Travel Magic

We moved from Dallas, TX, USA to Playa del Carmen, QR, Mexico over a week long, 2,700 mile adventure. Our drive took us through south Texas, north and central Mexico, and, finally, across the Yucatán peninsula. Seven days of driving and six nights of hotels separated the beginning of our journey from its end in Playa del Carmen, crown jewel of the Riviera Maya.

A lot of preparation went into this trip. It posed several known, and probably a great many, unknown risks for our family and we didn’t want anything to go wrong along the way. Our transformation from suburban worker bees to Caribbean pirate wizards involved no small amount of magic, to be sure, and the actual trip itself is an interesting case study in travel magic specifically.

Magic to protect and improve the fortunes of travelers is as old as magic itself. Human history is replete with examples of humans migrating from one part of the globe to another, in search of greener pastures. Travel is an expression of the desire to explore and experience the exotic extremes of this fascinating Earth. It’s a part of who and what we are as a species, which raises some interesting questions about the magical and animist implications of travel.

If “thoughts are things” then wanderlust isn’t just an imperial impulse; it’s a part of being in right relation to a living, dynamic, and evolving, Earth. Travel, when done correctly and with the right intentions, is divinely inspired and thus eligible for blessings from the gods.

Who wouldn’t want their travels blessed? Luck is an invaluable asset to the adventurous traveler. There are so many things that can go wrong when traveling and you are already at the mercy of the gods, and it makes sense to petition them for good fortune.

So we did magic… Magic for protection. Magic for a smooth trip and magic to bless our visa paperwork. Rituals to ingratiate ourselves to the local land spirits. Road opening rituals. And so on.

In the end our trip was a very smooth one, without so much as a flat tire to inconvenience us. Our belongings were safe, our puppies comfortable, and our anxiety levels were manageable.

The trick with protective magic, of course, is that when it works there’s no big story to tell. It is precisely the fact that our trip was so uneventful that demonstrates the power of protective rites. Plenty could have gone wrong, but nothing did -thank the gods.

And let’s be honest. More can go wrong these days. Traveling is more challenging than ever with shifting restrictions and tightening social privileges. There’s more paperwork, more hoops to jump through, and less lenience, than westerners are accustomed to enduring for travel. And if you’re considering a long-distance (or international) move like we just made; there are always risks involved in a big undertaking like this.

Travel magic is an essential tool for the modern magical practitioner; especially one with wanderlust. To that end I’ll share the magic we worked in preparation for our big adventure.

Jump ahead to see the magic we worked for each aspect of our journey:

• Magic To Know Where We Need To Go
• Magic To Open The Roads Before Us
• Magic To Protect Ourselves And Our Belongings
• Magic To Be Welcomed By The Land
• Magic For Dealing With Government Officials
• Magic For A Safe, Smooth, And Swift Journey

The rituals below use Orphic Hymns taken from Christopher Warnock’s site Medieval Astrology and invocations and images from his book Fixed Star, Sign and Constellation Magic and The Complete Picatrix, translated by Warnock and John Michael Greer. An invocation to Hekate-Selene is recommended but is difficult to source online. We also suggest the use of talismanically-prepared oils from Sphere + Sundry.

Magic To Know Where We Need To Go

It all starts with desire. Before you can hit the road, you’ve got to figure out where you need to go. In my experience, the best way to discover the way forward is through divine-inspiration. This takes the form of regular Venus devotions (ideally daily) with offerings and petitions to be shown your path to true happiness.

