Modern Spirit Evocation Nathaniel Writes Working with Spirits trough to physical manifestation and material results.
2
Table of Contents Traditional ceremonial evocation versus modern magic evocation The Magician: an inflection point of emanation in Creation The requirement for a magical trance Occult structure and magical perception of Creation Calling Spirits forth and addressing them with Divine authority The Nature of Intelligences and manifestation into physical results Evocation versus Invocation and talismanic charging Epilogue
3
4
Traditional ceremonial evocation versus modern magic evocation
T
raditional ceremonial magic teach us two things about spirit evocation: that Intelligences will not do for the magician anything that the operator cannot do by himself, and that their action is subordinated and conditioned to the capacity of the magus to evoke them up to physical
manifestation. Whilst these two statements are certainly true, they are an encrypted representation – an analogy – of a deeper truth; so are the traditional circle and triangle of the art and the common, additional, paraphernalia. Once we experience their deeper meaning, we no longer need a staged and symbolic depiction of a ceremony to operate successfully. This book is aimed at advanced magicians and practitioners, regardless of their current or past successes with evocation. We will revisit the essence of the Art, how to summon a spirit to your presence, interact with the Intelligence, task It with a charge, and push It to manifest your command in your daily life and personal reality. You won’t need but a single tool for this – in the form of diligent dedication and the right knowledge, and maybe your daring to take yourself beyond your own boundaries. What I expect from you, the reader, is that you may be already familiar with the traditional rites around spirit evocation, including – as previously mentioned - the magical circle, the triangle of the Art, but the black mirror and spirit sigils as well. If this is not the case, you are probably rushing ahead of yourself; this book provides the key to effective magic evocation in a way that has never been disclosed before, but relies on you knowing what it is that has been said in times past. Should this not be the case, you would still get many benefits by proceeding to reading further, but I would certainly urge those who are not acquainted with Franz Bardon’s “Initiation into Hermetics”, and his “The Practice of Magical Evocation”, plus the Goetia of the Lemegeton (The Lesser Key of Solomon), to thoroughly study them, and in that particular order. This literature will give the student a solid foundation in Hermetics and an ample repertoire of sigils and spirit offices. A working knowledge of the Cabbalistic Tree of Life is also a distinctive advantage, although one that can be dispensed of for this particular topic; the familiarity with its sephirah and their functions helps with the nature and offices of their corresponding intelligences and inhabitants. Lastly, the ability – natural or acquired – to enter a trance state will be a key factor of this work. One that we will explore deeply, and even if you already possess this ability, please expect to work it further, diligently. We will dispense of creative imagination, visualisation and make believe. Those are not tools of magic, but of selfsuggestion and wishful thinking.
5
6
The Magician: an inflection point of emanation in Creation
A
s magicians, we are required to understand how we fit into Creation – without necessarily addressing the topic of the meaning of our existence, which could be debated intellectually for eons – and we would still sit afar from absolute, and even relative, truth. The reality is that we are not in a position to grasp the reason for our own incarnation, and our limited understanding of our experiences tightly depends on how open our consciousness is and where we have journeyed; there can never be a parity in dialog between people, when the topic is the sense of God and the purpose of Its Creation. What we do know is that Creation hosts us and holds every possible iteration of potentialities within its womb. We can also notice how human nature is flexible enough to incarnate and represent a myriad of different personalities alongside with their unique outcomes – providing evidence that we are all made of a common and universal substance that gives us the leeway to embody any given combination of divine aspects (whether we chose them or not is a different matter). Hence the old adagio of “being made at the image of God”: we have the potential to incarnate any of Its aspects. We can also perceive that despite our potential for limitlessness, we only impersonate a restricted account of these divine facets, which build up into shaping our personalities. Some postulate, and my experience strongly leads me to concur, that the stars under which we are born play a determining role in influencing both our characters and our fates. Others evoke an analogy with stem cells, which eventually specialize into specific functions – only at a cosmic level. As unique an emanation from the Divine principle, we shine into the universe an equally distinctive reality, together with its corresponding field of experience. Are these unique experiences solely spawn from ourselves, or are they born from forces that maintain Creation so that our reality matches with our personalities? Maybe – certainly -, both. Spirits and Intelligences are but individualized aspects of the Divine that express themselves wherever they are, and wherever they are charged to act (and be). We are born under the influence of some of them more than others, and depending