Rapheal Versus Michael: Battle for the Crown of the Sun

          My new forthcoming book includes conjurations and spells based around work with the planetary angels. The test team who tried out the conjurations had a few questions along the way. Two of them asked why Raphael was listed as the archangel of Sol instead of the archangel of Mercury. It’s a question that comes up routinely. Some magicians do it one way some the other way, and many of them don’t even realize it’s something that’s up for debate. Some magicians think there’s a hard-fast right or wrong on this one. Honestly, as much as I like thinking of stuff as having a right answer this is one where I recognize there’s a basis and reasons for each, and both correspondences work, because the angels are simply bigger than that.

          For magicians who don’t understand that the angels are not themselves the planets, nor are they the same as the gods with whom the planets are associated, this idea that both can be true might be harder. If someone thinks Michael is Sol is Apollo is Tifaret, or Michael is Mercury is Hermes is Hod then they need there to be a single answer because they need these persons to be discreetly one thing so they can support their view that the correspondence is identity. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, those that think that way just don’t get it. So, the angels are left to be bigger than that thinking.

          With that said, here is some of my thinking on the matter.

          Personally, I’m not super invested in the argument, I’m comfortable with Raphael associated with the Sun and Michael associated with Mercury because initially I learned it that way. The Golden Dawn correspondences do it that way. They also recognize that the two play a little switcheroo and so on a different level the Golden Dawn also swaps them.

          First and foremost, Raphael makes sense in the Sun for me because the Sun is to me the main source for healing. Think about the feeling of a warm spring day. It’s therapeutic. The Sun is the chief amongst the planets, it is the perfection – the completion; of the concept of a planet. Healing is not fixing a problem, healing is completing or perfecting a state. Healing is removing deficiencies by restoring balance and order to a system. This concept is related to the Sun and to Tifaret. The Sun does this in our cosmos, the solar nature of Gold is the expression of this in alchemy. In the Kabbalah this is the nature of Tifaret. Tifaret orders the spheres around it, it is the heart, and it transmits the rightness of divine light from the higher into the lower, ordering it into a balanced state. So if we’re talking the divine concept of healing we’re talking the Sun.

          Now some people think that Raphael as a healer belongs in Mercury because Mercury relates to medicine. There is a difference between medicine and healing. Doctors are often associated with Mercury but the patron of doctors was Asclepius, a son of Apollo. The work of healing is solar. Medicine is Mercurial. Apollonian concepts are echoed in the rulership of Mercury. Apollo rules oracles, Mercury rules tools of divination. Mercury introduces himself to the world by stealing his big brother Apollo’s cattle, he is rewarded by taking rulership of those things with which Apollo is finished. This is not to belittle Mercury. Mercury is wonderous. Medicine as a tool of Mercury is his because it is a form of knowledge. It is the knowledge of technology used to facilitate healing. It is not the same as healing itself.

          So why would Michael belong in the sphere of the Sun? Michael is the likeness of God, and the Sun is the cosmic likeness of God. Michael is the general that commands the angels, just as the Sun commands the planets.

          One of the people who asked me suggested that Michael seems Martial rather than Solar or Mercurial. That actually makes a lot of sense. Sometimes I think Gabriel would make sense associated with Mars based on his name, but we associate Gabriel with the Moon. Gabriel is God’s herald or messenger so that would make sense in Mercury. For Michael, Michael is again God’s general. He is the archistrategos, or the high strategist of the divine host. Being a strategist may make sense in Mercury because it has to do with knowledge, analysis, planning, and communicating commands and plans. If we take it simply as an expression of military power then Michael begins to make sense in Mars. If we view Michael as the warrior who casts down the enemy then Michael makes sense for Mercury. If we view Michael in connection with the Maioral and as the scourge and the sun bathed sword who casts back the darkness at the dawn, then he simultaneously is Martial, the force of war and strength that commands away the devils, and Solar, the rising Sun that pushes out the darkness.

