I recently received an interesting link from someone in a comment to my post concerning the Guf.
For those readers who are interested in more traditional interpretations of the QBL than you’ll ever see here, you might find his blog interesting. Especially those members of Alchemical College that are talking about Adam Kadmon at the moment.
Goodish news, I've finally gotten fed up with the Angelic Grimoire writing project. Therefore, a nice little manual that covers the basics of conjuring an angel of the planets is now available. For a limited time, I'm sending it out in PDF format for free. After I've gotten some feedback on it from the sample audience, and when I'm ready to face it again, I'll publish an updated version and start charging for it.
So, if you want a free draft, let me know, and I'll email it to you. If you're interested, drop me a line at frredactumopus@gmail.com.
Goodish news, I've finally gotten fed up with the Angelic Grimoire writing project. Therefore, a nice little manual that covers the basics of conjuring an angel of the planets is now available. For a limited time, I'm sending it out in PDF format for free. After I've gotten some feedback on it from the sample audience, and when I'm ready to face it again, I'll publish an updated version and start charging for it.
So, if you want a free draft, let me know, and I'll email it to you. If you're interested, drop me a line at frredactumopus@gmail.com.
I’ve begun the somewhat painstaking process of writing out the events that lead to the creation of my spirit pot, the details of making it, and the results. Maybe it’ll turn into an actual published manuscript. Time will tell.
Ok, so we’ve established what the Great Work “is” within the neo-platonic context in the previous installment of the NP Basics series. This post is about how it all unfolds in the life of your average Magician practicing the Great Work using the NP system.
Ok, so there’s a boat-load of talk about the HGA, what it is, and what it does on various message boards and web pages across the Internet. There’s lots of talk in modern published magical books, too. Most of what you read is speculation, because people with opinions and writing talents haven’t attained K&CHGA (Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian angel), but they don’t bother to let that stop them from saying their piece.
Now, the phrase itself comes from the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. It was popularized by Crowley, predominantly, in the modern Western Mystery Tradition. The author of the Sacred Magic wrote the book to his second son because he could not pass on the mysteries of the QBL to him. The QBL had to go to the first-born son. He wanted his second son to have a mystical heritage as well, so he gave him the mysteries of the Sacred Magic. He states that the Sacred Magic can be derived from the QBL, but the QBL cannot be derived from the Sacred Magic.
In the NP magical system, we’ve seen that the basic premise is that of emanation. God unfolded itself throughout existence in hierarchical stages, each getting closer to the realm of Matter. The QBL is another manifestation of this type of philosophy. I’ve argued that the NP emanationist philosophy is the source of the QBL, that the Jews adopted the concepts and dressed them up in their own cultural symbols. There’s evidence that can be found to support this view, or the view that the NP system was derived from the QBL, or that they developed from at the same time concurrently, in the same environment, drawing from the same sources. While various interpretations of the evidence can support different views, I personally believe the NP system is the source of the QBL, or at least the primary influence. There’s just an awful lot of “coincidental” domination of the Jews by Greek influence at every major growth-point of the QBL.
So that’s how the HGA, a symbol from a QBList, ties into the NP system I’m presenting. I’ve staid away from the QBL in this series of posts so far, but practically speaking, the HGA is the best-known representative from God in the modern Western Mystery Traditions. There’s an Agathadaimon in more traditional Hellenistic writings that may correspond to the HGA, but I worked with my HGA before even knowing about the Agathadaimon, so anything I would say about that entity would be tainted speculation. I’ve got to stick with what I know.
The first thing you should do as a practicing magician using the NP system is make contact with your HGA. This entity is assigned to you at birth, and is responsible for all the spiritual initiations, authority, and Gnosis you achieve in life. It is your personal emissary from the Good, the One, the Source, God itself. Through K&CHGA, you get the attunement of your sphere to the point where you can work with the spirits from your position of authority as a representative of God in the material realm. It’s “like” a new age spirit guide, in some ways, but the new age spirit guide model doesn’t present the meat of the entity’s interaction with you the way the HGA model does. Spirit guides in the New Age take on forms of animals and such, indicating they are “lower” in the neo-platonic hierarchical system than the angels. However, that being said, my HGA revealed it had taken on the form of a spirit guide earlier in my magickal practices to get me to the point where I could attain K&CHGA.
To attain K&CHGA, I used the ritual Liber Samekh as presented in Lon Milo DuQuette’s The Magick of Aleister Crowley. Some people say it isn’t the same thing at all, but they’re honestly mistaken. The evidence to prove this is found in the Abramelin rite itself. You have to perform Samekh successfully to find the proof, but it’s there.