on the activity of certain spheres in our fates, our lives will steer in unique directions, also affected by the influence of our subconscious selves on our realities, which actively contribute to shaping them through our character and more, via the Cabbalistic sphere of Yesod, the sephirot of Foundation. What the stars oblige us with is our Fate, what we do with it becomes our (personal) destiny. In the tale of our destiny we are allowed the use of limited free will during our waking consciousness, allowing us interaction with the manifested world; we may even produce a certain range of physical changes, bound to the laws of etheric cause and effect. Our waking consciousness is, however, unable to reach out to nonphysical realms and imprint intent in them – we cannot access pre-manifestation stages of reality and influence outcomes through sheer will – despite what modern literature tends to depict (classical Tradition never claimed that the magician’s will was a creational factor – intent and will power are two different faculties, and it is only recently with the over rationalization of contemporary times that we have forgot that we have more than will available to us). One of the powers of the magician resides in his/her ability to evoke an Intelligence he is interested in for Its 7
nature, in order to have It influence his own persona and/or reality. That is why Tradition says that the success of an evocation is bound to material manifestation, because the degree of the later correlates with the influence and space a spirit is given in order to be active in ourselves or within our realities. The latter is of critical importance: our realities are alike bubbles in the wider Creation. They may be transparent and see-through, but only selected forces are allowed in. One of the potential gateways is through ourselves as we stand in our reality through our feet, and with the ability to stick our head out of it, in the wider universe; we can then become a vessel that pulls the energy we choose to call into our reality or charge it to affect the grounds our reality stands on. As an inflection point in this process, the magician is required to call an Intelligence from this wider universe (which is, for him, a space of un-manifestation), and pull It there where It adds ups to the potentials that may be manifested into his reality. This is the true meaning of evoking into physical manifestation: it is not about seeing an Intelligence with physical eyes – since they don’t have an etheric of physical vehicle, but to pull them into the realm of our own, individual, realities or fields of consciousness, where they can manifest change according to their offices. We are the guardians and the facilitators of the kingdoms of our subjective experience, and most Intelligences will not interact with our realities unless there is a Divine instruction for it, or a direct action of ours to give them a physical space in them. This also explains why spirits are said to only give as much as the magician could obtain on his own – the boundaries reside with the operator’s ability to summon a given Intelligence, which translates into the primary requirement of being in a position to facilitate safe passage into one’s personal bubble of reality. The skill to call a certain entity correlates with the ability of the magician to travel to their original sphere and engage them, which is also the equivalent of developing a particular aspect of the Divine on one’s own character.
8
9
The requirement for a magical trance
A
magical trance is a necessity for spirit evocation that is overwhelmingly undervalued, when it is in actuality the corner stone and the key to an accomplished operation. The success criterion for such a trance are the ability to perceive and interact with the astral and mental planes – and their inhabitants – on one hand, and on the other, a strong phenomenoligic experience that does not live room to suggestion and invention. The end goal is to factually open oneself to subtle planes, from a physical starting point, so that all interactions may reflect on sensory feedback. Much emphasis has been put on creative imagination and visualization by pseudo practitioners who have failed to develop the skill to enter a refined trance state, and have no option but to resort to self-suggestion and fantasizing to hide away their limits and limitations. Let it be clear this is not magic. A magician needs to rely on perception, clear and distinctive, absent from wishful thinking and fantasy. The dissection of a magical trance can be easier to conceptualize with the assistance of modern neuroscience: the human brain is composed of multiple encephalons that stack on one another, each region being highly specialized; the frontal lobe and neocortex are the most modern additions to our brains and support social interactions as well as our waking, social perception of the world. The neocortex also generates a 40 hertz pulse that acts as a consciousness binding factor, confining our mental faculties to our physical skull. The first requirement for a magical trance is to shut down these areas, so that they don’t inhibit those that support spiritual and magical states of consciousness, and thus allowing us to start opening to realms beyond physicality. The next area of interest to us is the limbic brain, responsible for subcortical emotional and cognitive processes. The limbic brain of the left hemisphere supports language cognition (thoughts expressed in words) through structures closely related to the hippocampus, whilst the limbic brain of the right hemisphere, through its own hippocampus, supports non-verbal cognition, intuition, and spatial awareness.