          So how is Michael Mercurial? Again, Mercury takes on attributes related to Apollo. Michael is God’s likeness, so he takes on attributes like unto God. Michael is one of the many angels who is a Prince of the Presence. These angels appear to mankind and represent God or speak on God’s behalf because mankind can’t receive God directly. They are messengers of the highest order. Again, as the high strategist, he plans, he communicates plans, he analyzes threats, all of these being intellectual elements. The Princes of the Presence are, in some cases, associated with writing the decrees of Heaven, and thus again this is a Mercurial function. Michael defeats Satan, this is Martial right? Well…are we talking Christianity or Judaism? In Christianity sure, it’s Martial. In Judaism it’s different. Satan is not a person, Satan is a title which refers to a group of angels, the Satanim, who at time, but not always are led by Sataniel. These are not the evil angels, those are led by Shemyaza and Mastema, although Mastema is also one of the Satanim. Of the Satanim, Samael, who at times is linked to Mars and other times to Saturn, is often considered to be the equivalent of the Christian Satan, the chief opposer. Samael is the Prince of Rome and with Rome as a special enemy of Israel Samael’s job is to present the evils of Israel in the divine court and call for their persecution. Michael is the Prince of Israel and his job is to speak of Israel’s righteousness and glory and counter the message of Samael, so much so that all the evil deeds Samael calls to be written of Israel are burned while Michael’s proclamations are written. This is a very Mercurial way of defeating Satan. In fact, it’s not just speaking and writing, it’s legalistic. Michael is the defense attorney for Israel acting in the divine court on their behalf. While law and legalism and court victories are associated with Venus, lawyers are associated with Mercury.

          Michael is abundantly Mercurial. So, what about Raphael? What’s Mercurial about Raphael? Well honestly, not much. Again, Raphael relates to healing, which is Solar, not to medicine, which is Mercurial. If we equate healing and medicine then sure we can associate Raphael with Mercury, but there isn’t much other reason. Mercury has a vast array of rulerships and elements, but Raphael only really shows up in a story about healing someone.

          Again, different books present it differently. Different magicians approach it differently. You can probably learn different things about the Sun and different things about Mercury calling each angel for each. The big thing though is people aren’t correspondences. You and I each relate to many, many different things and have a whole depth to the complex of elements which form our characters. Non-human persons are often like this too, particularly the lofty complex and powerful ones. Gods, angels, and demons aren’t simply a row within a column in 777. They are bigger and deeper. We have to approach them as such and learn from them their vastness.

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Beginning Conjuration and Spirit Magic pt 5: Intermediary and Crossroads Spirits

Presenting part 5 of 8 of our series on Conjuration and Spirit magic for beginners. Today we'll talk about establishing relationships with Intermediary and Crossroads spirits. Last week we posted a series of book recommendations and information on setting up a devotional practice to develop support in the spirit world. Monday we introduced scrying, and yesterday conjuring the elementals. 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. Bonus...in our scrying post we linked to a class on angel magic, but the link did not go through so we're including it today.

Beginning Conjuration and Spirit Magic pt 5: Intermediary and Crossroads Spirits

So maybe now you've gotten comfortable making offerings at your devotional altar, and you've become friends with some elementals, and you're ready to move on to some more...interesting...spirits. Angels? Demons? The stuff we tend to think of when we think of magical conjuration. So you strip down, spritz yourself with spring water, put on your nicest robe blessed by a priest, pull out your sword consecrated at Mass, put on your crown burn your incense, and sonorously intone in your most beautiful voice all the glorious invocations of God and all the most heinous and intense curses which command the spirits, and no body answers.

 There could be a few reasons why. One possible question we could ask to find one solution is “who are you that they feel they should answer?” Spirits aren't all just functional manifestations that run automatically like computer programs when the right buttons are pushed. They aren't anthropomorphized externalizations of internal mental and emotional concepts. They are spirits. They don't have the same sort of conscious will as humans, but they are still aware individual beings. Now there are some people that take the view that when Iamblichus describes spirits who aren't very bright and are easily tricked by magicians, that these spirits are the demons of the grimoires, and so a magician dressing like a child playing at being King Solomon is enough to trick them into thinking you're Solomon. Others might take the view that angels obey magicians because God says so, and demons do because man is above them in the hierarchy. There are lots of philosophical and cosmological explanations, and some of them can work well, but it remains that the interactions don't always run perfectly, so spirits clearly have some wiggle room, even if they don't have full freedom in the matter.

