The Pactum Report- Historical Sorcery Fit For Today
There are many people now who excel at presenting historical translations of magical texts – a huge boon the magical community. There are not many however that present the text along with commentary on how to make that text workable, while filling in some of the gaps that might be missing from such a book of notes. Mike Ceccetelli stands out as one of the people who presents the text as is, then takes the time to show exactly how to apply it. His new book Pactum: The Masterpiece of Ancient Sorcery is a bit of a departure for him. Rather than spirit catalogs this is a short text on how to work Iberian folk magic – a magic that, like much of the sorcery of Spain and Portugal rests in the spiritual space that exists between the Christian and the Satanic. To help explain some of the folk magic procedures in the text he enlisted the aid of Cat Work, who provides what amounts to an excellent crash course in this immanently approachable style of spellwork.
The explosion of material relating to St Cyprian has brought new attention to the magical traditions of the Iberian Peninsula. Of course there is much more to this region than just the Cyprianic Books. It is from the Basque Witches that we get the famous Bagahi Laca bachahe conjuration of the Devil that made its way into modern Wicca. From the Castile region we have the legends of Witch Queen Maria Padilha who made her way to Brazil as one of the most famous Pomba Giras. Even today you can travel to Galician region on la noche de San Juan, and partake of the infamous Queimada, a Witchcraft inspired cocktail that you recite a Conxuro over which invokes Demons, Goblins, and all sorts of occult powers.
I actually have two reports from the work in this book.
Last year, after receiving a review copy, I made myself a Lodestone Talisman for Business according to the instructions here. I chose this primary because I love spells that incorporate actually going to the Cathedral. Also the instructions to talk to the stone as “you who walked with the Samaritan” was just to good to pass up. I changed the words about making someone my husband, but other than that I kept it exactly as written. I am happy to report that in the last year business has done very well and increased more than I had projected. Like most Sorcerers I have a lot going on, so we shouldn’t attribute it to one thing, but I certainly am going to keep feeding that stone.
The other report is from a client who wanted to be reconciled with a lover. I do not do this kind of work for clients, but I passed along the spell along with a link to get a Cross of Caravaca. I heard back about three weeks later that the spell worked. They wanted to pay me, but of course I refused since I did nothing but pass on the information. Eventually they joined my course and have been magicking up their life with great success,
If you haven’t gotten this book yet, I would highly suggest it. The historical spells will be of interest to experienced Sorcerers and especially Sorceresses, as many of the love spells are for women. The detailed instructions in the latter half of the book, put together by Cat Work make it ideal for beginners who will be led through the exact procedures that the author recommends.