The Spiritual "Double"

This is an instructional on how to make the magical equivalent of a stunt double.

To preface this: I don't think that this is 100% necessary to do for most workings. However, it is an invaluable tool when doing banes, or if you're in some kind of toxic environment where other people might be petty enough to curse you or make passive-aggressive "blessings" towards you. (Yes, sometimes people do the latter in order to skirt around protections that only block hexes.)

- - OVERVIEW - -

This is a Thing which is basically designed to attract any gunk directed at you to hit it instead. The concept of a spiritual double isn't particularly new, though sometimes the job is outsourced to a spirit, such as a hantu raya. However, spiritual relations may be hard for people to keep up (especially for beings that may require constant offerings), and so making an object to act as the double is preferrable, even if it may be a bit less effective- though that entirely depends on the skill level of the caster. It can be anything- a poppet, a statue, a jar, a box. The important thing is that it can be used as a representation of you- which we'll get to that in a second.

- - PREPARATION - -

Further Context

A really important thing I will start off with: You want the double to be as close to your energy as possible without actually using a lot of your energy, if at all. The reason being is because you do not want to literally connect the double to yourself spiritul-wise, in the off chance that people can use that connection to attack you through the double, rendering it useless. I guess you could use some of your energy to place on it and then do a cord-cutting ritual to disconnect yourself from the doll, but that might not work for some people who find it hard to let go.

Think of it as being kind of like making a scarecrow to take a bullet for you. You don't want to be so close to it that it somehow goes right through the scarecrow and shoots you instead, right?

Choosing a Vessel

As stated earlier, the vessel can be anything, as long as it's a physical object.

Some people might prefer to go digital, and it does work, but there are some issues that arise. For those curious as to what I mean:

Anyway, I wouldn't overthink this part. You're going to want to use something that has some sort of vague symbolism towards you, but isn't a treasured item or anything. Most people might use a doll (since they look humanlike). If you can't find a suitable doll, or want a smaller one, you can make a figure by tying together a bundle of yarn in loops to make the limbs/head.

If you're still having trouble deciding, it might be good to think about things you like. For example- do you like a particular type of crystal? Just use one of those. If you like animals, you might be able to find a small figurine of one pretty easily.

Finding the Right Energies

Alright, so now we have to actually gather the right energy for it. But what does that mean?

Well, this is the part where it gets... Tricky. You have to know your own particular elemental alignments and affinities. For those who haven't done much magic, this might be hard to figure out. I can only really give some tips, but ultimately- it's up to you to figure out what feels "right" for you.

Examples:

If you find that you feel comfortable around fire, doing fire magic, etc- then you're going to want to consecrate the vessel with the fire element. This can easily be done by lighting a candle to power it, or (SAFELY) burning parchment/bay leaves/etc with your will written on them.

If you feel comfortable around earth, you might want to put the vessel in a bag and bury it for a while to let it gather earth energies. Or keep it in a box with stones or something.

Gathering the energy riled up in a storm might be good for air. For water, anointing oils or certain room sprays/washes would be applicable.

Other:

If you're not entirely sure what elements vibe with you, this is where it might be time for some astrology/zodiac stuff. While people won't always be aligned to their placements, it's usually a good starting point.

Check what elements your main sign placements are. Check to see if any of your planets have "strong" positions- such as Mars in Scorpio, or any "exalted" placements. Usually ones with really good placements are pretty "strong" in your chart, and you might want to go with them.

Once you've got some planets pinpointed, look up associations for those planets. This will give you ideas on what sorts of stones or incense to incorporate into the ritual. If you're making a jar, then put in herbs that relate to elements/planets.

What to do with it

Regardless of the method, the point is to "charge" and cloak your vessel wth all these energies. Use a mix of different types of energies if it feels right. The point is for it to be "you".

- - CONSECRATING THE VESSEL - -

As mentioned with finding elements, this part is going to be subjective. Different elements will require a different touch. This guide also assumes you know the basics of energy work. If you're not particularly good at that yet, but you have any spirit contacts, you can ask them to help you with it.

Anyway, as you charge it with your elements, you're also going to want to charge it with your intent. Making a custom sigil to destroy will work, but even something as simple as writing your will down on a paper scrap as a sacrifice, or chanting over the vessel will suffice.

You can change the wording to better fit your situation, but the general vibes should be as follows:

Etc etc. Might also want to tack on a, "This vessel uses the energy it absorbs as fuel to make itself stronger."

You can also attempt to make more specific configurations, such as telling it to only activate if [x] person attacks you, or to only activate if your own curses rebound. Though those can be harder to pull off.

Once you finish your vessel, you should place it somewhere near your altar. Or in your bedroom, or a room you frequently use in your house. Whatever. The point is, that it should be in an important place. The reason you'd put it on an altar is because magical backlash from incorrectly casting a bane would likely go back towards where you cast the spell, or affect the general area if it doesn't go for you directly.

You may occasionally need to "charge" it if you feel like it's getting dull, but other than that, it should be good-to-go. If it ever seems like it's too energetically gunked up, don't be afraid to go scorched earth and do a deep cleanse on it, or even throw it away and start fresh if it seems unsalvageable.

- - EXAMPLE - -

This is basically what I did, just to give an example.

Picking the object: I have a lot of old, Chinese jade carvings around that are shaped like figures, so I decided to use one.

This one is something you'd have to have some knowledge of manipulating astral spaces, but I essentially used astral work to fit a metaphorical "storage tank" to it. If you know how to make astral constructs, you're basically doing a "bigger on the inside than the outside" thing by attaching a mini space to the physical object. (If you don't know how to do this, ignore this part.)

Next for elements. This is where it gets a bit tricky. Things I know that I'm good at: Fire, Metal, Ice, and Void.

Since I work with bay leaves a lot, I first burned some bay leaves and consecrate the statue over the flame with my intent of preparing the vessel to be a bane magnet.

I then made a little bowl out of aluminum foil to put the statue into while I did the rest of the ritual.

I have some anointing oils that draw upon Saturn and the star Algol, so I put some of those on the statue and let it sit. I also lit some candles with D.U.M.E. oil and other things to set out near it. People describe me as having an "intense" energy, so while this might sound a bit extreme out of context, it felt fitting. I then invoked the CEERS supermassive black hole for its void energies and drew them to the statue, since it's the one that seems closest to me that I've found to date.

While doing all this, I chanted things similar to the example statements in the Consecrating section. The the vessel gets a wash to get all the excess anointing oil off of it and... There you have it. Yay!