So, the spirit isn't answering so you ramp up your use of names of God. But do the names belong to you? Do you have the power to use them. Think of more modern vampire movies...the clumsy would be hero tries to stop the vampire with a cross or religious relic, and the vampire laughs it off because the hero, being your average modern person, has no real faith in the spiritual power behind the symbol. The spirits obey the names but you have to be in a position to actually use them. A large part of grimoiric magic comes from the sacramental rite of exorcism, in which the exorcist by virtue of names and signs calls upon divine power to command spirits. The exorcist however had to be spiritually fit and in a state of sacramental grace to make use of the names with any efficacy. So the exorcist had to attend confession, make prayers to prepare themselves, and preferably attend Mass prior to the exorcism. Liber Juratus has this same admonition to attend Mass. Most grimoires require a period of spiritual purification, the use of psalms to prepare and consecrate oneself, and various prayers found in the grimoires to that bring about that effect as well. So you need to be spiritually fit and able to connect to the power of the names. This doesn't necessarily mean being a good Christian. In the case of some of the PGM rituals it might mean being initiated into a mystery tradition, or having done a magical ritual to give you access to the powers behind the names. In the grimoires it might just mean having a certain spiritual steadiness and balance while accessing some authentic understanding of a spiritual power behind the divine names or the thwarting angels. As you explore these systems you can find what this readiness means to you, and the more in touch with it you become the better your results will be.

There is another element which might help in addition to this readiness, and we find it referenced in the PGM, as well as hinted at, or maybe expressly present, in some of the grimoires. The idea of an intermediary spirit, or a spirit who helps connect you with other spirits. Now, calling it an intermediary spirit kind of pigeonholes this function, when in reality several systems have several ways of filling this helping and idea, and they're not all precisely by using go-betweens. To illustrate the essential idea though. If you didn't like something Microsoft was doing, and you walked into a board meeting and told them to design some new software that fit your needs better, they would be confused as to who you were and why you were there, and they probably wouldn't listen. If you were friends with Ted Turner, and Ted called up Bill Gates, and Bill called the board and said “Hey, Johnny Magician is a cool guy, he needs this software, can you help him he'll call you tomorrow about it” then they'll be expecting you and know you're someone they should listen to.

The PGM presents this idea in various rituals having to do with acquiring a daimon or a spiritual assistant. In the NeoPlatonic worldview this was a spirit who wasn't quite a human spirit and wasn't quite a divine spirit, but it could go between human theurgists and the gods and carry prayers and offerings up and blessings an assistance down. In a more magical context it could go about and accomplish things for the magician and it could help the magician in calling upon gods and spirits in other spells to aid in his work.

In The Testament of Solomon St. Michael the Archangel comes to Solomon and delivers a ring which imparts divine grace and wisdom upon Solomon allowing him to command spirits. The demons are commanded by angels, but the ring and the spiritual presence which accompany the ring give Solomon the authority over the demons and probably also make the angels obedient to him, even though we don't ever see him needing to make use of the angels. In Solomonic grimoires this same presence, essentially the Holy Spirit, is sometimes called upon by magicians to grant the power and authority to command the spirits. In such an example we could look at either the angel, or the Holy Spirit as functioning somewhat as an intermediary spirit, however we could also look at the presence of the Holy Spirit as simply initiatory in nature if it were taken as a permanent presence.

The Abramelin presents this idea with the Holy Guardian Angel. The magician goes on vacation, and brings back an angel! Or...more honestly, the magician cloisters himself in an ever increasing devotional ceremony of prayers, culminating in an intense period of prayer and meditation at the end of which his Holy Guardian Angel appears. The angel teaches him magic and as part of teaching him magic aids him in conjuring the Demon Kings, and then all demons subordinate to them, and subordinate to their subordinates, and so on, and eventually including familiar spirits granted to him. He is then by the agency of his angel able to call upon these demons without the trappings of a ritual magician and make them do things they have sworn to do. He can start with his familiars and if they can't do something they will refer him to the proper demon to do it. So he has both the angel and his series of familiars to assist him in navigating the spirit world. The Golden Dawn and Crowley kind of took this idea and worked it into a variant of the Pentacostal initiation of the Holy Spirit we referenced above, but even in their approach the Holy Guardian Angel teaches you magic and helps you command spirits. In fact the Stele of Jeu from the PGM, which was an exorcism of spirits, was reworked by the Golden Dawn, and moreso by Crowley, to make it into an invocation of this angelic presence. One of the key adaptations is replacing the exorcism language with language directed at making spirits and magic subservient to the magician.

Liber Juratus takes an approach that is similar to the Abramelin, but taken in a direction again more like this baptism of the Holy Spirit kind of view. The magician engages in a spiritual retreat to achieve the beatific vision, or the vision of the face of God. By achieving this the magician then gains the authority to command the spirits and do the magic described in the grimoire. In this case it is not so much an example of use of an intermediary spirit but rather creating that spiritual rightness by which the power of divinity can be accessed. Juratus also seems to take an approach that the angels and the magician share in a love for the divine and this is why the angels are willing to work with the magician. Achieving the beatific vision is a reflection of this state of grace, or perhaps a cause of it.

