Rufus Opus

Tag: Teachings

Tag: Teachings

  • Bummers, Baby Bits, and Bigger Hammers

    Well, Sunday’s post turned out to be rather disappointing. I thought I’d seen through the illusion, and it turned out I had just gotten off on a tangent. While getting ready for church, that is, getting ready to wash my hair as I’d woken up too late for a full shower, I got the song Volare stuck in my head (doesn’t everyone in that situation?), and in High School Latin, I always sang the “Do” conjugations to that tune. In a loud lounge singer voice.

    I’d been thinking about becoming a Power, and the Powers of the Sphinx popped into my mind. In a flash of BRILLIANCE, I figured out that the Latin word “Do,” root of such English words as “donate” might have been the same root for the Dare part in the French manuscript written by Eliphas Levi. Before I could forget, I ran to the computer and posted my insight about giving up being the “secret” meaning behind the Dare, and how it combined with the Silent thing, because like Jason said, it’s part of the transition from the 8th to the 9th spheres, one of the final steps before becoming a Power.

    See, in each of the Seven planetary spheres, you have something to leave behind in order to be purified in that sphere’s powers. They’re listed in the Divine Pymander:

    25. And thus it is that man doth speed his way thereafter upwards through the Harmony.
    To the first zone he gives the Energy of Growth and Waning; unto the second [zone], Device of Evils [now] de-energized; unto the third, the Guile of the Desires de-energized; unto the fourth, his Domineering Arrogance, [also] de-energized; unto the fifth, unholy Daring and the Rashness of Audacity, de-energized; unto the sixth, Striving for Wealth by evil means, deprived of its aggrandizement; and to the seventh zone, Ensnaring Falsehood, de-energized.

    If the Four Powers of the Sphinx were talking about the way to attain the goals of the Emerald Tablet and the Divine Pymander and the Discourse on the 8th and 9th, why, I’d finally be able to put the writings of Eliphas Levi (that esoteric bridge between the Renaissance magicians and the Industrial Age Golden Dawn factory-line initiate system) into context and have one contiguous, if still not continuous means of interpreting the various historic, modern, and post-modern Hermetic traditions. I would finally be able to let go of my disdain for the GD and its spawn and start finding things of personal use in that system. I’d be able to TALK to Ceremonialists within those systems without pissing them off! How cool is that?

    So imagine my disappointment when I found out that the French word wasn’t related to the Latin “do.” It kind of took the whole foundation of my new and true interpretation all the way away.

    In a lot of ways, I’m tempted to return to my loathing of  Levi. I mean, 19th century esotericist, willy-nilly Tarot attributions, and the audacity to say that “Magic is not a vocation.” What the fuck could he possibly know?

    But that’s just pride. Fuck pride. Or to put in less Marcellus Wallace terms, “Domineering Arrogance can burn in the magnified rays of the Sun.”

    So, filtering out the baby bits from the bath water, I’m going to shelve the “Powers of the Sphinx” yet again. I enjoyed Jason’s exposition of the Inner, Outer, and Secret interpretations of the Powers. I agree with what he said about jumping to assumptions being a trap. Until I can wrap my brain around it in a better way, I’m not going to try to force anything into the system that’s evolving in my Work.

    At least until I can find a bigger hammer.*

    In the mean time, I’m going to return my focus to the Rainbow Body reference, the PGM, and looking deeper into some of the mysteries that I’ve been able to wrap my brain around so far.

    *Note: this link is for the dude’s signature line. Perhaps the finest wisdom I’ve seen, in an Inner, Outer, and Secret kind of way.

  • Four Powers of the Sphinx Redeux

    SAVOIR OSER VOULOIR SE TAIRE
    Dogme et rituel de la haute magie  Par Éliphas Lévi

    Ok, so EVERYTHING you know on the Powers of the Sphinx wasn’t entirely wrong. “To Dare” didn’t turn out to be related at all to the Latin word “Do, Dare, Didi, Datum.” (The first two conjugations are traditionally sung to the tune of The Love Boat, or Volare. By me. Traditionally.) OSER comes from Auser, which is like Autem or something. Can’t remember. But definitely not Do, Dare, Didi, Datum.

    So… There were no blinds or secrets, and I was wrong. But I do have this cool new interpretation. I might even say it is inspired.

  • Know, Will, Dare, Keep Silent

    Don’t have a lot of time, running late for church.

    Real quick, everything you know about the four powers of the sphinx is most likely bullshit. Here’s the facts without the BS blinds (and it’s dangerous, it’s why it was hidden, but I gots all kinds o’ love for you, and I know you’re not STUPID like everyone else thinks; besides, you’d have to use the following to get into trouble, and I ain’t got time to say how to use it today).