After making contact with the HGA, your sphere is changed. You go through a Solar “initiation,” to put it in Golden Dawn terminology. The result is the beginning of the experiential knowledge of your Race and Value as expressed by Plotinus. From this knowledge-based-on-experience, the authority to “command” the spirits is attained.
After attaining K&CHGA, the magician is ready (and strongly urged by the HGA) to begin working with the spirits. Spirit conjuration is the primary methodology of any magician’s performance of the Great Work. I believe that every magickal act, whether ritual or contemplative, involves interacting with spirits in some way or another.
I started with the ten Archangels of the Sephiroth, because I was coming out of a primarily-QBListic background. After Working with the spirits for a little while, I realized that the Archangels of the seven classical planets were sufficient for my initial stages of the Work. Through them, I learned an incredible amount of knowledge. Their influence on my sphere changed the way I am able to see the world. Nothing spectacular (no auras, second-sight, remote viewing, psychic flashes per se), but totally and completely life-changing. The procedures for working with the spirits of the planets can be found in the Modern Angelic Grimore I wrote. It’s remarkably easy.
In addition to the spirits of the planets, the spirits of the elements are also worked with in performing the Great Work. These spirits rule over the physical manifestations of the rays of the higher spheres. A fire elemental might be put in charge of manifesting a Jupiter ray into someone’s life, resulting in an unexpected and tumultuous promotion at work. For mundane operations, I’m learning these are the best spirits to work with in the overall hierarchy of spirits.
The spirits of various grimoires are also worked with in the Great Work. The spirits of the Goetia in the Lemegetton, for example, can be considered to be “earth-bound” spirits, that is, residing closer to the material realms than to the heavenly realms. These entities have been documented and worked with by many magicians, and the methods of contacting them are recorded and pretty clear. Their attributes are documented, and once contacted, their abilities and limitations can be discovered simply by asking the spirit itself.
You’ve no doubt noticed that the Work consists of both the spirits of the higher realms and the spirits of the lower realms. If the Great Work were all about transcending the material realm, there would be no reason to work with the lower spirits. The fact is, however, that we aren’t born in the flesh to transcend it. We are here to learn our role, and then to exercise our authority to meet our obligations.
Humanity is the nexus point between the material realm and the spiritual realm. We are the stewards of the manifest realms. In the NP system, we stand at the gateway between the realms, seeking union with the divine in order to fulfill our assigned tasks while we appear to be separated from God, and directing the forces that manifest as reality according to the Will of God. We learn this Will by going up through the hierarchies and learning our place in existence, and then we implement the plans through the direction of the spirits. The higher up you go, the more responsibility you get, and the more Work in the physical realm you’ll have to accomplish.
The Goal of the great Work is not to leave the flesh and material realms behind. We do that when we die anyway. The Goal is to find your place in the scheme of things, your reason for being, and in finding that, you gain the ability and authority to accomplish it. The accomplishment of the purpose is the practical manifestation of the Great Work.
In the last post, I mentioned that Plotinus says that you are to honor the things of the higher realms and dishonor the things of the lower realm to remember your race and value. While I was speaking literally, I didn't get into detail about what that meant.
It doesn't mean that you treat the things of the material realm badly. I don't think Plotinus intended it that way at all. Later mystical interpretations would take that stance, as seen in some Gnostic asceticism, and in the foundation of what's become modern Christianity, but that's not what I think he was saying.
Honoring something means to bestow honors on it, to treat it with respect. You honor a spirit by lighting candles to it. You honor your mother and father by treating them well and taking care of them when they are old. You honor your employer by doing the right work at the right time.
In Plotinus' Enneads, he wasn't saying to dishonor material things in an active way, but to literally not-honor the things of the material realm above the things of the higher realms closer to "the good."
Honoring the higher realms would naturally result in a better understanding of the material things. As you learn their proper place in existence, you treat them with the respect that they deserve. Not with disrespect, but with appropriate respect.
Jason wrote a great blog post explaining Strategic Sorcery in Action. I think it’s a must read for all magicians who wonder what the Great Work looks like when you’re doing it.
Another friend of mine, Fr. Servitor Lucem, wrote a series of articles at Rending the Veil (the archives STILL aren’t up, if you know web administration and have some free time, email Sheta there) about his own attempts at strategic magic. While he got exactly what he asked for, he learned a lot in the process.
