golden dawn – Between The Pillars

The Grade System of Hermetic Initiation: Part One

September 10, 2022Tagged ceremonial magick, chakras, golden dawn, Grade system, hermetic order of the golden dawn, hermeticism, initiation, kabbalah, magick, Occult, religion, rosicrucian, spiritualism, spirituality, tantra, thelema, witchcraft, yoga5 Comments

Welcome back readers. It has been a while. A lot has happened to me since the last post on Between the Pillars.

First off, I just want to say that the prices of the magickal services have gone up. However, given that my prices are still very low compared to many others, I don’t think it should bother anyone.

Today, I want to write about something we haven’t touched upon yet: the 10 fold grade system of the Hermetic tradition. It is not the only grade system in the occult, nor is it only used in the Hermetic tradition. It has predecessors, as well as successors.

But that doesn’t matter. It’s a system that works, and quite well at that.

I have always insisted that Magick comprises the traditions from every corner of the world, and from every time period. To study only one system is like having only a few of the pieces of a puzzle, and trying to form a whole picture. In the 21st century, why handicap ourselves like that? So, my focus will not just be on Hermeticism or Western Ceremonial magick, but on mysticism and magick in general. But first, some background.

The Spiritual Ascent

What is the Tree of Life? Well, I have a whole book on that, but in summary:

The Tree of Life is a diagram whose modern form originated in the mystical western tradition called Kabbalah. It is based on the visions of ancient Hebrew seers, as they were led to the Throne of God by the Archangel Metatron. It describes the process of creation, wherein the the Divine Monad manifests itself through Ten distinct ’emanations’, called the Sephiroth. It has it’s origins in the ancient cultures of North Africa, the Middle East and Southern Europe, and is similar to the Nordic Yggdrasil or the Hindu Sri-Yantra.

The first emanation is called the Crown (Kether), and the energy from it passes through another eight Sephiroth, until it finally settles down in the Kingdom (Malkuth), which is identified with the material world. It shows the process by which the Universe, and the Individual, and all other things are created and brought into the world. In simple words: it is an archetype.

The fundamental idea in Western magick is that a person seeking enlightenment, or spiritual ascension, or magical power, would ‘climb’ back up the Tree of Life, passing through all the Sephiroth, which are imagined as Gates, ruled by various astrological forces. The person would begin the journey in Malkuth, which is the world of waking consciousness, and slowly make their way to Kether, which is the Source. The Tree of Life is imagined as a ladder.

The most important milestone in this process is called Cross the Abyss, where the aspirant crosses the gap between the lower 7 Sephiroth, and the 3 Higher ones. This gap is called the Abyss (Tehom), and the illusionary Sephiroth there is called Knowledge (Da’at).

This journey, which is imagined as a straight and narrow path, is called Quetesh in Hebrew. It is imagined as the Bow, which shoots an arrow right down the Middle of the Tree of Life.

Another system of ascension is found in the Eastern world, with the system of Chakras and the Kundalini. The Chakras are Seven centres of power which lie along the spinal column of the Individual, and also along the Axis Mundi of the whole Cosmos. The first Chakra is called the Crown (Sahasrara: Thousand Petals), and the last one is called the Root chakra (Muladhara: Essence of the Root).

The Central Pillar is called the Lingam (the Spine/Phallus), and it is masculine and fixed. This masculine force is also at times called Purusha (the Man) or Yogi (Monk). The force which moves upward is called Shakti (Power), and it is feminine and moving. It is also called Devi (the Lady).

The idea is that the Chakras represent stages of consciousness, with Highest Chakra represents the Divine principle, while the lowest Chakra represents the waking reality. The spiritual aspirant moves their Consciousness up through their spinal column, through each Chakra, until it reaches the top.

That’s the gist of it. The journey of the aspirant is called the Sadhana in Sanskrit, and it is imagined as the straight and unwavering path traced by an arrow let loose from a bow. Those who have completed the Journey are called Siddhas, or the ‘righteous ones’

An important milestone on this journey is when the Consciousness reaches the Throat Chakra, at which point the Personal Shakti, called the Kundalini, rises from the base of the Spine and makes it’s way to the Top, which is at the nape of the neck. At this point, the individual begins to enter into a state of Spiritual Bliss called Sammadhi. This experience is identical to the Crossing of the Abyss of Kabbalah. A person begins to be freed form the world of Illusion (Maya) and can be called ‘enlightened’. Of course, the Kundalini shall rise further until it reaches the Crown, and can be projected even higher.