• Dedicate a green candle to Venus
• Set out Venusian materials like rose petals, chocolates, copper, etc on a dedicated altar
• On the day and hour of Venus (Friday at sunrise):
  • Dress the candle and your forehead, heart, and wrists with Venus oil (from Sphere + Sundry, for example)
  • Light the candle
  • Recite the Orphic Hymn to Venus
  • Recite an invocation and conjuration of Venus from the Picatrix (or something similar)
  • Insert a petition to discover your purpose and Joy, in your own words
• Repeat this ritual daily, preferably in the hour of Venus

Orphic Hymn To Venus

Heav’nly Venus, illustrious, laughter-loving queen, sea-born, night-loving, of an awful mien;
Crafty, from whom necessity first came, producing, nightly, all-connecting dame:
‘Tis thine the world with harmony to join, for all things spring from thee, O pow’r divine.
The triple Fates are ruled by thy decree, and all productions yield alike to thee:
Whatever the heavens, encircling all contain, earth fruit-producing, and the stormy main,
Thy sway confesses, and obeys thy nod, awesome attendant of the brumal God:
Goddess of marriage, charming to the sight, mother of Loves, whom banquetings delight;
Source of persuasion, secret, favoring queen, illustrious born, apparent and unseen:
Spousal, lupercal, and to men inclined, prolific, most-desired, life-giving, kind:
Great sceptre-bearer of the Gods, ’tis thine, mortals in necessary bands to join;
And every tribe of savage monsters dire in magic chains to bind, through mad desire.
Come, Cyprus-born, and to my prayer incline, whether exalted in the heavens you shine,
Or pleased in Syria’s temple to preside, or over the Egyptian plains thy car to guide,
Fashioned of gold; and near its sacred flood, fertile and famed to fix thy blest abode;
Or if rejoicing in the azure shores, near where the sea with foaming billows roars,
The circling choirs of mortals, thy delight, or beauteous nymphs, with eyes cerulean bright,
Pleased by the dusty banks renowned of old, to drive thy rapid, two-yoked car of gold;
Or if in Cyprus with thy mother fair, where married females praise thee every year,
And beauteous virgins in the chorus join, Adonis pure to sing and thee divine;
Come, all-attractive to my prayer inclined, for thee, I call, with holy, reverent mind.

Invocation Of Venus (From The Picatrix)

May God bless you, O Venus, you who are queen and fortune, and are cold and moist, equitable in your effects and complexion, pure and lovely and sweetly scented, beautiful and ornate. You are the lady of adornment, of gold and silver; you delight in love, joy, ornaments and jests, elegance, songs and music that are sung or played on strings, written music and songs played on organs, games and comforts, rest and love. In your effects you remain equal. You take delight in wine, rest, joy, lying with women, for in all of these your natural effects consist. I invoke you by all your names: that is in Arabic, Zohara; in Latin, Venus; in Persian, Anyhyt; in Roman, Affludita; in Greek, Admenita; in Indian, Sarca. I conjure you by the Lord God, lord of the highest firmament, and by the obedience you offer to God, and the power and lordship He has over you, that you listen to my prayer, and consider my petition, and [do such and such for me]. And I conjure you by Beyteyl, who is that angel whom God has set beside you to complete all your powers and effects.

Magic To Open The Roads Before Us

If you’re going on a long journey, it pays to make sure that the roads you’re traveling are open, both literally and metaphorically. Open roads, in a magical sense, means the absence of crossed conditions and the will of the Fates at your back. It’s the time of The Fool card -of setting off on a grand adventure, Bilbo Baggins-style.

The magical recipe for open roads is simply the collection of herbs by the same name: abre camino. But it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re free from any spiritual baggage first with a solid jinx-breaker and uncrossing ritual before proceeding to a road opening operation.

Perform the uncrossing ritual in the final three days of the waning lunar cycle (leading up to the new moon). At the end of the third night’s ritual, brew a cup of coffee and pour it into a bowl of warm water. Stand in your shower and pour the mixture over your head and down your body, arms, and legs, while washing downwards (only wipe towards the ground!), and reciting “With this I am washed clean. Nothing holds me back. Nothing stands in my way.” On the three nights following the new moon, perform the road opening ritual instead.

These ritual is inspired by bits of information I learned in Gordon White’s Rune Soup Premium Members’ “A Winding Course” and uncrossing spells from various sources.