    Know: Gnosis. Kind of a no-brainer for most of us.
    Will: Again, no brainer, but it’s not your want or your desire, it’s the Will
    Dare: Do dare didi datum. It’s not “be daring.”
    Keep silent: Nothing to do with keeping magic hermetically sealed by not talking about it. BULLSHIT that. It’s all about the 8th sphere leading to the Ninth. It’s the Silence of the ascended spirits, where you get AFTER you’ve purified the Four Elements and the Seven Spheres that influence them. Keeping silent while giving up, donating, keeping silent with intent, Willed Silence (but not grasping or striving silence), Gnowing Silently.

    It’s all about shutting the fuck up.

    I’ll tell you all about it in too many words some time, because I’m not very good at shutting up.

  • Genius and Evil Daimon Name Generator

    Quaro Lux has made a web-calculator available for FREE on his web site. You can now generate Genius and Evil Daimon names quickly and easily using this marvelous tool. In fact, if you buy one from me, the only added value that you’d get from me is that I use traditional astrological settings in my software. It’s nothing that special. It’s software-generated. I’m not doing any real work here but plugging your numbers into a graphical user interface.

    I like the traditional astrology settings, but they aren’t necessary. Even in Agrippa’s time, there were enough variations on ways to cast a natal chart that you could get different values from different astrologers. Not that different, but different enough to end up with different Genius names using the code he provides that forms the heart of QL’s code and my own spreadsheet. It’s the intent of the magician that determines what spirit we get, as Agrippa says. There’s “wiggle room.”

    So really, the stuff to do this for free is out there. Run a chart from a free natal horoscope site, like http://www.astro.com/cgi/genchart.cgi. (HINT: Turn on “Part Of Fortune in the Additional Objects list, then click the Blue “Click here to generate chart” button; this will open a window with a link to “guest users” that you use to enter your birth time and location information into).

    Get the degree and sign values for the SUN, MOON, ASCENDANT, and PART OF FORTUNE from the bottom of the chart. There’s a table.

    The only thing missing at large is something to generate the Prevential syzygy value readily and easily. Maybe Quaero Lux will work on a web calculator for that some time.

    In the mean time, here’s the instructions again on that:

    1. Look up the nearest Full or New Moon immediately prior to your birth using the Naval Observatory‘s Moon Phase database. It will give you the date and time of the nearest New or Full Moon.
    2. Adjust the time for your time zone (they give you Universal or “Greenwich Mean Time” values)
    3. Run ANOTHER chart for the same location as your birth, but put in the date and time of the nearest New or Full Moon prior to your birth.
    4. Write down the degree and sign value of the MOON in this chart. This is the “Prevential Syzygy” value.

    QL was kind enough to ask me before providing a Hebrew feature to his web calculator, knowing I charge for this. I told him he’s totally welcome to do so! I don’t charge to make a profit, I charge to keep from getting inundated with requests to do the work for you. I encourage you to use the free version. It teaches you something, and the Work you do to generate your Genius’s name is Work that will be rewarded in your relationship with the Spirit. I offered it as a service because it’s important, in my opinion, to be able to get the Genius’s name, and the technique is hard to explain. Easy to do once you’ve got the tools, but hard to explain. Now the tools are out there for you to do it yourself, and that’s a good thing.

    And if you want to check your work and pay me to generate a name for you, chances are it’s going to be different than the name you get using your own methods, so it’s kind of a waste of money. The settings in my software will be different than the free stuff. It doesn’t mean one is more valid than the other; it only means that we are using different opinions on the stars. The work done to get the Genius name is what is rewarded, in my opinion.

    And Quaero, last time I tried to post a comment, your comments feature wasn’t working on your new server.

  • Coping with Difficult Times

    Times can tough. Mercury is retrograde, and will be until tomorrow. He’s still going to be “slow” until November 1st. I’ve found that Mercury Retrograde seems to affect my communications negatively, specifically at the very beginning and very ending of the retrograde motion.

    To mitigate the effects of Mercury Retrograde, as with any other astrological influence, you as a magician can appeal to the Intelligence or Archangel of the Sphere. You can also make a talisman for the planet when it is favorably situated in the heavens, and then tap into that power when the planet goes retro, or is combust, or whatever.

    Last week, when I needed to communicate clearly with multiple Intelligences of multiple spheres, I took advantage of the placement of Mercury in the heart of the Sun. The boost of the solar forces overcame any negatives caused by Mercury’s retrograde motion, and as a result, the communications were clear and crisp. I was fortunate in the timing there, it wasn’t planned out or anything.

