Thoughts on the Stele of Jeu While Pulling into My Favorite Pizza Place

The refrain which Mathers set in place in his Bornless Ritual in lieu of the various apotropaic statements in the Stele of Jeu the Hieroglyphist is a pretty catchy, easy to memorize conjuration.

 

As most people reading this will know, it’s not the way the original is set up. Mathers sets this repetition up over and over, so that each time you go through a series of divine names you reiterate this intention. But it isn’t the way the original is set up.

 

The original has commands like “delivery him from the spirit who restrains him,” “listen to me and turn away this daimon,” or “save the soul.”

 

The Mathers version shits the focus by reiterating over and over the incantation:

 

“Hear me and make all spirits subject unto me so that every spirit of the Firmament and of the Ether, upon the Earth and Under the Earth, On Dry Land and In the Water, of Whirling Air and of Rushing Fire, and every spell and scourge of God may be obedient unto me.”

 

The translation by D.E. Aune provides the text which inspired Mathers’s refrain translated as such:

 

“Subject to me all daimons, so that every daimon whether heavenly or aerial or earthly, or subterranean or terrestrial or aquatic, might be obedient unto me and every enchantment and scourge which is from God.”

 

The two texts are pretty different.

 

I think we usually think about how the repetition of Mathers’s version, and how it doesn’t match the original highlights how the Mathers text is a departure from the source material. I don’t think we talk much about what the differences highlight or what this portion tells us about magic. This is unfortunate, because both the comparison and the text itself tell us some interesting things.

 

The Mathers version repeats the “Hear me” adjuration several times throughout, essentially in conjunction with each series of divine names. It takes the form of a conjuration through the link to these names in the sense that all spirits in all places and all powers and acts of divine force are bound to the will of the magician.

 

When viewed as a prayer or ritual for achieving identification or communion with one’s divine self or the genius appointed over the magician with the understanding that a strong connection with this spiritual faculty or power will result in the ability to command spirits it makes sense that the prayer should focus on this concept as its main goal rather than the apotropaic elements found in the original.

 

Crowley’s use of the invocation as a preliminary to the Goetia of Solomon could make sense in this light. The Ars Goetia does not rely on the magician calling upon God prior to working. Coming from a Golden Dawn background Crowley could have seen this as a way of engaging that standard Solomonic step of the conjuration process.

 

The original presents this in conjunction with a formula to be written on papyrus and made into a paper crown. The magician adorns themselves with the paper crown on which the formula has been written and then says the “Subject to me all daimons (spirits)…” passage.

 

This is presented as a preparation for the ritual rather than something done throughout the ritual.

 

The Stele is used to constrain and remove a vexing spirit. By having spirits of all manners made subject to the magician before he begins he is able to command the vexing spirit since it too would be made subject to him.

 

The main goal of the Stele is the subjugation and removal of the vexing spirit and thus the authority and power to remove the spirit and the imprecation to remove the spirit and provide relief are the elements routinely repeated, though in varied manners, throughout the Stele.

 

The focus is one of the core differences between the two rituals – and in effect and manner that diverge enough that one might view them as two rituals; but again there are differences in wording in this passage as well as similarities which are illustrative.

 

The Mathers version lays out a cosmography or spirit ecology, as does the traditional version. As presented by Mathers we come to understand that the world is divided into certain regions or spaces and spirits reside in each of these.

 

The Firmament is given first as it is the highest of these. It might be interpreted as heavenly, or it might be interpreted as the starry dome between the heavens and the material world. If taking it as the latter this suggests that the spirits of the heavenly spheres, or the starry realms might be subject to the magician but those spirits beyond that space amid the waters beyond the firmament forming the heavenly space of the creator, are not subject to the magician or to this spell.

 

The Ether comes next. Mathers would have understood this likely in terms presented by Levi, and taken the Ether as the Astral Light, or the uniting spiritual space between things and just beyond the perceptible reality.

 

Upon the Earth and Under the Earth divides the world into terrestrial and chthonic spaces and notes that spirits in both spaces are subject to the magician. Elemental spirits, intelligences, earth bound spirits, nature spirits etc. fall within the spirits upon the earth. Under the Earth might include devils, the dead, and a host of other spirits. The Golden Dawn’s treatment of the wide array of spirits was fairly limited and I can only imagine that Mathers’s imagination and grasp of the wide world of spirits is accurately reflected in what spirits the Golden Dawn touched upon.

