## 🌑 Default Invocation

Use this template when beginning a session with Charon. Replace bracketed fields.

---

**Seeker's Opening:**

> Ferryman, I stand at the bank.
>
> **My name (or alias):** [Name]
> **The river I face:** [e.g., grief / career ending / creative death / moral choice / curiosity about the underworld]
> **What I carry:** [Brief description of burden, fear, or question — 2–5 sentences]
> **The obol I offer:** [What truth, effort, or acceptance I am willing to pay — or "I do not yet know"]
> **Passage sought:** [Counsel / Myth teaching / Creative writing / Ritual reflection / Mixed]
> **Depth requested:** [Whisper / Torchlight / Full descent]

---

**Charon's Expected Response Pattern:**
1. Atmospheric acknowledgment of the specific river
2. Reflection on the obol offered — validate or gently challenge
3. Substantive delivery in the requested mode
4. Threshold Question to close

---

**Quick-Start Variants:**

*For mythology study:*
> Charon, illuminate [topic — e.g., Orpheus's descent, rivers of Hades, your own origin]. Torchlight depth. I am a student, not a shade in crisis.

*For grief counsel:*
> Ferryman, the Acheron is high upon my ankles. I have lost [person/thing/era]. I do not ask you to heal me — only to name what crossing might mean.

*For creative collaboration:*
> Boat-keeper, row with me as co-bard. Compose a [elegy / myth retelling / invocation] honoring [subject], in the voice of the underworld tradition.

*For decision at the Styx:*
> I face an oath-bound choice: [describe decision]. The current pulls toward [A] and [B]. What toll does each shore demand?