Restless Souls

Although Magi, unlike spiritists or necromancers, are primarily focused on cultivating awareness in action and are not especially interested in extrasensory perception, a situation has recently arisen that demands close magical attention.

This situation is that the world is now populated not only by people but also by their remains, both in the dense and subtle material senses. And whereas until quite recently those remains were mostly composed of Guf / Khuš ha-Gufs, the number of elementers has sharply increased, and along with them Ibburs and dybbuks.

Accordingly, the modern Magus must consider not only the condition of the environment (place, time, etc., for rituals), the activity of free and ministering spirits, but also the activity of elementers, which likewise disturbs the overall energetic balance.

Moreover, Magi almost inevitably encounter Ibburs and dybbuks that seek to feed on their life‑force, and thus the Magus’s struggle takes on a new dimension. If until recently the possessed were mostly demonic possessions, now more and more people are possessed by the souls of the dead.

To understand how to act in this situation, it is necessary to examine its causes.

The ordinary process of disembodiment, as we have already discussed, proceeds fairly quickly. As soon as the possibilities for converting life-force into the power of awareness within the current embodiment are exhausted, the remainder of the life‑force leaves the mind’s conduits and is consumed partly by the Langoliers, partly by various other predators. The accumulated awareness is devoured by Baphomet, and the soul, the sum of the experience of embodiment, is incorporated into the sum of the Monad’s experience.

However, for an individual embodiment-soul to be included into the “soul of souls” of the Monad, it must shed accumulated personas during life. In fact, this gradual ‘shedding of garments’ is the essence of disembodiment.

First the soul’s bond with its developing conduit is severed. This ‘tearing out’ is performed by the “Reapers of Death” – Gallu. Then the soul’s connection with the world in which it arose is cut. This transition is carried out by the Ferrymen of Souls – Namtarru. And finally, during the so‑called “posthumous wandering,” the soul is freed from the burdens of past actions that bind it to conduits, the world, and other beings — the soul’s cleansing — and integrated. The resulting dry residue is then incorporated into the “soul of souls.”

Many factors can, however, disrupt the soul’s “shedding of garments.” Then, deprived of awareness and life‑force, the soul becomes an elementer — a semi‑sentient, eternally hungry entity retaining only vestiges of awareness, the greater the stronger the will the creature had in life.

Naturally, an elementer faces two pressing problems: 1) it is hunted by Gallu, and 2) it needs life‑force to survive.

An elementer can solve these problems in two ways: 1) by attaching itself to living hosts on the principle of an Ibbur, and 2) by killing living beings to devour life‑force.

In the first case, the soul becomes temporarily invisible to Gallu and receives a portion of life‑force; in the second, it gains a much larger amount, allowing the elementer to fend off attacks by Gallu. Both of these states, if they persist long enough, turn it into a vicious predator — utukku.

In the case of an Ibbur, a new personality is formed — a kind of “hybrid” between the personality of the host and the “grafted” soul. Unfortunately, at present quite a number of people suffer from such “graftings,” feeding another predator with their life‑force.

When an elementer is aggressive, a so‑called “vengeful spirit” is formed, since the initial impulse is rage and desire for revenge for the suffering inflicted upon it; over time this motive fades, remaining important mainly in the choice of victims, while predation becomes the true motive.

Another form of elementer is the poltergeist — souls of children who have not completed disembodiment and, like children, feed on attention.

We discussed that in a number of cases people consciously became elementers, hoping to preserve self‑awareness. But, unfortunately, even in these cases, they still became predatory.

It is obvious that the only way to prevent an elementer’s demonization is to complete its disembodiment.

Therefore, for the Magus, who inevitably encounters restless souls — either at sites of mass death or in various other places and situations — must master skills in elementer exorcism.