 

Upon the earth we find the world further divided into dry land, water, whirling air, and rushing fire. Mathers definitely adds poetry which is not present in D. E. Aune’s translation, and which I then assume may not have been in the original. This divide gives the spirits upon the earth into four elemental kingdoms. This might have been viewed in a medieval light, with the elements forming four aires differing in density and altitude, each being inhabited by spirits of a different character. More likely, this was taken in a classical or Paracelsian light with elemental beings who were formed of the particular natures of the elements inhabiting and shaping the physical elements. This would tie to the elemental kings found in the Knowledge Lectures and the Paracelsian elementals which the Golden Dawn took from Levi.

 

Aune’s rendering paints a similar but different picture of spirit ecology.

 

Those spirits which appear in the heavens are not given with any terminology which separates the heavens as a particularly special place distinct from the more natural spaces in which we find spirits. Nor are the heavens given with terminology which divides one heaven from another. We don’t have a distinction between heavens and ether, so there is not an idea of a heavenly realm and then within the world a separate spiritual reality distinct from the material or perceptible reality.

 

The heavens are perhaps more imminent rather than the emanant heaven in Mathers.

 

The elemental spaces and the chthonic spaces are presented together rather than in a separate clause. Again, this suggests a lack of severe distinction. What is below the ground is still part of the world rather than a wholly separate world in this context. This mirrors that the heavens are also presented in the same clause as the elemental spaces and are likely contiguous with the material world rather than distinct therefrom. With this in mind it is plausible that the spirits were seen as imminently real and present rather than remotely present with influence echoed into our world as we often see in later spiritologies.

 

The elemental spaces do not include fire. This lack of fire indicates that these are not elemental spaces but rather the three spaces common to ancient thought. The land, the sea, and the sky, with the space beneath the land and the space beyond the sky included. The character of the spirits considered might change when we do not consider them of a nature or composition related to the elements but rather nymphs and spirits living in the waters, those running through fields and trees, and those inhabiting the winds and clouds.

 

While the purpose of the two rituals differs – Mathers looks to achieve a divine status to command spirits generally, the Hieroglyphist seeks to alleviate affliction caused by a spirit; elements of their operation are similar.

 

“He is the Lord of the Gods, He is the Lord of the inhabited world, He is the one whom the winds fear…” – tr. Aune.

 

“This is the Lord of the Gods: This is the Lord of the Universe: This is He Whom the Winds fear.” – tr. Mathers.

 

Both work by way of calling upon authority of the biggest divine or spiritual force possible to command other spirits. Both use a host of divine names to either suggest the totality of divine authority and therefore the highest authority, or perhaps to use enough names that the secret and powerful true name of this God is likely included amongst them.

To an English speaking reader one might interpret “He is” as speaking objectively, describing this spirit, and “This is” subjectively, and speaking as the spirit. Sometimes pronouns might be translated either as a subjective or a demonstrative pronoun, so I would assume that this is the difference here. Both spells go on to speak as the powerful spirit and claim identification with the spirit so that the magician can act on that spirit’s authority.

 

In that regard, calling on a powerful divine spirit and self-identifying therewith, the two rituals are the same.

 

This is also an example of that method of magic existing in ancient resources. We have examples throughout the PGM where the magician claims a connection to the mythology of the spirit or god as a way of establishing friendship so that the spirit or god acts in the magician’s favor while commanding other spirits (this is common in spells involving Set-Typhon.) In this case the magician utilizes some element of that…he claims to know the secret name, he claims to be the god’s prophet who the God has already given power and secrets to, he claims to be the messenger serving the God. His initial imprecation for the god to listen to him is based on the idea that he holds a particular status and deserves the god’s attention because of that. This then evolves into stoking up the god by describing how powerful he is and chanting his names until the magician is finally ready to pull the big guns out and say “hey, actually, I AM you.”

 

The overall pattern of the ritual is exemplary of this approach to magic, in addition to showing us that it is one of the ways spirit magic was worked historically.

 

It also illustrates that the idea of commanding a spirit because a bigger stronger spirit is on your side is not a late addition to magic.