Combining the Chakras with the Tree of Life

It should be clear now that the Tree of Life and Chakra system are really talking about the same thing. The Western system, however, is more concerned with theory, and with mapping out the journey, and using it to understand the Universe. This is because Western magicians, due to heavy persecution in the middle ages, relied heavily on scripture and magickal texts to transmit their work. They had to disguise the Work as religious doctrine, and had to explain everything in great detail so that anyone reading it could follow the instructions and have all the requisite knowledge.

The Eastern system is much more practical. This is because such knowledge the source of power for the political and religious institutions in the East. There was never any real persecution, but it was closely guarded knowledge, passed down directly from master to student. It was rarely put into writing, nor was there much need to go into detail, because the Master (Guru) would be there with the student to guide them. In fact, merely being in the presence of a Master can cause the Kundalini to awaken. I can attest to this first hand. Thus, it was much more important to talk about the changes happening inside the body, and how to control the power, than try to create precise theories.

So in the West they ended up with a very well established theory, and in the East they developed a very effective practice. Both paths work, and it is worthwhile to combine them. As you know, the 10 Sephiroth of the Tree of Life are divided in such a way that they form Seven ‘layers’. These are identical to the Chakra centres. This means that many of the Chakras correspond to two sephiroth, not just one.

The following is the correct way to interpolate the Ten Sephiroth with the Seven Chakras:

1. Kether (Crown) – Sahasrara (Crown Chakra)
2. Chokmah (Wisdom) and Binah (Understanding) – Ajna (Third Eye Chakra)
3. Da’at (Knowledge) – Visuddha (Throat Chakra)
4. Chesed (Mercy) and Geburah (Power) – Anahata (Heart Chakra)
5. Tifaret (Harmony) – Manipura (Solar Plexus Chakra)
6. Netzach (Victory) and Hod (Glory) – Svadhisthana (Sacral Chakra)
7. Yesod (Foundation) – Muladhara (Root Chakra)

Malkuth (Kingdom) is not part of the seven places, fallen as it is from the place of Da’at. Thus, it can be identified with the dormant ‘Shakti’ of Goddess Power which rests at the base of the spine. Thus, malkuth is rightly called ‘Malkah’, or bride, just as Shakti is the bride of Purusha, or ‘The Man’.

The Ten Fold Grade System

Now we get to the actual Grade system of the Hermetic tradition.

There are ten grades, all arranged along the Tree of Life, along with two intermediary grades. It shows the entire process of spiritual evolution. Understand that, the path is the same, only with different ways of representing it. This is the Hermetic way of seeing it, but in essence this journey is found in all cultures of the world, in different ways.

As you move from one grade to another, so does your consciousness. This does have a biological component, and if you quiet your mind and focus on your bodily sensations, you can actually feel how far up the spinal chord the energy has risen.

The Grade system can be divided into three. The first four grades consist of the ‘outer’ order, and the work of the Outer Order involves working upon the lower self: purifying and mastering oneself and one’s own Being. Each of the four grades corresponds to four components of the lower self, and also to the four elements.

Zelator – Earth – Physical Body – Sensations and Habits
Theoricus – Air – Conscious Mind – Thoughts and Perception
Practicus – Water – Subconscious Mind – Emotions and Intellect
Philosophus – Fire – Will – Intuition and Willpower

The next three grades constitute the Inner Order. Those of these grades are considered ‘Adepts’, while those of the Outer Order are usually called ‘Initiates’. Of course, the word ‘Initiate’ can also just apply to everyone who has been initiated into the order, meaning anyone beyond the grade of Neophyte.

In the Inner Order, everyone is technically on equal standing. An Adept is someone who has learned to commune with their Higher Self, and thus cannot really be ‘told’ what to do. In reality, it is the Inner Order where ‘magick’ begins in any real sense. The Outer Order involves mostly study and spiritual practice, and its rituals and practices are designed to purify the student.

Only in the Inner Order does the Adept begin training to do actual magick. The work of the Adept, having communed with their Higher Self, is now to overcome the Shadow. In other words: illuminate the inner darkness.

The three grades here represent the sacred Masculine, Feminine and the Androgyne.

Adeptus Minor – Androgyne – Life
Adeptus Major – Feminine – Death
Adeptus Exemptus – Masculine – Rebirth

In theory, Adeptus Exemptus is the Highest grade that can be given to a person. The grades beyond the Abyss are called the Secret Order. ‘Secret’ because these grades cannot be conferred, only attained by oneself.

This is because only a student, themselves, can Cross the Abyss when the time is right. No amount of rituals, ceremonies or meditations can make it happen, nor can a Master else cause you to Cross the Abyss and enter Sammadhi. it is a lone Journey.

The three highest grades that make up this stage represent stages of liberation.

Magister Templi – Mother – Power
Magus – Father – Purity
Ipsissimus – Spirit – Love

Whenever talk of the grade system comes up, I see one very common question from beginners: is it possible to rise through the grades without having done any magickal or spiritual practice?