Uncrossing Ritual

• Grind dragonsblood and frankincense resin into small piles of fine powder about a foot apart on an altar you can walk around
• Light two black candles, one beside each pile of incense
• Light a charcoal disc in an incense bowl between the candles
• Invoke your preferred psychopomp (Hekate, Hermes, etc) to clear crossed conditions and purify you spiritually
• Circumambulate around the candles counterclockwise nine times, alternating between adding dragonsblood and frankincense
• Chant the statement of intent (to clear any crossed conditions and to be purified spiritually)
• Suffumigate yourself (bathe in the smoke), alternating between the incense as you pass each candle

Road Opening Ritual

• Break abre camino herbs into small pieces
• Light two white candles about a foot apart on your altar
• Light a charcoal disc in an incense bowl between the candles
• Invoke your preferred psychopomp (Hekate, Hermes, etc) with the intention to open the roads before you
• Circumambulate around the two candles clockwise, adding abre camino to the charcoal disc at each revolution
• Chant your statement of intent (“open roads before me“) at each revolution
• Suffumigate yourself (bathe in the smoke) as you circumambulate nine times

Prayer To Selene-Hekate (The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Hans Dieter Betz)

Come to me, O beloved mistress, Three-faced
Selene; kindly hear my sacred chants;
Night’s ornament, young, bringing light to mortals,
O child of morn who ride upon fierce bulls,
O queen who drive your car on equal course
With Helios, who with the triple forms
Of triple Graces dance in revel with
The stars. You’re Justice and the Moira’s threads:
Klotho and Lachesis and Atropos
Three-headed, you’re Persephone, Megaira,
Allekto, many-formed, who arm your hands
With dreaded, murky lamps, who shake your locks
Of fearful serpents on your brow, who sound
The roar of bulls out from your mouths, whose womb
Is decked out with the scales of creeping things,
With pois’nous rows of serpents down the back,
Bound down your backs with horrifying chains
Night-Crier, bull-faced, loving solitude,
Bull-headed, you have eyes of bulls, the voice
Of dogs; you hide your forms in shanks of lions,
Your ankle is wolf-shaped, fierce dogs are dear
To you, wherefore they call you Hekate,
Many-named, Mene, cleaving air just like
Dart-shooter Artemis, Persephone,
Shooter of deer, night shining, triple-sounding,
Triple-headed, triple-voiced Selene
Triple-pointed, triple-faced, triple-necked,
And goddess of the triple ways, who hold
Untiring flaming fire in triple baskets,
And you who oft frequent the triple way
And rule the triple decades, unto me
Who’m calling you be gracious and with kindness
Give heed, you who protect the spacious world
At night, before whom daimons quake in fear
And gods immortal tremble, goddess who
Exalt men, you of many names, who bear
Fair offspring, bull-eyed, horned, mother of gods
And men, and Nature, Mother of all things,
For you frequent Olympos, and the broad
And boundless chasm you traverse. Beginning
And end are you, and you alone rule all.
For all things are from you, and in you do
All things, Eternal one, come to their end.
As everlasting band around your temples
You wear great Kronos’ chains, unbreakable
And unremovable, and you hold in
Your hands a golden scepter. Letters ‘round
Your scepter Kronos wrote himself and gave
To you to wear that all things stay steadfast:
Subduer and subdued, mankind’s subduer,
And force-subduer; Chaos, too, you rule.
ARARACHARARA ÊPHTHISIKÊRE.
Hail, goddess, and attend your epithets,
I burn for you this spice, O child of Zeus,
Dart-shooter, heav’nly one, goddess of harbors,
Who roam the mountains, goddess of crossroads,
O nether and nocturnal, and infernal,
Goddess of dark, quiet and frightful one,
O you who have your meal amid the graves,
Night, Darkness, broad Chaos: Necessity
Hard to escape are you; you’re Moira and
Erinys, torment, Justice and Destroyer,
And you keep Kerberos in chains, with scales
Of serpents are you dark, O you with hair
Of serpents, serpent-girded, who drink blood,
Who bring death and destruction, and who feast
On hearts, flesh eater, who devour those dead
Untimely, and you who make grief resound
And spread madness, come to my sacrifices,
And now for me do you fulfill this matter.