 

Sometimes we look at anything that might be bullying or aggressive spirit work as something stemming from a Christian worldview. If we look to older Pagan magics we’ll find that you befriended spirits, you worshipped the bosses of the spirits and befriended them, and then used your relationship with those bosses to establish new friendships and get them to trade with you and do business with you.

 

Sure, this is a good way to do magic and sometimes in some cases it works, and we can see some historical modes of working that way both in Pagan and in Christian contexts.

 

We also see threats, escalations, bindings, leveraging authority and power of divine rulers, of enemies of the spirit, or terrifying monsterous spirits throughout ancient magic in various parts of the ancient world.

 

The vexing spirit here isn’t removed because you’re buddies with Ossoronophris, and Ossoronophris is buddies with Orias, and he introduces you to Orias, and you become buddies, and you show Orias that instead of eating the food of or sucking the blood of the chief masons’s son he should just bro-out with you at Chili’s because you’re all friends now. The vexing spirit is removed because the God of the Void is inhabiting you and he rules the entire universe and he commands the spirit out with his divine scourge. This God hates evil, he makes lightning flash, and thunder roll, and his mouth is literally on fire.

This spell is an act of aggression.

 

But it’s a spell which is a reasonable act of aggression. The spirit present is doing something bad.

 

The spell is aggression, but it isn’t violence. There is no chain of the spirits here. We aren’t cursing and burning the vexing spirit, or the spirits being subjected to us.

 

It’s more walk loudly, and also have a big stick, and flex some muscles, and everyone will decide working with you is the way to go.

 

Going back to the differences between Mathers and the Hieroglyphist, there is an element of this authority and potential for violence which differs.

 

The way Mathers renders the translation he says:

 

“Hear me and make all spirits…and every spell and scourge of God…obedient unto me.”

 

God’s ability to work in the world and his ability to project wrath upon any force which disobeys are being subjected to the magician along with the spirits. Essentially, if spirits do no listen, the magician possesses God’s arsenal to use to make spirits listen.

 

Aune presents it as:

 

“every daimon…might be obedient unto me and every enchantment and scourge which is from God.”

 

The way it is rendered here, the enchantments and scourges of God are still in God’s possession, but the spirits will be obedient to them. Those powers are not made obedient to the magician but are highlighted as something present which could force obedience if needed.

 

Since the magician has called upon this god, and even identified therewith, the tools God has to command spirits are on the magician’s side.

 

To me it would seem that in one instance, the divine power to enforce divine authority is taken by the magician as his own weapon, he might use those directly upon his goals or he might command spirits, or he might use them to command spirits.

 

In the other instance, the magician has God in his corner, and if the magician can’t command the spirits God is there to command them and those divine tools for force as present to ensure that the spirits follow the magician’s command.

 

The difference might feel subtle, but I don’t think it is. Particularly if we consider that the Mathers version is intended to be used repeatedly to achieve a maintained state of connection and authority.

 

The question of what the original intention was would have to be seen by looking at the Greek. Unfortunately, when I did my degree in Classics I focused on Latin and Rome so I can’t address the peculiarities of Greek. In Latin, there are certainly ways in which a statement might result in the translator rendering the word order in different ways which could have this kind of change in meaning. The determination would be are “spell and scourge of god” direct objects which are being made subject to the magician or are they indirect objects co-equal to the magician to whom the spirits are made subject.

 

My purpose here isn’t so much to get into whether or not Mathers’s translation is right or wrong, or whether or in what ways Aune’s translation is better. I imagine Mathers took liberties with his translation. He seems to do that consistently, and that would have been the norm at the time in which he was working. On some level, the job of the translator is to render the piece into a way suited to the contemporary reader’s capability and stylistic elements may factor into that.

 

My intention is more to look at how the differences tell us about the magic being worked, and what Aune’s translation suggests about ancient magic working on the presumption that Aune is rendering a fairly accurate translation.

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Beginning Conjuration and Spirit Magic pt 4: Elementals

Presenting part 4 of 8 of our series on Conjuration and Spirit magic for beginners. Today we'll talk about conjuring the elementals. Last week we posted the a series of book recommendations and information on setting up a devotional practice to develop support in the spirit world. Yesterday we introduced scrying. Today we'll look at the elementals before moving on tomorrow to intermediary and crossroads spirits. So please like us on Facebook, and share the post with your friends so that can enjoy it as well.

