One of the things that can cross the path of an exorcist is a situation where a sacred space, temple, or lodge has been attacked or desecrated. In this chapter I want to cover the many issues that surround the care of spaces such as structuring, re-consecrating, cleansing, and maintenance.

What constitutes a sacred space?

There are many different approaches to the creation and care of a sacred space and it is important to know how a space is created so that if a problem arises, the exorcist knows the framework that the space operates through. The interface that the space is created around will be the same interface that the exorcist works on to fix it.

There are many different ways a temple/magical/sacred space can be created and knowing the method of construction tells the exorcist where the weak points are, how the power flows through it, and what beings to work with to fix issues.

Some sacred spaces are created by ritual, some by visionary techniques, and some are created simply by action. Going into a sacred space and sitting quietly will often be enough for an experienced exorcist to ascertain what construction method was used—a magical method becomes apparent simply by how the space reacts to a stranger who carries a magical line.

Once the method of construction has been understood, then any problem within that space will also make itself apparent in a variety of ways. If you know the basic background of the spiritual techniques practiced in that space, then you can ‘turn on’ the space to see how it is operating and what, if anything, is the problem with it.

When someone from outside a magical or spiritual tradition engages with a sacred space, any guardians will make themselves known along with any inner contacts. Through interacting with these contacts and lines of power, if there are magical attacks, intrusions, parasites, ghosts, or inner structural damage, it will come to the fore and the exorcist will have a first-hand experience of the problem. This is very important: you must never work simply from what you have been told or from descriptions of the problem—particularly if it is a magical attack, it can chameleon to look like something else to people who are not used to dealing with intrusions.

The types of intrusions are endless but the most common are: magical attacks from a rival magical group (or a hostile spiritual tradition), dead leaders trying to assert themselves, parasites, hostile inner beings brought in by sloppy protection or imbalanced rituals, thought forms that are part of the egregore and have gone feral, or actual magical structural damage to the inner temple itself.

Magical attacks by rival groups are one of the sad but regular occurrences in magical traditions. This becomes a problem when there is a fairly large or focussed group that gets a bee in its bonnet and has its roots in fundamentalism or immature righteousness. It is most common in groups that fight to be the ‘real only true way,’ or try to stop certain works from reaching a wider public—this in itself is often a sign of immaturity within the leadership which makes it very hard to find intelligent solutions.

The other type of attack can take the form of religious righteousness (a hostile spiritual tradition): for example, fundamentalist Christian groups ‘praying’ at Wiccan or magical lodges. When done in the right way, this can be an effective way of throwing a spanner in the works and causing all sorts of problems. The best way to work with such a problem is to simply make a channel for the prayer to flow down and route it into the nearest church—that way the prayer goes to where it should and does no harm.

The other major problem that can happen to an outer sacred space is desecration. This is where the inner pattern is purposely disturbed or damaged, and beings that are known to be in direct conflict with the space are introduced. This can happen in very powerful magical ways, or in very simple ways.

A good example of a simple way is this: a few years ago I was sat in my local abbey and it had begun to feel really weird and imbalanced. I felt sick whenever I went in and inner contacts were repeatedly telling me to clean and retune it. Because I was not a member of the Anglican faith, I felt it would be an intrusion, so I took no action for a while. But then I noticed that the local villagers who did use the Abbey were manifesting faith issues, illness, and a reluctance to go to services.

This is the point where I have to state that an exorcist should have no judgement on faiths and should be willing to uphold all faiths that people hold—it is an expression of spirituality and Divinity within the people and should be respected. It is also the job of an exorcist to serve all beings and all expressions of spirituality.

I was finally dragged kicking and screaming to the Abbey to sort it out. I sat quietly for a while to get a sense of its inner structure. The Abbey was a thousand years old and had some very impressive structures still operating from an inner point of view, it just wasn’t being used actively as an inner spiritual place by the Anglican Church that now owned it. It was the home of psychologised preaching that was divorced of any inner spark.