Magic To Protect Ourselves And Our Belongings

Driving across Mexico, we tried to keep the luggage to a minimum, but there were cherished books, legal documents, and other important items we couldn’t leave behind. With minimal space in the car, many of our belongings went into a car topper bolted to roof racks on our Nissan Altima. Far from secure, we did what we could to book rooms in hotels with gated lots, but this simply wasn’t possible everywhere. The worst of it wasn’t even in Mexico, but in the small town shithole that is Eagle Pass, TX, just on the northern side of the US/Mexico border where we crossed.

Knowing that we were very noticeable -very vulnerable- as obvious gringos-on-the-move, we prioritized protective magic in preparation for this trip. And there are no apotropaic patrons of greater ferocity than the dreadful gorgons. None of these is more formidable than Medusa herself, patroness of the feared star Raz Al-Ghul, also known as the fixed star Algol.

Our strategy was simple, fashion a protective talisman to keep in our car, bless salt to sprinkle around it and in our hotel room each night, and perform a prayer novena to Algol for general protection ahead of the trip.

Algol’s protection is not given lightly and shouldn’t be petitioned without an appropriate measure of respect, but you can hardly ask for a more terrifying guardian spirit to watch over your family and their possessions on the road. And one of the benefits of stellar astrology is that, unlike planets, fixed stars align beneficially with the moon a few times each month; providing ample opportunities to create suitable talismans and materia.

This protective rite was assembled from pieces of ritual from Christopher Warnock, talismanic materia from Sphere + Sundry, and an Algol election from Nina Gryphon Astrology. Since the exact details may vary based on the astrology of the moment, I am simply documenting our process to provide an example to use when devising your own ritual.

Algol Talisman And Talismanic Materia

Three separate workings were combined for our Algol operation, each performed or created at a different astrological election, opportunistically. Which means that any reasonably good Algol election will work for this purpose. Algol’s primary magical application is protection from “evil”, regardless of the placement of the moon.

Of the three rituals, two were talismanic and one was purely theurgic. First, we created a protective salt with black pepper corns and Sphere + Sundry Algol oil on one election and then a paper talisman (image from Christopher Warnock’s Fixed Star, Sign and Constellation Magic) on another. Finally, I performed a multi-day invocation and candle magic ritual to direct Algol’s protective influence over ourselves and our belongings during the trip.

When we perform astrological magic it tends to take the shape of a ritual from the Picatrix: hymns and prayers, suffumigation, repetition of invocation three times, and then the petition / talisman creation. And using materia produced on one election in a ritual during another boosts the efficacy of the working, stacking the odds further in our favor.

Both the salt and the paper talisman were made in this fashion:

• Set out materials which correspond with Algol such as black pepper corns, black stones, and mugwort on the altar
• Light two black candles and incense
• Recite the Orphic Hymn To The Stars, modified for Algol
• Invoke Algol with Christopher Warnock’s Invocation Of Algol
• Ritually prepare the talismanic materia
• Suffumigate the completed materia in the incense smoke

Algol Protective Novena

When petitioning for a one-off request, as compared to petitioning as part of an on-going devotional practice, I find that repetition (especially over several days) is very helpful in driving results. A quick prayer doesn’t always do the trick but repeating a ritual for nine days, making offerings, and “enflaming thyself with prayer” usually will. I often combine these novena-esque successive prayers with talismanic candle magic, ten minute intentions / visualizations, and other tech, to maximize my probability of success.

In this case, I blended a multi-day invocation ritual (prayer) with candle magic to ensure my intentions would be swiftly conveyed to our fearsome patroness of protection. The final ritual looked like this:

• Carve / paint the glyph for Algol on a black candle
• Dress the candle with Algol oil (from Sphere + Sundry, for example)
• Place the candle on a paper Algol talisman (prepared in advance)
• Sprinkle talismanically-prepared Algol salt in a circle around the candle and paper
• Light the candle
• Recite the Orphic Hymn To The Stars (modified for Algol)
• Invoke Algol with Christopher Warnock’s Invocation For Algol
• Repeat for nine days or until the candle has burned completely down

At this point the apotropaic talisman was ready for use and we placed it in our glove compartment while driving and on our dash when we parked the car overnight.