The hippocampi are intricately linked to another structure, the amygdalae, responsible for core emotions that tie in our astral selves. When the left limbic brain is active, its right counterpart is inhibited and dormant, and vice versa. A particularity of an active right limbic brain (specifically the right hippocampus) is the production of theta
10
length brain waves, matching with the state we find ourselves in during sleep onset. A further requirement for a magical trance is to be able to shut down the left limbic brain – at least the hippocampal structure (which results in a silent mind), and activate the right hippocampus (resulting in the perception of an animated 3D void behind closed eyelids, an infinite space with texture that is navigable in all directions – up, down, left, right, front and rear). In other words, we need to learn to fall asleep whilst retaining consciousness, one that is not bound by verbal thoughts. This is, of course, what is sought after by meditation practices. The magical trance, however, is not limited to what happens in the brain: as we slim our consciousness to no longer be confined to our physical envelope, we need to be equally able to work with Akasha, the primordial energy of Creation. Here as well, we must rely on perception, and not on imagination. We all have felt Akasha: it is the same manifested energy of orgasm, that energy that grows, accumulates, travels and bursts in ourselves. During a magic trance, we need to be able to build up Akasha sourced from our surrounding environment, channel it through us and release it back into the universe, with a specific charge. Akasha responds to kinetic stimuli and is hampered down by a number of elements directly related to diet: fat, spices, garlic, and heavy meals in general will weight down and put Akasha to a still stop. If you recall traditional native ceremonies with shamans dancing and tapping their feet whilst in trance, they are actually moving Akasha around very efficiently – whilst their waking consciousness is noticeable contained. Breathing exercises in Yoga, kundalini raising, Sufi dancing, all pursue a similar goal and state of being. The challenge, of course, is to develop the necessary faculties to combine all of these elements. A very low fat, spice and stimulant free, wholefood diet where the body is never weight down by heavy digestion is a necessary requirement, but not sufficient to induce a proper trance (although once the skill developed, fasting may be all that hinders a trance). Some resort to physical exhaustion and prolonged sleep deprivation to heighten the chances of a spontaneous lucid sleep onset; whilst this can work with practice, along with the practices mentioned previously, the timing and results are difficult to control and the potential price, health wise, is unpredictable. The ideal path is to develop and nurture these skills and incorporate the ability of an Akashic and magical trance into our own faculties; the challenge is training these without prior knowledge of them, since for reasons that are out of the scope of this work, they are designed to be out of our reach. Nature provides us with a solution to both accessing a magical trance and developing the skills to do so willingly, over time, via entheogens. I have shared my experiences with Ayahuasca on a previous work (Enlightenment via Ayahuasca), which includes a working extraction and drinking protocol and a detailed walk through its life changing effects. I am in no position to condone the use of any other entheogen; I will stand for the fact Ayahuasca and its analogues are non-toxic, non-addictive and systematic facilitators to the wider and subtle realms. The presence of its active chemical and spiritual molecule, DMT, is spread around the world in the form of different species of plants – mainly Acacias-, and it is my suspicion that a substantial amount of registered religious and spiritual experiences during men history rely on their brews. Shamans of course are notorious for their use of entheogens, and a brew such as Ayahuasca may be the missing link between those who willingly walk between realities and those who are left with faith – and who, from their the lack of experience, need to resort to 11
suggestion, visualization, and imagination. My own experience tends to point to the fact that consistent use of Ayahuasca creates changes in the persona that allow us to walk this path progressively without resorting to any tools, as one becomes wiser, more powerful and familiar with the subtle planes. The brew becomes a fuel that breaks a passage into us; once done and the ways open, one can freely use one’s own Akasha for similar purposes – the only difference will be the intensity of the experience, directly linked to the amount of energy circulating in and around us.
