They prick and preen at the fraying edges of memory, ripping out threads of vigour like worms. They darken the eyes of perception with their wings, bringing shadows to even the most illuminated foregrounds. They steal the most vital and precious of treasures, time itself, and retreat them into their nests of delays.
They are the Familiars of Tomorrow: the Devils in the Details.
In my Saint of Many Colours collection for St. Expedite, I teased that an additional “CRAS” themed addition would be coming, ever so thematically, “later”, and that time has finally come. These are individual familiars from within the retinue of the Crow Devil of Tomorrow under the Holy Martyr’s foot, contracted to become familiars to witches, sorcerers, karcists, and any manner of worker in need of a more malefic ally. These are not for the faint of heart, being little devils that bring destruction, delay, procrastination, and forgetfulness to enemies. They may be set over pictures of rivals, business competition, or others requiring domination to ensure they forget important deadlines, dates, and obligations, to corrupt divination results and blur the truth within them, to ensure one delays and neglects their own spiritual hygiene, protection, and offerings, and to break oaths and promises through neglect. These are primarily malefic spirits, best suited to aid those in need of humbling enemies and preventing them from having power over them. If you are in need of a superior at work to forget your mistakes and overlook them, a parent-in-law to no longer wish to visit and prefer the laziness of solitude, or a rival to lose their creativity and passion for productivity, these familiars will happily assist for a small price.
Much as with my and Sfinga’s earlier experimentations with the Crow Devil of Tomorrow as companion, adversary, and subjugated familiar of our holy martyr, every piece of this fetish charm, from conception to construction, was fraught with delays. The necessary ingredients and materia came slowly into my hands, resisting swift accumulation. The spirits themselves, each bound to their own vessels, continually followed me as I birthed their forms, stalking me whenever I was out gathering the materia as crows. While they continually tested me, as is their nature, I carried with myself a cloak of red fabric fed a rooster on the feast of St. Expedite as an emblem of the holy martyr’s mantle, at times tying it to my leg to trample over their influence, and at other times wearing it on my arm to brace myself for their handling.
In time, as the full recipe revealed itself to me, I was able to come across the final pieces necessary with their assistance. Their cores are made with a medley of ingredients sourced from the very same origins as Sfinga’s CRAS powder, with a head made from a devil pod that I foraged by hand at a lonely lighthouse where St. Expedite and his crows were propitiated. They are each crowned with a crow’s foot, embedded within black wax from candles dressed and lit in his name. The entire fetish bundle is wrapped tight in layers of black cloth and thread over clay in which the powder matrix is incorporated. Embedded within the clay beneath the thread are twelve guinea pepper seeds to bring heat and aggression, as well as six match sticks with their heads pointing outwards, which threaten to light themselves on the seeds should any misfortune come to their keepers. Additionally, together they form a clock of twelve sections, each having been prayed over to bring delays and misfortune to enemies.
Each familiar also comes with a set of three dice which were washed, fumigated, and perfumed during the feast of St. Expedite this year, as well as having been generously anointed with my Blue Oil of divination. You may use any three dice oracle of your choosing to speak with these spirits (a great example of which can be found on our good friend Matthew Venus’ blog); simply print off the instructions or rules of the chosen oracle and place it under a black candle lit to the fetish to allow them to memorize and understand its structure. The dice may be used to speak with them, as well as to ensure St. Expedite’s control over them is maintained even if you do not have an active St. Expedite practice.
When your fetish charm arrives, burn myrrh incense and inform your spirits that a new familiar is joining your home. Fumigate it in front of the shrine of your primary spirits and give your crow devil a name of your choosing that it will respond to from now on. Etch the name into a black candle and burn it before it. After it finishes burning, you may commune with the spirit any time by etching the name again into another black candle and rolling your dice in front of it while the flame is still burning. The familiars may be fed offerings of black candles, food just past its expiration (or “best before”) date that had been forgotten, any sort of sticky licorice candy, and anything shiny that corvids would enjoy (coins, broken jewelry, gemstones and beads), as well as broken or stopped watches.
Only five are available. It is my hope that these familiars find their new sorcerer companions and serve them well as rogues and spies. You do not need to have a practice with St. Expedite to work with them; they are consecrated under pacts with him to obey their keepers and not bring harm to them. However, if you do have a shrine to the saint, keeping these by his feet would be an auspicious placement. Otherwise, they may be placed near windows to fly freely and bring messages to you when not in active use. To set them upon a target, simply print off their photo, mark them up as a petition, and place it under the fetish while burning a black candle with their name inscribed before them. Additionally, you may knot the name of your victim nine times into red thread which you then wrap around the claw to further bind them to your familiar as its target.
May you always reign today while your enemies delay until tomorrow.
With Cunning & Command 