    Another way to mitigate negative influences is through communion with the Intelligence of the Sphere. I use the Archangels of the Spheres as assigned by Trithemius in the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. Today is Wednesday, Mercury Day, and in the hour of Mercury I will be using a talisman I made last year when he was dignified. I’ll be conjuring Raphael here in a couple minutes, mostly to get the effects of Mercury’s transition from Retro to Direct smoothed out. I’ll also ask what might be going on in my own sphere of influence under the influence of Mercury that needs to be checked into. Sort of a Status Report from the VP in charge of Mercury.

    I’d use the Box I made, but I don’t have a metal Mercury Talisman. I need to make one. It should be made out of Pewter, since pewter is a mercurial blend of metals. It’s also soft and easy to work with, and has a low melting point. Brass, bronze, or other mixed metals take on the properties of Mercury as well, according to Aaron Leitch. I trust him, he’s a veritable gold mine of information.

    If they’re interesting, I’ll post the results later.

  • An Astral Ritual

    So last Tuesday I was dealing with some annoying crap in my life. Finances were sucking. My job, my beautiful job, was in trouble. The gov’t contract has to be reviewed and funds reallocated at the end of each fiscal year. (That’s Sept. 30 for you civilians that don’t know.) My company subcontracted renegotiations out to the locals, and they totally dropped the ball. I should have known this would happen, but you know, I was distracted by other things.

    I got a call saying I would lose half my hours and all my benefits. Oh boy, was I thrilled.

    Since I had failed to proactively magick up a good contract ahead of time, as I should have, I ended up having to do damage control magic instead. Reactionary rather than Proactionary magic is not the preferred modus operendi, but it would have to do.

    Tuesday, what a wonderful day for doing wealth magic, eh? I checked my Current Astrological Weather, and found that Mercury was Cazimi (within 17 minutes of the Sun). Cazimi is supposed to be like plugging the planet into a tesla coil or something. According to some, and I believe it. I figured the Cazimi effect would overpower the retrograde sufficiently to get some clear communications with the spirit world, plus I needed help in business.

    The Moon was also right on Jupiter’s ass, in the Second House. I mean, they were overlapping one another. I found this gem on an astrology site about the Second House: “Specific possessions covered by the Second House include earned income and our ability to influence it.”

    The Moon is waxing, and I had been reading in Agrippa that day about how the Moon has power over all growth and decrease (Book 2, chapter something or other). Since Jupiter is health and prosperity, and I needed both of these things for various other reasons, I thought, hey, that’s great!

    The other issue was Saturn hanging out in Virgo. As you may know, this can bring strife and discomfort into the hearth and home. My spouse was ill and dealing with a great deal of pain since Saturn wandered into Virgo. She’s a Capricorn, so I suspect that wherever Saturn wanders, she gets hit especially hard in that aspect of her life. This job issue was affecting our house and home and family, and knowing what I know about Saturn, I figured out that I would need to include this planet in the rite to get the boundaries moved.

    Since I was going to be trying to move the boundaries, I knew I’d need to go through the Sun to get to the proper part of Saturn’s sphere. The Solar Gate to Saturn provides the best landing pads, in my opinion. The Mars Gate sucks.

    So if you’ve been keeping track, by this time I had figured out I needed to work with the Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, and the Moon. And it was a Tuesday. I looked at what I was thinking about, and laughed. Five of the Seven Governors working together to get me out of a mess on a day that none of them ruled. So what the hell, says I, I’ll throw Mars in too. I should probably have included Venus anyway, but it didn’t seem to make sense at the time. Looking back, it could have helped with the Hearth/Home issues too.

    So I had analyzed my situation and identified what some of the contributing factors were. I looked to the stars and found what was looking good and what wasn’t. I identified the key players, and figured out how each could be used magically to turn around my situation.

    So, in the hour of the Moon (because I was primarily trying to expand Jupiter’s influence to overcome the slow-but-steady aspect of financial growth that controls him while he’s in Capricorn), I conjured the following Archangels of the Planets:

    • Gabriel – Moon, to increase Jupiter’s influence
    • Tzadqiel – To increase Jupiter’s influence, bringing health and prosperity to the situation
    • Michael – To work with Tzaphqiel in a nice smooth manner to loosen bonds and move the boundaries that were constricting hearth and home, and to turn the boundaries from being walls of confinement into walls of protection
    • Tzaphqiel – To actually move the boundaries that were keeping our family poor and ill outwards, providing more space for the Jupiter-Moon effect to fill up the new gap, and to strengthen our defenses of our house and home
    • Raphael – To specifically aid in inter-communications between the other planetary governors, and to provide a focus on business to the rite
    • Kammael – Because it was Tuesday, at first, but as I was conjuring him I realized that he could add a certain “violence” to the rite, making its effects happen more quickly, and to turn it into a military campaign of sorts, like the Delta Force of Archangelic Powers

    I didn’t have time to set up a full ritual with all the incenses and lamens and seals and what have you. Astrologically, the clock was ticking, and I had about six minutes left in the Hour of the Moon, if I remember right. So I decided to go the Astral Temple route.

