Hey guys. Feel free to scroll down for the ritual itself, if you’d like, but read through if you want some context as to why I’d like to try it. So basically…
Josie, my wife, decided that we need to separate. This came as no surprise, but it hurt as much either way. If you’d ask why, I’d counter with how much time you’ve got. Our estrangement has been a long and cold process, with fault residing on both parties. We’ve been together for twelve years, married for eight, living together for seven. Although she broke the news of the separation solo, the pragmatics we’ve dealt with as a couple; I’ll move out, she’ll stay at the apartment.
We’re not hostile towards each other, so there’s been no real need to hurry. It took me about a month to find a place - with her help - but I still have a few weeks until I can move in. It has been… bittersweet. Working together to find a new apartment, sorting through belongings - we’ve really worked together for the first time in a long time, and that has felt… nice. The apartment has felt warm again. Anyway, I’ve been slowly packing up my stuff so there’s a bit less stress on moving day (who am I kidding, it’s still the worst shit ever), and as I was picking out my books (few and far between) between her books (plentiful and varied) on our large, shared Billy-shelf, I came across one I hadn’t seen in a long time.
The book in question was my grandmother’s old grimoire. She died when I was eleven or twelve, so I never got to know her well. I snagged the book for myself as I was helping my parents sort through her stuff after her death. She owned hundreds of books, and I don’t think my parents gave more than a vacant nod when I asked them if I could have it - if they had, I doubt they’d have let their christian son own a bona fide grimoire.
I think I’d only ever flipped through it once or twice, mostly letting it decorate any bookshelf I’d had during my life. When I was a kid, it was in my room, standing between Percy Jackon novels on a small, never dusted, one foot long shelf above my bed. Later, it took center stage on my first actual bookshelf that I bought for my first apartment when I was barely an adult. It was optimistic of me to give such square footage for a bookshelf - it never got to hold more than thirty books at best, mostly becoming an open liquor cabinet (liquor shelf?). And finally, it had decorated me and Josie’s bookshelf - this one actually quite full - for years, but now it was time to find a new shelf for it to stand on.
I sat down with the book, determined to finally give it the attention it had been deprived of all these years. I felt rude towards my grandma for just lugging it around all my life, never reading it, but then I thought about what my parents would’ve done to the book if I hadn’t rescued it. At best they would’ve donated it somewhere, at worst burned it and scattered the ashes in some seedy alleyway that nevere crossed God’s eyes.
So now, my fellow NoSleepers, we’ve come to the bit that might actually interest someone other than my therapist. The grimoire held within its pages a slew of instructions: recipes for herby concoctions to cure sleeplessness, the right way to prepare certain (weird) ingredients, how to read rocks to see the future, and a bunch of rituals for luck, prosperity, and other vague ‘good’ things. Within these rituals there was one that caught my eye: The Two Sisters.
The section about The Two Sisters has multiple pages of prologue, which I’ll try to condense down to its main points below.
Basically, throughout my grandma’s lineage, The Two Sisters have been summoned to help resolve conflict within two members of the family. In essence, when you’re in bad relations (not talking to each other, separated and what have you) they’d communicate to the other person what your ‘true’ feelings are. The book describes this as ‘the summoning of true love, delivered upon the loved ones heart and soul in language understood within.’ The ritual was born of necessity, and it is to be used only as such. The sisters themselves are young and wear pale blue clothing - one of them is called Voice, the other one Face. Voice apparently has no face, but can speak, and Face - you guessed it - has no voice, but instead a long and distorted grimace. If the ritual is performed accordingly and to completion, the sisters will convey the ritual maker’s feelings to the subject, and hopefully the two can then resolve their issues.
After the prologue, there are warnings.
‘Do not perform upon non-family members.’
‘Do not perform with impure thoughts.’
‘Do not attempt to invoke either Sister by their lonesome.’
Following this, there are the step-by-step instructions for the ritual. It’s quite detailed, so bear with me.
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The Two Sisters
Find yourself in a closed room after dusk, the doors closed and the windows shut. Following you, no one else may enter the room until you have left.
Light two candles in front of you, two feet from each other, one on your left and one on your right. You are the third flame, completing the ▽.
Between the candles, place a bowl filled halfway with water. The bowl should be large enough to show the reflection of your face.
After the room is ready, sit with your legs crossed two feet away from the bowl in front of you. You are the third flame, completing the ▽.
Rest your hands on your knees, the fingers facing upwards, and close your eyes.
You are the third flame, completing the ▽.
Keep your eyes shut until the flames of the candles burn your hands. Do not open your eyes until the flame touches you: not for movement, sound, warmth or cold.
Once the flames burn your hands, open your eyes.
If either candle is unlit or has moved from their place, end the ritual.
If the water bowl has been toppled over, spilled, or moved, end the ritual.
If you can no longer discern the walls of the room, end the ritual.
Upon the ritual continuing, stare into the bowl of water in front of you. The candles should give enough light for the water to produce reflections.
You are the third flame, completing the ▽.
The Two Sisters shall approach you through the water’s reflection. Once you see them, do not avert your gaze. They will float above in the reflection; as Above △, so Below ▽. Only look at and talk to the sisters through the reflections in the water.
Tell Face who you want to speak to and why.
Tell Voice what you want to say in your heart. Think of the loved one in your most pure desire.
Once you have talked to both sisters, blow out the candles and let them leave the room.
After a short while, exit the room with the water bowl, and throw the water onto the earth. Do not re-enter the room until dawn.
The Two Sisters will visit your loved one the following night. The rest is up to you.
If you need to stop the ritual at any point, walk out of the room and wait until dawn to re-enter.
Do not stay with the Two Sisters for longer than the candles burn.
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So that’s the ritual. I’m not going to bore you with any postulations. I was raised a christian, now I’m what I’d call so-and-so, basically I dunno, but I have an upbringing-induced allergy to all things spooky. Still, I’m intrigued, and I do have a couple nights alone as Josie’s staying with some friends soon.
Anyone wanna try it before I do? Or can someone convince me why I shouldn’t try it, besides the creepiness? I mean, it seems like a ‘good’ ritual, doesn’t it - at worst it’s just meditation at night in a dark room.