When it comes to the lesser arts, one of the most persistent types of energetic binding are patterning spells. This, in simpler terms, implies the establishment of an energetic pathway through constant repetition. Not only is this important in incantation but it also serves as the essence upon which behavioral psychology is basically founded on. Obviously, this is knowledge that is rather lost to the ages, but its incredible effects persist (and very much ironically so) due to the nature of its own teaching. Once a pattern is created, it becomes a sort of an energetic knot. Don't think wizards waving wands and repeating dogmas into the sky but rather consider, for the sake of example, the simplest habit in the earliest stage of its formation. Let's say you're late to work - your manager is upset, you have an uncomfortable conversation. Let's say this happens every time you're late to the office. This creates expectation, from both parties, the belief that this is what is going to happen because it is what always happens. In the subtler, mundane realms - this energetic pathway is therefore created. To make it real, it must be physically (through symbolic ritual), enacted or reenacted to finalize and materialize its effects. And it is exactly this expectation that ties the energetic knot and through which the personalities within it become woven into specific behaviors. Life defaults to the familiar if not interrupted by willpower. And so does behavior. And so does energy. Now, this vacant energetic charge that is created through repetition and habit-forming seals the knot as a sort of soft-spoken prophecy that is bound to recreate itself unless it is stirred by the force of conscious awareness. And will, as mentioned. Repetition, therefore, is the forming of a pattern. And repatterning is the reforming and readjusting of said pattern. But to achieve this sort of release, each step must be retraced to the formative origins of the pattern as well. The forming of a pattern, accompanied by its symbolic signs - is an energetic loop that is rarely escaped by those who are blind to it. Anything, on any scale, can become bound and knotted into a patterning spell - going on vacation, gifting presents, smiling at your neighbor, etc. The trivial and the mundane become the primary objects and deliverers of mysticism and magic. Three repetitions is enough to begin the patterning of an energetic pathway. This will quickly dissolve, of course, if not closed. But the number required to close it will remain a mystery, as it is best sought and found by the ardent spiritual seeker through experimentation and personal learning.