    I sat here in me leather chair before the computer monitor, closed me eyes and breathed. Focusing on the breath stills my mind, like the Qabalistic Cross used to back in the day when I practiced the GD-style magic. As my mind cleared, I began intoning the name of my HGA. At the same time, I visualized my Astral Temple around me. I basically placed myself at the center of the Altar setup I have, with the Four Angelic Kings surrounded by the Seven Planetary Seals. I felt my HGA’s presence in the room with me, and the golden light descended into my astral temple, bringing the seven planetary seals representing their spheres around me into sharp relief.

    As each of the Planetary Seals began to pulse with light and life, indicating to me that the Intelligences represented by each were at least listening, I began conjuring the Archangels. Each seemed to materialize around the seals that represented them, sort of. When I got to Raphael, the other Archangels seemed to clear up, and it was like putting on your glasses in the morning, or when the weather changes and a haze you didn’t realize was there just goes away.

    When I had all the Archangels present, I outlined why I had conjured them. I explained what had happened at work, and how it was affecting me. I then went through each of the Archangels mentioned above, and went over what it was I wanted them to do. I felt this warmth and this tingling in my body, which I had mostly forgotten about by then, and had to focus again on the temple. Can’t get distracted when the magic starts working.

    The Archangels all understood what it was I was trying to accomplish. Each agreed that they would do their part to make what I wanted manifest. It was a lot like a corporate meeting. they “talked” amongst themselves, and I sort of sensed what they were doing as different parts of my “Sphere” would resonate to each angel’s influence as they wove together the fabric of reality to accomplish what it was I was looking for.

    I thanked them, and my HGA, and God in Jesus name, and returned my awareness to my body. I felt completely different. Before beginning the rite, I was stressed, and felt a lot like a cornered, caged animal. The stress was like a heavy, humid heat wave on my soul. After the rite, it was jsut gone. Instead, I felt alive, healthy, and optimistic. That’s a big thing for me, because when I get going down the depression road that stess usually puts me on, optimism is the furthest thing from my mind.

    That day I got a call from the Vice President of the company I work for, and he went over everything that was going on with the contract in detail with me. He explained how things had happened, and what they were doing about it. He assured me that he would reissue a new contract that would work things out in my favor.

    My thoughts: “Yeah fucking right. You’ll say anything to keep me on your payroll, I’m making you money. No way I’m staying with a place that cut my paycheck in half and cut my benefits. Get fuct.”

    The next day, I got the contract. I got a raise, I got my benefits, and I was able to work out a 32-hour work schedule with the local sub-contractor that’s managing the project. I’m still losing money, but not half, and not the benefits. With a five-person family, you’ve got to hae benefits. That day, I also got multiple other job leads that would double my income for a couple of months, which was as long as the company expected me to be on reduced hours. I will be able to hold both jobs simultaneously by a stroke of luck.

    Now, ideally, I would have been performing divinations regularly enough to know what was coming. I would have seen this heading my way and done some proactive magic to eradicate the stress. I blame no one but myself. I’ve got to get a grasp on my life, and do all the things I mentioned in the Invisible College post so that I’m no longer left in a position of climbing back up the side of a cliff after I’ve run off like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner.

  • Thar be Gold in them thar Grimoires, Arrrrrrr…

    Pirate treasure hunters. For the duration of this post, ye do be pirates, arrr, and pirates searchin‘ fer the treasure hidden in them thar grimoires…

    Abramelin, the Holy Guardian Angel, the Agatha Daimon, the Nativity Angel and Other Important Things that Must be Discussed

    Prior to finding any gold, and really, I can’t stress this enough, you need K&CHGA. You aren’t going to get anywhere as a pirate without a ship, or a sea, or a map, and a magician without K&CHGA is exactly that. You aren’t going to find the kind of success I have found without it.

    I used Liber Samekh and the complete and total intention of conjuring my HGA. Every night, or every other night, I would sit on my couch, light some Abramelin Incense (from Soma Luna), anoint my forehead and temples with Abramelin Oil (also from Soma Luna), and I would perform Liber Samekh in my Body of Light.

    In other words, I imagined a temple. I stood within it and performed an LBRP. I then performed Liber Samekh. When I got to the hard parts to remember, I cracked my eyes and read the printed rite, while trying my damnedest to keep the Temple and Body of Light in my mind’s eye at the same time. After that I’d meditate a while, stilling my thoughts and waiting for some kind of response. Then I’d perform another LBRP and call it a night.

