say or think about people as some people are naturally more capapble of asserting their will on others and can unintentionally harm them. I get the feeling this was somewhat the case here and the guy felt the smack back after the ritual and attributed it to you.

I’d take it as a sign that the ritual is working. As far as evoking him again of that is how you like to do things then go for it. Evocation imo is more like the introductory phase and once you have established a raport with the spirit it is no longer necessary, a simple invocation or service to that particular spirit asking that it help you achieve your goal usually works for me. YMMV.

9

It was definitely time for him to move on. He hasn’t been a close friend for many years. At one time I called him my best friend but I cannot say that that’s been the case for years.
Until I learn otherwise, I’m going to assume that this was the spirit doing me a favor and breaking the last remaining tie with someone who was no good for me.

10

I’m reasonably certain that any jinxing was unconscious. He did read up a little bit on the occult when we were in high school, but that was a passing thing for him. He has always been a fairly active churchgoer.
But, there’s definitely some serious jealousy and envy on his part for me. And with his obsessive nature and bipolar disorder, I could see that jealousy and envy taking on a life of its own without him realizing it.

Anyhow, fuck him. I am finished with him.

11

Yeah, even people thinking they know “what is best for you” which you see in a lot of church going people kind of send out an unconscious “I hope you fail to see the errors of your ways” it’s like an insult sandwich with compliments as the bread. That kind of crap takes it’s toll and it’s hard to even see until the influence is gone from your life.

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12

And don’t we ALL do it, though? Church or not, don’t we all have a friend or two we wish we could “steer right”?

My big one is people who think they’ve seen my “potential” in some way I’m amazingly and naïvely innocent of, and want to “guide” me towards it, and help me, and tell me what to do to fulfil it - for their own agenda, of course! Ick.

Human relationships are weird and I bet not one of us on here doesn’t have some kind of agenda for other people - mine, I freely admit, is more magicians, other people have other stuff, and we all secretly believe we’re RIGHT goddamit! :wink:

I sometimes think psychopaths, with their complete disregard for other people unless they can be used, are the most honest of us all.

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13

I tend to steer away from philosophical and psychological discussions just because they can go on forever and ever, but I do believe we all have our own agenda and there’s nothing wrong with pursuing that. But I also believe that a pretty decent rule of human interaction is the Golden Rule " do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It helps things to run smoothly in a free society. I have seen how bad a situation can get when you have to deal with people that do not have respect for other people or their property.

From what I have read about true psychopaths, they are greedy and self-serving, which I really don’t have a problem with, but they are also dishonest and very shortsighted, which is where the trouble occurs.

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14

The story of the janitor in low Magik is adsactly correct. Using things like Koettings banishing words will draw these janitors out and expel them,

Also mentioned was the saying of your a collection of your friendz. Absolutely 100 percent aswell. As you said this a friend in my vacinity yelled, “so long jose” while reworking HIS fantasy sports team lineup.

These sort of divination exercises are good ways of standing ba ck and seeing the bigger picture. Once you do…and rework things, you begin on new roads of science ,art, …simply put : communication.

I think this very topic…which ive been trying to avoid…influenced my being the last few days aswel.

My sister is sick of my overbearing love and affection towards her
. She doesn’t get my sense of humor and regularly tries to disband our relationship because she has little else to grab on to hurt me with so blows things out of proportion… I’ve decided not to reply to her phone messages because I know it’s her reminding me that its that time in our life she has to do her work more or less in mine, vice versa to her. Its funny the thread weaver of this topic mentions getting pissed off. I did to…my sister closes with, “by the way…you’re never going to make it”

This w as the last thing my x wife said . Twilight zone music just came to mind.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using other people. But you have to be honest. You can’t be sneaky.

15

TWF, you have just provided me with some enlightenment! :slight_smile:

16

Just made a fried baloney sandwich, how bizzare. That and i am researching Opfaal.