Orphic Hymn To The Stars (modified for Algol)

With holy voice I call Algol on high,
Pure sacred light and genii of the sky.
Celestial stars, the progeny of Night,
In whirling circles beaming far your light,
Refulgent rays around the heavens ye throw,
Eternal fires, the source of all below.
With flames significant of Fate ye shine,
And aptly rule for men a path divine.
In seven bright zones ye run with wandering flames,
And heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:
With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright
Forever shining through the veil of Night.
Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fire!
Propitious shine on all my just desires;
These sacred rites regard with conscious rays,
And end our works devoted to your praise.

Invocation Of Algol (from Christopher Warnock)

Oh, Algol,
Hail unto you, Beta Persei,
O Ras Al-Ghul, fearsome, powerful star!

I ask that you [grant me personal protection / protect these people and this space] from incantations and all attack, and reflect all attacks back upon the attackers.

Repeat 9x

Magic To Be Welcomed By The Land

It’s one thing to travel overseas, it’s another to plan an international move. From an animist perspective, it’s important to determine if you will be welcomed by the land where you want to reside -both by its people and its various local spirits. Just as you might work magic to sweeten relations with a prospective client or your neighbors, it’s a good idea to enchant your place-based relationships; especially fledgling ones.

I had the opportunity to visit Mexico in December of 2020, six months prior to our move, while researching the best places to live here along the coast and getting a feel for each of the different neighborhoods.

Sarah and I had the foresight to plan for me to “buy” some dirt from Tulum, Mexico (where I was staying) and then to use that dirt to create a link to the Riviera Maya on our altar, in the form of a “spirit bottle”. Physically acquiring dirt like this is ideal, but in situations where that isn’t possible, working with metaphorical links will suffice.

I snuck out onto a closed hotel’s beach and made offerings and sent intentions (prayers) to the spirit of Tulum several times during that visit to establish a rapport with the local spirits. I also made commitments to continue the offerings at home, explained our intentions honestly, and asked to continue this communication at a distance.

Then, back in the US, I established a regular / frequent habit of giving offerings to make good on these commitments and petitioned (with varying success) for support from the land spirits on various challenges along the way. Most importantly, however, I consistently repeated our intentions (to become a part of the local community) and the hope that we’d be welcomed and allowed to flourish in our new home.

A Ritual For Buying Dirt

• Clean and pack a spoon or spade and a container for the dirt
• Select 3 coins containing silver in the local currency (pesos, for example)
• Find a suitable (private / low-traffic) crossroads in the area you want to connect with
• Approach on foot and kneel at the crossroads
• In simple words, state your intention to connect with the spirits which guard the local area
• Request permission to buy a small amount of dirt using the coins as payment
• Sit quietly for a moment to register any feedback
• If you register anything other than a firm “No” response, you can proceed
• Dig a small hole, place the three coins in the hole, and cover them up
• Scoop some of the displaced dirt into the container you brought
• Give thanks and depart without looking back

Land Spirit Bottle

• Select and clean a small bottle with a sufficiently wide mouth (to scoop dirt into)
• Suffumigate and consecrate the bottle for the purpose (state the intention to create a link to the land)
• Invoke your preferred psychopomp and petition for assistance creating a connection to the land
• Spoon the dirt you “bought” into the jar until it’s about half full
• Seal the jar and suffumigate again
• Dedicate the bottle by whispering its purpose to it like a secret
• Call upon your psychopomp to ensoul the bottle with the land spirit, if it is willing
• Place the completed spirit bottle on your altar prominently
• Make offerings and speak to the bottle as if it is the land spirit itself
• Thank the spirit for its participation in your rite and ask it to return quickly when called upon again