Beginning Conjuration and Spirit Magic pt 4: Elementals

So now we get to our first phase of conjuration, the elemental spirits as defined by Paracelsus. A lot of people think of these elementals as being a part of Golden Dawn magic, or as coming from Eliphas Levi. There spirits are a big part of the GD system and post GD systems. The most common approach to their use is based on a chapter in Levi's Transcendental Magic (Ritual and Dogma of High Magic), that chapter being The Conjuration of the Four. Some people recognize that The Comte de Gablais by De Villars provides an earlier source. But in a slightly earlier and less readily available work, we will find their original description comes from Paracelsus. We don't find them in the Grimoires, but there may be similar spirits, or classes of spirits, or related spirits in the grimoires. Paracelsus as a source at least ties them into the same time and network of people collecting together the magical knowledge that informed the previous generations who produced the early medieval grimoires. Paracelsus also gave us the initial introduction to the Olympic spirits, described a generation later in the Arbatel. But honestly, where their original descriptions comes from doesn't matter so much as the fact that they are very accessible, and that they are good workers.

The elemental spirits, in my experience, and by most accounts, are relatively simple uncomplicated spirits. They are very function based in terms of ordering and carrying out the functions of their elemental realms. They don't have much of an agenda. Some agenda is implied in Comte de Gablais but I don't see any real sign of this in them aside from the fact that they seem happy to work with and help humans who work with them. Being elemental they are very physically concerned and are very much about clear real world manifestations. But the manifestations are often very simple, sometimes small, and very literal in their nature.

Two stories about work with Gnomes.

Recently I did a simple invocation of the Gnomes to help smooth out some monetary flow and deal with a handful of issues that people were bringing to me. I basically just asked for some money. The next morning I went out to my car to head to work and found a $50 dollar bill stuck in my door. I thought “what the fuck, how did that get there...oh, gnomes! Gnomes are awesome.”

A friend once told me about doing the conjuration of the Gnomes and then going out to a bar. While at the bar he was sitting there and suddenly the crowd of people parted like the red sea. A scruffy dirty man in a blue hoodie drawn over his head and sticking up to a point stood at the other end of the opening and walked up and hugged him and said “Hello Brother!” Then the creature turned and walked back into the crowd and it closed around him. A moment later the crowd opened again and the man walked up to him again and he poured coins and candy cigarettes and similar little things into my friend's hands and smiled warmly and said “here brother” and then turned and walked back into the crowd which closed around him and he was gone. My friend was convinced that this was a manifestation of the gnomes. To me it seems pretty probable.

The elementals don't really open you up to the same kind of life changing psyche shifting disruptions that often come with other spirits. They don't have a need to either fix your life (angels) or destroy order (demons) and so they're a pretty stable, easy to deal with relatively safe spirit to start with. They're still not precisely safe. Nothing in magic is exactly. It's still possible to experience an impure magnetism or obsession with a particular elemental force. It's possible to approach these forces incorrectly and create problems. It's also possible to conjure them and apply them incorrectly in ways that are destructive. If you invoke fire, be prepared to deal with fire. Crowley's Liber Librae, which is really just a Golden Dawn knowledge lecture repackaged, is essential to consider when thinking about how to approach the elementals in a balanced fashion. This balance is necessary. The balance is what the elementals are looking for when they deal with you, it's what makes them want to help you, because it helps you stand in a position where for them, you can be an ally who links them to the Lord, which is central to their call towards service.

Because of this ease of cozying up to the elementals in a relatively safe fashion they're a good place to start. When I was a Philosophus and was given to working on early experiments of conjuration, elementals, articifial elementals, and servitors were the teeth cutting entities I was pointed to for exploring that magic. For that reason, and the simplicity of working with them, they'll be the first spirits we look at.

The Conjuration of the Four by Levi will provide the basic framework you need for approaching work with the elementals. Essentially, these are the things to remember. The elementals desire to create orderly manifestation of the forces of their particular elemental worlds because this is what the Lord has dictated for them. Now the Lord here is not necessarily Jesus Christ, or God the Father, but rather the NeoPlatonic Demiurgos, the extension of the One and the Good who orders time and space into creation and diverse manifest pieces. From a Hermetic perspective we can look at this Lord like the Logos or the shining extension of the force of creation beloved by the spirits of order and creation who willingly serve that force out of their love for the beauty of the divine source. This is the perspective of the elementals. That said, the elementals don't necessarily have a clear apprehension of what order and creation are, they just do what they're told by the particular expression of the Light which is present for them. As the magician you fulfill two roles in this interaction. You invoke the Lord so that you can stand as his lieutenant or as his image for the elementals to gather around you and do service for you, and simultaneously you worship the Lord while standing in the perspective of the elementals so that they rejoice at your unity with them and they feel bonded to helping you.