Maybe we don't groove on all this Catholic type angel helper stuff. Maybe we want something more down to earth? In sorcery traditions part of the initiation is accessing a connection to the spiritual powers of the ancestors of the house into which you are initiated. In witchcraft you are born into the bloodline of your ancestors and therefore you are born with a connection to their spiritual presence. These spirits therefore are able to serve as your intermediaries. They help make introductions for you in the spirit world. They can help exert spiritual force when needed to help keep a spirit on board with doing whatever they agreed to do. They can help protect you from spirits who are taking advantage of the opportunity to work in the world that you are giving them in ways which might have otherwise been disadvantageous for you. So your dead, again, those guys you're feeding at your devotional altar, are a whole crew of spirits ready to vouch for you in the spirit world, and who other spirits know have your back if things go sideways.

Witches also often keep fairy or other kinds of spirit familiars who help teach them magic and accomplish magic for them. These spirits can also work as intermediaries to help call other spirits, and help leverage agreements with them. On the point of witches and sorcerers, we also have forest spirits and crossroads spirits who give power and grant access to familiars and to spirits. In European witchcraft this spirit is the Witches' Devil, who contrary to popular modern opinion, is not precisely Lucifer and has nothing to do with fallen angels. Rather this black spirit makes an agreement with the witch and teaches the witch magic. He can be met in the forest under a tree, at the cross roads, or at night at the steps of a church. He is sometimes described, and depicted in artwork, as cavorting with the witches and participating in magical rituals with them. Frisvold describes a similar spirit in the forests of Trinidad in his book Obeah: A Sorcerous Ossuary. The forest power of obiya is granted by these spirits who inhabit the forest, or the wild natural places, therefore a place with a power similar to that liminal power of graveyards and crossroads in that it is a place not fully held by society and it is a place containing some uncertainty. The spirits he describes remind me very much of the Witches' Devil.

Like the devils of witchcraft and Obeah, Vodou has Papa Legba. Legba is a crossroads spirit who either grants permission of denies permission of the person approaching him to speak with the Loa and other spirits. In Santeria Elegua also connects to the crossroads and grants access to spirits. Now I am not suggesting that you begin all your grimoire conjurations with an offering to Legba and Elegua, or by making a call to the Witches' Devil, but these traditions which present a more living view of conjure work all involve some intermediary to work with spirits. Even looking back to Europe we have Hecate, and Mercury at the crossroads and able to grant access to magic and spirits, and to move between this world and the underworld.

So maybe the grimoire work needs to work with gatekeeper spirits too. Fortunately the grimoire tradition has a few of these. Oriens, Egyn, Paymon, and Amaymon, are the Kings of the Four Directions and they grant access to this world by the spirits who reside within each of their directional kingdoms. They sometimes appear in lists of demons, but are also often listed elsewhere. They are terrestrial rather than infernal, and have infernal, aerial, and celestial spirits to whom they accord. They clearly stand in conjunction with this world, at the spokes of the cross roads, each one ruling the vertical crossroads between spiritual worlds. They are a little different than the basic idea of an intermediary spirit in that there are four of them, and they don't feature in the grimoires as being called upon before calling other spirits. Some magicians think you shouldn't ever conjure them directly, some think you can start at the bottom of a hierarchy and work up to them, some think you should start with them and work down. Maybe working with your intermediary spirit...you're spiritual assistant, your Holy Guardian Angel, you might under the presidency of the angel connected to the King and make yourself known to the king, maybe share some offering, and create an awareness of who you are so that when you call spirits from the direction he rules you can reference the king if need be in calling the spirit. In addition to name dropping the king also you have the gatekeeper willing to open the gate so your spirit can be drawn to manifestation.

Start slow though. Keep feeding your ancestors. Talk with them about what you're going to be working on. Get them to sign on with helping you out with your conjure work. Just lighting some candles and leaving some candy and whiskey on an altar doesn't mean they're going to jump in and help with specific things you want. Talk with them about your life, and talk specifically about the work you plan to do and the help you want from them. When your ancestors are on board, pick what kind of intermediary you want. Do you want the spiritual assistant from the PGM? Do you want to work with the agathodaimon? Do you want to do devotional work to the Holy Sophia and draw on the Holy Spirit, or turn to the cults of the Saints and honor a saint related to spirits and magic? Saints like Cyprian, or Nicholas, or Benedict, or perhaps Joan of Arc, even St. Peter as the Gatekeeper could be an option. Maybe you want something more naturalistic and you do want to find a way to incorporate the witches devil or a crossroads spirit into your work. Maybe look at religions local to your environment and find what spirit locally served that purpose and make propitiation to him or her before your rituals. Or maybe you want to go all in with the grimoire approach as seen in the Post-Golden Dawn world and do the Abramelin working, get in contact with your Holy Guardian Angel, and work with him or her as part of your conjure work. Once you have your friend at the center of the crossroads, then maybe incorporate the kings, and see if your calls get answered more clearly.

