Sara Mastros, some time ago, posted a working about Sabnok, giver of castles, for finding a new place to live. I’m pleased to say that this process works quite well.
A few months ago, I think it was late August or early September 2020, our landlady informed us that she would need to have us out of our apartment by April 2021 — four and a half years after we moved in. She was quite generous in giving us eight months’ notice, but nobody wants to move in a pandemic. What with one thing and another, though, we weren’t the only people who had to move. A friend of mine from Toastmasters had to move; another friend not only needed to move, but needed better housemates to live with; another friend needed a house without housemates of any kind.
What with one thing and another, I helped these folks by providing access and coaching around Sara Mastros’s Sabnok framework, even as I was using it myself. I’m pleased to say that so far it’s worked quite well for everyone involved, with the possible exception of the person who had to move into a new house after finding better housemates to live with — it just seemed to be the case that what this friend needed was not possible without having a friend to live with. A booster of some kind was needed.
Enter The Triple Assistants, for finding housemates and a new house.
So I worked out a new kind of deal with two additional spirits, Orobas and Oriax, who are said to assist in the making of friends. The three of them agreed to work together on matters of housing — Orobas and Oriax to find friends and housemates that were compatible and easygoing, and Sabnok to find the house to live in.
The basic procedure is roughly the same as for Sara Mastros’s version of the rite:
- Write out a complete list of all the things that you need from a house on one sheet of paper, with Sabnok’s name and seal at the top of the page.
- On another piece of paper, write Orobas’s name and Oriax’s name and seal, and some (not all) of the capacities that you desire in a friend, including the fact that they’re looking to share housing.
- Draw a picture of the three of them together. Give them fancy clothes. Sabnok and Oriax are lion-headed beings, or cat-headed beings; while Orobas is a horse-headed being. All three of them are said to be of the rank of Marquis, so they shouldn’t have crowns; but they could have fancy medals and elaborate clothes. You can create line art of them, as I did, or full-color portraits.
- Once you have the portraits, put their picture up overlooking your altar or shrine, and fold the papers with the descriptions of what you want to have in a house and in housemates on the altar under their gaze.
- Light a trio of candles. They don’t have to be big. Tealights are suitable. Light some incense.
- After a period of time, you may or may not sense the presence of the Triple Assistants. Explain “the deal” to them: You need housing, and some new housemate; they help with that sort of thing. Explain out loud what you would like from them. Promise something in return — a steak each to Sabnok and Oriax, left out in a place where animals might be able to get to it, like a crossroads or in the woods behind your new residence, and a donation to some organization that helps cats or assists veterans. Orobas likes “religious” charities and charities that care for children, and appears to prefer vegetable offerings, and might accept an offering like agreeing to have a composting plan at the new house. They don’t get anything until you’re sitting in your new house (with a housemate if you need it). Sometimes, the Triple Assistants are going to ask you to publicize their assistance, by thanking them publicly (like writing a blog post).
- If you’re good at ‘hearing spirits’, they will make clear to you what sort of deal they would like. It’s not worth bargaining with your soul, by the way: they don’t want it, and it’s not really yours to offer anyway. Some alcohol, some steak, and a contribution to a charity (you can use their numbers — 55, 43, and 59 — as the sums of money given, or use multiples, or even the sum of the digits — 10, 7, and 14 as the amounts or the multipliers if you’re poor), and maybe a blog post about them: that’s probably the nature of the arrangement.
- Write down the deal, so you remember it.
- Extinguish the candles or wait for them to burn down completely, when the conversation is over. Don’t burn any more incense to them. They’re not gods, and they shouldn’t be worshipped, but they are powerful entities in their own right, and they care about the niceties.
- After you explain the deal, you may feel that the deal has been heard and accepted, or rejected. If it’s rejected, it may be because that current circumstances make the deal impossible: the right people aren’t looking for housing or wouldn’t make good housemates for you; or the conditions of your housing just can’t be met at this time — and you may have a sense of whether the deal offered is inadequate, or if they just can’t meet the deliverable.
- If it is accepted, keep looking for housemates and housing. You need to do the material work on your side of the deal to find a person to live with, and to find the actual residence. If you’re not checking the local sources of places to live, you’re not going to find the place that meets your requirements; if you’re not talking to potential roommates on social media or whatever, you’re not going to find them, either.
- Once you find the housemates and the housing, carry out the terms of the deal. Leave the steaks out for the wild beasts, and make any donations to the charities that you mentioned in your arrangements. It might be six weeks, beginning to end, or it might be six months.
As I write this, I’m sitting in the new house by the fire. We stayed over last night. Our furniture is due to move in, in a few weeks. And we’re definitely going to be out of the old place by the end of February.
I thank the Triple Assistants, Orobas, Sabnok, and Oriax, for their assistance in helping me come to a new home.