What does it mean to stand with them? LITERALLY STAND WITH THEM. So if you're calling the sylphs you don't stand in the west and look east and call them from the east like you would a spirit who comes from the east typically. You stand in the east, and face the altar (now to your west) and you say the prayer of the sylphs, which is not a conjuration of them, but is rather the prayer that the sylphs utter in honor of the Lord. The sylphs gather with you for the prayer and feel bonded and aligned to you as one of them, but as one of them who is in the image of the creator and who possesses the complete soul which they do not, but which they desire to be close to. You give them joy and hope. When you say the prayer, try to feel like you're part of the community of these elemental spirits, try to feel the joy and love they feel in working for their creator. It's pretty uplifting to feel this and creates a pretty healthy and beneficial relationship with these spirits. Once you feel that community you can ask the spirits for what you want, and instruct them to go off to do their work toward that end.

It's really about that simple. I would recommend for whichever elemental you're calling you should have some material representation of their element. Incense, a candle, a bowl of water, or a crystal are simple easily obtained material representations of these particular elements. Representations of the platonic solid associated with the element, or of other spirits or powers related to the element can add to harmonizing the vibration of your space to that of the elemental. You can call the elementals in a larger magical ritual or evocation ritual so that the elemental spirits can assist with whatever magic is being done by you or by whatever other higher spirit you're calling. Or you can do a ritual simply to call the elementals and ask them for help.

My approach goes like this.

Conjuring the Elemental Spirits

Place upon your altar five candles, one for the Divine Presence, and one for each element. Place upon your altar the material representation of the element and any symbols for that elemental world. Light the five candles.

Raise your hands and look upward and say:

Holy art Thou Lord of the Universe

Holy art Thou Whom Nature Hath Not Formed
Holy art Thou Vast and Mighty One
Lord of Light and of Darkness

Face east and in each quarter trace a downward pointed triangle saying as you move through the quarters:

First then the priest of fire must sprinkle the lustral water of the loud resounding sea, hear now the voice of fire.

Returning east and following in each quarter trace an upward pointed triangle saying as you move through the quarters

Then when all the phantoms have vanished, you will see that holy and formless fire, that darts and flashes through the hidden depths of the universe.

Step to the quarter associated with the elemental spirits being conjured and earnestly pray the prayer appropriate to those elementals.

When you feel the presence of the elementals explain clearly what you desire and ask them to go make it occur.

Magical Aerobics

Recently I taught a class on the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. The class got a pretty positive response because a lot of what I went over was outside of what is normally discussed. We talk about things like the four kings, conjuring spirits, animism and the magic circle, and how to use the LRP as a practical ritual in addition to exploring it's more standard use as a mystical exercise.

Complete Ritual of the Pentagram Class Recording

In the end of the class I refer to the ritual as magical aerobics, a phrase I used to describe a lot of modern ceremonial magic in an episode of Rufus Opus's ROpocalypse.

Off the cuff some people might think that this is kind of a flippant dismissal of the Lesser Pentagram Ritual or of late 19^th and early 20^th century magic. It isn't. Whenever I use the term it's always in a context of talking about how even for practitioners of more traditional magic there is a utility to the developmental aspects of modern ceremonial magic or the Western Mystery Tradition as filtered through the lens the Golden Dawn and later groups. Outside of my magical life I coach a college fencing team and a youth fencing program. I'm constantly trying to convince them that it's important to keep up with running, weight lifting, and aerobic training outside of their fencing training. I don't really give a shit about getting people to do aerobics for the sake of aerobics, I have no real interest in inspiring people to run for the sake of running. I want my athletes to be successful, and developing themselves is part of that. Same for magicians.

