At the base of the comfort strategy has always been a focus on gaining submission from would be enemies and people who offer potential gain to the magician. For the novice, a strong base of lackeys and allies will greatly expand his potential for growth as a magician. Unfortunately, many of the techniques detailed in antiquated grimoires are far to sophisticated or demand props which are not readily available to the novice. With this in mind I present a simple method of gaining submission from, and generating a workable link to, a target for future magickal work.

Pet Rocks

This operation assumes the novice has familiarized himself with, at least, a basic technique to generate sigils. If not, Peter Carroll offers a very simple and effective technique in his book Liber Null & Psychonaut (Samuel Weiser Inc., 1987). The basics of Carroll's technique are outlined by the Mistress of Pestilence, herself, elsewhere on Cantrap.net in the section titled "Magickal Technique" under the heading Sigil Construction.

To begin, the magician should prepare a sigil which identifies and defines the target. He must commit this to memory and be able to draw it, gesture it and visualize it at Will and without hesitation. Once a sigil has been prepared, the next step will be to attain a suitable stone for the operation. With a device suitable for marking a hard surface (i.e. marker, paints, awl, etc.) in hand, the magician will then scour the earth in search of a stone with a large enough surface to mark out the sigil upon. Once the stone is acquired, the sigil should be marked upon it before passing through any doorways. After this is done, the magician can return to his home for the next step in this operation.

It is necessary, at this point, that the magician is able to invoke and maintain control over particular thought-forms and emotions. The rest of this work depends heavily on the ability to harness and direct emotional energies. Upon passing through the doorway of his home, the magician should cast the stone to the floor using moderate force. At the same time the stone is cast, the magician should invoke an Alpha Male mentality, which should utilize rage and violence as a display of dominance, and also visualize the sigil of the target. The stone should be kicked around the home and orally berated until the magician is content with the amount of "domination" imbued into the stone, or has become exhausted.

At this point the stone should be kicked under a piece of furniture (i.e. couch, bed, etc.) where it should remain to cower for no less than 5 nights. After this time has passed, the stone can be placed in a secret place or left to cower. The magician will then notice the target has become submissive and respectful in the presence of the magician, especially if the stone is carried by the magician while in the presence of the target.

The magician now has a "Pet Rock" which is suitable to be used as a link to the target in future works of magick. Possibilities are only limited by the ambition and imagination of the magician. After the initial display of force, the stone could then be coddled and cared for to procure love and trust. It could be presented gifts as a method of symbolically bribing the target. A hair, blood, fingernail sample could be attained and bound to the stone through a wax seal to strengthen the link. A Word of Power could be constructed to trigger the effects of the stone. But whatever the magician should choose to do, it should be kept in mind that stone will need maintenance from time to time, lest the power over the target will begin to lessen.