The reason is that people just starting magickal study or practice want to start at the grade of Adeptus Minor! No one wants to be a mere Neophyte, and spend years working towards Adepthood. And so, many newcomers are absolutely desperate to be told that they’re already an Adept, or that the grade can be attained without spiritual practice.

But can it? Well, yes. In fact, it is pretty much expected that if you’re drawn to magick in this lifetime, then your Soul has already done much of the Outer Work in previous incarnations. So then, why this whole routine of going through the outer grades?

Because, in truth, all people at all times, are at the Highest Grade. Everyone in the world is Enlightened…they just don’t know it yet.

This is why this Work is sometimes called ‘Self Realisation’ rather than Attainment. One is not attaining anything, but only remembering.

When one is young, there is at least some point where one is fully in touch with the Higher Self. But life happens, and we begin to deviate from the Great Work. The mind, body and spirit begin to be clouded or fall into decay.

And so, even if a person thinks they are an Adept, or are naturally gifted in magick, or very well read, it never hurts to start at the beginning. The Lower Self needs to be prepared and purified to commune with the Higher Self. This is why the lower grades are needed.

To attempt the work of Magick without first balancing and discipling oneself will be extremely detrimental, and this effect is often seen in religious fanatics or crazed cult leaders: people who have expereinced the energies invoked in the Inner Order, but are not balanced or mature enough to utilise these corectly.

Thus, shun not the Outer Order. It is the most exciting stage of this journey.

The Outer Order

We shall Discuss the probationary grade of Neophyte and the four outer grades of Zelator, Theoricus, Practicus and Philosophus.

Neophyte

The grade of neophyte is not a real grade. It is a probationary grade that typically lasts 6 months or so. Traditionally, it was designed to see if the student was fit to join an esoteric order, and to build up a basic foundation of both theory and practice. With self initiation, this grade is mainly for you to test, for yourself, if you can handle the path of magick.

The rituals of this grade consist of basic banishing and grounding rituals, along with an introduction to basic magickal theory and spiritual practices like meditation. It exposes a person to energies which will start to dramatically change their life and perspective, and it is expected that a lot of people will quit after this grade. And that is precisely the point.

Once the first grade has started, it is not possible to go back. The spiritual transformation shall then go through various stages, and the only respite is in the fifth grade of Adeptus Minor. In other words, Magickal initiation is not just something done overnight. It is a whole hearted commitment which will last years. The exact same commitment is asked for by Eastern practices like Yoga and the Tantra, contrary to the usual notion that Eastern paths are simpler or easier.

And the neophyte grade is like a free trial of what’s to come.

There is nothing wrong with not being ready. While the grade formally lasts 6-7 months, a person may practice the Neophyte material for years. Most magicians do just that, with daily banishing rituals, meditations and purification rites. Some people will spend their whole life simply purifying themselves and meditating, and getting comfortable with this knowledge.

There’s no rush whatsoever. Many who do take that first step onto the grade of Zelator have been prepared over lifetimes, and will be prepared still for lifetimes more.

Some authors make it seem like the neophyte grade is some test or gauntlet designed to separate the ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’.

But the fact is that each and every person in the world is worthy. It is only a matter of patience and practice. When one is ready, one will move on.

This grade typically consists of an initial exposure to magickal energy, and one might find that any serious imbalances in one’s life will disappear. In general, good health, vitality and a renewed sense of vigor should be expected by the end.

Zelator

The grade of Zelator, as the name suggests, is a time of Zeal and devotion. It is associated with the element of Earth, with the material body and the world of the senses.

The work of this grade represents perhaps the most important and long lasting stage of spiritual ascension: of mastering the body, and the world of waking consciousness. The rituals of this grade will often bring about shift in perspective and consciousness. The student may find themselves changing their lifestyle, cultivating better lifestyle habits pertaining to food, routine and physical fitness.

A great enthusiasm towards the diligent study and practice of magick may also come about. A person may begin to overcome social anxiety, develop greater work ethic, and see overall success in their studies and/or career. For those who are already well established in life, it can also lead to a lot of money and wealth coming in.

A lot of these things may seem very mundane to some readers. You may wonder what eating properly, sleeping on time and cleaning one’s room have to do with spiritual evolution. And my answer, dear readers, is that it has everything to do with it.

Only very late in my magickal practice did I realise the importance of physical fitness, displine, and cleanliness. Religions of the world have always emphasized these traits, and not without good reason. The spiritual energies that a magician invokes are very, very real. In the Inner Order grades, these energies have a very tangible manifestation, which can very quickly overwhelm and weak mind and body.