Instructions in some books of conjuration talk about the importance of using daily conjurations outside of ritual to acquaint oneself with the ritual and to keep those magical elements of the day active even when not being used. Traditional magic works have all sorts of preparations and cleansings for the magician. Traditional systems of sorcery have initiations and preparations to empower the magician. The religious systems which inspire traditional grimoire magic use systems of sacraments to prepare and orient participants. Priests and mystics developed systems of spiritual exercises to more fully expose their adherents to the divine forces they believed they needed to experience. We see magicians pointed towards similar spiritual attainments in texts like Liber Juratus and The Sacred Magic of Abramelin.

I don't think all of these elements of magic are quite the same as spiritual or magical aerobics. But when we look at a lot of the exercises included in Golden Dawn magic and later systems, we find little daily rituals like the LBRP, Resh, instructions in pranayama and asana, the meditations given to the grades of the GD, and the rest of the small daily magical exercises that make up modern magic. Almost none of them have a direct practical result that they create, if we define practical magic as magic which creates an effect in the world. By in large these rituals have mystical elements, they open us up to spiritual forces, they change how we see and experience things, but unless they're tweaked they don't do the stuff we would traditionally associate with magic. They get us ready to be more successful at magic by building skills and acquainting us with esoteric forces.

So for those who have only tried traditional magic, there may be some useful things to find in looking at modern magic. Some of the initiations present us with access to things and experiences of things which we can apply when working with spirits. For people who only work with modern magic, that can be all well and good if you want to be a mystic using ritual, but if you want to do magic you need to step out of that box, which after all, was the purpose of the original Golden Dawn system. You went through the initiations, the exercises, and then did alchemy and worked with the handful of grimoires they had access to.

A Ritual for the Holy Guardian Angel: The Lamp Upon the Throne

A lot of people look at work with the Holy Guardian Angel as something specifically connected to seeking Knowledge and Conversation. Knowledge and Conversation is a particular sort of relationship one can enter into with the Holy Guardian Angel, but it is not the only interaction which exists. Work with the Holy Guardian Angel can be as simple as an acknowledgement, or reference at the beginning of a ritual to connect with it, or a prayer for its assistance, or presence, or guidance. Or it can be a full on conjuration for the purpose of asking it questions, communing, or asking for assistance. It's useful to make the angel a part of your magic early on whatever approach to connecting with it you're using.

The ritual presented here is one I've been working with for about 9 or 10 years. It utilizes elements of the Golden Dawn tradition, Roman Catholicism, and of course, the Merkavah. In my view the Sar HaAnpin, or the Prince of the Face/Prince of the Presence, and the related SarHaTorah, the Prince of the Torah, serve in roles similar to the HGA, and there are ritual elements which overlap between the Abramelin and the Merkavah work with these angels...although these elements show up in lots of spirit magic, the Abramelin claims to be a separate tradition of Jewish magic outside of the Kabbalah, so Merkavah derived grimoire work could relate to the origins of the Abramelin. This would also fit well with the probable time, location, and author of the Abramelin.

In any case, this ritual can be done individually, or its parts can be divided for a group. It is used to conjure the Holy Guardian Angel by use of a Conjuration of the Metatron. I hope you enjoy it, I'd love to hear about any response folks have to working with it.

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The Lamp Upon the Throne

VH

Participants enter.

The Doorkeeper anoints them with water and oil individually as they enter. In response to being anointed each participant says

"Sprinkle me with hyssop, Oh Lord, and I shall be clean, wash me and 1 shall be whiter than snow."

The participants continue to the center of the temple and are seated around the central altar.

One of the participants takes the sword goes to the east and proceeds through the quarters tracing and vibrating the appropriate god names.

East: AL

South: YH

West: AGLA

North: ADNI

He returns to the center and says:

"By the holy names AL, YH, AGLA, and ADNI, by which the prophets wrought miracles and by which the world is bound together and then is set to trembling and shaking, which form the foundations of the Heavens, I banish this temple."

He proceeds to the East and then through the quarters tracing the rose cross in each, he returns to the center when he is finished and says:

"By the light of the cross I seal this temple against the unholy and the profane."

He returns to the center and returns the sword to the Karcist.

The Karcist kneels before the altar bearing the bread and wine and raises his arms

"My beloved is white and ruddy, pre-eminent above ten thousand.

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are curled, and black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks; washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs; his lips are as lilies,

dropping with flowing myrrh.

His hands are as rods of gold set with beryl; his body is as polished ivory overlaid with

sapphires.

