Becoming A Werewolf Ritual

Disclaimer:

This spell is dangerous on many levels. First, it calls for the use of herbs that are poisonous, and possibly illegal. Secondly, evil spirits are in and of themselves dangerous and are usually better left alone.

The Spell:

Make a magic circle on the ground, at twelve o’clock, on a night on a night when the moon is full (one of about seven feet in diameter is most appropriate) in the center of the circle, a wood fire, heating thereon an iron vessel containing one pint of clear spring water, and any seven of the following substances:

• Hemlock (2 – 3 ounces),
• Henbane (1 to 1 1/2 ounces),
• Saffron (3 ounces),
• Poppy seed (any amount),
• Aloe (3 crachms),
• Opium (1/4 ounce),
• Asafoetida (2 ounces),
• Solanum (2 to 3 drachms),
• Parsley (any amount.).

Whilst the mixture is heating, the experimenter prostrates himself in front of the fire and prays to the Great Spirit of the Unknown to confer on him the property of metamorphosing, nocturnally, into a werewolf. His prayers take no one particular form, but are quite extempore; though he usually adds to them some such recognized incantation as:

“Come, spirit so powerful! come, spirit so dread.
From the home of the werewolf, the home of the dead.
Come, Give me thy blessing! come, lend me thine ear!
Oh spirit of darkness! oh spirit so drear!
Come, mighty phantom! come, great Unknown!
Come from thy dwelling so gloomy and lone.
Come, I beseech thee; depart from thy lair.
And body and soul shall be thine, I declare.
Haste, Haste, Haste, horrid spirit, Haste!
Speed, Speed, Speed, scaring spirit, speed!
Fast, Fast, Fast, fateful spirit, fast!”

He then makes the following formal declaration:

“I (insert name) offer to thee, Great spirit of the Unknown, this night of (insert date) my body and soul, on condition that thou grantest me, from this night to the hour of my death, the power of metamorphosing, nocturnally, into a wolf. I beg, I pray, I implore thee-Thee, unparalleled Phantom of Darkness, to make me a werewolf, a werewolf”!

And striking the ground three times with his forehead, he gets up. As soon as the concoction in the vessel is boiling, he dips a cup into it, and sprinkles the contents on the ground, repeating the action until he has sprinkled the whole interior of the circle. Then he kneels on the ground close to the fire, and in a loud voice cries out:

“Come, oh Come!”

And, if he is fortunate, a phantom manifests itself over the fire. Sometimes the phantom is indefinite – a cylindrical, luminous, pillar-like thing, about seven feet in height, having no discernible features: sometimes it assumes a definite shape, and appears either as a monstrous hooded figure with a death’s hood, or as a sub-human, sub-animal type of elemental.

Whatever form the Unknown adopts, it is invariably terrifying. It never speaks, but indicates its assent by stretching out an arm, or what serves as an arm, and then disappears. It never remains visible for more than half a minute. As soon as it vanishes, the supplicant, who is always half mad with terror, springs from the ground and rushes home, or anywhere to get again within the reach of human beings.

By the morning, however, all his fears have departed; and at sunset he creeps off into the forest, or into some equally secluded spot, to experience, for the first time, the extraordinary sensations of metamorphosing into a wolf, or, perhaps, a semi-wolf, i.e., a creature half man and half wolf; for the degree of metamorphosis varies according to locality. Though it is at sunset that the change most usually takes place the transmutation back to man generally occurring at dawn.

From: Werwolves by Elliott O’Donnell