Introducing Pesta, the traveling personification of the Black Plague. Pesta can reveal secrets about death and the afterlife, as well as share knowledge on herbal magic. She is to be summoned for aid in death magic and curses, spreading sickness and disease through the art of sorcery as well as defending/protecting against it. The space should be purified and cleansed before contact and I’d advise Pesta be called upon alone, as she’s quite a solitary being, who appreciated an offering of water, bread and incense.
Pesta travelled with her two magical tools: A Rake- if she used this it would indicate some people would survive her visit… A Broom- which indicated none would be left alive. If you have the Daemon Tarot Deck, the Brooms card can be placed on the altar as a focus point/link to the Plague Hag, blessed as a symbolic representation of Pesta, acting almost like a sigil.
Another common characteristic in descriptions of Pesta, is her red skirt. The color red having a lot of associations with witchcraft and the supernatural in folklore.
Here is a cursing ritual, as well as a Seal Of Pesta, that i found online:
WOW!!! This spirit is seriously hardcore!! The ritual also takes a lot of preparation as far as I have read. One spirit to keein mind for when shit hits the fan
Yeah, I was repeatedly drawn to Pesta, pulled to her by Lamastu’s guiding hand. Even preparing to simply communicate with Pesta seemed alot, of course I had to do research and create a sigil etc, but also keeping in constant contact with Lamastu in the days building up to it, to discover how I should approach Pesta and speaking to the Daughter of Anu, so she could provide an insight into Pesta’s personality/charachter before the actual ritual, so I could have a glimpse before any active work.
A Possible Enn to chant, to call forth Pesta:
“Deyan ( insert name of your personal deity), Pesta, Plaga Matrona Consideraverit, Ef! Nonca Pesta, Ors Lator, I call, Ef!”
I have communicated with Pesta, not worked with to accomplish a magical purpose. Once I look over my notes, I’m going to post more on the subject of communication with Pesta.
“Mater Lachrymarum, carrying her rake and her broom, from the bowels of Mother Earth, she comes to bring doom. When the space is getting crowded, Pesta comes to sweep and sweep, wherever she goes, O’ how they weep and weep”
Sacred Animals- Rats…Bats as they are liminal creatures, whom rest in the caves of mother earth and rise from her at night…Rodents of any kind…Owls and blackbirds…worms…the scorpion…all the creatures cast aside, misunderstood and branded wicked by People.
Whether you prefer to few Pesta as a witch spirit or different type of entity, she is a very misunderstood being, who I view as similar to Lamastu who has domain over these type. As not only a harbinger of sickness, Pesta acts as an agent of both death and fate, she doesn’t decide who dies, but is simply accomplishing the job given to her. A Protector of Mother Earth, similar to Lamastu being A Guardian Of The Great Earth Of Life, Pesta’s duty is population control, cleansing the vast amounts of space by spreading sickness among those wandering the land, whose deaths have been already decided. As a soldier of Earth, a sacred place which should be respected, nurtured and loved, Pesta descends upon society when the Mother is being mistreated, disrespected and abused, to remind people about the magic of nature and to be grateful for it.
I also found Pesta to be a single entity, with the ability to replicate herself, to ‘cover more ground’ I’m assuming… And not a group of seperate entities fitted together under the label ‘Pesta’.
Thank you so much for responding, also thank you posting the link, when I created the post I had only the screenshots and could not find the site. Pesta is a great spirit, if you work with Lilith as I do, (I work with Lamastu and Lilith as my main Goddesses), Pesta can definitely be called upon, I like to think of her not as a dark mother but an agent of the dark mother, who acts almost as an enforcer although she definitely has a maternal nature, shown only to those who serve the dark mother and dark goddesses that choose to introduce themselves to her or are guided to her. When you are working with her, let me know how the experience goes, I would love to hear about it.
I’ve worked with Tiamat a few times when I was reading Grimoire of Tiamat. That’s fair enough, sharing experiences is a very personal thing to do and a difficult decision, I was just asking out of interest and would never ask someone to do something if they found it uncomfortable.
Glad you enjoyed the post, once again thanks for responding
Peace!