An Anniversary, A Book, and a World of Spirits

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge I haven’t blogged much over the passed year. That is because I was writing a book, _Living Spirits: A Guide to Magic in a World of Spirits_ that book is now complete and is available. So hopefully I’ll be blogging more soon. If you’ve enjoyed my blog in the past you’ll probably enjoy the book, so please order a copy. If you want more info, this post is actually going to talk about it a bit.

The late December/early January has presented the anniversaries of some cool posts.

Last January included a very popular post on faeries, and how the experience of work with the fair folk compares to taking opiates and having orgasms. We also explored the exploration of grave yards and alliances with the local dead.

December of 2017 we looked at the Catholic traditions surrounding the Three Kings in preparation for Epiphany, which occurred yesterday. We also explored the ongoing nature of the experience of Knowledge and Conversation, as opposed to the idea of doing it to check a box.

January 2017 also looked at the Holy Guardian Angel, with a very popular post about sex and the Abramelin retreat.

But our big January Anniversary was January 5^th 2017. That was when we posted the first post in our Beginning Conjuration series, an 8-part series introducing ways to interact with several types of spirits. The series was conceptualized as a sort of free mini-e-book serialized over 8 posts.

The topics presented were:

Recommended Books

Devotion

Scrying

Elementals

Intermediary Spirits

Angels and Demons

The Dead

The Fair Folk

People seemed to like the series. Some comments as people reposted it included:

“Comprehensive, and all around excellent, thematically linked series of blog posts on the subject of spirit conjuring by BJ Swayne. Enjoy.” – C. Degraffenreid

and

“Over the recent days, BJ Swayne has been making available a series of introduction to conjure magick posts that make the fundamentals of "DOING MAGICK" and "doing magick right" available to folks just getting into this thing, from the perspective of someone who gets it, whose done it, and who has reaped the rewards. He's one of my favorite magicians, and he's just giving this stuff away.” – Fr. Rufus Opus

The series was pretty cool, if I’m allowed to say that myself.

So cool that I thought, “I should expand this, tie it together more, flesh it out into something more workable and complete, people can read the short form for free and if they like it, an expanded form will be available to buy as a book.”

I ended up, accidentally, beginning the expansion January 5^th 2018, the anniversary of the release of the first post. December 25^th 2018 I published it as _Living Spirits: A Guide to Magic in a World of Spirits_.

So you might think “So you’re book is your blog posts?” Well, no it isn’t. I revised and expanded seven of the original eight posts as part of the project, significantly expanded, and added more ritual instructions. I also wrote a ton of new material, additional chapters, and four appendices for practical work.

The original project was about 25 typed pages, which would have been about a 40 page book. The final project was a book of over 350 pages.

Here is the table of contents. You can compare it to the list of the original 8 topics and also see if it sounds like stuff you’d find interesting.

I A Spirit Haunted World ........................................................................................11

II What Is Conjuration? ...........................................................................................17

III An Historical View of Conjuration .....................................................................21

IV Solomonic Magic: It’s History and Nature .........................................................33

V Devotion ................................................................................................................47

A Devotional Ritual: Installing an Image .................................................................53

VI Scrying ..................................................................................................................56

VII Ancestors ............................................................................................................61

VIII Elementals .........................................................................................................79

Conjuring the Elemental Spirits ...........................................................................85

IX Nature Spirits .......................................................................................................86

X Preparation, Charism, and Intermediary Spirits ..................................................96

XI The Holy Guardian Angel ............................................................................... 109

XII The Four Kings ............................................................................................... 119

A Conjuration for Asking Kings of the Cardinal Directions to Send a Spirit . 134

XIII Hekate ............................................................................................................ 139

Deipnon ............................................................................................................. 156

A Tiresian Necromancy of Hekate Based on the 1st Century Description by Statius ................................................................................................................. 161

XIV Angels and Demons ...................................................................................... 171

XV Aerial Spirits .................................................................................................... 184

Conjuration of King Arcan ................................................................................ 195

XVI The Olympic Spirits ...................................................................................... 198