    A couple of weeks into it, I met my HGA and we started hanging out formally. At that point, I got the spirit’s name, and it agreed to come whenever I called it by name.

    Now, you don’t have to perform Liber Samekh to get K&CHGA. You can also contact your Nativity Angel, who can foster a relationship with your HGA. You can contact Agrippa’s “Genius,” which I believe Aaron Leitch equates with the Nativity Angel for the same purposes. You can acquire a Supernatural Assistant using the Greek Magical Papyri. You can go to a pentecostal worship service and get slain in the Spirit of God. You can perform the Abramelin rites (I would use the Dehn translation of the Book of Abramelin).

    The point is to get in touch with the “Good Familiar” who has the authority to Speak For God into your life. I recommend reading through Bill Heidrick’s “An Abramelin Ramble” a couple of times, reading Crowley’s Notes on Liber Samekh, and reading the descriptions of the Good Daimons and Familiars in the Greek Magical Papyri. I believe the Dehn translation of the Book of Abramelin is a must-read for every modern magician who has been spoon-fed the concept of the HGA that we’ve inherited from the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley. Mather’s Introduction to The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage is also required reading, in my opinion.

    Take all these points of view together and look at the differences and similarities in the descriptions of the experiences. Get to know the authors of the work as best as you can. There are biographies of Agrippa, Eleazar of Worms, Crowley, and Mathers all over the place. Read through Heidrick’s other stuff to get a grasp of how he writes and what he means when he puts phrases together in different contexts. Try to see where the authors were coming from in their presentation of their experiences with these entities.

    When you do, you’ll find that you have an inventory of reports that you can use to help understand your own experiences with the entity that has so many names. You’ll be able to fill in the gaps that aren’t apparent in the writings of these authors as you develop your relationship with this spirit. You’ll be able to see what parts of Liber Samekh were just Crowley being Crowley, and what parts are effective techniques derived from thousands of years of practice.

    The cool part is this info is all online. I’ve got links above to everything I’ve mentioned. The only thing not free is the Book of Abramelin. You should also get Tyson’s modern translation of Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy and read it a chapter at a time. That’s optional, but it teaches you more about magic than the rest of your occult library combined.

    Goetia Gold

    Now, assuming you’ve got that bit of business out of the way… You do be ready, arrr, for ye next steps.

    Get ye the Map to the Treasure. I used the Lemegeton’s Goetia. I went through the spirits and found one that brought riches to a man. Bune. That’s good. He brought eloquence too, and I’m a writer by profession, and that makes sense to me. something about spirits on sepulchres. Ok, whatever. I needs me some riches and I needs me some good talkin‘, the rest is fer whatever, y’know?

    I made a “Spirit Pot” based on Aaron Leitch’s article at the Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition. I got a pot from Goodwill, brass, had a lid. I drew up the Seal Solomon used to bind the spirits in the vessel. I printed a Triangle of Art from a drawing on the Internet. I wrote out the stuff that was supposed to be on the side of the pot on thin strips of paper, licked them, and plastered them with spit to the side of the pot until I had a chance to get my dremel tool going and engrave it properly. I used 777 (that was a mistake, arrrr) to get some corresponding materials to line the pot with, herbs, associated “weapons”, and I threw in some dirt and rocks from a local branch of my bank.

    I threw it all together on a Thursday, lit some purple candles, and conjured Bune. I asked him to live in the pot. He was thrilled at the idea. I asked him to bring me riches in the amount of $7MUSD, and change. I drew up his seal with the prayer “Bring riches to the man [my name] in the amount of [an exact amount to the penny that I had come up with to cover the lifestyle I wanted based on the house, the cars, and the income I wanted left over after bills were paid].” I licked that and stuck it to a purple seven-day candle. When it burned out I wasn’t rich yet, so I stuck it to another one.

    A few months later, when that wasn’t working, I tried just lighting anointed candles near his pot, and left the seal I’d been licking for months in the pot. It had started to taste pretty gross. Oddly enough, my health improved after that. Must have been magic, I’m sure.

    So fast forward through several increasingly better jobs, a house, vehicles, and some Exorcisms and other sepulchre-related stuff to the present. A couple of weeks ago, I saw a statue I wanted to be able to buy. It would have cost $30,000. I was pissed that I couldn’t just buy it, and also that for TWO YEARS almost, I had been dicking around with Bune, and there were months when the money I had left over after paying bills and everything was like $35. Sure, I had everything on the list I had made and shown Bune all that time ago. But I never got the lump sum amount that I needed to get set up for life.

    Arrr.