12
13
Occult structure and magical perception of Creation
O
nce the magician has eased into a proper magical trance, there are rules to be observed regarding the subtle realms and how we operate in them. These directions mirror the traditional setup of a magical circle around the operator, representing the Universe and the Magician ruling in its centre, facing a triangle of the art – a symbol for manifestation -, where the Intelligence is called forth. In my previous book Enlightenment with Ayahuasca I described how the different spheres of the Cabbalistic tree of life may be accessed through precise gateways; whilst this is certainly essential to spiritual work and in order to navigate and understand the structure of the Universe, it is not a strict requirement for Spirit evocation. What is essential though, is to experience how we communicate, face and interact with both the wider universe and our manifested reality. I have gone through many of it in my work around True Manifestation, which I encourage the reader to carefully study, as it covers a significantly different but complementary topic to the one at hand (changes in personal reality versus changes in the Universe).
14
This is what you need to know to ensure successful operations in evocation: when standing erect, the area below our feet manifests our personal realities; these are a portion of the wider Universe that conform to our nature and facilitate the unfolding of our destinies and fates. We may influence this space by pouring change from the base of our spine area into it – this is where the Sphere of Yesod sits and channels the energy of every single sephirot into our realm of daily experience. Depending on the task at hand, some entities may chose this way to effect change: the difference with yourself bringing about Akasha is that you are directing the operation, as opposed to an Intelligence who takes control of your energy and controls the process – which may be all in all the purpose of your call: to either do your bidding in your behalf or to teach you the workings behind your request. Our whole back, when open, reaches out to the wider Universe (comprising all that is or that may be, with 15
every single potential available, active or dormant, and where all Entities come from when called forth). On the very top of our spine sits our Monad, with the faculty to act like a projector, propelling Akasha to the confines of the Universe. Facing front is where we find the potentials made available to us by the wider Universe: here are all the potentialities that can be used to actualize our realities that are at our reach (as opposed to those that sit behind us, in our back, which are out of our range). Being available does not mean they are manifested though – they only are when they reach the space below our feet. In the hierarchy of the Tree of Life, the higher the sphere (and therefore closer to Kether/the Divine), the more authority it has on anything below. The region of the “third eye” and the crown of the head are used to interact with Spirits and charge them with purpose, in such a manner they can only obey. In the majority of cases, they will use the Akasha we have charged ourselves with to perform their tasks. From a traditional perspective, the outside of the magical circle represents the wider universe (our back); the inside of the circle signifies our manifested reality (the space below our feet). The triangle of art stands for the potentials we bring forth (in front of us), commanded with Divine authority (the traditional sword, injunctions and names of God) through our higher spheres.
16
17
Calling Spirits forth and addressing them with Divine authority
A
fter the magician has initiated a trance, may this be in the fashion of his choice (through his own abilities or with the aid of a catalyst) and after having taken the necessary precautions to ensure his calls can reach out to the furthest corners of Creation (by observing a clean diet, paying attention to the thought forms that surround him that may interfere with the trance, etc…), the time to evoke comes when his Akasha flows unrestricted from toes (and below) to the tip of his head (and above). The Spirit to be evoked will have been researched – I have recommended Franz Bardon’s work and the Lemegeton as rich references sources-, the reader may also be interested in looking into Sthephen Skinner’s “The Complete Magician’s Tables”. The Intelligence sigil will have been drawn in a piece of paper. Acknowledging and using correspondences such as colours and materials, especially if the sigil is being engraved, makes it easier on the spirits – mismatches can incur in using elements contrary to their natures. Should the magician choose to work with a force that is not listed in the material mentioned above, he or she will need to visit spheres selected based on the nature of the effect that is sought after, and draw the Intelligence of choice forth. I have described how to reach out to all Spheres of the Tree of Life in Enlightenment with Ayahuasca. The sigil and the name of the Intelligence are then projected to the back of the skull, whilst opening the back wide and completely, so that our call resonates strong and far in the whole of Creation. Repeat the call, guiding the Spirit to you, whilst you feel Its presence nearing behind you, and whilst a representation of Its choice forms clearly to your perception (this moment is a clear instance where trance catalysts prove their superiority). Once the Spirit has responded to your call, it is imperative to direct it to your front and have It face you – this is what stands for placing an Intelligence in the middle of the Triangle of Art; you are drawing a force from the wider Universe into your own space, into the realm of potentialities that can influence yourself and your reality. In order to achieve this, move the origin of your calls, once the Intelligence has arrived, from the back of your head to your forehead; It will follow. Confirm the identity of the Intelligence – should It not be who you have called, send it away to your back. You may interact with It by placing Its sigil on your brow – this allows communication and transfer of thoughts. Depending on your faculties this interaction will happen through a universal wordless language or may need to resort to internal translation schemes. When the moment to task the Spirit comes, do not do it from the space in your forehead, nor from anywhere inside of you. Push your charge and intent out of the top of your head, as this gives it Divine authority (by means of sitting higher than the Intelligence status), and address the Spirit to adhere to it. Give a framework (time, lieu and span) for your charge, and dismiss the spirit. Most spirits leave on their release; if one of them shouldn’t, bid them to return to their spheres as you just did with your charge.