Petitioning To Be Welcomed Into A New Land

• Make regular offerings to the spirit bottle of bread, libations (booze), local fruit, and incense or tobacco
• Restate your intentions and commit to continue making offerings (or other pacts that feel right to you)
• Spend several minutes visualizing yourself living a life filled with joy in this new place
• Petition, formally, to be welcomed by this place, it’s people, and its guardian spirits
• Repeat this ritual daily or as frequently as possible in the days/weeks leading up to your trip

Magic For Dealing With Government Officials

International travel (and increasingly even domestic travel these days) often requires special paperwork and permission; and snafus with this paperwork can cause delays or even legal troubles. Visa applications, proof of financial solvency, immigration paperwork, vehicle permits, and pet health certificates, were just a few of the confusing array of documents which had to be provided (by us) and approved (by the Mexican government) to make our trip possible.

You’d think this would be a straightforward process, given the million or so North American expats living in Mexico currently, but it’s a bit of a crap shoot. And Mexico is (thankfully) one of the easiest places to establish residency, so suffice it to say, you can always use a little magic on your side when dealing with government.

This is easy magic too. We rely on Sphere + Sundry to do the heavy lifting again here by simply dressing (a copy of) every important document with Deneb Algedi oil and leaving it on the appropriate altar (Jupiter, Saturn, or Hekate, depending on the operation).

For an astro magic boost, recite the Orphic Hymn To The Stars (modified for Deneb Algedi) and ask for the star’s blessings when the moon is in a favorable position (conjunct, trine, or sextile to Deneb Algedi, with no aspect to Saturn or Mars, and where the Ascendant is ruled by a benefic, etc.)

Orphic Hymn To The Stars (modified for Deneb Algedi)

With holy voice I call Deneb Algedi on high,
Pure sacred light and genii of the sky.
Celestial stars, the progeny of Night,
In whirling circles beaming far your light,
Refulgent rays around the heavens ye throw,
Eternal fires, the source of all below.
With flames significant of Fate ye shine,
And aptly rule for men a path divine.
In seven bright zones ye run with wandering flames,
And heaven and earth compose your lucid frames:
With course unwearied, pure and fiery bright
Forever shining through the veil of Night.
Hail twinkling, joyful, ever wakeful fire!
Propitious shine on all my just desires;
These sacred rites regard with conscious rays,
And end our works devoted to your praise.

Magic For A Safe, Smooth, And Swift Journey

Finally, luck is never louder than when you’re traveling. Bad luck means missing your flights or getting stuck in customs or losing your bags; all awful inconveniences if they happen to you. Good luck means you make all your connections and you’re in and out of the airport with time to spare. Or, in our case, it meant driving 2,700 miles through Mexico without so much as a flat tire or a ding in the door. It meant never getting lost. It meant the clouds (literally) parting so we could avoid a nasty storm.

Good luck is essential for long journeys.

As Mercury rules travel, it would be negligent to do so without venerating the quicksilver patron of all-things-in-motion themself. To that end, I present what is perhaps my oldest and most road-tested spell, the Mercury Mojo Bag For Luck During Travel. Made on the day and hour of Mercury, with mercurial materials, and consecrated for the purpose of ensuring safe travels, the mojo bag is my own freeform / folkish rendition of a spirit-bottle-in-a-bag, inspired by rootwork’s gris-gris / mojo bag tradition.

The Mercury Mojo Bag For Luck During Travel

• Find a small cloth bag with a multi-colored, chaotic pattern (for Mercury) and a drawstring
• Acquire an odd number (3, 5, 7, etc.) of materials associated with Mercury (lavender, marjoram, star anise, thyme, agate, etc.)
• On the day and hour of Mercury (Wednesday at sunrise):
• Light out an orange candle and frankincense cone/stick/etc.
• Set out offerings of libations, honey, olive oil, etc.
• Recite the Orphic Hymn To Mercury
• Invoke Mercury using an invocation of Mercury from the Picatrix or something similar
• Suffumigate the bag and each ingredient individually, consecrating them for the purpose of this ritual
• Ritually add the (odd number of) mercurial materials to the bag one at a time
• Add 7 drops of Mercury oil (from Sphere + Sundry, for example) to the bag
• Petition Mercury’s spirit to ensoul the bag to bring you good luck while traveling
• Feed the bag weekly on the day and hour of Mercury with oil and / or suffumigating with frankincense
• Whisper its purpose to it and thank it for its protection after feeding the bag each week
• Keep the bag in your car / carry-on / purse / etc. so that it is always nearby

