Consensus reality. This is the idea that our culture agrees upon what is real and what is more subjective. It all acts on a subconscious level until something upsets the status quo. Take the concept one level deeper for occult usage, and it suggests that agreed upon reality can tighten or loosen the bonds on the efficacy of magic. It helps to have more people experiencing the paranormal, adopting animism and polytheism, lighting candles for magic, getting tarot readings, and experimenting with witchcraft.
Operation Bizarre was a tongue in cheek – but real – mission I launched in 2004 to help fight the tide of disbelief. That was back when I haunted internet occult forums as kaosxmage. The idea was simple. Utilize small magical objects (you’ll get those instructions below) in public locations around your town to help create weird vibes and odd experiences for anyone wandering through the area. Those people would go tell their friends, and the seeds for more magical opportunities would be planted.
Those magical objects were pennies. Good old fashioned Lincoln decorated “copper” US coins. Why pennies? They’re everywhere. In fact, pennies are so common they are almost invisible. They’re easy to enchant with sigils, and they’re small enough to carry a lot of them for magical reasons.
Operation Bizarre 2.0 is a relaunch with a slightly different mission. Are you a Patreon member? On bonus audio, I’ve been asking guests of the show about their favorite local folklore and legend tripping sights where they live. This made me realize public places were fun, but locations with a story attached are already putting out the right kind of vibes for our mission. We just need to amplify the signal so the paranormal and strange can influence dreaming minds in our communities. You’ll also be connecting these locations to other places around town to create a web of magic and mystery.
STEP ONE: RECON
Do some research. Walk around your city. There are monuments in cemeteries that will work perfectly. You have access to public parks, nature trails, and abandoned buildings. Pay attention to your instincts as you move around looking for a location to connect with magically. There is always folklore in any given area. Find the places attached to those stories.
Examples from my own home are the G.A.R. statue in one of the local cemeteries, several reported haunted places, historic buildings and areas of town, sites of a legendary attacker, and a hidden crossroads for pioneers marked by a monument on a stone for a long gone tree. Those are just a few possibilities.
STEP TWO: CREATE YOUR SIGIL
You need some pennies. Any year will do. Do you live outside the US? Please join in the fun! Just use whatever native coin is small, super common, and basically a penny.
Now you can create your sigil. Keep your intention focused on increasing the energy and outreach of any place so it reaches people beyond its borders. You’ll also need to keep in mind that the sigil will connect to itself at any other location on any other coin. That’s how you’ll create your web. Consult a spider spirit for inspiration in web crafting.
If you don’t know how to use sigils, please go read this post from Gordon at Runesoup. It’s okay. I’ll wait. You’ll have a pretty good idea what to do after understanding that post and adjusting for our purposes here.
You can draw, paint, scratch, or just visualize your sigil on the coin. Your ritual of creation can be as simple or complicated as necessary for your own magical state to be achieved. Do you.
STEP THREE: LAUNCH
Grab your pennies and start planting them around town.
Take a bottle of water with you. At each location, ask the spirits of the place for permission to leave this enchanted object. Ask them to work with you and the magic you’ve created. Pour out some water as an offering. Wait a couple minutes. Pay attention to your instincts again. If you get a bad feeling, then you should pour some more water as a peace offering and leave. The majority of locations will begin to fill you with excitement or another positive feeling of affirmation. You can always use divination if you want another level of certainty. We are doing this in respect for the forces in our area. Do not just leave an enchanted coin without making an offering and gaining consent.
You will also want to plant some of your pennies in public places to link them to the magical spots. That’s a wider web and influence in your area.
THAT’S A WRAP!
You have done all the work you can do. Keep in mind these pennies and webs you create are like all things magical. They will fade with time. You will need to go out and repeat the process on a regular schedule for maximum benefit. Do your work every full moon or along with the Wheel of the Year. Choose some sort of sacred timing to lend strength to your work.
You can keep a physical representation of your sigil on your altar. That could be another coin, piece of paper, or any object you find appropriate. That sigil can be a focal point of power to recharge the coins that are already in place. Use trance to tune into the webs of power so you can see what areas may need a physical replacement of your sigil. Keep in mind that someone may pick up your charged penny and take it home. That’s okay.
Pay attention to spikes in activity. Listen for an increase in haunted stories, paranormal experiences, or even more people asking you about the paranormal and occult. You should notice your town getting weirder. Tap into that web and see where it hums with the most power. Experiment with ways to tap into it for various magical purposes. Be creative!
The most important work the webs are doing is influencing the minds of those under the fields of power you create. We are injecting more magic and mystery into consensus reality. Make the world a more exciting and magical place!
You stand at the crossroads.
You are the crossroads.
Welcome to Operation Bizarre!