After recently helping a good friend and colleague through a difficulty, he suggested I write up this powerful piece of mojo for the Cradle. Here is quick and dirty demonology.

This is the time to repeat the boring disclaimers about the results of what you learn on this site being your own responsibility alone. The phrase ‘mindfucked’ was used. It can be a challenging procedure. Nor does it substitute for any medical or psychiatric attention you may be receiving. In fact, if you are receiving these, this procedure may be best left alone.

This procedure owes a lot to the permissive style of Ericksonian hypnotherapy and to NLP 6-step reframing, but don’t go thinking that it’s merely psychological. As expressed elsewhere, the psychological models of magic, which generally take the view that magic occurs basically as a change of consciousness, comprise only one of several ways of modelling what we do.

We can find ourselves tempted to choose an explanation, whether demons are ‘all in the mind’ or ‘really out there.’ We do not need to. Our experience of them is real in itself and any interpretation is secondary to that. And don’t go further and ask stupid stuff about whether our experience itself is real, for by what other means do you propose to test it? In the end, the bedrock of our direct experience constitutes the grounds for everything else. As Wittgenstein said about such questions, “grounds for doubt are lacking!” (On Certainty, 4)

Therefore, to avoid fruitless theorizing, I tend to adopt the word ‘presences’ to refer to experiences of what are usually called ‘entities.’ I experience one as a presence, whether I see it or hear it in my imagination or outside, or sense its presence as you might become aware, for example, that there is someone in the room with you even though you haven’t seen them.

Accordingly, we treat them as persons:

a ‘self’ like unto our own sense of self

but also different and separate from that

with which we can communicate in some way.



This understanding of ‘presence’ applies to elementals, fairies, tree and rock spirits, wights, angels, demons and deities, servitors, thoughtforms, fictional characters, even your own impression of living or dead persons. It can apply to talismans and magical tools, spaces and places, even aspects of your own character or other abstractions such as ‘love’ or ‘the spirit of the ancestors.’

And your Shadow.

This was where my friend was coming unstuck. Your Shadow is by definition the antithesis of all that you think of as ‘you.’ It can be alien, intimidating, even hostile. Or, as in this case, full of blind rage and hate. Dear dear. A little difficult to even approach such a presence.

I laid down some ground rules of engagement:

Pick a model. We went for a psychological model, because it took the intensity of unpleasantness down several notches to use the working assumption that there’s nobody else in my friend’s head but him. As such, we regarded the presences as fractals of his self.

On the first passes, I walked him through the process as his handler, to monitor, to make sure we stuck to the plot, and to troubleshoot.

To monitor is to watch the operator, judging how they are feeling and dealing throughout the procedure.

To stick to the plot is to choose and follow through on an outcome and not be distracted by stuff that comes up. For the first passes the outcome was simply to make contact with the problematic presences.

To troubleshoot is to support the operator to finish the procedure safely or else pull them out safely.

In all cases, remember first of all that you stand as the Magician, an effective presence in your own right. If you need to bolster that awareness by, for example, calling on a presence capable of controlling the problematic presence, do it. Take any failures as feedback from the presence. Win them over; be kind, be generous, be persuasive, anything but never give in.

Some quasi-Ericksonian protocols for dealing with fractals of self:

You may presume:

that you and they are manifestations of the same thing;

that you and they are therefore on the same side;

that you and they each have an important role in manifesting the whole You.

Therefore, in dealing with fractals of self:

Never dismiss or ignore – always acknowledge. What comes up, comes up. A god ignored is indeed a demon born. The issues they raise are the issues that you need to pay attention to.

Never demand – always ask. In direct contrast to the traditional format of bossing spirits about.

Never refuse or resist – always permit. This tests your trust in the three presumptions above. But when you show yourself serious about them, you are more likely to be taken seriously by the presence.

Never close the door, always invite. This is classic salesman’s advice. Never take the prospect’s ‘No!’ as final, always leave your number and an open invitation, ask again later, make a counteroffer they can’t refuse. Are we negotiating? Always.

So anyway, we went in. We were doing this over Skype (yes, it can be done) and rather than an elaborate ritual, I asked my friend to drop into a light trance and pick up on a presence.

Trance. You don’t need to be sunk deep into some sort of coma for this stuff to work. Richard Bandler reckons there’s no Deep Trance phenomenon that he hasn’t produced in what we laughingly call ‘the waking state.’ And I’ve found this too. That said, a light trance makes things run more smoothly, especially when two are playing. Paying good attention to something – anything – constitutes a light trance. Yes, that really is all there is to it.

Anyway, my friend found himself a little presence to ask questions of, but it turned out to be the monkey, not the organ grinder. This happens. Fractals of self/spirits/daemons/etc. often seem to be arranged in hierarchies, whatever the model. It’s generally better to work your way up the hierarchy. So we asked to talk to the boss.

My friend found himself in a crowd, with the Shadow, huge and terrifying, dominating with raw hate and roars of mindless defiance. Gulp time. Nevertheless, he stuck to the protocols and took the abuse like a Magician. A couple of the presences were less intractable, and came onside quite easily. And by the end of the pass, even the Shadow was less violent and we had a basis for further communication later. My friend was treating his demons with respect and they were calming down a bit. As he was serious about the protocols, the demons were learning to trust him. The protocol of ‘always permitting’ was crucial. There was no trying to control or prevent them going about their business.

And so it went. It’s still going on. There’s a learning curve to these techniques and a getting-to-know-you curve to presences, any presences. Therefore such work takes a certain amount of time. Be patient if using them yourself. Keep notes. They will be your own personal grimoire. Enjoy your demons.