After a few minutes I started to see a modern Wiccan imprint trying to impose itself on the inner space which got me really curious. I hunted around the church first outwardly and then in vision. In vision I saw seals all over the place. Someone had drawn a variety of magical symbols—mainly pentacles—under some of the benches. Someone had also hidden a couple of small Goddess figures smeared with blood…all very silly stuff, but very effective. I cleaned them all off and removed things. I then did a basic cleansing of the space and all went back to normal. No one has the right to desecrate a sacred space, no matter what they think of that faith.

What happens when a space is hacked and taken over?

This can happen when a space is not properly tuned and protected by guardians—the ritual can be hacked and the energy raised can be stolen. This can also happen if the protection of the space or ritual is too heavily defined. It is very tempting to become a control freak and choose certain named beings to protect the ritual/space and bind how they operate and what they do. By doing this, you do not protect against possible situations you are not aware of, or hadn’t thought of. It is not too hard to hack into a sacred space or ritual if you know how, particularly in certain magical traditions where lots of named beings that are bound have been used.

The most protected sites are ones where the builders have allowed beings to do their job without interference, and have called upon an order of being, rather than an individual (individuals have limitations).

The other thing to be aware of is that in magical groups, the initiation joins a person to the collective; but when someone is cast out, they still hold the insignia of the group upon their spirit so the guardians will not see them as hostile. So if a lodge/group is one of those that gets into feuds (which so many do) then any cast-out individual must also be banished from the space, even if she carries the insignia (which is bloody hard to get off once it is on). So, it’s sort of like, “Your name’s not on the list so you can’t come in.”

The more sensible way to deal with this sort of issue is that when a person is initiated into a line, it is done in such a way as to place collective responsibility for the upholding of sacred balance and the task of service upon them. If they break that, they automatically carry the effect of dishonouring the temple. Once they have done it and felt the effect upon themselves, they tend not to do it again.

An initiation of that sort—the initiation that includes service and honor—is service and honor to the inner worlds, the land, and Divinity. It does not mean service and honor to a leader, so it does not trigger if the initiate tries to hack for honourable reasons in the spirit of service. So if the leader of a line or group goes off the rails, the initiate is not going to trigger bad dude stuff by hacking if it is for the benefit of the sacred space, or in service to uphold the sacred/group honor. This does not work in magical lines that operate within selfish means, so you are then back to loads of trip wires, defences, and feuds.

What happens if it is not properly tuned and becomes parasited?

If a magical space is not properly built, upheld, and tuned, but is used for powerful things, then it will quickly become parasited. There are certain magical lines that will summon all sorts of beings, use basic protections/seals and conditionally bound contacts. That is a true recipe for disaster. The temple will be full of holes and will become a feeding ground for all sorts of parasitical beings. This normally manifests by conflict, struggles of leadership, break ups, and illness, often mental. The way to sort that out is to de-parasite the space, and then to fully strip and rebuild the inner and outer temple. The working methods should be closely looked at along with ritual methods, contacts, etc, to see where the weakness is and fix it.

Most of the above listed problems can be addressed by using some of the clearing methods discussed in previous chapters: clearing a space, exorcising a space, etc. The real issue is when a magical/spiritual space has been badly violated and the inner structure of the space is damaged. To piece the original space back together can be a nightmare as you will have to know, in detail, how it was originally constructed and what beings were used. If it is not badly damaged, then you can tap into the contacts that are still operating through the space and they will guide you. You will also need to know the magical outer structure that is used (i.e., what tradition, what rituals, etc).

If you cannot access such information for whatever reason, then you will need to reconstruct and graft the inner space, and reconsecrate the outer space. So, for example, if a Western Mysteries temple/lodge, a Christian church, a Golden Dawn Lodge, Freemason temple, or anything that is based upon a structure of Kabbalistic magic is damaged badly, you would use angelic structures and inner adept contacts to reconstruct the space and reconnect the contacts.

If it was a Wiccan or other nature-based magical space, then you would probably use a mix of human inner contacts, elementals, and faery beings to reconstruct the space.

The basic method of reconstruction that I use for either is more or less the same, and it is effective in most circumstances. The idea is to learn the base pattern of work and fit the details around it, so it is pure technique, not magical dogma.