Orphic Hymn To Mercury

Hermes, draw near, and to my prayer incline,
Angel of Jove, and Maia’s son divine;
Prefect of contest, ruler of mankind,
With heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger of various skill,
Whose powerful arts could watchful Argus kill.
With winged feet ’tis thine through air to course,
O friend of man, and prophet of discourse;
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine
In arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine.
With power endued all language to explain,
Of care the loosener, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod,
Corucian, blessed, profitable God.
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find,
And in necessities to mortals kind.
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere,
Be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace,
Give graceful speech, and memory’s increase.

Invocation Of Mercury (from the Picatrix)

May God bless you, good lord Mercury, you who are truthful, perceptive, intelligent, and the sage and instructor of every kind of writing, arithmetic, computation, and science of heaven and earth! You are a noble lord and temperate in your joys, the lord and sustainer and subtle interpreter of wealth, business, money, and profound perceptions. You are the dispositor and significator of prophecy and prophets and their perceptions, reasoning and doctrine, apprehending diverse sciences; of subtlety, intelligence, philosophy, geometry, the sciences of heaven and earth, divination, geomancy and poetry; of writing, rhetoric, keenness of the senses, profundity in all professions and actions, quickness, the conversion of one business into another, making things clear or clean; of sustaining and helping people and making them content with what they have; of piety, perception, tranquility, averting evil, and of good religion and human law. You have concealed yourself by your subtlety so that no one else can possibly know your nature or determine your effects.

You are fortunate with fortunes and unfortunate with infortunes, masculine with masculine planets and feminine with feminine ones, diurnal with diurnal planets and nocturnal with nocturnal ones; you exist and harmonize with them in all their natures, and you conform yourself to them in all their forms, and you transmute yourself into all their qualities. Therefore I call on you and invoke you by all your names, that is, in Arabic, Hotarit; in Latin, Mercurius; in Roman, Haruz; in Persian, Tyr; in Indian, Meda; I conjure you above all by the high lord God, who is the lord of the firmament and of the realm of the exalted and great; by him I conjure you, that you will receive my petition, and grant to me that which I ask, and pour our the powers of your spirit upon me, by which I shall be made strong, and be able to have my petition fulfilled… …thus I conjour you by Arquyl, who is the angel whom God has set beside you to complete your acts and works, that you will receive my petition and hear my prayer and attend to my requests and fulfill them.

It Takes A Lot Of Magic For Nothing (Bad) To Happen

Our trip across Mexico wasn’t exactly relaxing but nothing bad happened, and our anxiety about the trip could have been a lot worse. Yes, we were good planners and spent both time and money to make sure everything would go well. Even so, the roads in Mexico are rough on cars. The dangers of highway robbery or extortion are not insignificant. A break-in could happen at any time. As could a car accident.

But nothing -absolutely nothing- bad happened. We didn’t even get a ticket when we got clocked way over the speed limit coming down the mountain pass into Orizaba on the fifth day. Despite grinding the bottom of the car on more than a dozen topes (speed bumps) along the way, no damage was done to the car.

We were exceptionally lucky. The kind of lucky that doesn’t last; yet here we are, tooling around in Mexico in the good old Altima, with no mechanical or security issues of any kind, almost two months into our new life. It’s always hard to say exactly which magical operation was the most effective or important but, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t really care. I’m a fan of just doing more magic, more acts of devotion, building bigger metaphors, and sending more intense intentions. More is better.

I know these travel magic spells work, especially the Mercury Mojo Bag, because we’ve never had an issue when we’ve traveled under their protection -even during a Mercury retrograde. Without magical coverage, travel can be a painful clusterfuck; but with the right pre-travel magical preparations, you can enjoy your adventures with the added confidence of knowing you have the gods on your side.