Probably my last entry for this, outside of updates.
I did my regular prayers for the last time with this work through. It was moving, in a way. I haven’t missed a day of my daily prayers or my blood offerings on them since starting this on 03FEB.
When I finished Azrael’s prayer, he came towards me and offered to do some “work” on me. I accepted and could feel things being done in the center middle and outside edges of my head. This lasted for a bit, longer than expected, but I didn’t have a way to time it.
I finished Santa Muerte’s and she affected the front and front center portions of my head.
Az Jahi reacted similarly to how she did the first time, but there’s a knowing that I will still work with her.
Nergal accepted and I also know I will be working with him and Ereshkigal deeper outside of the book.
I did finish my prayers for 257 and 258. My prayers for my friend continue and should finish on the 8th.
As I look back on what I’ve done and learned from this book, I can honestly say that anyone that actually works through it with intent will learn something. This book is more of a sampling of substance for these entities with enough to keep the active participant busy for a long, long time. Is it for everyone? No, I don’t think it is. Certainly isn’t for raw beginners, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get anything out of it. They just won’t get the most out of it until they have some experience.
I think it’s a good fit for those wanting to get their feet wet, those with some curiosity of the Death current (but not necessarily traditional necromancy), and for those whose who feel the call towards the current or working with the dead, but need a starting point that doesn’t involve desecrating graves. It will take someone used to energy work to get the most out of it.
While I could state some criticisms, I feel they are mostly personal preference. I could’ve ignored most of the materials needed in this book, but that’s because I had alternative means through Death entities I’d already cultivated that would allow this. Graveyard dirt, for example. Technically, swamps could count, too, as could bogs and marshes. Decay us their game and they see a lot more of it than graveyards do.
I know there have been some criticisms and I don’t frankly care. You can’t work through this book without learning something - from the work itself or from the entities in it - which means it has value for a practicing magician that isn’t looking to gloss over it without conducting most of the rituals in it. I didn’t complete them all, finding some unnecessary for my practice or already done in another area. But I clearly worked through most and have journaled it. If anyone else does the same, please let me know so I can follow along!