Clearing and reconstructing a sacred/magical space/temple/lodge

If the space has been badly desecrated or damaged from an attack (inner or outer) then it may need partial or full reconstruction. The first step is to take out the magic from anything that is in the room. Altars will need to be ‘de-commissioned’ by ritual cleansing and exorcising. If a magical tool/ritual implement has been fully consecrated, then it should just need a clean off. If it is a dedicated ritual tool, then it will need stripping and re-dedicating.

Once everything in the room has been decommissioned, then they need to be taken out of the space. This is also a good time to get rid of anything that has no real purpose in the temple space. People these days are very much into ‘dressing up’ the temple space with wall hangings, pictures, etc, so that it ends up looking like a new age store or a Halloween funhall room. Such clutter is distracting in a magical space and can become very counter-productive really quickly. (It gives spaces for unhealthy things to hide and it also absorbs inner yuck. Try running your hand down something that has no job in a temple…it will feel disgusting.)

So once the room is completely clear, clean it. Consecrate the water before you use it and throw lots of consecrated salt in the bucket along with simple soap and a drop of bleach. Clean the space from top to bottom, and then clean all things that have been taken out and are going to go back in.

Once you have done that, do a simple exorcism of the space and a re-blessing. That has only taken care of the outer temple though—the inner problem will still be there.

So…on to phase two:

Reconstruction

Leave the space clean until the following evening and then go in, place an unused white candle in the centre and light it. Place four more white candles in the directions, by each wall, but do not light them. When you light the central candle, reach into the stillness, to the void to get the flame so that the candle flame is a doorway.

Sit quietly for a while with the flame. This has to be done in defined stages and mustn’t be rushed—there are inner dynamics that need to be given a chance to work. When that flame has done its first job, you will feel it. It will shift, and a deep sense of peace will fill the room.

Next, light some frankincense on charcoal and go around the room, making sure you get into each corner. Let it settle in the middle of the room next to the candle once all corners have been done.

Then you need to re-open the gates so that the building process can begin. Start in the east, and light the candle, each time reaching out into the void for the flame. As you light the candle, see the gates beyond the flame and see them opening. You can also use speech to open the gates, just keep it real simple: “In the name of…I open the gates to the east.” And so on.

Once the basic gates are open, then the real work begins. The construction work must be done simultaneously on the outer and inner, so it requires a good deal of focus and concentration. You cannot work from a script—you must know the contacts deep within you and be able to work with them without any distraction.

The first step of the rebuilding is the foundation: the builder must mirror the manifestation of the world through the building of the temple. A sacred space is a mini me of the world and therefore has to be built in the same way.

Warning: this work will bring tremendous power through, so ensure you are clean, clear, and have no drugs, meat, stimulants, ritual talismans, etc, upon or in your body. Fast on a clean diet for a couple of days before, take a ritual bath, and take off any magical bling you might be wearing. You have to be the vessel of Divinity to re-create the universe!

Stand before the central flame and still yourself by going into the void. Once you are still and empty, you must call upon the first Keystone to begin the building. There are two keystones (this is part of the inner mysteries of sacred building. Most ritualists believe there is one keystone and that is not so. That assumption comes from the building of archways which is a modern(ish) building method. Very ancient structures had no archways and the lack of arches is one of the indications of very ancient magical constructs.

The two keystones are made up of an archon and an aeon. They are the base foundations of power in sacred construction and allow the power of Divinity to flow through a construct to make it a suitable vessel for Divine power.

Some magical studies specify that archons are evil angels or spirits that destroy man. This is not really correct—the archon is the power that stops a soul reaching divinity before it is ready. They are also the balancing power of the aeon. For power to manifest in the outer world, it must have positive and negative—a balance of power that creates friction and tension, thus allowing matter to manifest.

When you reach this section of the work, you must be ready to plough straight through it and not pause. You are bringing through great power of destruction and regeneration, both of which create disaster if left unchecked, even for a short time.

Ideally this should be done by two people (one male and one female). Unfortunately it is very hard to find someone nuts enough and capable enough to do it, but also it is important for the full power to manifest from a single source: you take on the role of Divinity with no form (this is why your body gets fried while doing this).

If you are lucky enough to have a working partner able to do this, then the female works to bring through the archon and the male brings through the aeon.

