A truly curious specimen. Quite lovely in its oddity, eclectic in its magic, a pillar in its environment. All in all a good plant to have on hand.
We’ll begin with a rather dangerous use: popularity. For clients who desire more friends and followers, real or digital, dry flesh from one of the cactus’ arms and sew into an amulet or place in an apothecary locket. I say dangerous because the nature of pilosocerus is to bring creatures to it in order to feed and protect them. Thus, the plant will put out massive send these, your wretched, homeless, tempest-tost, to me vibes. It will bring hoards of followers, ravenous for your intellectual victuals and personal aura, to your doorstep. I have seen Pilosocereuswearers torn apart by mobs. My advice is to wear the amulet or locket no more than once a month, but even this can be risky, causing only a small friend group to become obsessive. Use with caution.
Less sinister, more weird, can be used to grow hair all over the body. This hair will be long, coarse, and either yellow or white depending on the species used. Definitely invokes the yeti. The hair will of course be made of plant fiber and should break down with normal wear and tear. It will not grow back, but is a wonderful temporary protective layer from cold or heat and helps retain moisture. Excellent for long trips into the wilderness. Much cheaper, lighter, and more breathable than any other outdoor gear in addition to being completely biodegradable. All you have to do is create a tincture with the cactus’ hair, add a little rosemary if you’re also looking for spiritual protection, and drink once for about a month of hair protection.
Bat Summoner
To summon, collect flower nectar and fruit, also add flying insects. Mosquitoes are ideal, but any flying insect will do in a pinch. Mash together in your mortar and pestle.
Bats cannot hear human speech per se, so verbal spells will not help you here. What you must do is pour your mixture in a bowl, then prick yourself in a few fingers and let big drops of blood form. Stand outside, hold the bowl aloft, and shriek in as high a pitch as you can. Shriek until the bats come. Once they are present and feeding or flitting about, the fun begins.
Why Summon bats?
-Spell Delivery System. Bats can hold magic in their wings. This is helpful if you’re looking to deliver a large number of spells to one person, or one spell to a lot of people. A lot of spells to one person is more difficult, as you’ll need to concentrate on an individual bat for long enough to attach one particular spell to it, then repeat for as many spells as you’ve got, and you if you accidentally double spell a single bat, both spells will be null. You can magically tag a bat for this propose if you are quick enough with your intent. Then it will glow with your aura so you’ll be able to spot it while you lay the spell on its wings, but yes, very difficult, very exhausting.
On the other hand, to put one spell on a bunch of bats, just project your intention into the flitting mass. Intention should include spell and target. They’ll find the target on their own, they’re excellent at finding things.
-Summoning the witching hour. It is a long-held fallacy that the witching hour happens naturally every night from three to four AM. This is nonsense. It takes a significant amount of energy to open up a portal to the other side, ergo they are never spontaneous. Additionally, most of this energy is provided by bats. Nay, the witching hour is only summoned by a witch for a specific purpose. The time of night this is done is not important, but bats are most active three or four hours after sunset and return to their roosts before dawn, so keep that in mind.
-To summon the witching hour. First summon your bats (see above). Once that’s done, and the delightful little beasties are swarming around you, shriek a very specific series of tones. These will be higher than what feels comfortable, but do your best.
I’m not sure of the origins of the following incantation, but I do know it is rooted in our most prehistoric lexicon. I’ll do my best to transcribe.
(in staccato, breath is very important here) - ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee
(hold for three seconds) aeh (pause, then repeat, holding and pausing for three seconds each until you’ve completed six cycles)
(staccato again) ai ai ai ai ai (then, held for as long as you can) eeeeeeee
(finally ululating) yai yai yai yai
The bats will swarm, fly directly upwards as high as they can, then turn quickly downward, swooping the ground dramatically. This is the signal that they have opened the portal. Now, you can pull spirits through. Remember, you only have an hour.
-Turning into a bat. Get naked and smear the summoning mash all over your body. Complete the rest of the ritual as stated above. As the bats lick the mash from your body shriek with them. Inhale their essence, hold out your arms and let their nearness take you. Feel their wings beat against you, feel their fur brush your face, their tongues and teeth rasp against your naked flesh. Let yourself drown in their screaming chaos. Soon you’ll be lifted, you’ll find yourself rising into the night with them. Accomplish whatever you had planned to, just be sure you’re grounded before dawn.
Mothromancy
In the original sense of summoning a spirit, necromancy can be accomplished via moths. Moths and butterflies are, as is well known, actually trapped human souls. One can attract moths with Pilosocereus nectar. This works best in tandem with a dim light, perhaps a flashlight covered with a pillowcase, white is best. Paint nectar on your body and hold the light. When the moths come to you, let them rest on your body while they lap up the nectar. This tickles, try not to laugh and scare them. Whisper to them that you are their light and they should come inside you. The spirits will enter you readily as they are always eager to be back inside a body, you can then hold a conversation with them. When you are ready for them to leave, immolate their moth bodies to send their spirits skyward to the old gods.
Brilliant framing of ritual magic through ecological relationships. The Pilosocereus attracting creatures to feed and protect them, then translating that into a spell mechanic for popularity, captures something clever about symbiotic dynamics. Traditional herbalism always understood plants as mediatorsnot tools, which is excatly what this explores. Been thinkin about this kinda stuff lately after reading some old grimoires.