XVII The Dead ..................................................................................................... 207

XVIII Fairies .......................................................................................................... 217

XIX Tying It All Together .................................................................................... 225

Offerings ............................................................................................................. 230

Spaces ................................................................................................................. 233

Not All Spirits are Good .................................................................................... 235

Protection ........................................................................................................... 236  First Appendix: Grimoire Spells ............................................................................ 239

Love Spell ........................................................................................................... 250

Money Spell ........................................................................................................ 253

Elimination Spell ................................................................................................ 256

Second Appendix: The Pentacles of Solomon...................................................... 259

Consecration of the Fifth Pentacle of Luna ....................................................... 265

Consecration of the Fifth Pentacle of Mercury ................................................. 270

Consecration of the Fifth Pentacle of Venus ..................................................... 275

Consecration of the Third Pentacle of Sol ........................................................ 281

Consecration of the Sixth Pentacle of Mars ...................................................... 287

Consecration of the Second Pentacle of Jupiter ................................................ 292

Consecration of the Fourth Pentacle of Saturn ................................................. 298

Third Appendix: Southern Conjure: A Practical Look at Spiritous Sorcery ....... 304

Petition papers .................................................................................................... 310

Powders and Oils ................................................................................................ 313

Candles ................................................................................................................ 318

Mojo Hands ........................................................................................................ 320

Sweetening Jars ................................................................................................... 322

Fourth Appendix: Two Group Rituals................................................................... 328

By Lamp and Water ........................................................................................... 329

A Feast for the Dead .......................................................................................... 346

Summation .......................................................................................................... 363

So maybe this wasn’t the most exciting return to blogging, but hopefully the trip down memory lane showed you some cool posts you may have missed and will enjoy.

If the book looks cool…please show support and buy a copy!

You can also follow the blog at Glory of the Stars on Facebook

You can follow announcements about the book at Living Spirits: A Guide to Magicin a World of Spirits, on Facebook

And you can hang out with lots of cool people and chat about magic in our Facebook group Living Spirits

New cool topical blog posts coming soon.

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…

Modern Solomonic Magic

A few years back I began occasionally presenting angel conjuration rituals at the local OTO body, William Blake Lodge. We mostly did a conjuration based on Mathers's Greater Key of Solomon but at one point I decided to experiment with using the Solomonic structure to create a conjuration based on Thelemic imagery.


Some participants found that the Thelmic imagery spoke to and inspired them more than the more traditional Kabbalistic imagery. Most reported that the spirit seemed to arrive but with kind of a "what are you even doing?" sort of feeling coming from the spirit until we began using divine and angelic names, at which point the spirit seemed in their perception to kind of "snap to" and pay attention more ardently. 

This result is interesting in that several people mentioned this impression to me, and if it is the case it would suggest that yes, our modern magical practices do invoke appropriate forces, but the classic ways do tend to exert control over the spirits as that is their nature. I do not know precisely what things people asked for or what they got, but people reported being happy with their results. 

I would love to hear what results people get from experimenting with this.

Thelemic Solomonic Evocation v.1

Fr. VH

Preparation of the Circle

Let the circle me marked out in salt, or chalk, or carved into the ground as described.

As the circle is drawn Liber Lapidis Lazuli is read.

Ablution

Once the circle is drawn all exit the space devest themselves of their street clothes, wash in spring water and abramelin oil and put on white EGC robes. As they wash they say:

“He that is righteous shall be righteous still, he that is filthy shall be filthy still, deem not of change: ye shall be as ye are & not other.” AL 2.57 - 58

Before using the water it is consecrated by tracing the symbol of water followed by the rose cross above it and imbuing it with light while saying:

“Aye! Feast! Rejoice!! There is no dread hereafter. There is the dissolution, and eternal ecstasy in the kisses of Nu.” AL 2.44

When this is accomplished all return to the temple and stand in the circle.

Consecration of the Circle

From the center of the circle let the Karcist recite before the altar, facing the high altar in the east:

“Oh circle of stars whereof our father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom time is ashamed, the mind bewildered, and the understanding dark. Not to thee may we attain unless thy image be love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke thee.