Without going too much into details: there have been many times where I was thankful for my physical strength and tolerance, and they were all that kept me from loosing consciousness or being unable to tolerate the very high vibration energies invoked during magick.

Cleanliness and ritual purity are also important, as they allow for an even flow of spiritual energies throughout one’s life. Such a system is found in China in the form of Feng Shui, where the arrangement of the house and placement of objects within it is said to affect how spiritual energies flow through it.

In a more mundane sense, one should also consider that the body is the Temple. The inner world is reflected in the outer world, and a strong body, clean and orderly surroundings and healthy lifestyle will also be reflected in the internal changes taking place.

It is often said that magicians focus too much on the inner world and neglect the outer, not realising that the two are one and the same. Inner transformation goes hand in hand with outer transformation. And finally, there is also the simple fact that magick should not be something that requires the sacrifice of ‘real’ life. It is not escapism.

After all, magick requires commitment, of time, energy and resources. Before such a commitment can be made, it is a good idea to put your life in order. It would be very difficult to go very far with magick if you’re are held back by, say, the lack of money, poor health or a loneliness.

Now, I should make it clear that this is an ongoing process. I’m not suggesting that a person’s material life must be perfect before starting magick. Rather, both go hand in hand. And the grade of Zelator is the time where you shake yourself out of the stupor that many people fall into. It is the simple acknowledgement that you will not use magick or spirituality to escape from the responsibilities of the ‘real’ world.

First we master the outer and material world, before we go to the spiritual planes. Contrary to common belief, magick does not involve shunning or rejecting the material world, which is after all a reflection of the higher worlds.

In this grade, the consciousness tends to be fixed in the outer body and outer world. The inner Shakti has not begun her ascent up the spine.

Theoricus

The grade of Theoricus is similar to Zelator, and revolves around magick Theory. It is associated with the Conscious Mind, with thoughts, and with perception. It is ruled by the element of Air.

Once the Zelator has put his daily affairs in order, they can start studying magickal theory. Just as the previous grade was about strengthening the body, this grade is about sharpening the mind. The rituals and practices of this grade bring about a strong intellectual tendency, and also a desire to learn about and understand the world around oneself. In pursuit of this, one may learn not just about magick, but about various other fields such as history, politics, science, artistry, linguistics etc.

In fact, knowing about the world and having many skills can be very helpful for a magician. Many magicians are known to be well read and proficient in various skills. But ultimately, the aim is not to learn a lot, but rather sharpen the mind. Unlike school, the student of magick is not learning a bunch of rote information, but rather engaging with the world and its people, history and cultures. The aim is not to learn some information, but learn how to think. For example, the study of politics and history is not about coming to believe in some ideology or memorizing a list of battles, but to familiarize the mind with the nuances and complexities of the society. The aim of learning a new language may not necessarily be to become a fluent speaker, but to see how different languages shape the mind different, and to expand one’s horizons.

A strong mind complements a strong body. This grade helps the student break free of dogmatic beliefs, to question the way things are, and to learn to reject beliefs and values that they have inherited.

For while the wisdom of the ages can have great value, it can also be a poison which blinds us from reality. It is good to expose oneself to new ways of thinking, and to start formulating one’s own beliefs and philosophy. It protects us from becoming reliant on someone else’s version of the truth, and especially from political, religious and cultural lies.

This is also the grade where one begins to experience the energies of planets along with the elements. The grade of Theoricus is ruled by the Moon, as it corresponds to the Lunar sphere on the Tree of Life. Additionally the energies of Saturn are also expereinced, because that is the complementary sphere. This kind of a complementary relationship exists for all grades.

The Moon, or Luna, affects the emotions and sense perception. Saturn affects the rational mind. Thus, this grade has a tendency to exaggerate those aspects. In fact, it is important not to get too caught up in trying to understand everything rationally or categorise everything perfectly.

The consciousness now resides in the Root chakra, which corresponds to the Lunar Sphere at the base of the spine. The consciousness, thus, is still fixed on the outer world, but on the more abstract, mental aspects rather than purely physical.

Practicus

By now you should have picked up a trend with the names. The grade of Practicus focuses, at last, on Practice. It is associated with the element of Water, with the Subconscious mind, and thus with, morals, values, emotions and desires. Whereas the grade of Theoricus focused more on the outward Conscious Mind, Practicus focuses on the deeper, subconscious mind. In this grade, the emotions are allowed to come forth from their usual suppressed state in most people.

One also begins to recognise the traits of the opposite gender within oneself. In fact, it is common for magicians in this grade to display such traits. Men may find themselves becoming more ‘feminine’ while women may become more ‘masculine’. This is because a magician must not have any complexes or reservations, such as imagining oneself as ‘manly’ or ‘womanly’. What exactly this means depends from person to person. The Anima/ Animus, which lies hidden in the subconscious, begins to show itself.

