Magick by Rote

              While the primary focus of this book is to show that magick can be created from scratch, and no specific formula must be followed to achieve results, this chapter will illustrate the advantage of keeping track of these patchwork magical creations. When a magus discovered a particular combination of components that are effective at creating the desired manifestation, that magus could benefit on a personal level by recording this event. There are a great many occult texts that encourage the reader to keep a magical diary or journal, this book is no different. Though it may seem tedious and will initially be difficult to form the habit, once this act becomes second nature the magi will be able to track his or her own progress through the pages of this diary. Over time the sorcerer will be able to recognize patterns in his magick, and be able to extract further knowledge and technique from his own writings as if he were being his own teacher. Not only will this diary allow the sorcerer to observe personal progress, he will be able to create what will be called ‘rotes’.
              Rote is just a fancy word for a specific magical technique that produces results worth repeating. If a witch casts a particular spell, making it up as she goes, and is pleased with the results, she may choose to use the same procedure in a future situation. Despite the knowledge that ritual and procedure are simply methods in which to focus the will of the magus, one can use these procedures over and over again if they produce the desired results. That is the whole point of tactical magick, use what works. So if you discover that casting a spell using specific ritual, physical, and verbal components is producing the desired results, why not repeat the procedure? By keeping a magical diary you will be able to search it for these similarities, and in so doing end up compiling your own list of rotes. This list of rotes will become your personal grimoire, the foundation of your own tradition. As time goes on your grimoire will grow until you have a fully functioning magical system of your own making, and while it is personally relevant, may even be of use to others. Naturally the magus will still end up using improvised magick and eclectic techniques for much of their magical lives, though by having rotes at your disposal you have systematic magick with predictable results should you need it. 
              For those who have read the author’s previous texts this chapter on rotes should illustrate the methods used to develop the more formulaic and stylish spells presented in those earlier texts. For those new to the concept, the following example rotes have been provided, each with its own unique (and creative) title, description, and components.

Denial- This spell is an act of countermagick to be used when the magus is able to percieve an oncoming magical assault. By calling up a countermagick sigil through visualization, the magus projects the sigil towards the offensive magick. When the sigil comes in contact with the assault, depending upon the style of countermagick, it will deflect, absorb, or reflect the magical assault.
Components- The magus may choose to create the sigil in written form on parchment and commit it to memory. Once it is firmly in the memory, empower and burn the parchment into ashes, visualizing the burning of the parchment as the commitment of the sigil into magical reality. Then, if consuming those ashes is a personally relevant act, do so. When calling up the sigil the magus may choose to breathe it towards its target or to ‘hurl’ it with a hand gesture or power word.

Spirit Nuke- This spell is designed to allow the magus to remove all magical influences (be they spell or entity) from a particular area. A container, full of magical ingredients, is infused with as much magical energy as the magus is able to harness three times a day for three days. This timetable is based upon the mystical significance of 3, though any numerically significant timetable can be used depending upon the individual magus. As the container is being filled with magical energy for the allotted time, bind runes are placed on the container to prevent the energy from dissipating prematurely. Then the container is taken to the target area and placed at the closest approximation of the center. A protective circle or ward sigil is drawn under or around the container, to prevent unwanted tampering or premature release of the spell. Depending upon what sort of activation protocol the magus has constructed for the container, this protocol is employed and the nuke ‘detonates’. It will release the stored energy in one massive blast, the energy naturally having been placing into the container with the intent to ‘drive out’ all magical influences and thus resonating with that purpose. Take care not to be too close to the ‘blast radius’ of the container, as nearby magi could suffer severe etheric damage from the spell.
Components- The container can be anything that makes the participating magi think ‘bomb’, this could be a shoebox, tin can, garbage pail, or plastic cylinder of some kind. The author and associates prefer to use a perforated cardboard cylinder (for reasons illustrated below). The type of material in the container should be materials that, at least in the minds of the participating magi, cause harm or distress to magical entities. The author and associates have used large amounts of salt, mixed with a vial of iron filings and a diced garlic clove. The bind runes are simply magical symbols designed to keep the energy contained until the nuke is ready to be deployed. Symbols of personal design are certainly effective, as are any symbols, sigils, or runes that are of personal relevance to the participating magi. The author and associates prefer to use bind runes of their own make. The activation protocol is also a very flexible element of the nuke’s construction. Spell protocols (as mentioned in previous chapters) can be loaded into the device, allowing for a remote magical ‘detonation’. Or the magi can make the device ‘breath activated’, so that the magus breathes the activation power into the nuke, then makes a run for it as the power unlocks the bind runes and touches off the blast. For those of a more, alternative, mindset, there is the option of actual explosives. The author and associates have in the past used a various combination of over the counter fireworks to spice up the rote. When the fuse is lit and the device explodes it sends the mixture of salt, iron, and garlic outwards into the target area (hence the use of cardboard, shrapnel counterproductive). Granted the target area smells like garlic for a few days, spiritual radiation perhaps, but it ‘works like a charm’.