Then the priest answered and said unto the queen of space, kissing her lovely brows, and the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet smelling perfume of sweat. Oh Nuit, continuous one of heaven, let it be ever thus that men speak not of thee as one, but as none, and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous.”

Let one participant advance to the East. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Chaos. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Theoricus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Ra in Thy rising, even unto Thee who art Ra in Thy strength, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Uprising of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Night!”

Then let one participant advance to the South. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Psyche. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Philosophus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy triumphing, even unto Thee who art Ahathoor in Thy beauty, who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the Mid-course of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Morning!”

Then let one participant advance to the West. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Eros. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Practicus he will say:

“Hail unto Thee who art Tum in Thy setting, even unto Thee who art Tum in Thy joy, who travellest over the Heavens in Thy bark at the Down-going of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Day!”

Then let one participant advance to the North. He will visualize the pentagram in brilliant red within his mind and fling it out ending in the sign of the enterer and say Babalon. He will then make the sign of silence. Then, making the sign of the Zelator he will say:

“Hail unto thee who art Khephra in Thy hiding, even unto Thee who art Khephra in Thy silence, who travellest over the heavens in Thy bark at the Midnight Hour of the Sun.
Tahuti standeth in His splendour at the prow, and Ra-Hoor abideth at the helm.
Hail unto Thee from the Abodes of Evening.”

Then let each return to the center of the circle.

When all are at the center the Karcist shall make the rose cross above the altar and say:

“Now let there be a veiling of thise shrine: now let the light devour men and eat them up with blindness.” - AL 2.14

After this pause for a space and contemplate the presence of the divine light.

Invocation of the Highest

Let the Karcist face the East and invoke the Holy Guardian Angel with these words:

“In the sphere I am everywhere the centre, as she, the circumference, is nowhere found.” AL 2.3

“I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. ‘Come unto me‘ is a foolish word: for it is I that go.”

“IO IO IO IAO Sabao Kurie Abrasax, Kurie Mithras, Kurie Phalle, IO Pan, IO Pan Pan, IO Ischuros, IO Athanatos, IO Abrotos, IO IAO, Kyrie Phalle, Kyrie Panphage, Kyrie Pangenetor, Hagios, Hagios, Hagios, IAO”

“I adore thee in song

I am the Lord of Thebes, and I

The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;

For me unveils the veiled sky,

The self-slain Ankh-af-na-knonsu

Whose words are truth, I invoke, I greet

They presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit!

Unity uttermost showed!

I adore the might of Thy breath,

Supreme and terrible God,

Who makest the gods and death

To tremble before Thee: -

I, I adore thee!

Appear on the throne of Ra!

Open the way of the Khu!

Lighten the ways of the Ka!

The ways of the Khabs run through

To stir me or still me!

Aum! Let it fill me!

The light is mine; its rays consume

Me: I have made a secret door

Int o the House of Ra and Tum,

Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.

I am thy Theban, O Mentu,

The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!

By Bes-na-maut my breast I beat;

By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.

Show thy star splendour, O Nuit!

Bid me within thine House to dwell,

O winged snake of Light, Hadit!

Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!”

Conjuration

“0. Deeper and deeper into the mire of things! Farther and farther into the never-ending Expansion of the Abyss.
1. The great goddess that bendeth over the Universe is my mistress; I am the winged globe at her heart.
2. I contract ever as she ever expandeth;
3. At the end it is all one.
4. Our loves have brought to birth the Father and Creator of all things.
5. He hath established the elements; the aether, the air, the water, the earth, and the fire.
6. He hath established the wandering stars in their courses.
7. He hath ploughed with the seven stars of his Plough, that the Seven might move indeed, yet ever point to the unchanging One.
8. He hath established the Eight Belts, wherewith he hath girdled the globes.
9. He hath established the Trinity of Triads in all things, forcing fire into fire, and ordering all things in the Stable Abode of the Kings of Æ.
10. He hath established His rule in His kingdom.
11. Yet the Father also boweth unto the Power of the Star 418 and thereby
12. In his subtlety He expandeth it all into twelve rays of the Crown.
13. And these twelve rays are One.” Liber ARARITA 6:0-13