The first two grades, in my opinion, are almost intoxicating. While they are slow, they are also relatively easy. The rituals performed in these grades bring about a great transformation in the personal world, which is what most people are focused on. But Practicus is the first test of these apparent abilities. That is to say, the student may now be called upon to put his knowledge and strength into practice, and also the first time one faces real obstacles from the outer world, not just the abstract ones of the inner world.

To me, the grade of Practicus is a test, and I will not speak much about the trials of this grade because I don’t want to turn people away from magick. This is the grade where you must try to accomplish your goals and desires, and it should be evident that some of these will not come easily.

Most people have a vague idea of what they want in life. But rarely do people have the courage to pursue them. And this is because dreams and desires are often grand and untenable, and it is not easy to know how exactly they should be attained. So, people are content to simply do what they’re told, and wait until some imagined event will bring them these things. Think, for example, of people’s dream of winning the lottery, of finding the perfect job, of suddenly becoming famous etc.

Ultimately, most people just want to be happy and live in peace. All these grand desires are a means to that. The irony, of course, is that any person at any time can be content with their lot and find peace and happiness. In fact, it is the urgent pursuit of happiness that stops people from being happy.

So, people instead hold out hope for extraordinary fortune, living in the future rather than the present. Yet others give up hope entirely and become bitter, living in the glorious past when they still had their dreams, and once again ignoring the present.

But the magician who has crossed Theoricus may find that they suddenly have the courage to live in the present, and pursue exactly what they want. As I said, the changes of these grades are very powerful, and it becomes clear that nothing is actually beyond a person’s grasp.

But, the grade of Practicus is the grade of challenges and trials. These challenges and trials are important to purify and strengthen the individual. This is the a very important grade of spiritual ascension, where a person, for the first time, leaves their comfort zone completely in pursuit of their dreams. One should not underestimate a person who has set their life in order and learned about the world. The Practicus is already very far ahead of most people because of this.

For better or for worse, it is when a person stops living in their head, and starts living in reality. And some may find that reality, without comforting dogmas and illusions, appears unfair and unjust. Of course, even that is an illusion.

In this grade, the influence of Mercury, the ruler of the grade, is felt, as is the influence of the complimentary Jupiter. It is Mercury who is the initiator into magick and the mysteries, and the first step of that initiation is purification through pain. Mercury is also force that carries one’s ambitions aloft on his wings.

Jupiter is the teacher and mentor, and he helps the student retain hope and faith. It may be common for students to develop a ‘larger than life’ persona due to the influence of this planet, which may also mark them out as a target of scorn or resentment by those whose consciousness has not begun to develop.

Ultimately, both planets are associated with learning, and this is the grade of learning certain hard lessons and shattering illusions. Everything, good or bad, must be accepted as it is. Metaphorically, we may say that the waters of the subconscious begin to flood the conscious mind, dissolving boundaries and washing one clean.

Philosophus

Yes, this grade is now associated with Philosophy, with the Will and the Intuition. It corresponds to the element of Fire.

In my book, The Tree of Life: A Beginner’s Guide, I discuss the role of philosophy and it’s link to creativity at length, but here I will mention the importance of developing a personal philosophy.

Once the trials of the Practicus grade are overcome, the great realisation comes that many of one’s beliefs about the world are faulty, and often taken from somewhere else. For many magicians, it is the stage of awakening from the Ego, and realising that the contents of one’s mind are often not aligned with reality.

It is common for people to believe that the world is a certain way. People go their entire lives believing in absurd or false things, just because they sound rational or logical. Rarely, if ever, do people ever question or challenge their beliefs. And even when beliefs are questioned, they are often replaced with other, equally absurd beliefs.

it is only by repeatedly putting one’s beliefs into practice, as is done by the Practicus, that one realises what is real and what is imagined. It is almost like subjecting your beliefs to scientific scrutiny.

Every person has a inner value system, but people don’t normally try to live up to their own values. For example, a person who firmly believes that people should live freely in a primal state of existence, but works a standard corporate job in a big city. Such a person has never actually tried to live up to their own ideals, which is precisely why these ‘ideals’ exist. Trying to live up to such ideals may show they are at odds with the reality of the world and one’s present capabilities.

Some people, who’s ambitions are grounded, may actually end up getting exactly what they wanted, only to realise that it didn’t satisfy them. For example, someone who desperately wants to get into some prestigious college, only to find that they have no interest in their studies and aren’t suited to the competition. It would seem the person was more interested in imagining the scenario, but does not enjoy being in it.

