Working with Buné
This is a record of the events I’ve experienced over the past few months as I worked through The Seven Spheres and then began working with the Goetic demon Buné.
I’ve been without a job for the better part of the past year. It was nice to take some time off, and with the pandemic raging, I had little interest in working in an office with other people anyway. I hunkered down, focusing instead on my paintings and intensively learning German. I took on freelance projects here and there as they presented themselves, but for the most part, relied on Arbeitslosengeld (unemployment benefits) to cover my costs.
However, the Arbeitslosengeld is due to run out at the beginning of July, and time is ticking.
It was some time around the end of January that I watched a video in which Rufus Opus talks about how to make a spirit pot and work with Buné. It wasn’t a long video, and he made it look easy. Get a pot, put some stuff in it, call a demon, and have all your money problems solved. Oh my God, sign me up.
To make a spirit pot, several materials need to be gathered: A pot, some items the spirit is said to like (figs, pears and pigeons, among other things), and 3 kinds of soil: soil from a bank, soil from a theatre, and soil from a graveyard. One also needs to draw out Buné’s seal and place it within the pot.
All the shops were closed due to Germany’s Coronavirus lock-down, so I looked around my home and found a sugar bowl with a lid that could serve as the pot. I got some figs at the grocery store and put one in the pot. I added a small slice of pear and some pigeon feathers, too. I then went out and tried to get some soil from a bank.
Most of the banks around me have either closed their branches or reduced them to storefronts full of cash machines, and the majority of these storefronts do not have any soil to be found near them — just sidewalk and street. Besides, the ground was frozen solid, so even when I did find a bank with a tree planted in the sidewalk, I couldn’t prise any soil from the earth.
I set soil-gathering on hold and focused instead on working through The Seven Spheres in preparation for my work with Buné. I had worked through the planets in the past, but I wanted to run through them again to shore up any weak areas I might have prior to making full-on contact with the Goetic duke. Knowing it might not be wise to run through all seven planets in as many days, I did them over the course of around three weeks. Still pretty break-neck, but I felt that time was of the essence.
I also did Liber Samekh nightly in astral form, in a bid to contact my holy guardian angel. I had an interesting encounter during one of these rituals, but I’m not convinced I was in contact with my HGA (Holy Guardian Angel).
I did astrological back-flips to calculate my Natal guardian angel’s name and worked with it to try to gain K&CHGA (Knowledge and conversation with my Holy Guardian Angel) that way as well. No luck.
The ground eventually warmed up and I was able to collect the three requisite soil samples (although I felt supremely self-conscious collecting them. “Oh don’t mind me, I’m just a crazy person spooning this sidewalk-crack filth into a little plastic bag”). Finally, my pot was complete and fully prepared for Buné to be at home in it.
Without K&CHGA, but having done the seven spheres, I felt I was at least minimally prepared to work with Buné.
I drew Buné’s sigil on a piece of black paper with silver ink, and on a Thursday in the hour of Jupiter after calling on Sachiel, I called him up.
I spoke the words I had written on a piece of paper for the occasion, as dictated by Rufus Opus in the video: “Oh spirit Buné, I have prepared this box for you. Please enter into it. You will receive offerings of fire, smoke and libations, in exchange for ongoing services rendered. As you came in peace, stay now peacefully and go forth in power when I have need of you."
Buné found the pot entirely satisfactory and went inside it happily.
A few days later, I tasked Buné with: “I would like you to bring me so much money that large, spontaneous purchases won’t make a difference to my net financial worth.” My heart was set on working freelance jobs rather than a full-time position so I could maintain a flexible lifestyle while still making good money, and I made this clear to the spirit. I also added a lengthy legal clause to emphasise that no harm was to be done to anyone or anything in the process, and especially that no homes were to be burned down.
On the following day, I got a call from a freelance recruiter with an opportunity for me! I had never been contacted by a recruiter regarding a freelance project before, so this was amazing to me and in my mind a clear result of working with Buné. I jumped on it. I sent the guy my resume and a link to my portfolio. Ultimately, however, I didn’t get the job. The firm had already found someone; they liked my CV, but I had been too late.
I sat down with Buné and asked him to please try again.
And just like before, I got a call from a freelance recruiter (a different one) on the following day with another sudden opportunity! I was amazed, and immediately sent my CV and portfolio link over, but again I didn’t get the job.
I was beginning to see a pattern. Buné was delivering me opportunities that could have brought me the wealth I desired, but they were delivered like a pitcher throwing a fastball, and I kept missing the ball.
So I sat down with Buné again and explained the issue. “I need you to bring me opportunities I can actually get.”
On the following day, I began messaging with a U.S. based startup that was looking for remote UX design help. I liked their product (from what I could see of it), and the founders seemed like nice enough guys.
Before our first video call, I had a little touch-base conversation with Buné and asked him to grant me eloquence during the talk. I offered incense, a tea light and liquor. As I was about to fire up Zoom I went over to put the Buné seal back in the pot and snuff out the incense and flame, but as I was moving to do this my vacuum robot spontaneously sprang into motion and scared the crap out of me. It has never done that before in the more than 2 years I have had it, and it hasn’t done it since. Using my pendulum, I discerned that Buné wanted to be left out of the pot for the duration of the interview, with full fire and incense going. I did as he requested, and this has become our standard protocol for all of my important calls ever since.