    So I turned to my left from the computer I work at, and there is my Spirit Pot housing Bune. “THIS! This is what I want, Bune,” I said. “I want to so rich that I can see something that costs $30,000 and be able to BUY IT on the spur of the moment without it even DENTING my finances.

    That was on a Friday. By the next Monday, I get an email from a relative with an awesome opportunity. It’s going to take work and savvy to make this as profitable as possible, but not THAT much work. See the link for an explanation of the opportunity I got if you’re interested.

    That’s my story, my advice, and my experience. This is what I would do if I were you:

    • Get K&CHGA
    • Read the Goetia and the Pseudomonarchia
    • Make a Spirit Pot
      • Fill the pot with the herbs and other items that are related to their assigned planet or attributes (Use Skinner’s Complete Magician’s Tables instead of 777)
      • Engrave the sides with the right words
      • Leave off the seal that binds them to the pot so they can get to work
    • Conjure the spirit and ask it to get in the pot
    • Develop a relationship with the spirit
    • Tell it you want it to bring you SO MUCH WEALTH that large purchases won’t make a difference to your net financial worth
    • Watch for opportunities
    • Take risks to get rich only if the risks are not going to bankrupt you
    That’s it. The last line is just advice. Will this work for you? It should. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t, that’s for sure.
    And if it doesn’t, feel free to contact me. AFTER you’ve tried it out on your own and have some informed questions to ask. Like, “I read the Goetia, do I HAVE to have all that shit?” Not like, “Can I have some money to buy all the stuff I need to do the work?”
    And if you want me to pay me to do magic on your behalf because I’m SO successful… I’m totally going to refer you to other people. Like Jason Miller. He does work for people. I’m not up for it.
    I’m leaving my blog up and intact. That comment I made about taking it down, publishing it, and selling the info to make even more money was just greed speaking. Refer to my archives, and learn from my experiences. I’m going to keep writing here too, even when I’m rich, because I’ll be able to focus more on the Thaumaturgical stuff when I’m not worried about making the mortgage payments. That’s the goal, anyway.

  • Spirit Conjuring Overview

    Due to recent experiences at the Spirit Summoning yahoo group, I’ve decided to write a quick, down and dirty introduction to spirit conjuration. You won’t be a pro after reading this, but you will know enough to start asking the right questions, and maybe conjure a spirit or two. No promises on it not eating you though. Especially if you’re not a Christian.

    That was a joke.

    To conjure a spirit, you have to know a couple of things. Who are you to conjure a spirit anyway? Why should they answer you when you call them? What are you going to tell them to do? How can you be sure of success?

    If you know those things, you’re ready. If not, read Agrippa’s Third Book of Occult Philosophy. Skim the bits that don’t make sense yet. Go back and re-read those parts some other time. Get familiar with the basics of magical conjuration.

    To conjure a spirit, you need its seal and/or its name. You’ll need some method of communicating with it. You’ll need to know what its native pantheon is, and who it answers to in that pantheon. Here’s a hint: If you’re not in the pantheon somewhere, don’t work with that spirit. In traditional grimoires written from a Christian perspective, we get to conjure spirits because we are the “angels” of the Earth, and we have a place in the hierarchy. In Pagan stuff, if you weren’t an initiate into the Mysteries, your place in the pantheon was “target.”

    Once you’ve got the spirit’s name and/or seal, draw it out on paper and wear it on your chest. You can engrave it in the appropriate metal, or color it according to the spirits’ favorite color scheme, or whatever details you want to add to make it more effective, but at least start with the Name/Seal on paper on your chest.

    Now you’ll need to know its superior in the hierarchy. If you don’t have this, have a damned good reason to call the spirit anyway. Like, “Tezcatlipoca, I conjure you as God of Sorcerors to aid me in my sorcerous warfare against Magician X! You, oh God of Sorcerors, alone have the power to destroy him” and so forth. Convince them that they need to be here, or that they’ll get something out of the deal.

    If you’ve got the name of their superior, use it to conjure them. “In the name of God IHVH Tzabaoth I conjure you, Archangel of Venus ANAEL to appear before me in this crystal…” and so on.

    Then you talk to the spirit. Tell it what you want. Check to see if it’s who you expected (make it say “Jesus is Lord” if you’re a Christian). See if it can do what you want it to do, or if there’s another spirit that’s better suited. Get a personal seal and/or name.

    When you’re done, tell it goodbye. “Thanks ANAEL forstopping in, I had a great time, come back when I call you by the name you gave me and the seal, and if I even imagine the seal and say your name, be with me immediately. In the name of IHVH Tzabaoth, go in peace.”