Now that the Philosophus has tried to put their world view into practice, it is important to take a step back and consider one’s life and aspirations. There is no longer anyone to blame, no longer anything holding one back. Becoming freed from dogma and delusion, it is time to start developing a personal philosophy to live by, rather than live by the philosophies of others. It is time to no longer define oneself as belonging to some religion, creed or ideology, or subscribing to some belief system, or clinging to arbitrary labels or vague ambitions. A person must draw now upon their inner resources, and let their intuition guide them towards their purpose in life.

What makes you happy? What do you want from life? How would you like to spend each day of your life? Are you really an introvert/extrovert? Do you really want a lot of money? Can you really be self employed, or do you really believe in some chosen faith?

Discipline plays a role because, when your entire worldview is questioned, it may very well burn away. After all, this is the grade of Fire. And in times like this, it is of utmost importance to maintain some semblance of routine and structure, so you don’t slip into apathetic nihilism or become depressed. And even if you do, you still have to keep moving forward. Everything learned in the last three grades must keep you sane and alert.

The three great virtues of a magician are: Humility, Persistence and Determination. And the Philosophus must keep living their ordinary life, even as the world within is radically transformed. At the very least, all the basic day to day tasks needed for survival must be performed. You will find that the discipline and strength developed through this is invaluable. Very great is the one who can be comfortable with discomfort. Most people withdraw or flee at the hint of the slightest discomfort, but the magician must learn to endure and power through something as difficult as spiritual purification.

This grade is ruled by Venus, the great Goddess, and her counterpart Mars. Venus is the Goddess of Life and Fertility, but before one can feel her love, one must face her dark aspect: that of a life and universe that is seemingly unfair and unjust. Through patience and grace, the student will stand before the darkness and see it transformed into light, just as the cold harshness of winter leads to the fertility and joy of spring.

Mars, of course, is the one providing strength and courage throughout this grade, even as it awakens an inner fire within oneself. Not the explosive flame of ambition or zeal, but the steady flame of perseverance and discipline. Nothing happens overnight, and anything worth attaining takes honest work.

In the grades of Practicus and Philosophus, the consciousness resides in the Sacral Chakra, located around the abdomen. Sexual activity may be become much more increased or decreased than usual. These grades of purging see the consciousness around the digestive and excretory system.

A Short Allegory

The first two grades are those of preparation, and the second two are those of purification. It is actually an alchemical process. It is important, at this point, for me to describe the alchemical process, which is meant to reflect this process of Initiation.

Alchemy is the spiritual science of taking the fabled First Matter (Prima Materia), and subjecting it to a process of purification and exaltation, resulting in the legendary Philosopher’s Stone (Lapis Philosphorum). The Stone, also called the Red Stone, is said to be able to transform base metals into gold, as well as confer eternal life. I’m sure many readers already know the tale. At the very least, you’ve watched this referenced in the first Harry Potter film.

Here, the student themselves is the Prima Materia being perfected.

In alchemical texts, it is said that the Prima Materia must be first separated into it’s three components: Mercury, Sulfur and Salt. Each is then purified and recombined. These should be understood as alchemical principles, and not to be confused with the mundane elements of the same name. Meaning, here Mercury does not refer to quick silver, nor does Salt refer to sodium chloride.

In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the metaphor is dropped and these three principles are actually referenced directly as as the three Gunas (traits), present in all things. These are Satvva (positive), Rajas (neutral) and Tamas (negative). But here I will describe the process most commonly found in European texts, as these are the most methodical.

First, one must gather the Prima Materia and ferment it for a long period of time, allowing it to mature and and ‘ripen’ in the heat of the sun. This is the grade of Zelator, where the student prepares themselves for initiation by setting their life in order, and ‘ripening’ the physical body through a healthy lifestyle, and mastering the outward senses. Much like fermentation, this grade is simply a matter of time and patience.

Now, the Prima Materia is heated over a gentle fire for a long time, which causes the alchemical Mercury to distill over. This Mercury may be further distilled and purified. This refers to the grade of Theoricus, where the rational Mind (often symbolised by Mercury) is isolated, and then sharpened through study and intellectual engagement.

Next, the flask is heated over a more intense fire, which gets hotter and hotter, until the alchemical Sulfur distills over. This process is volatile and difficult, and what is left behind is the alchemical Salt, which is black and ashy. This refers to the intense grade of Practicus, where the student is tried and tested, and their stubborn illusions are ripped from them. The emotions, volatile and dangerous, separate out and show themselves, like the Sulfur. It is worth noting that the Eastern counterpart, which is rajas, literally means ‘passions’. The student may be left feeling tired, empty or hollow, like the black Salt left behind. This salt in it’s black state is seen as ‘dead’, and called as the dead head (caput mortem)

Now, the black Salt is heated over a gradually increasing fire, until is begins to incinerate, turning from black to gray and finally to white. To witness this mythical process is itself a spiritual experience, and it refers to the grade of Philosophus, where the Fire or Will slowly increases in intensity, purging the tired initiate, and purifying them, bringing forth a sort of ‘rebirth’ or ‘reawakening’, like the black salt turning to a pristine white.