By Eheieh and Metatron we stir the world, by Yah and Ratziel we move thee forth, by YHVH Elohim and Tzafkiel we receive thee! By the name EL! We call and command thee Bariel! By the force of Tzadkiel we stir thee to action Bariel! By the presence of Sachiel we conjure thee with us Bariel! By the name of Iophiel we direct thee Bariel! By the hand of Hishmael thou art present Bariel! Hear our commands and answer our seeking, by the name of EL whose mercy is unending, by the name of EL from whom all gifts flow, by the name of EL, rich and fertile, by the name of EL whom you hold dear, we command you rightly.

All make their requests of the spirit.

License to depart

By the name of EL go forth Bariel and see to this work. Travel swiftly and in peace that you may succeed, and come again quickly when you are called. By EHIH, YAH. YHVH ELOHIM, and EL go forth and fulfill your commands!

Untying that hand from behind your back

Sometimes people argue about the superiority of modern magic versus traditional magic with the end that one must be exclusive of the other. I've often found in life that if someone wants to tell me that I can only be connected with them to the exclusion of others I want to be connected to, unless they have a good reason, it doesn't play out best to go with the one demanding exclusion. Unfortunately in the case of magic it's often both sides that want to shit on the other side.

In my experience though the best magicians have tool kits with multiple deep pockets. They don't dabble and they don't appropriate. They dive deeply into multiple streams and as a result can utilize the appropriate tool with an understanding of it's context and proper use. With that in mind, there is room for modern and traditional methods of magic.

A lot of the methods of modern magic provide simple quick solutions to small things, and they're enriched by the knowledge and experience traditional magical work provides. I do find that over the years I have grown to rely more and more on traditional systems of magic to provide a more complete system and worldview. Modern magic, however, provides the skills needed for traditional magic, and helps create the spiritual development needed for traditional magic. In fact, many of the magical orders responsible for developing the modern methods of magic structured themselves exactly for that purpose.

The problem, however, is that sometimes modern magic leads people to ideas that cause them to stall out and go nowhere. Some of this is because of shitty books and poor education, some of it is due to misunderstanding, and some of it is just due to bad material being passed off as good. I don't want to get into the specifics of sources. I want to address some silly ideas, and I'm not going to get into ideology, but just some practices. I'm going to try to keep it to a limited number, probably two, that came up today.

1. Openings

So two different people brought up issues with this today. One of them was talking about doing the Lesser Key and claimed to have been doing it since they were young. The follow up to this statement was to ask people's preference for starting with the LIRP and ending with the LBRP versus starting and ending with the LBRP, because of course, she's always started and finished with these because, research shows that's why they exist.

Another friend was asking about how to do the Merkavah stuff I posted yesterday. He asked about what to open with and similar questions, which at first left me with a sense of “huh, what are you even talking about?” Then it DAWNED (bad pun) on me what his background was. So it was reasonable that he was asking since that's how he learned to do magic. His go to was immediately the LBRP, LHR, etc. but those clearly had nothing to do with this system.

The problem here is that the Golden Dawn system assumes that these rituals, and the rest of the system, are a framework into which everything fits. That's just not remotely the case. When people really examine these rituals, the way they fit into the Golden Dawn system, and their effects, along with notes from the original practitioners of the system their purpose becomes pretty clear. Unfortunately they're often left to the level of examination which stops with “Well, the Knowledge lecture said to do this” or “Donald Michael Kraig said that.”

These rituals are awesome in that they're part of the road to making you awesome. They form the basis of a star lit path leading to the inner sanctum. They just aren't the inner sanctum itself. These rituals deal with the relationship between your subtle body and the LVX. Certain ones deal with the light in the form of the point, or the concentration of the soul of the magician, in other cases they deal with the light in extension, or radiance, the divine interaction between the soul and the harmony of the universe. This is why they are part of the daily practice of the developing magician at various phases in his development, because they are built to catalyze that development. They are not however particularly effective as banishings or openings, despite the fact that they provide formulas which hint at how a proper magical ritual, including banishings and openings, should be structured. In fact, that's the extent of their real applicable worth in conjunction with the Solomonic tradition, they provide a skeleton on the conceptual structure used in some forms of Solomonic magic.