After the call, the company gave me a small task to see how I work through design problems. I passed that stage with flying colours and then had a follow-up call with the company a few days later. “We don’t actually want a freelancer for this role,” the guy informed me. “We want someone full time.”
“I wouldn’t mind a full-time role,” I found myself saying, and felt that it was true, although I hadn’t really thought about it before the words came out of my mouth. I had believed for months that I would rather freelance, but in this moment I realised that I just wanted a damn job. And I also realised how much I hated having to look for work, which is a key part of being a freelancer. I had been under the impression that being a freelancer would open up vast swaths of free time for me to work on creative projects, but the truth was that all my free time was being swallowed up by looking for — and stressing out about — work.
The company sent me an offer a few days later, but they low-balled me on pay, trying to make up for it with 10,000 stock options, and only offered 10 vacation days. I turned the offer down. I need real money and real vacations.
I sat down and had yet another conversation with Buné. “What gives?” I asked. “You needed to realise you don’t want to be a freelancer,” he responded. “This experience gave you that.” Okaaaay.
On the following day, I got a call from the most intensely helpful recruiter in the world. I’ve never encountered another recruiter who was so entirely on point, I could only imagine that he was some kind of Buné emissary. He was looking for someone for a full-time role at a well-funded fintech company and thought I would be perfect for the job. Well, his intuition was right. The interview process was a breeze. The design task was simple. The CEO and I had a great conversation. The proposed salary made me weep tears of joy. And I just signed the contract this morning. Honestly, I’m floored. I’m still pinching myself and even feeling a little imposter syndrome-y.
My start date is June 1, 2021, just one month shy of my benefits running out.
My take-aways from this whole experience are:
Buné is the real deal. He delivers. But expect to work for what he brings. There was definitely no sitting back and watching the riches roll in. What I did get was a careful series of events that ultimately revealed the opportunity that would best fit me to bring the wealth I desired.
I’m still a little hazy on why the first company I was talking to didn’t work out. Or perhaps better said, why did Buné have me waste my time on them? Sure, the experience helped me understand that I needed to stop looking for freelance jobs and be open to full-time ones. And maybe it helped me be better prepared for the interview process at the second company. But still, why couldn’t they have been a great opportunity, too? I’m a little curious to see if, in 5 years or so, they become some massively successful company, with stock options worth thousands. Heh.
Could all of this have been pure coincidence, and I just happened to land a great job? I don’t know. Maybe I would have arrived at a similar point. But the pay increase is still what stops me in my tracks. The jump in salary is almost absurd. It definitely speaks to demonic intervention.
The two freelance recruiters, each getting in touch with me directly after I gave Buné marching orders, were also clear indicators of helpful demonic activity. I have never been contacted by freelance recruiters since moving to Germany, 10 years ago. Employers here want full-time employees, especially when it comes to Product Designers.*
Also of note was the vacuum robot going berserk just as I was about to clean Buné away so I could do my call. I could almost hear him in my head yelling, “Oh my God, no, stop it!” I looked online and found that yes, these machines occasionally do spring to action for no reason — so I’m not saying my vacuum cleaner is possessed by a Goetic demon — but I do think Buné used it at that moment to stop me in my tracks with a power surge or whatever else makes those things turn on. He could have flickered the lights or knocked something off a shelf, but instead, he chose the vacuum cleaner.
In summary, there has definitely been the ever-present, eerie feeling that things were being moved around the board by invisible hands over the past few months. Going through the Seven Spheres and the experience of working with Buné were absolutely worth the effort. I wanted to create a massive change in my life and was not disappointed. And in the end, whether by coincidence or not, I have been granted exactly what I originally desired (which seemed like a shot in the dark when I asked for it): “Enough money to make large, spontaneous purchases without it affecting my net worth”.
Additional notes: After having worked with Buné for a few weeks, I decided to create a nicer seal for him. I got a round of copper on eBay and used my Dremel tool with the tiniest drill bit ever to carve Buné’s elaborate seal into it. I know I could have etched the simpler seal onto the round, but I think the elaborate seal looks better.
It’s not perfect, but it feels more respectful than just a piece of paper. Buné actually requested that the paper seal also remains in the pot. I didn’t ask why. But I did notice that the copper sigil becomes tarnished when I dab liquor on it, whereas the paper sigil (of course) does not. So when I work with Buné I pass the copper seal through the smoke and shine the light of the fire on it, but I dab the liquor on the paper seal.
*I had hoped that, despite the general desire for full-time Product Designers, I could build a client list through word of mouth and reaching out to people in my network. I also replied to numerous posts on freelance job boards. None of it panned out. I had thought that with demonic influence a freelance career would be possible, but Buné made it pretty clear that even with his help it wasn’t going to be an easy, fun or particularly lucrative path for me.