Now, the Mercury Sulfur and Salt have been separated and purified. They are slowly recombined in a hermetically sealed flask (yes, the word ‘hermetically sealed’ comes from Hermeticism).

Portal

The grade of Portal is another probationary grade, and refers to the time between the Outer and Inner order. It is symbolic of the alchemical process where the three principles are hermetically sealed and recombined.

Here the Divine alchemist, which is the Higher Self of the Initiate, the Spirit, recombines the separated parts of the Prima Materia, which is the Lower Self of Initiate.

The grade of Portal is a period of 9 months where the initiate must withdraw from the outer world as much as possible, and spend time in contemplation and prayer. This is the transition from an Initiate to an Adept.

The primary work in this stage is to think over the journey so far, and prepare for communion with the Higher Self, which is also called the Holy Guardian Angel. This communion can be thought of as the religious experience, which Christians call Grace.

In the East, this same process is replicated when Yogis go into what is called ‘Tapasya’, which is a prolonged period of silent meditation. Hindus and Buddhists call the communion of the religious experience as ‘Darshan’, literally meaning ‘to see’. The Higher Self is called ‘Atman’, or Spirit, while the lower self is called ‘Jiva’, or ‘living being’.

The motif of this grade can be thought of as a wandering, or a self imposed exile, and such a thing is found in various mythologies. During this period, a dramatic shift in consciousness takes place as many redundant aspects of oneself are burned away.

In this stage, the ‘Body of Light’ is firmly established within oneself, and the Sphere of Sensation, often called the Aura, expands from an thin shell just over the skin, to a spherical ball of magnetic energy: a cosmic Egg. The hermetically sealed flask used by alchemists in this stage was often made in the form of a glass Egg, to represent this very Cosmic Egg. The alchemists knew that, as they were making the Red Stone, their own being was being transformed.

We are bringing about the same transformation not through chemical processes, but through rituals, meditation, chanting, study and practical action.

By and large, this stage is one of patience and faith. It is a time of preparation and rebirth, before one ventures out again as an Adept.

I will end this post here, and continue talking about the grades in Part Two. If you wish to learn more about magick, consider checking out my books. Subscribe to me on Patreon to learn about using magick to improve daily life, to gain spiritual insight through tarot, to invoke the great Angels who rule the heavens or conjure the mighty daemons who rule the material universe.

Peace and farewell.

~White Raven

Patreon Announcement: Spellwork, Tarot, Theurgy and Goetia

July 29, 2021Tagged alchemy, Ars goetia, between the pillars, ceremonial magic, demons, goetia, golden dawn, hermeticism, kabbalah, magick, money magick, mysticism, new age, Occult, patreon, religion, satanism, Spells, spirituality, tarot, tiers, tinctures, white raven, witchcraftLeave a comment

Welcome back! I am happy to announce that my Patreon is now live. I’ve thought about starting one for years now, but never really known what to offer as rewards, and what to actually write about. However, I now have a variety of materials that I would like to offer to those who wish to support the blog, and help me continue writing about magick and mysticism, sharing my knowledge, experiences and insight.

The Tiers and Projects

So for now I have created 4 tiers for my Patreon. Over time, I may add more, depending on how well it goes. These tiers correspond to the elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The titles for each tier are derived from Golden Dawn literature, for anyone who is curious. Each tier will grant access to an additional monthly article.

Earth Tier: Digital Resources, Spellwork

The Earth Tier (Periclinus De Faustis | $2)

So the Earth tier is the first one, and here you get access to Monthly Spellwork, as well as digital resources.

Let’s start with digital resources. Often I create diagrams and mandalas, and also digital versions of seals and sigils for my own work. Occasionally, I also create things like fonts and 3D models. If you subscribe to my Patreon, you will get access to all of these, whenever I make and upload them. This is not a consistent reward, but more of a bonus, and I’ll upload stuff as and when they are ready. Sometimes you might get tree of life diagrams, sometimes simple planetary sigils. I am also working on a Master Mandala, which will certainly be put up, and also things like: an Enochian font, a 3D model of the Tree of Life and flashing tablets for each planet.

As for the consistent, monthly reward for this tier, we have Spellwork. A lot of you know that I create my own spells, rituals and even concoctions (oils, incense, ointments and consumables). As a Patron, you will receive a monthly article about any one of these things. It could be a spell, a ritual, a new recipe, and so on. Many will be of my own creation, many might be channeled from some deity or spirit, and some will be things I have learned from others over the course of my journey.