    Do something physical to ground yourself out. Hold a hunk of Iron Pyrite, Hematite, or go outside and stand barefoot in some dirt. Take a bath. Imagine you’re a piece of rock, molten in the earth’s core, oozing up through a crack in the ocean and then hardening as the sea water sizzles against your skin. Whatever works for you.

    That’s a spirit conjuring overview. Most of the rest is details, and you’ll pick them up in researching each grimoire’s internal structure. After a while, you won’t use the grimoires because you’ll already have made contact with the spirits, and they’ll be guiding you directly. It’s neat.

  • Chthonic vs. Celestial

    Jake Stratton-Kent wrote the following explanation of his views on the Goetia as a genre (not just a grimoire in a grimoire). I’ve found the information Jake presented really useful in discussions with Goetic and Celestial entities alike since first reading it, and he was kind enough to let me post it here.

    Chthonic versus Celestial
    by Jake Stratton-Kent

    All ancient religions differ from modern religions in several major respects. We’re used to seeing things from a cultural perspective at least partly defined by what is known as *Revealed Religion*, in which *Revelation* (ultimately in the form of a Book) is received from on high (what we might term the *Celestial* region). The centre of gravity of this type of religion is the Celestial region, even though other realms of experience are considered – such as Earth, Hell and the physical universe in general.

    Ancient religions, and ‘primitive’ religion generally, is significantly different. Collectively they are termed Natural Religion (not to be confused with Nature Religion) which in contrast with Revelation from the Celestial realm evolves from the ground up, via deductive reasoning and observation of the world, including perceived supernatural components. It’s centre of gravity is Chthonic – it is notable that the Greeks at every stage of religious development considered the Earth the source of oracular power (contrasting Oracles with Revelations). Note again that this centre of gravity does not exclude consideration of other regions of experience, and thus gods of
    thunder, Sun, Moon etc. are not excluded by this focus.

    In the subsequent development of Greek religion the Celestial gained in importance, while the Chthonic powers for a long time retained divine status (notwithstanding some unpleasant characters in the underworld and elsewhere). My comparison of goetia with African Traditional Religions is intended to reflect this earlier status, and the chthonic ‘centre of gravity’ from which it evolved. The comparison is part of an effort to provide a position from which the pre-devaluation form of goetia may be understood in something like its own terms. In the past – whether in traditional sources, later publications or in discussions on the internet – goetia and dealing with the underworld has almost invariably been seen and described in terms of the later ‘Revealed Religion’ and has assumed the Celestial centre of gravity. That this gives an entirely false idea of how goetia originally operated – prior to devaluation – is obvious once this is taken on board. Otherwise it is very difficult to get past the perspective of Revealed Religion etc. which has prevailed in our culture for upwards of 2000 years.

    Additional perspective may be useful: the ‘goetia’ implicit in my usage is what Cumont called the ‘coarse and ancient goetia’; rites which preceded the adoption of supposed Persian ‘magic’ by the Greeks. That one survived alongside the other does not detract from the fact they had different frames of reference. In later magic goetia is not understood in its own original terms, having become a survival within a host tradition with another perspective. My use of chthonic and
    celestial refers to this aspect of the discussion, and as should be obvious I’m interested in recovering the perspective of goetia rather than of the host tradition (with which we’re all familiar in various guises).

  • Daimon Brainstorming Sessions Part 2

    This is Part 2 of the Daimon-Brainstorming sessions that resulted from my recent experiences with getting sick from a Bune operation gone awry. For background see “The Weirdest Bune Thing Yet” and “Daimon Brainstorming Sessions Part 1.”

    Picking up where we left off, I had woken up feeling great after performing a really quick rite with my spirit pot that houses Bune. That doesn’t really convey how much better I was feeling than before, the difference was totally miraculous. But I also wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again by following up on the Hierophant information I had received through the tarot divination and the first brainstorming session with my Daimon.

    So that night, I sat down with my Daimon, and we talked. I can’t really convey the conversation because I don’t remember the actual dialog. I took notes, but it was the information we were discussing that I wrote down, and not the conversation.

    Basically, I asked it what I should be focusing on to enact the resolution shown in the tarot reading (Hierophant, six of Wands, King of Wands). It revealed I hadn’t been plugging into the Above spoken of in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes. Most of my magical practices are pretty mundane-focused. I haven’t been doing a lot of Scrying of the Aethyrs, rising through the Spheres, or traveling through the heavens in a fiery chariot like Ezekiel did.

    And the Daimon reminded me that this is why the Hierophant is the Hierophant. The roles of the Hierophant are a reflection, a side effect of his relationship with God. The Hierophant gets his knowledge and experience and the ability to be a Hierophant on these spiritual journeys, and from contemplating the Divine Source.