Standing before the flame, and in the stillness, you call out verbally and in vision for the archon named JAO (IAO), Keeper of the seven heavens, asking him to bring into being the heavens above. The reason you use this name of the archon is this is the name tuned to the archon associated with Metatron, who is an archangelic being that has known humanity (that way you don’t end up as a pile of crisped cells in a mush on the floor).

As you call upon the name of JAO, see the being emerge out of the void and stand in the ritual keystone position before the flame in the centre of the room to your left (you are stood before the central flame), the keystone position is left foot forward, right arm outstretched, and the many wings stretched up like an arch over the head of the being until the tip of the wings are over the central flame.

Immediately go back into stillness in the void and call upon the aeon ARKHAS, the foundation of the lowest thing, and see that being come out of the void to stand to your right, with his right foot forward, his left hand outstretched, and his wings reaching over his head to touch the wings over the flame with JAO. In vision take the left hand of JAO and the right hand of ARKHAS and join them together over the flame. Then do the same with the opposite hands so that their wrists cross over the flame. (If there are two of you doing this, then you assume the ritual positions yourselves and bring the beings through you…crispy! This is a great way to get a natural perm….)

Once the hands are joined over the flame, their arms will make the figure of eight infinity sign over the centre of the space. Then place the right foot of ARKHAS forward so that it touches the left foot of JAO. So the image becomes two angels on either side of the central flame, with their feet, hands and wings touching to create a vertical figure of eight, and their arms crossed over the flame to make a horizontal figure of eight. As soon as all the bits are connected, the power will begin to flow freely within the shapes. Together in the ritual shape of connection, they are the keystone of the world and the keystone of sacred space.

As soon as the connection happens, then you go to the east and call upon the angelic power of air to flow into the space. Turn with your back to the flame, and, in vision, with your eyes shut, see the power of wind flow into the room. Behind the wind will be inner contacts—reach out to them and verbally as well as silently ask them to offer a contact of communication and recitation to work in service through the temple. This can take the form of a human inner contact, and elemental contact, or an angelic contact. Either way, see the contacts flow into the room from the eastern gate and watch as they pass into the walls and floor of the temple. At this point one of the contacts should give you a word or show you a sigil which will act as a key to connect with them.

Then you go to the south and repeat the process with fire and the fire/solar priesthood. Be very careful with this line of contact as they can be very difficult to control and will easily take over the temple if they are not filtered properly. If you get a human contact, reject it and ask for an angelic contact to come through. The reason for this is that the fire temple inner line has repeatedly degenerated into lines of corruption and misused power. This line brings war, hostility, conflict—all the yummy power imbalances. It is best not to have to deal with that lot, so go straight to the source and reach for angelic contact.

When the temple is up and working, you will draw upon that angelic contact when lighting the flame. It will protect and defend the temple, and provide thresholds to the inner worlds.

Next you go to the west and repeat the process. Again it is best to reach for an angelic contact or elemental contact that can be drawn upon for seership and cleansing within the temple space.

Finally go to the north and call upon the Sandalphon to come through into the space to create the ballast and bring through the wisdom of the earth into the temple. If the temple group works with Kabbalah, this contact is a wonderful one to have connected to the temple to work with. See them merge into the walls in vision, and see how they take on the shape of the room. The Sandalphon can also become the altar.

Remember, with all of these angelic contacts, that you are asking them to work with you in service, you are not commanding them or binding them. It is their job, performed of free will within their job description, and which will open all sorts of doors for expansion and learning. If you command or bind them to work, you immediately limit their range of action—they know more about their ability to do the job in hand than you do. If you command or bind them, then they can only do what you tell them, not what they know needs doing.

Once all the gates have been connected to the elements and angelic contacts, you need to re-establish the working inner contacts, the altar/s, and ritual patterns. If there are ancestral contacts or now-dead inner contacts that the temple works with, then you call upon them to pass over the threshold of the north and come and take residence within the temple. A doorway can be created for them in simple terms, like an object, drawn sigil, or image. If you are going to use an outer expression of the contacts, then it must be made and established within the temple within 24 hours.