You have options. Quite literally a world of options since there are so many variants of this idea from so many places. Poke around, find yours, fit it to your work. 

I Got 99 Problems and Mercury Ain't One

So, my favorite time a year is when Mercury is retrograde, and by favorite, I mean, I hate watching all the posts about people dealing with Mercury being retrograde.

The influences of the planets are based on movements, proximity, and relationships. So while Mercury may appear to go backwards it doesn't really travel backwards, so nothing really changes in its movement. Position is the main thing that comes up in how the planets and stars relate, there are some key movement based elements, but retrograde motion has never struck me as a particularly important one.

But, whether I believe in the impact of retrograde motion or not doesn't necessarily impact whether you do or not. So maybe it's a problem you need to resolve. Or maybe you just need to create a beneficial Mercurial presence in your life.

Currently, Mercury, Jupiter, and the Sun are all in the sign of Virgo. Virgo has a lot of influence right now with such a stellar cast of characters hanging out in her neighborhood. So we can use this to our advantage.

Mercury is exalted in Virgo, meaning that in Virgo Mercury is in its optimum position, it is able to impart its effects without being hampered by contrary astrological effects. Not only is Mercury exalted in Virgo, but double whammy of awesome, Mercury rules Virgo. So even without the exaltation Virgo would be a positive position for Mercury adding to its ability to impart a harmonized Mercurial force. So with Mercury currently in Virgo we have a pretty good position to work from.

But...we're concerned with Mercury having issues because of the retrograde motion.

The Sun is also in Virgo. The sign the Sun is in reflects the outer appearance of things which occur during that time. So the Sun in Virgo will impart the essential elements of Virgo in a balanced visible fashion. Sun in Virgo indicates exacting attention to detail, a grounded nature, and dutiful execution of specific tasks. When taken into the realm of communication this ties back to clear precise communication.

The Sun in general represents aligning, and balancing things, and ordering them to their true purpose. It is the central force which organizes the planets along their rotations. It positions them and therefore is directive of the ordered exposition of their luminescence. So the Sun acting in relation to Mercury works to correct the manifestation of Mercurial force.

Now, we noted Jupiter is also hanging out there in Virgo. We don't need too much focus on the Jupiterian presence here. Jupiter in Virgo, as we discussed recently, diminishes Jupiter's ability to create prosperity. But, when we discussed the Homeric Hymn of Mercury, Mercury was kind of running around like crazy trying to get himself situated (retrograde), he stole Apollo's (Sun) bulls (an animal associated at times with Jupiter) and so Jupiter interceded, and gave position and power to Mercury and set Apollo on instructing and directing Mercury. So the story here, while it reflects Jupiter's detriment in Virgo, it also reflects the situation we're dealing with. Mercury isn't behaving how we want, but a relationship with Jupiter and Sol fixes Mercury's motion. So the current positioning gives us the tools we need.

In classical and medieval magic a common way of dealing with astrological elements was to apply a talisman made under and reflecting favorable astrological conditions. Today we call this “Scholastic Image Magic” in the renaissance and middle ages it was called telesmatics, Persian Image Magic, Arabic Image Magic, or signs were referred to as Hermetic Images and other similar names. Often this is treated as a form of non-addressative magic, meaning it did not involve rituals or spirits. You simply made the talisman under the right astrological influences and the celestial rays present at the time of construction were sealed within the talisman so that it could be applied in situations where people needed those influences, or so that it could draw in or ward off things based upon the image and the celestial rulership.

We do have several examples which show addressative forms of image magic in renaissance, late medieval, and even in some middle eastern texts. In these addressative forms talismans were made under correct conditions and rituals or prayers were included. Our example today can be done either way depending upon your preferred way of working.

The talisman should be made with dual rings encircling it. In the outer ring should be the names associated with the sign of Virgo since that is where everything is occurring. In the inner ring should be the names and seal of the Sun since we want the influence of the Sun to align the planetary force of Mercury. The name for the Mercurial archangel can appear within the talismanic image since that is the focus of the image. We will not include a Jupiterian name because it's not primarily the force we want to be working with, we just kind of want a nod to the Jupiterian presence and it's ability to add beneficence to the direction of Mercury.