    I hadn’t been doing these things much lately.

    So the next most obvious question was, “What should I actually be doing then?”

    We brainstormed for awhile, and what came out of that was a Merkavah–esque meditative ritual that includes visiting each Sphere of the Elements, the Seven Heavens (classical planetary realms), the “Heaven of the Stars” symbolized by Chokmah on the GD Tree of Life most are familiar with, and then the realm of the Prima Materia, the First Material that manifested in Kether. From there, my Daimon said, I needed to travel through the Pleroma and into the Divine Darkness in which the Creator dwells. After I was finished, I was to return going through each of the spheres in reverse order and then grounding out.

    This was all to be done in the Body of Light, making this a meditative and contemplative ritual. I don’t do many of those, and this one pretty much makes up for that fact.

    To begin, I lit a candle in my Lamp on my altar to represent the Light of God. Then I lit my incense charcoal and got some Abramelin Incense burning. It’s my favorite, and since I always start with a conjuration of my Daimon, it’s always appropriate.

    I then sat in my Comfy Chair (every magician should have one, as Patrick Dunn says; mine is IKEA’s Poang chair with the matching footstool). I had my notes. I entered my astral temple. I performed the rite. It took a while.

    First I conjured my Daimon. We have an agreement, I call, he comes. Next I quickly traveled up through the Elemental Spheres in my Body of Light. In the realm of Earth, I took on the form of a Bull, in Water the form of a Man, in Air the form of an Eagle, and in Fire the form of a Lion. When I got to the Lunar realm, I conjured Gabriel, the Archangel of the Moon using her Name, Seal from the Magical Calendar, and the name of God Shaddai El Chai. I then traveled through the Sphere of the Moon in my Body of Light with my Daimon until we got to the Gate leading to the Sphere of Mercury.

    At that Gate, I conjured Raphael, Archangel of Mercury. I follow the Trithemian school of placement for the archangels Raphael and Michael. This means that they are switched from what you see in the Magical Calendar link above. The seals stay with the planets, as they are the seals of the Intelligence of the planet. Only the names “Raphael” and “Michael” are switched from the Magical Calendar’s representation in the Trithemian school of correspondences.

    So at the Gate of Mercury, I conjured Raphael using his Seal and the God Name Elohim Tzabaoth. I traveled through Mercury to the Gate of Venus, and did the same with Haniel using the God Name Jehovah Tzabaoth. For each of the remaining spheres, it was the same, conhjure Archangel using the Sigil, name of the angel, and appropriate God Name, and then travel the sphere to the Gate to the next Sphere. After Venus, it went Sun-Michael-Seal-Eloah Va Da’at, Mars-Camael-Seal-Elohim Gibor, Jupiter-Sachiel-El, Saturn-Cassiel-Jehovah Elohim.

    When I got to the Gate to the Heaven of the Stars (roughly corresponding to Chokmah on the GD Tree of Life, I conjured Ratziel in the God Name Jah. I used the name Ratziel spelled out in the Celestial Script for the spirit’s Seal. After traveling through that sphere, I conjured the Archangel Metatron using the Name Eheieh to get access into Kether.

    The rest can’t really be described in words. I continued traveling through what is represented by the three negative veils. The first negative veil, the Ain Soph Aur was to me the Pleroma of the Gnostics. Multiple heavens, multiple entities that spoke in light instead of sound. Very interesting. I think that’s what you go through when you scry the Enochian Aethyrs, but I don’t know that to be true, just a suspicion. After that, I went through the Divine Darkness that Dionysius talks about. This is a must-read, in my opinion. Click that link later.

    Then I returned through the Spheres I had ascended through on the way up, conjuring each spirit at each gate until I reached the Elemental realm of fire. There I conjure Michael Angel of the the Element Fire and had him guide me through the Sphere to the Gate to the Realm of Air, where I conjured Raphael to lead me to the Gate of Water, then Gabriel who lead me to the Gate of Earth, and finally Uriel, who lead me back to my own Astral Temple. I thanked him, and my Daimon and then got up and did some grounding-out exercises.

    It took SIX HOURS. Strangely, three of those hours were spent in the Realm of the Moon on the way up. The rest took much less time. I had a lot of Lunar things to deal with. I may or may not blog about them. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of your own things to discover if you choose to do a rite like this, although the Moon realm might not take you as long.

    Dee does say something about needing to travel three times around the Earth in the Realm of the Moon before you can reach the next sphere in his Hieroglyphic Monad though, and I hadn’t known that before doing the rite. Maybe that’s part of it, I don’t know.

    Well, that’s Part 2. I wanted to get these out tonight before I forgot some of the details.

    Good Nigh, and Good Magick.