Similarly, if you work with contacts from inner orders, beings from the Abyss, etc, now is the time to reconnect them and bring them into the space. If they work through an image, sigil, or object, then it needs to be in position within twenty-four hours.

Now is the time, while all the gates are open and still holding vision, to have the altar/s brought back in. Have it done in silence and have the people carrying it stay silent and leave as soon as they have set it in position. Now you have to bring the power back through into the altar.

Whatever power you use to enliven the altar (regardless of the physical make up of the altar), place your hands upon it and be aware of the two keystones in the centre of the room. If you use a central altar, then be aware of the keystones flowing through it.

In vision and out loud call upon the power that will become the altar and invite them to flow out of the central flame (thus through the keystones), through you and into the altar. Although you can call upon a specific power to be within the altar (the Catholic Church brings through the Corpus Christi), it is far more interesting and powerful to call the Sandalphon and ask them to bridge the power of unnamed Divinity within substance (the earth, Malkuth).

If you manage to make the contact, you will feel the immense beauty of the power of Divinity within substance as it flows through you and into the altar. It is the true solid foundation of everything and is the basis of all magic—hence it makes the best of all altars.

Once the connection is bridged, place the central candle upon the altar and announce that the building begins. Withdraw from vision and withdraw from the room, leaving all the candles going and let the inner builders get on with their jobs. Go have a cup of tea (no coffee or wine yet, it hasn’t finished) and have a little rest. Once you feel that the inner construction is finished (it will feel like a light has gone off), go back into the room and reintroduce the ritual implements. If the temple uses deities, then it is at this point, and not earlier, that you reintroduce and reconnect the deity to the temple. That way, the deity is a guest of the temple and works with you, rather than being the major power source for the temple which will leave the space vulnerable if they should choose to withdraw for any reason or get temperamental.

If the group that operates within the space uses transubstantiation, then a performing of that ritual should be used to seal the work. Don’t go in for the ‘bread with semen and menstrual blood’ thing—simple bread will do. You need a blank slate to work with, even if you normally work that way. The use of simple food stuff allows deeper powers to flow through it, where as the use of human blood and seed defines what power can manifest in the substance, thus narrowing the range of power available to the temple.

It would be a good idea to have a constant flame going in the space to keep it tuned. This can be done by using larger church candles or the candles in long glass which are so often used in Mexican shrines.

Egregores going feral and how to deal with them

When a group works within a sacred space/temple and uses initiations/consecrations, then an inner egregore is built by default. An egregore is a collection of all the inner knowledge of the group coupled with shared energy from all the members. It is like a bank of knowledge and energy, a smaller octave of the inner library that operates within the line of initiates, giving access to a collective of wisdom and strength. When a magical/spiritual group is healthy, the egregore will operate for the good of the collective and will shine through the initiates—“by their fruits shall ye know them.”

It will not take away from the initiates’ independent thought, but will be a resource to be accessed when necessary. The egregore of a temple can usually be seen upon the inner planes and will often give the exorcist a really good truthful assessment as to the health of the magical group in question.

Sadly, things can go badly wrong very quickly with egregores and it happens much too often. If a leader becomes unstable, he will pull upon the egregore for his own personal energy and knowledge, and will attempt to block the initiates from accessing such power. Sometimes, an imbalanced leader will link the egregore to his own fate and allow the egregore to act as a scapegoat for his own transgressions.

Sometimes, egregores can be ‘moved into’ and can be possessed almost like a human. When this happens it then starts to control the initiates and leader alike, usually for parasitical reasons—to gain more power and energy. A glaring symptom of such a condition is where the initiates lose the ability to think for themselves and defer everything to their leader. The egregore has to be exorcised and dismantled, which is a hell of a job, as it can sometimes mean also clearing and dismantling the initiate line itself.

If an egregore takes on a life of its own, without being parasited, it then becomes a thought form. This can be a little easier to deal with in that the reconstruction of the temple—coupled with a major change in working practice, along with going into the inner realms and taking it apart—will usually solve the problem.

At the end of the day, the basic rule of thumb is: if you create a magical temple/space/group, do it properly, use your common sense and keep it simple. Have regular clean up sessions for both the space and the workers, and keep in mind that if you do silly stuff in a magical space, it will invite trouble.