The image in the center should be of Mercury as the Messenger; he should hold a bull by the neck, similar to in a Mithraic tauroctony image. Above should be the Sun, below should be the name of the Mercurial archangel.

Virgo names: Hamaliel (Archangel), Ceres (Greek Divinity), Vav Yod, Heh, Heh, (astrological banner)

Solar Names: Raphael (Archangel), Och (Olympic Spirit), Apollo (Greek Divinity), ELVH (Divine Name)

Mercurial Angel: Michael

The seals for Raphael, Michael, and Och can be found in the Magical Calendar.

If we are making the seal without addressing any spiritual powers we simply construct the seal while these planets are still in the sign of Virgo. Sunrise or Noon being the best times of day.

You can add ritual components by consecrating your space and materials through whatever openings, invocations, and purifications you feel are appropriate. Psalms from the Greater Key of Solomon might make sense. Openings from the Chaldean Oracles. A prayer to your Holy Guardian Angel or to the Architect of Creation. Any of these could be used.

If we want to move closer to addressative magic add the appropriate Orphic Hymns. While writing the names for Virgo use a Hymn to Persephone. While doing the Solar ring a Hymn to Apollo or Helios. While doing the inner image a Hymn to Hermes while drawing him and a Hymn to Zeus while drawing the bull.

You could further consecrate the talisman by using a conjuration of the Archangel Michael or the Olympic Spirit Ophiel and explaining the powers you would like imparted into the talisman.

You have a lot of options.

My intention here was more to give a framework than a set ritual to use. If you try making a talisman let me know how it goes in the comments!

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Conjuring Prosperity in a Less Prosperous Time

Conjuration of Bariel Contra VirgoFr. RS

The table of practice should be set with a scrying crystal, four candles for the directions, and one for the divine presence. There should be a chalice of wine, a wand, a dagger, and a blank tile of wax or wood. The Seal of Solomon is present, along with a seal for Michael, and for Hameliel. There are also seals for Adnachiel, and Bariel and any seal or talisman for the work intended. There should be water, an incense burner, temple incense, and saffron incense. The magician should have his robe and lamen, and anointing oil.

Prior to entering the ritual space strip naked and bathe.

Anoint your head, lips, and heart in holy oil and say:

“There is water in water, there is fire in chrism.”

Put on your robe and pray:

“Ancor, Amacor, Amides, Theodonias, Anitor, by the merits of your Angel, Oh Lord, I will put on the Garments of Salvation, that this which I desire I may bring to effect: through You the most holy Adonai, whose kingdom endures for ever and ever. Amen.”

Light the candles on the altar and pray:

“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”

Then sprinkle the water and trace the downward pointed triangle in each quarter and over yourself while saying: First then the priest of fire must sprinkle the lustral water of the loud resounding sea.

Take up the candle and make the upward triangle followed by a cross in each quarter and over yourself while saying: Then when all the phantoms have vanished you will see that holy and formless fire that darts and flashes in the hidden depths of the universe.

Place the temple incense on the burner.

Raise the chalice of wine

Oh great and blessed N. my Holy Guardian Angel, vouchsafe to descend from your holy mansion which is Celestial, with your holy Influence and Presence, into this cup of ecstasy, that I may behold your glory; and enjoy your society, aid and assistance, both now and for ever hereafter. O you who are higher than the fourth heaven, and who knows the secrets of Elanel. You who rides upon the wings of the winds and is mighty and potent in your Celestial and superlunary motion, descend and be present I pray; and I humbly desire and call upon you. That if ever I have merited your society or if any of my actions and intentions be real and pure & sanctified before you bring your external presence hither, and converse with me your pupil, by and in the name of the great god YHVH, where unto the whole choir of heaven sings continually: O Mappa la man Hallelujah. Amen.

Drink the wine.

Hold up the Seal of Solomon in the left hand, take the dagger and hold it to the seal of Michael.

In the name of Adonai Tzvot, Lord of Hosts, Throne of Thrones, by the seal of God given to Solomon, I call upon the archangel Michael to hear my command. Withhold from this rite, from my work, and from my intentions on this day the forces of Mercury and its influence.

Place the dagger upon the seal of Hameliel.

In the name of Adonai Tzvot, Lord of Hosts, Throne of Thrones, by the seal of God given to Solomon, I call upon the archangel Hameliel to hear my command. Withhold from this rite, from my work, and from my intentions on this day the forces of Virgo and its influence.