18
The Nature of Intelligences and manifestation into physical results
C
reation is a highly hierarchical environment, where lower elements obey, per design, to higher forces of the structure. In this process, the Divine nature has individualized Itself into a myriad of single aspects, which we know about as Intelligences. They are all highly
specialized and regroup together around offices, and their nature is solely to express themselves. Just as a cell of our skin belongs to an entity with consciousness, its nature is to be skin – and its consciousness, at its level, wants nothing but to be skin, and is fulfilled by being skin, as skin is required to be. Obligation and vital intend are not differentiated when consciousness is made of a single element (mono-polarity), as are these aspects of the Divine Providence. We, as multi-polar beings (meaning that we incorporate several aspects of the Divine at the same time) are confronted to a discrepancy between desire and obligation that doesn’t exist in the realm of spirit. These Intelligences are the supporting structures of the universe. Their task is to accomplish and manifest that which they are, and they burst into their offices with lust and joy. If correctly called forth and commanded with an authority expressed from above them, there is no bargain, there is no ransom, there is no negotiation, and there is no recompense to be discussed; they are happy and obliged to be put into motion and in good use. Only when evoked and addressed from a lower instance than their own sphere, will they put conditions and challenge the operator, and request compensation if they even contemplate an action. This should never be acknowledged, and should be understood as an unmistakeable sign that the operator has not matured enough his own ascent to effectively charge other beings. Physical manifestation will come about in two distinct ways: through the operator if the entity channels itself into the magician’s personal reality, through his tailbone area, or by producing change in the universe (which will affect the grounds of his reality) – and for both of these the operator needs to have exteriorized his request through his own crown. Any request that has not been exteriorized will not fully manifest, since what remains inside of the magician exists in his or her consciousness’ boundaries only. If you are not able to move on after your request and let event unfolds through either channel, consider that you are yourself preventing the changes you seek to occur. If you have let go and nothing happens after a successful evocation, then a sphere higher than yours has given instructions that say otherwise: you are confronted to Fate.
19
20
Evocation versus Invocation and talismanic charging
T
he purpose of spirit evocation is to bring change upon the wider universe, which may or may not be perceived from the bounds of our individual realities, depending on how much the latter are exposed to the former. This is the reason why the Intelligence is charged from outside
of ourselves. There are cases however where the magician wishes to bring change upon his own self and character, by incorporating the attributes of an aspect of the Divine (an Intelligence) to his own. This is significantly different to invocation, where the spirit takes control of the whole nature of its host, turning him or her into a match of its unipolar nature. Adding the characteristics of a spirit to one’s own will also produce a mild, but tangible, influence into one’s personal reality, by the means of altering one’s choices and destiny (as opposed to Fate, governed by Providence). In these cases the magician will create a talisman, with much respect to analogies to ease the transfer of intent, and ask the Spirit to charge it with its own essence – still from the outside. The effects will then be like a drip into the carrier of the charged object bloodstream and consciousness, provided the talisman is worn close to a proper gateway: the solar plexus is a general good fit since it hosts Tipheret, with dominion over our astral selves.
21
22
23
Epilogue
T
he information I have disclosed in this short booklet is unique, and I am satisfied has never been shared before. Treat it with much respect, and bear in mind it is sourced from extensive, direct and successful practice. It will be your own task to assess how far you want to take what I have transcribed – this will be your own tale. I write short but meaningful books covering the pillars of Hermetics, all from an experiential and practical perspective. I warmly invite you to subscribe to my newsletter at http://www.nathanielwrites.com , in order to be informed of new publications. Best wishes, Nathaniel.
24