So, what does a ritual begin with? First, ablution, or cleansing, primarily of the magician. This can involve prayers, rituals, fasting, but most basically it needs to involve washing, and usually, changing your clothes.

After this, you'll have some opening or establishment of the space, and possibly some cleansing of the space. Different traditions and different preferences may order these in different ways. You might have a general cleansing and then the consecration of the space, then maybe a more specific cleansing then an opening (this is the way I like to do things if doing a big ritual process). The opening, cleansing, and consecration might be all one ritual (the way I like to do things if doing a small ritual). You might dispense with the initial cleansing and just consecrate cleanse and open, you might cleanse consecrate and open, or your cleansing and consecration might be the same.

So what does each do and how? Again, different systems will have different expectations, and some systems won't need all this, but if you need it, you should probably at least match it to the system you're doing.

So the sparks notes version...

Cleansing (personal):

The idea - Wash away those things which are impurities. Unburden your soul. Assert your purity. Center yourself on yourself as a magician, competent and prepared for the work at hand. Remove those things which are not part of you being that.

Stuff to do – literally take a bath. Or maybe just wash your hands and feet, I like to at least wipe down the torso, pits, and junk. Spring water, holy water, or water with hyssop oil are good options. Change your clothes. Pray to be cleansed. Meditation, confession, anointing with oil or ash, and eucharistic practices can work well here too, as can rituals specifically intended as cleansing or purification rituals.

Pre-Cleansing Space:

The idea – if your space is not dedicated for magic it has a lot of other influences you might want to remove or reduce those before you even begin dedicating or opening the space for ritual

Stuff to do – sprinkle holy water. Clean up stuff that is in the way, distracting, or not part of your ritual kit. Burn some incense.

Consecrating the Space:

The idea – your ritual space is a connection between you as a divine operator within the universe (You as the local Demiurgos) and the universe as the substance of the divine harmony. The space is the fitting together of the divine puzzle pieces that are your soul and the cosmos. It is also the reification of the possibility that you can interact with the substance of creation and make changes to it's essence. The space is therefore both a demarked separation from the world around you an an encapsulation of the totality of your universe.

Stuff to do – Hold on a second and think about the awesomeness of the palpable encapsulation of your divine being united in harmony with the cosmos to create a singularity for the purpose of manifesting reality.

Stuff to do on a practical level – Physically mark out the space. Set up the appropriate elements representing this connection or this moment within the system being worked. Recite the appropriate prayers, petitions, charges, or calls for creating this spiritual presence within the space.

Opening/Cleansing:

The idea – this will have a lot more variance based upon the system being worked. These might be separated or combined. The cleansing removes spiritual forces that could be damaging for the magician or for his work. When combined the cleansing and opening may also have a component of activating divine or spiritual energy. The opening can be a statement of purpose, a defining of the work being done, or an initial prayer to begin the active part of the ritual. It may also be combined with the prayers to invoke the forces representing the world or part of the world being impacted, as well as the prayers for the presence of divine grace and authority within the magician. But again, this is all going to vary based on the system.

Stuff to do – prayers and incantations, gesticulations with ritual implements involving fire, water or incense, donning of ritual regalia. Again, variance based on the system at work.

The meat of it...

So then at that point, you'll get to whatever it is you're actually doing. Now again, this is one possible framework and you'll note that elements of it do match up to the framework asserted by the LBRP and similar rituals but the way in which they're performed will typically be dramatically different, and the LBRP has within it the meat, or the execution of its purpose.

2. Visualizing Spirits

This has always been a bit of a weird one to me, probably because when I was a kid when you dealt with spirits you dealt with spirits. A very common idea in modern magic coming out of the Golden Dawn however is that you visualize the spirits based on their correspondences and the strength of the visualization is part of how you strengthen the manifestation of the spirit being invoked. Each spirit has a series of attributes to be visualized based on their Kabbalistic correspondences and possibly the correspondences of the letters of their names.