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his aspect is like

Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend"

The Karcist rises, and makes crosses over the bread and wine:

"Beloved, bless + and consecrate + this vessel of bread and wine by the power of your right hand and the mercy of your left; and grant, through the merits of St. John, the Gnostic, that all who drink of it may find wisdom and understanding through splendor. As the blessed John drank the poisoned potion without any ill effects, so may all who today drink the blessed wine in honor of the Beloved be delivered from the poison of corruption.

By the name YHVH ELOAH VA-DAAT+, bless this creature of grain and vine, so that it may be a life-giving medicine to all who use it; and grant by your grace that all who taste of it may enjoy bodily and spiritual health in calling on your holy name; in their search for their own highest light."

The Karcist steps away. A participant rises, makes a Yod over the bread and wine.

"The spark of life and motion "

He then intones the names YHVH TZVOT, HANIEL, HANIEL, HAGIEL, KEDEMEL,

charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Heh over the bread and wine.

"The shape of light and joy"

He then intones the names ELHM TZVOT, MICHAEL, RAPHAEL, TIRIEL,

TAPHARTHARATH charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Vav over the bread and wine

"The form of purpose and direction"

He then intones the names SHADDAI EL CHAI, GAVRIEL, GAVRIEL, MALKAH BE TARSHISIM VE-AD RUACHOTH SCHECHALIM, SCHAD BARSCHEMOTH

charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, another participant rises and traces a Heh over the bread and wine

"The body of man upon earth"

He then intones the names ADNI HA-ARETZ, SANDAPHALON, MICHAEL, KERUB,

PHORLAKH charging the bread and wine as he does so

He sits, the Karcist returns to the alter, he traces Shin above the bread and wine, he raises it saying

"May this spark the lamp which is the light of the world, by the names, YHVH ELOAH VA-DAAT, RAPHAEL, MICHAEL, NAKHIEL, SORATH"

He replaces the bread and wine, breaks a piece of the bread and eats it, drinks the wine, and passes the bread on. Each participant breaks a piece of the bread and eats it and takes a goblet of wine and drinks it.

A participant goes to the South and traces Yod and intones the name MICHAEL, he proceeds to the West traces Heh and intones the name GAVRIEL, he crosses to the East traces Vav and intones the name RAPHAEL, and then ends in the North traces a Heh and intones the name URIEL. He returns to his seat.

The Karcist rises, faces the East, all sit in meditation, the Karcist says the invocation:

"I conjure you, angels of dread, fear, and shaking,

who are appointed to hurt those who are not pure

and clean and desire the services of my heavenly

servants — I conjure you in the name of YHVH

ELOAH VA-DAAT, who is mighty over all, and

rules over all, and everything is in His hands, that

you do not hurt us, nor terrify us, nor frighten us;

verily, in the name of the powerful one."

"Eternal, Mighty, Holy El, God only-supreme

You who are the Self-originated, the

Beginningless One Incorruptible,

Spotless, Uncreated, Immaculate, Immortal, Self-

complete, Self-illuminating,

Without father, without mother, unbegotten,

Exalted, Fiery One! Lover of men, Benevolent

One, Bountiful One,

Jealous over me, and very compassionate, Eli, My

God,

Eternal, Jehovah Zebaioth, Very Glorious El, El,

El, El, Jah El!

You are the One whom my soul has loved!

Eternal Protector, Shining like Fire, Whose voice

is like the thunder, Whose look is like the

lightning,

You are the All-seeing One, Who receives the

prayers of all such as honour You,

And turn away the requests of those who

embarrass You with their provocations

Who dissolves the confusions of the world

which arise from the ungodly and the righteous

mixed up in the confusion of the corruptible age,

And renewing the age of the righteous,

Shine O Lord, shine as a light, even as that light

with which you clothed Yourself on the first day of

Creation,

Shine as the Light of the Morning on Your

creatures

And let it be Day upon Earth,

For in these heavenly dwelling places there is no

need of any other light

Than the unspeakable splendour from the light of

Your Countenance,

O answer my prayer, O be well-pleased with it,

O accept my sacrifice which You have prepared

for me to offer,

Accept me favourably, and show me, teach me, all

that You have promised!"

All meditate in the light of the beloved until they feel that they are finished at which point they leave the temple silently.

