I had no real reason to want items from this series until recently, which was its own blessing, but I am so grateful that I was still able to order this at just the perfect time. I’m rather informal about a lot of my uses of Sphere and Sundry materia because they’re often so effective on their own without extra bells and whistles from me, but I definitely made sure to take basic precautions this time. Disposable gloves, predetermined/thematically appropriate (and immediate) disposal of all accessories used to distribute the material, thorough washing with lots of running water and salt on the hands, changing clothes, cleaning the sink where I washed, bathing, etc.
I asked for Algol’s help with two different completely unassociated individuals who were each causing a lot of daily distress to a lot of people, and who each showed a long pattern of no remorse.
I’m a total doormat in most aspects of my life, so I first tried to brush up on more mundane practices first by determining better boundaries and by reaching out to other people involved in the respective situations in order to show support (no negative language or venting involved). I’m also not great with any amount of drama and don't cutting people out; dealing with the situation in such a way as this felt like a last resort.
I actually ended up just bagging (a few times, for safety) and throwing away the little containers where I decanted the “Blood” (as part of the working) in my apartment building’s garbage cans the night before trash day. Instead of direct application to any personal effects I just wrote names on plain paper, cut them out of the original sheet, rolled them up, and sealed them individually in the tiniest glass vials I could buy, each filled to the top with the Blood.
Instead of a lot of ceremony, it felt appropriate to do the steps a little quickly and secretly after privately offering prayers and heartfelt, carefully worded petition. The cleanup of the tools was the more involved half.
One person in particular who was really causing a lot of pain and stress for all of the people they had a lot of power over was swiftly dealt with (without any further mundane intervention from me at all) literally on the following trash day. The other person, through a series of very sudden but overall harmless changes in office circumstances, was forced the following week back onto the defensive, and simply doesn’t have the leeway to behave erratically and abusively to the people that they manage for the time being. These two situations were affecting people I know and love in my day-to-day life, and I believe the desire to defend others that I care about from something they don't deserve was a huge factor in the success and speed of the working.
For now the rest of this materia is resting in its own black velvet pouch inside a dedicated black box. I do think that simply knowing that it’s there at all makes me more mindful of boundaries in a way that I have not been able to be previously. I actually hide the materia even further in the back of my closet when times/transits and emotions feel especially volatile, lmao! I think it's a worthwhile precaution. Knowing that the swiftness of Algol’s defense is real makes one evaluate any instinctive feelings of resentment more carefully: “How can I vent this safely and appropriately without just bottling it up?” and conversely, “Is it really still ok to just lie down and take this without at least giving them a chance to hear your thoughts on it?”
Giving voice to my frustrations has still been hard, because breaking any pattern is always so hard, but it’s still interesting to see my growing willingness to stand by the consequences of firmly saying “no”.
I wouldn’t recommend this in situations where you want to continue to see the target in your life, for perhaps obvious reasons. There are other series in the catalogue with a much gentler vibe for that. And I can definitely see why divination is involved when shipping this out. In addition to the appropriate devotional practices recommended in the background information for this series, I personally think that a regular practice of finding healthy, constructive, mundane outlets for frustration or stress would be so helpful for keeping oneself from going too far on accident or passing on harm to others.
Thanks to Sphere and Sundry for making this one, and for being meticulous about every step of its creation.