All in all, it comes off a little contrived and doesn't fit most typical theories espoused in studying mysticism and magic, which reflect the idea that the visionary naturally sees the symbols which have been ingrained as part of his culture. He doesn't need to actively generate them in order to lead his vision somewhere. The vision should naturally occur as a result of the stimulus if the stimulus is actually present.

When I was involved with an order in which the leadership had all come from modern Golden Dawn orders they taught this as their standard method of invocation. Invocations were performed by viualizing the appropriate form, and then invoking Kabbalistic god-names to fill the form with power, and then “putting it on like a suit.” The idea was an attempt at “assuming a god-form” but it missed that in both Crowley and Regardie's descriptions of that Golden Dawn practice the magician engages in a very mystical attempt at invoking the actual force, not creating an astral construct. These same individuals also insisted that the Golden Dawn current was broken because it used Egyptian god-forms which were all used up and burnt out. They didn't consider that maybe this isn't how one invokes a spirit...

When you call a spirit you need to be aware and receptive to signs and perceptions which tell you the spirit is there. Maybe you'll see it, maybe you won't, maybe you'll feel it, maybe some characteristic of your environment will change, maybe it won't. Worry about doing the best damn job you can at calling the spirit, and worry about it getting done what it's been called for. Don't distract yourself with mental masturbation by trying to really get a forced visualization of some systematized details down. That's a mental exercise in memory and focused visualization, and those can be useful to magic, but don't let them distract you from the awesome experience that is actual magical contact with the fundamental forces of existence.

3. Get to know the system you're doing and it's spirits

So, your magic might not involve spirits...but either way, get to know the system. Really good magicians know the ins and outs of the systems they practice, the worldview, the traditions, the ideology and mythology, and variant ritual practices. It might not be the only system they use, but when they use it they do it with authenticity, or at the very least, with a firm grounding in the parts of it they're being influenced by.

Taking an unrelated framework and assuming that the universe really does fit into a series of folders in a magical filing cabinet and you can just substitute the appropriate cog to make your one size fits all machine work will not get you nearly as far as using the right tool in the right way. Yes, there are times when a framework and a piece will work well. If there are times though when you need to replace your piece with another equivalent piece from the same folder because the new piece will work better, then the pieces aren't equivalent, and so maybe they won't fit as well into the same gear works.

No one brought up this as a problem today, but it is just a glaring element of the modern one size fits all approach. It also makes it way easier to have rambling discordant series of symbols in a ritual that goes no where, since you're grabbing random cool pieces, and sometimes more cool pieces will be attractive than are actually needed or suited.

4. Trust your angel

Modern magic puts so much focus on Knowledge and Conversation, which is HUGELY important, and it's great that it gets a lot of attention in modern magic, but modern magic also often ignores that you should always be bros with your angel. Your angel is a huge part of your power and authority to do magic. Your angel isn't the only means of agency you have, but it's one of the primary and most important. Your angel is also your guidance. A lot of the basic rituals of modern ceremonial magic are intended to connect you to the forces that lead to a connection with your angel.

Often magicians feel like their angel is inapproachable, or has given up on them, or is too distant or uninterested because they aren't at that point in their work. The thing is, you're always at that point in your work. Your angel is there to be with you and lead you to the full manifestation of your Being. It wants to drive you and push you and help you succeed. So don't turn your back on it by assuming it's turned its back on you. Dive into as much of a relationship with it as you can have.

Anyway, those are some thoughts for avoiding some of the traps that are out there. Again, a lot of what modern magic has to offer is great, and really useful, and is suited to developing the practitioner of traditional magic. That doesn't mean it doesn't have points that can lead to confusion and stifling. Traditional magic is the same way. There are plenty of things out there that can easily be misunderstood, or which may not be complete and might therefore suggest something they don't mean.

All in all though these are some common mishaps I see that are easily avoided. And yeah, 2 became 4. But I expected something like that when I said two. You should also.