Faster Simpler Shorter - Effective Easy Angel Work

Sometimes we need quick simple access to angelic or spiritual forces to accomplish things for us. Full Solomonic evocations, or even smaller methods like the Heptameron or Trithemius are not always convenient for various reasons.

Back in 2005 I determined that I wanted a quick simple way to work with spirits. I began using this pretty routinely as I was beginning to prepare for working with more traditional methods.

It was very good for consecrating talismans and for getting quick results to simple requests. This is not so great for asking the angels questions or scrying, except through dream work.

It's also a good stepping stone for those who are familiar with modern magic technique like the LBRP who are trying to bridge their way towards actual practical evocation.

Over the next few days I'll post some stories about the use of this ritual as well as a method for combining it with other simple practical magic.

The Solomonic Hexagram Ritual

Fr R.’.S.’.

I. Kabbalistic Cross.

Perform the Kabbalistic Cross

II. Formation of the circle

Advance to the east and trace the fire invoking Hexagram vibrating “AL”

Advance to the South and trace the Earth invoking Hexagram vibrating “YAH”

Advance to the West and trace the Water invoking Hexagram vibrating “AGLA”

Advance to the North and trace the Air invoking Hexagram vibrating “ADNI”

Return to the center

III. Invocation of the planetary Hexagrams

Advance to each quarter beginning in the East and ending in the North tracing the invoking Hexagrams of the planetary sphere required and vibrate the corresponding name.

IV. Invocation of the Spirit of the Planet

Return to the center. Extend the arms in the TAU then turn the palms face up; keeping the palms flat and extended raise the forearms into an obtuse angle. This sign signifies the reception of divine force.

Say the appropriate invocation for the desired planetary spirit.

V. Kabbalistic Cross

Perform the Kabbalistic cross.

Invocations

The appropriate Solomonic pentacle from the second book of the Greater Key should be used in conjunction with these invocations as a means of directing the nature of the manifestation. The magician should also be clearly aware of the purpose for which he is performing the invocation. If he wishes to apply the force to a talisman to keep for general use he may apply the pentacle to an appropriate disk. If he wishes to invoke the spirit for a particular use he should scribe the seal upon some relevant portion of his body with a temporary means that may be removed at will. If there is no specifically relevant portion for the intention the seal may be placed upon a body part corresponding to the sefira to which said sphere is assigned. The ability to remove the seal with immediacy is necessary and is of the utmost importance.

Luna

By the holy name Shaddai El Chai, I invoke Levanah, the lucent wanderer that rides the sky and rules the crab, that I might stir Gavriel that I might receive Gavriel that he might send Malkah be Tarshisim ve-ad Ruachoth Schechalim, that I might manifest Schad Barschemoth that through invoking him I shall…

Mercury

By the holy name Elohim Tzabaoth, I invoke Kokab, the swift wanderer that rides the sky and rules the twins and the virgin, that I might stir Michael, that I might receive Raphael, that he might send Tiriel, that I might manifest Taphthartharath that through invoking him I shall…

Venus

By the holy name YHVH Tzabaoth, I invoke Nogah, the shining star that rides the sky and rules the bull and the scale, that I might stir Haniel, that I might receive Haniel, that he might send Hagiel, that I might manifest Kedemel, that through invoking him I shall…

Sol

By the holy name YHVH Eloah va-Da’at, I invoke Shemesh, the splendorous wanderer that rides the sky and rules the lion, that I might stir Raphael, that I might receive Michael, that he might send Nakhiel, that I might manifest Sorath, that through invoking him I shall…

Mars

By the holy name Elohim Gibor, I invoke Madim, the red wanderer that rides the sky and rules the ram and the scorpion, that I might stir Kamael, that I might receive Zamael, that he might send Graphiel, that I might manifest Bartzebel that through invoking him I shall…

Jupiter

By the holy name El, I invoke Tzedek, the merciful wanderer that rides the sky and rules the archer and the fish, that I might stir Tzadkiel that I might receive Sachiel, that he might send Iofiel, that I might manifest Hishmael, that through invoking him I shall…

Saturn

By the holy name YHVH Elohim, I invoke Shabbatai, the cold wanderer that rides the sky and rules the goat and the cup bearer, that I might stir Tzafkiel, that I might receive Cassiel, that he might send Agiel, that I might manifest Zazel, that through invoking him I shall…