Not Flashy but Holy

So, my previous post talked about Solstice and Equinox rituals, the important of a magical religious structure and how that might fit the grimoire tradition or other magical traditions. There are a ton of options for observing these occurrences, this idea is just one of many possibilities. You can view that here: http://blog.ararita418.com/2016/07/grimoires-and-cycle-of-year-pt-1.html

So...Grimoiric Solstice and Equinox rituals.

The basic idea is observing the movement of the Sun into the Sign that indicates the beginning of the new season. The frame work I used came from the Heptameron. So, the preliminary stuff happens, the angel who rules the hour is called upon, the angel ruling the day, the elemental powers of the season, the powers associated with the sign ruling the season, the angel of the sun, and the angels of the season. Along with the angels we call upon the powers of the earth, air, sea, inferno, and the season itself. An offering is made. Chill time with the spirits is had. Wine is blessed and consumed. All in all about eight angels, two kinds of elementals, and other spiritual forms of parts of nature are all conjured together.

It might seem like it would be busy. People talk about not calling a spirit and being like “ok you stand over there, while I call some others” but this doesn't run like that. There is a definite element of awareness of the Heavenly Majesty throughout and so the coalescence of the spirits really creates a feeling of divine harmony. The spirits are called in a way that is organized based on the state of nature we are reifying into a spiritual presence. So for them there is a natural fit into the harmony we experience.

The first thing which was evident was how smooth and harmonious the invocations felt. Maybe it was because of other work recently, or maybe it was because the spirits wanted to be called this way, whatever the cause, there was a striking feeling of true adoration that overtook me. A lot of times when I conjure it's much more a feeling of drawing power and pulling together authority. Before I started I thought about how the framework I had didn't have as much of that. I kind of wondered “how do I get to groove with God so the spirits will talk with me?” During the invocations I felt an abiding sense of love and engagement where there was no feeling of going through the motions, or rationalizing the Christian components. There was just desire and adoration. It was elevating. It made me realize that as much as I've answered in the past about the ability to adopt a worldview that allows you to accept Christian imagery while using it in conjuration, whereas this was simply the ability to love and embrace the reality of the imagery.

As I went it occurred to me that I was about to conjure a lot of spirits but wasn't going to stop and talk with any or commune with any. Individually. What ended up happening was that as I called upon natural forces, fire, the moon, water, the sign of cancer, the sun, I felt immersed in each. I could feel the joy, and adoration which inspired the Salamanders and Undines as they experienced their love for their creator. I felt bathed in moon light as I prepared to conjure Gavriel to empower the sign of Cancer, the overarching wheel of stars encasing an earth made of harmonized fire and water as I conjured the angels of Cancer, and the glowing light of the sun as Raphael harmonized it. Oriens when called took a particularly elevated place and when asked to bring the the beneficial forces into the world and he reached over and brought the beauty and harmony of the celestial imagery into the material world.

Sitting to commune with the spirits as they received their suffumigation felt like sitting in the heavenly throne room. The candles before me took on a regal beauty and there was a sense of powerful light everywhere. I put on my ring and felt a sense of completion, and a spiritual glow about it as the angels imbued it with the harmony.

The ritual concluded with requesting their blessings on myself and all those around me and drinking a cup which had been blessed by the spirits. It felt good being immersed in the light. It felt peaceful, and happy, bidding farewell to the spirits, feeling them move out into the world to carry that light and unity with them.

So yeah. Not flashy, but Holy. Nothing major, nothing new, but something good. Sometimes that's really all we need from those moments of religion within magic. When we do magic, it should make something happen in the world, theurgy and mysticism should make us better – closer to God or to what we were intended to be, religion should settle and balance us within those forces of the world which we engage in magic. It just needs to be a moment where we get closer to and connect more deeply with the powers that inspire us, and that move the world with us. We shouldn't lose sight on the practicality of magic, but that practicality shouldn't make us overlook those less flashy moments of connection.

That said...part of the idea...was harmonizing the forces of creation at work in the season. So practically speaking it should also help everything flow better.