When I perform manifestation magic, I tend to contact a single spirit, state my request, and then let the spirit handle any additional details. While this is effective, it is only effective to a degree. The things I have happen that are truly awesome usually involve working with multiple spirits, and have a bit of planning involved.
I am paying attention to this fact.
A book I read, The Four Hour Work Week, taught me that the key to wealth isn’t a single job (no kidding), or a single investment. It comes from setting up multiple streams of income. They don’t have to be huge sources of income, they can each provide a hundred or so dollars a month. After setting up enough of them, you’re bringing in a few thousand a month, and some are more effective than others, and some less. You cultivate the ones that pay well, and you keep on growing until you’re getting what you want.
This is a principle that applies to the Great Work as well. I’m in Project Management for my day job. That gets things done and keeps everyone working on the project focused on what they are supposed to be doing. It involves analyzing specific requirements, designing solutions, executing the design, implementing the solution, and then monitoring and controlling the solution while it is being used. The final stages are closeout and lessons learned, which feed into future projects.
As a Magician accomplishing the Great Work, I need to apply these techniques to my magic as well. I have some health issues to address, and there are friends and family that could use my help as well. I have a couple of “You: out of my Universe!” projects going on at the moment that I can use this information on. There are a few things I want to accomplish using the spirits of the Pseudomonarchia. There’s this guy I’m planning on turning into a first-class active full-time magician with something to contribute to the world.
The gold brick project … I’m still wanting to stick to a single spirit at a time on that one because it’s a hobby. I have ACZINOR of the Earth Tablet, and probably whichever Senior rules the Sun as well to Work with on that, and if they don’t work, there are the gnomes that I can send to fetch me one. I don’t want to mix systems on that particular front because it is a more controlled experiment. I don’t NEED a gold brick, I just want one.
Then there’s just my own personal life that this can be applied to as well. Work, home improvement projects, wardrobe, diet, exercise, parenting… What is it we’re talking about here? Taking responsibility for controlling your life as it manifests around you. Planning, reasoning, and then acting on the decisions made, following up on it, making it happen, taking care of it, and then learning from everyhting. Progression, action, building, making, doing, creating, Rising and Descending in Power, by this were all things created.
Strategic Sorcery: The Great Work in Action. Jason rocks.
(Jason Miller, also known as Inominandum, is the author of Reversal and Protection Magic. Again I say, if you don’t own the book, buy it, it’s about more than Protection and Reversal, it’s about doing magic.)
Well, last night I posted the downside of my spirit pot operation results. I didn’t win the lottery. But I was right in not claiming the operation a failure.
Today I got called into my boss’s office and he shut the door. I thought I would be reprimanded or laid off. He started talking about the tight budget, and I was sure a pink slip was coming. Then he appologized that my RAISE would be so small… My raise. Heh. A $1,200 a month raise. Ka-Ching!
And earlier I landed a contract to install color matching paint kiosks at night, which will be bringing in an extra $1,000 or more a month. Ka-Ching!
And my spouse started her new job, which would bring in almost another $1,000 a month, if she keeps it and actually goes to it regularly….
So, since performing the Spirit Pot operations, my monthly income has gone up about $3,000. I can live with that, eh?
Now, I specifically asked for a lump sum. I’ve found out about all this income in the space of two hours today. Maybe that’s how it worked out. It’s still not the exact dollar amount, so I’m thinking that there’s more to report in the coming days. I can proudly say that Bune/Bime is a great Spirit to work with, and that the Spirit Pot is a great method of working with Goetic Spirits. Life is good.
Also, for anyone interested, I can get more of those pots from the Goodwill. They cost me $8 each, and I’m reselling them for $12.50 plus shipping and handling. Shipping is around $5.00. If you’re interested, email me at frredactumopus@gmail.com.
It’s good to be a magician.
Greetings!
In the course of my rituals, I’ve created several talismen and lamens for use with the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. Below you will find the Lamen of Kammael, and an image of my “Table of Practice” I use with the rit. I just put the crystal in the center and read the evocations while wearing the lamen.
As you can see, I wrote the names of God around the outer edges in the “Celestial Script” from Agrippa, but the text of the “grimoire” lists them in the Latin script. I just liked how it looked.
Greetings!
In the course of my rituals, I’ve created several talismen and lamens for use with the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. Below you will find the Lamen of Kammael, and an image of my “Table of Practice” I use with the rit. I just put the crystal in the center and read the evocations while wearing the lamen.
As you can see, I wrote the names of God around the outer edges in the “Celestial Script” from Agrippa, but the text of the “grimoire” lists them in the Latin script. I just liked how it looked.