What Do We Need to Make a Servitor?

Not a whole lot! Servitors are not only one of the strongest forms of magic you can do, they are among the least expensive to do. To make things even easier for you, we’ve made a downloadable Servitor template that lets you fill in the blanks as we go through the steps.

Quickstart Guide

1. Use the provided template (or use paper and pen, if you prefer).
2. Fill in the steps as we go through this post.
3. Perform the ritual.
4. Done.

Building the servitor can be done in an hour or two, but really, you shouldn’t rush it.

Instructions

Purpose

We need to nail down what we want the servitor for. You cannot make a general service servitor. A servitor can only do one thing — but it will do that thing very well. That means you need to pick one task and only one task. You can make a servitor that only needs to do a “one-off” task, such as getting you a new career, or an ongoing task that lasts as long as you’re alive (such as protecting your family).

Now write down the purpose. This is important: Write the purpose in seven words or less. Again, you can use our template, or your Book of Shadows, journal, etc.

Do not ask for the impossible. Your servitor cannot stop time, make you invisible, or let you win the lottery. But it can put obstacles in other’s paths that give you more time, make others ignore you as you slink around, and bring money to you .

Use active not passive grammar. “My job is secure” is strong and active. “Money comes to me continuously” is also clear and specific.

1. “My job will be secure” is aspirational. Avoid that. Your servitor will wonder when? When should it be secure?
2. “I will have a new job soon” is weak, passive, and vague.

So now you should have a single, seven-word-or-less-sentence describing what you want.

Powers

Give your servitor the powers it needs to accomplish its task. If this is your first one, we recommend you don’t ask for any. Let the servitor decide what abilities it needs. You might think you know what it needs, but end up limiting its potential.

Timing

Timing is deciding the lifespan of the servitor. You must give your servitor an end date. Bad things happen when servitors outlive their creators. If it’s a one-off task, then it is allowed to dissipate immediately after it has completed its task. If it is lifelong, then set its death date to coincide with your natural death.

Appearance

Your servitor can appear in any way you want — with one exception. Do not make it look like anyone living. Reread that sentence. No one living, no relatives, no celebrities.

And it doesn’t have to look like a human. If you are making a protection servitor, for example, and feel safer with one of the 13 Kitsunes (Japanese mythical fox spirits), then go for it. A pagan goddess? A dragon? A cryptid? A glowing orb?

As long as the image is something you can visualize perfectly again and again. Chaos magicians often have dozens of servitors so for them, glowing orbs are pretty easy to visualize and recall. Each one gets its own color and behavior (one might be blue and pulsate, one might be red and spins, etc.)

Name

Of course you need to name your servitor so you can call on it when needed. Once created, their name alone is often enough to summon them to you instantly. Same rules as appearance. Do not name your servitor Mr. Rogers or Anya Taylor-Joy. No living people, relatives or celebrities are off limits. Other than that, names can be serious, dramatic, silly, or romantic. It should reflect your personality. It is best to make up a name, but make it one that sounds like your first language — or go downright witchy (Ex. Beth-O-Matic, Loktabel, Yazzi, or Ginger Snipe).

The Calling

The Calling is a combination of their name + a gesture you come up with. Doing those two together will summon your servitor. The advantage of adding a gesture is it prevents you from accidentally summoning it to you because you were thinking about it. We like to incorporate a tool as well. A wand, a coin, a key. It could be anything.

Example: “When I point my left index finger at my heart and recite your name Loktabel three times, you will appear. When I point my left index finger at the sky, you will depart.”

A really good technique is, in place of a tool, add one of your senses. “Whenever I grab my foot with my hand and say your name, Princess Mystakon three times, you will appear. I will know you are here, because I will (smell freshly-baked cookies) OR (hear loud rain drops) OR (taste lemon zest on my tongue), etc.”

Some people keep their servitors a secret. Some talk about them openly on podcasts and YouTube. One thing you should never do is share their name or their Calling.

Sustenance

Servitors must be fed regularly. Before you freak out, it’s pretty simple to feed a servitor. No blood, no coffee, booze, or candles. They love praise and can feed off your excitement whenever they have success. Tell your servitor that whenever it has a success, it can feed off your thrill of victory.

Location

Servitors need a home. You can give them a doll house, a jar, a shoe box, or a closet to live in. If you are a crafty type, you might like doing this. The problem is if you have limited space or start to accumulate a lot of servitors, you will quickly find them taking over your home.

Here’s an idea. If you’re a seasoned witch, then you already know how to meditate or trance to reach the World Tree, the Mighty Dead, the Akashic Records, or whatever place or plane you see when you contact your spirits and familiars. This plane is a fantastic home for your servitor. You can even create a home that you can visit and stay in when needed.

Fatal Flaw

You’ll want to sit down for this one. The Fatal Flaw is a failsafe. Once in a great while, you will make a servitor that doesn’t do a good job, or may even flat out refuse to work for you. Rare, but it can happen, especially when the creator neglects it or forgets to feed it. Even worse, when a servitor is not doing a good job and its creator is ignoring it, it can go rogue and start to harm you or your family. If this happens, it’s time to destroy the servitor before its end date.

How? Simple. At the time of creation, when you make The Calling, you will also make an additional word and gesture — one that you will never accidentally do — to serve as the Fatal Flaw. Like the Calling, this word + gesture combination must be told to the servitor at its creation so it knows you have the means and power to kill it. The Fatal Flaw is like the Avada Kedavra spell (The Killing Curse) in the Harry Potter series. Like the Killing Curse, your Fatal Flaw will instantly and permanently kill your servitor.

The Ritual

Now you take all of the parts you filled out on the worksheet and turn them into a spell that can be recited.

1. Write the servitor’s name, followed by the purpose you came up with
2. Write out its powers (if you chose to give it some), the timing, your servitor’s appearance, the calling, a source of sustenance, location, and the fatal flaw.
3. Draw your servitor’s sigil at the end of the spell
4. You should end up with something like this great example from Damon Brand’s, Magical Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity.
   1. ‘You are Poranthor Dartist, a spirit of great cunning and power. Poranthor Dartist, you are a black dog the size of a lion with silvered eyes and a warm, rumbling growl, and you breathe out the smoke of burned leaves. Poranthor Dartist, it is your purpose to give my voice the power of persuasion. When I call on you, Poranthor Dartist, and name the one I wish to convince, you make my voice lull and soothe my target into a dreamy state of acceptance. You continue to work this magick long after my conversation ends, so that my words linger in the mind and heart of the one I want to persuade. You will live until I call for your death, and upon hearing that call, you will willingly dissipate. Poranthor Dartist, you come to me immediately when I speak your name and the word ‘Karanstor.’ When called, you obey my commands and go into the world to do my bidding. You are fed by my gratitude and by the pleasure I take in the success that you bring. Poranthor Dartist, you are housed in the tip of my tongue. You will be reduced to nothing if you are touched by a blend of rosewater, salt, and blood while hearing the name Hanragoras. Poranthor Dartist, this is your sigil.’
5. You will then draw the sigil below the spell.
6. Brand recommends that you will actually speak the name three times. That way, you know they heard you!
7. Use active language, not passive. For example, “You will appear when I call you,” rather than “I want you to appear when I call you.”

Now that everything is written out, and the sigil drawn, recite it out loud. That’s it. The servitor is now available for its purpose.

Make absolutely certain that you never lose the creation paper. If you have a safe, this should go in there. That way, others won’t see it, but you won’t lose it. Remember, you may need to end the servitor at some point, and you cannot change its calling or its fatal flaw.

Have fun creating!