Spells to change the past: the manipulation of Time in the occult

Spells to change the past: the manipulation of Time in the occult.

Can the past be changed?

It is difficult to give a conclusive answer, what we can say is that occultism and esotericism have always tried, long before science fiction and the concept of time travel existed.

Spells to change the past do not exactly have to do with time machines, or for that matter with traveling to the past, but rather with manipulating time, rewinding it, reversing its flow, and thereby modifying something in the present.

In this sense, the mechanics of these spells to change the past, that is, spells to manipulate time, are based on the belief that it is possible to create time loops, an ability that is certainly very useful to reverse any damage and restore the integrity of a person, an object, or a relationship.

After all, a time loop is simply a finite sequence that has a position that starts and ends at the same place. In fact, we experience these loops daily. It is enough to look at any clock to observe the same sequence, or periods of time, which in turn create harmonious and periodic waves. In other words, each hour, each instant, is a coordinate in time (see: Don’t get complicated: Time may not exist).

Events, objects, and people, for example, in all their interactions between 00:00 am today, 00:00 am yesterday, and 00:00 am one hundred years ago are different, so while the temporal coordinate is not unique, what happens at those moments is. Occultism, above all, believes that it is possible to use these coordinates to change its configuration. It is not like traveling to the past, but simply adjusting it at certain points so that they generate alternative states and courses.

In other words, while Time has a periodic nature (see: Is Time what prevents everything from happening at once?), which is made up of a series of loops, what happens within them can be modified.

While this may seem extremely strange, the truth is that spells to change the past are based on the same principles of witchcraft and divination. The latter consists of predicting the future, while witchcraft attempts to modify it; In essence, they are very similar systems from an abstract perspective.

For example, any form of cartomancy, especially those using Tarot decks, essentially attempts to manipulate time, since anything that has a finite enumeration has a point where it must necessarily repeat itself. This numbering has its harmonies, its waves and cycles, and since the tarot arcana have a finite number of cards numbered, this implies the presence of periods, or harmonic loops, which in this case try to manipulate the future, if only to predict it.

Albert Einstein concluded that the past, present, and future exist simultaneously, and that notion, probably intuitively, is present in Aleister Crowley’s theories on time manipulation.

Crowley assumed that the difference between the perception of time, that is, the way in which we perceive time in certain circumstances, and the objective duration of a given period of time, proves that our consciousness can move with some degree of freedom in time. , both towards the past and towards the future, so the possibility of manipulating time through magic would not be something completely crazy.

Of course, in this context, a spell to change the past would be completely useless, since it would have to be formulated within an objective period of time, and sifted through our own perception of time. To overcome this obstacle, Crowley concluded that the only way to change the past through magic is by abstracting consciousness from the temporal coordinates in which it exists, in a perpetual present. In other words, it was necessary to isolate oneself from the perception of time, not feel it, for the work to work.

And the only moment in which we do not have a perception of time, and perhaps where time does not exist, is in dreams.

These notions are not exclusive to Crowley, and for that matter neither to occultism. They underlie all actions that have the objective of isolating consciousness from the perception of time. We can think of prayer, certain yoga exercises, and meditation, as practices that induce a decrease in the perception of time, allowing the practitioner to access the Fourth Dimension, Time, as if it were a physical dimension (see : The Fourth Dimension in literature).

Crowley performed some abominable practices to magically change the past. He relied, above all, on the tantric arts and the notion of Kalas, which can be seen as units of time that have a direct correlation with our primary impulses. These impulses are primitive, like the mating season in animals, and their synchronization, according to Crowley, allowed him to access the dimension of time from a new perspective.

In that sphere of existence, Crowley claimed to have encountered extremely strange entities. Some, in fact, helped him manipulate time, according to him, but always within a logic of equal exchange. That is, the entities taught him to shorten time in certain places, to prolong it in others, but in exchange for certain favors that the occultist preferred to omit, although he clarifies that the systematic destruction of clocks worked quite well as an offering.

That is to say, occultism believes that there is no significant difference between the perception and manipulation of time. However, one cannot speed up or rewind time, but rather our perception of time, but what if that perception was a moderate form of manipulation?

We will not give a detailed description here of the spells to change the past, and we must quickly add that this type of rites do not allow, for example, changing the result of a football match, or killing someone, at least not directly. The thing is much more subtle than that.

This ritual to change the past is based on the idea of ​​coordinates in time; two, to be more precise. The first is where the practitioner is, the second, at the point in the past that he wishes to modify. From there it is only necessary to build a magical bridge that makes communication possible between the first and the second point or coordinate, that is, between the present and the past.

Easy… in theory.

Crowley refers to a magical bridge, a rather childish term, but in reality it is about the isolation of consciousness from the coordinates of the present to focus on others, from our perspective, in the past. The design of this type of ritual cannot be generic, at least if you want to create a line of connection and communication with the past. As consciousness moves through this tunnel, it becomes increasingly stable with practice, it becomes stronger, making communication much more fluid.

As is easy to deduce, the best communication with the past that one can establish is with oneself (see: How your future can change your past)

Although Crowley proposes a rather esoteric approach, these types of practices are not too different from astral travel and out-of-body projections. In fact, in dreams we may be able to move through time naturally, without gadgets, and above all without the petty interests of the ego.

Spell Library. I Wiccan Diaries.

More gothic literature:

Article: Spells to change the past: the manipulation of Time in the occult was made by . For reproduction, write to us at