Take the dagger and make a cross above both seals.

By the sign of the cross I seal my work this day against the the powers of Mercury and Virgo that they may not diminish or bring detriment to the forces which I shall here and now call upon.

Turn over the seals of Hameliel and Michael.

With the dagger etch the geomantic sign of Acquisitio on the tile.

By Adonai Tzvot, Lord of Hosts, send the Holy Angel Adnachiel that the light of the Archer strengthen and fortify the power of Jupiter.

Uncover the Seal of Bariel and any seals particular to the work being done. Replace the dagger and take up the wand. Place the saffron incense on the burner. Touch the seal of Bariel with the wand and pray:

O Jove much-honored, Jove supremely great,
To you our holy rites we consecrate,

Our prayers and expiations, king divine,
For all things round thy head exalted shine.
The earth is thine, and mountains swelling high,
The sea profound, and all within the sky.
Saturnian king, descending from above,
Magnanimous, commanding, sceptered Jove;
All-parent, principle and end of all,
Whose power almighty, shakes this earthly ball;
Even Nature trembles at thy mighty nod,
Loud-sounding, armed with lightning, thundering God.
Source of abundance, purifying king,
O various-formed from whom all natures spring;
Propitious hear my prayer, give blameless health,
With peace divine, and necessary wealth.

I conjure and confirm upon you, you strong and holy angels, by the names Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Eschercie, Escherei, Eschercie, Hatim, Ya, strong founder of the worlds; Cantine, Jaym, Janic, Anic, Calbot, Sabbac, Berisay, Alnaym; and by the name Adonai, who created fishes and creeping things in the waters, and birds upon the face of the earth, flying towards heaven, in the fifth day; and by the names of the angels serving in the sixth host before Pastor, a holy angel, and a great and powerful prince and by the name of his star, which is Jupiter, and by the name of his seal, and by the name of Adonai, the great God, Creator of all things, and by the name of all the stars, and by their power and virtue, and by all the names aforesaid, I conjure you, Sachiel, a great Angel, who is chief ruler of Thursday, and Bethor, Holy Spirit of the Firmament given to rule the regions of Jupiter, and Adnachiel angel of the Constellation Sagittarius that you will bring forth the manifestation of Bariel, spirit of Jupiter that he might appear in this crystal and serve and labor in all my requests!

Make your requests of Bariel, and ask any questions you have. When you have finished give the license to depart.

Bariel, spirit of Jupiter, under the authority of Sachiel, aided by Adnachiel, who all serve the same Lord I serve, united in this bond, go forth and fulfill our work together and then return to your abode, peacefully, and return to me in friendship when we are called by the Lord to work together again.

Extinguish the candles, let the incense burn out and quit the temple. 


If you try this out I would love comments with your results. Also  if you liked this post, please share and like us on Facebook

Rocket to Jupiter: Improving your work with the Powers of Prosperity

Over the last several years Jupiter has become an exceedingly popular force, either divine or planetary, for modern magicians. Jupiter was always a good go to as an exemplar for magical groups showing a ritual template or talking about work to do because most Jupiterian qualities are pretty positive. But it's really been of late that people are immersed in and excited about Jupiter as a primary force to drive them to working more magic and focusing that magic around a structure.

This is great, it adds a realism and a drive towards hands on magic. It's something that wasn't there as much before. This has been one of the big improvements in modern magic which seems to come from the work of folks like Jason Miller, and Rufus Opus and the Gentlemen of Jupiter. People have joked that they are the preachers of the prosperity gospel of magic. They focus on magic as a way to improve lives so that once people's lives are in order they can focus on the bigger stuff. It's a great approach and it gets people actually doing the work instead of sitting on the side lines.

I don't know a ton about what the Gentlemen of Jupiter did, Rufus tried to get me to join, but it was during my period of being semi-retired. All I can say though is the work they've done has epically changed the culture of modern magic.

That said, the focus on prosperity work only works when said prosperity work works. Or, even better, when it works better.

Recently I was thinking about some astrological components of prosperity magic. I haven't done a lot of it lately, but I know for a lot of people things have not been as prosperous as they would like. Business is slow for me and a lot of my coworkers, a lot of people I know have had a lot of financial fires to put out. Some have turned to magic.

One friend mentioned having done some work for a friend having financial troubles and acquiring the money needed to cover some stuff. Another friend had some more interesting results. She did a big Jupiter rite with some people, and only got a nominal raise at work. But then, online, dudes on dating sites started offering her money for her company. She was not going to take them up on it. It was a result, but not the result she wanted.

For a lot of people stuff like this is what they've been getting. Weird, patchy results.

See, the thing with Jupiter, is Jupiter isn't for that. Jupiter is for the new job, the lucrative marriage, the raise, the steady stream of clients, or the small handful of very good very productive client relationships, the big raise with the new office...prosperity, fecundity, stability. A flowing stream to make your soil fertile, not a quick bucket to hold back a roaming fire.

That said, results are good, I'm proud of my friends who did magic and got some result. But there is a reason their results and those of others don't look like Jupiter. The answer, is Mercury.

August 2015 Jupiter entered Virgo. It will leave Virgo September 2016. In Virgo Jupiter is in detriment which reduces or reverses its power. Think back, from August 2015 through now, how has your prosperity work with Jupiter looked, or in general, are there things which would have provided prosperity that didn't, or which did, but could have provided more? The specifics of how it will have affected your life will depend upon elements of your birth, but how it impacts magic will have a little more consistency.

In both examples given above the people working were able to get small amounts of money, one was able to help someone resolve some specific problems, the other one was able to get a raise so in name they got what they asked for but in essence they got nothing. They then got offers for more spurts and bursts of money, from guys wanting to spurt and burst.

When I was a kid, Mercury was my go to for money. Partially because of my personality at the time, and partially because I didn't want prosperity, I wanted money so I could keep my pocket just full enough to get what I wanted without having anything to hold me down or to care about. Mercury, is great for that, but not so great for sustained prosperity. Mercury also likes underground type of stuff, communication and connections, and moving from spot to spot, so, guys offering money for one night liaisons definitely could fall under mercurial ways to make money, particularly since the Mercurial exposure in this case is shaped by Virgo, or the Maiden.

Virgo involves being analytical, modest, shy, and grounded. So nothing big, nothing expansive.

Mercury, mythologically, is Jupiter's son who he left tucked away with his mother in a cave away from the gods. He wasn't like Zagreus, born to inherit his father's throne. He felt the need to scrape and steal for his father's attention and power. He proclaimed to his mother Maia that he would use whatever plan he could to get them what they need instead of leaving them alone and unfed in their cave without the wealth and prosperity of the gods. He had to be clever and scrappy, he even threatened to steal what they need if his plan didn't work. He talked about wanting the things Apollo had, and it was Apollo that he stole from to get their father Jupiter's attention.

In the end Jupiter, amused by his son's antics, granted him his place amongst the gods, but rather than taking him in and teaching and empowering him, he gave him lesser reflections of the powers and domains of Apollo.

The impact of Mercury's rulership of Virgo has a similarly diminishing effect on the powers of Jupiter while it transits Virgo. So while Jupiter and Mercury can both bring about money, and the Earthy nature of Virgo can relate to money, that Earthy nature also relates to grounding, and so the flowing prosperity implied by Jupiter's watery nature is grounded by the context of Virgo. The effusive expansive steady prosperity of Jupiter as providence is is stymied by the quick, changeable, catch as catch can nature of Mercury.

So if we want to do Jupiter magic while Jupiter is in Virgo. This ends soon, September 9^th. But it provides a good opportunity to talk about off setting astrological considerations in magic.

If we want to unbound Jupiter's effects from being diminished by Mercury and Virgo we need to address those elements. We could banish Mercury, or Virgo or both. We could invoke a zodiacal force more positive for our ends such as Sagittarius. You could potentially also invoke Sol, as Apollo was the intermediary between Jupiter and Mercury and solar force galvanizes natures. Directly banishing and invoking appropriate zodiacal forces makes more sense to me. Adding components to strengthen the Jupiterian force can help, such as using the planetary hour, or working when Jupiter is at its Zenith or Rising could work help, or working while Mercury is setting or while Mercury is at its nadir. Similarly you could select a time where Virgo is setting or at it's low point, or while Sagittarius is rising or at its zenith. Any option or combination of options that places the celestial powers in a position advantageous to your goal will benefit your result.

An alternative option would be if you had talismans, particularly astrologically charged talismans, formed under any of these conditions. For instance a mercurial talisman made with Mercury in detriment placed upside down upon the altar. Or a Jupiter talisman made while Jupiter is in a position of strength placed in a position of prominence on the altar.

Tomorrow I'll post a ritual that provides an example of this kind of astrological work, so make sure to like us on Facebook so you can follow along!