This is ‘Earth tier’, so most spells will deal with material aspects of life, such as money, love, academics etc. It’s a great place to begin. I will also be sharing a recipe for spiritual drink which attune the spiritual senses. Basically you get a new spell to play around with every month, complete with instructions and details of castings, which often gets ignored. This is good for those who are still learning how magick actually works.

To those who feel they cannot afford the higher tiers, the very first spell will be an effective money spell, which might interest you.

With every higher tier, the rewards of the previous tiers will be included. So in the Water tier, all the rewards of the Earth and Air tiers are included etc.

The Air Tier (Poraios De Rejectis | $5)

The Air tier introduces Project Tarot. Since this is the Air tier, it will deal a lot with magickal and spiritual theory, and intellectual understanding.

Project Tarot is an undertaking where every month we will completely analyse and breakdown the symbolism found in a single Tarot card. We won’t just focus on the Major Arcana, but the Minor as well. This is a topic that I am actually very deeply familiar with, and I’m quite disappointed that most Tarot guides do not go down to such a level of analysis. You see, Tarot is not just for divination or fortune telling. You can think of it as a book, and it basically contains the entire theory of magick, encoded into 78 archetypal images. Here I would encourage others to share their opinions and thoughts as well, and perhaps every month we can discuss not just my own ideas and understanding, but those of readers as well. I want this to be interactive.

For now, we will use the standard, A.E. Waite Tarot deck, because it is most common. I may have a look at other decks it, if people are so inclined.

The Water Tier (Monocris De Astris | $7)

Here I have something special planned. With the Water Tier we move our focus to inner, emotional and visionary aspects, and you get access to Project Theurgia.

Every month I will be invoking one of the 72 Angels of the Shemhamphorasch. And this will be a complete, in depth channeling, starting with the first Angel and going all the way around the Zodiac to the 72nd. As you know, these angels are the counterparts to the 72 Spirits of the Ars Goeita.

As a Patron of the Water tier, you will receive a monthly article summarizing my experience, and containing full details of the Angel, such as its attributions, powers and what it can do for you. I will also channel a sigil and an Angelic mantra for each (similar to demonic enns).

So basically it’s an attempt to create a full, detailed guide to every single Angel of the ha-Shem. I’m not saying I’m the first to have attempted this, but I’m pretty sure mine will be the most detailed, because I will put things in their historical and philosophic context.

This blog will continue as is, and I will still be sharing my ritual experiences here. Project Theurgia will be it’s own thing, and will follow a consistent methodology.

The Fire Tier (Pharos Illuminans | $9)

This is the highest tier, for now. It is the Fire tier, concerning the Will, and the Projection of Energy.

As a patron of this tier, you get access to Project Goetia. It is exactly the same as Project Theurgia, but this time dealing with the 72 Spirits of the Ars Goetia. Just like with the previous tier, I will be evoking each of the Spirits, and sharing an article about them, containing information about each Spirit, its powers, various planetary/elemental attributes, a channeled sigil and an enn/mantra for evocation.

Most likely the sigils for both the Angels and Demons will be colour coded and in digital format, so you can print and use them directly.

With Project goetia I will likely experiment with and try out different techniques for each spirit, and share both my successes and failures with Patrons. Maybe we can refine this down to an art, given enough time and feedback.

Project Goetia is probably one of my greatest spiritual undertakings, besides my experiments with Enochian magick and alchemy, and I am very excited to share this with you.

Moving Forward

Now, the important thing to know is that I won’t actually start putting stuff under a tier until I have at least one patron in that tier. So for example, I won’t start Project Tarot until there is at least one Patron in the Air tier and higher, and so on.

You can head over to my Patreon page to see further details, either by clicking the link or visiting https://www.patreon.com/whiteravenmagi.

I am very thankful to all those who choose to support me financially, just as I am grateful to all those who buy my books, and also to all my readers, who send me warm messages and have stuck by me through thick and thin. Reading about your positive experiences and successes are one of the things that keeps me going, and keeps reminding me that this blog is worth the time and the effort.

So once again, thank you for all the support over the years. All of this is for you, and without you it would have no purpose. I hope you have a great semester ahead, and that all of you make it through these difficult and turbulent times that we find ourselves in.

I will continue to write, and continue to share my ideas in the hope that this knowledge reaches as many people as it can, and that more and more people are able to look beyond the Veil and be prepared for the new age which is dawning. May it be an age of truth, virtue and openness.

Until Next Time
~White Raven

The Piscean Magi Lied

April 20, 2021Tagged age of aquarius, alchemy, astrology, between the pillars, ceremonial magick, complicated, golden dawn, grimoires, hermeticism, hidden, high magick, kabbalah, magi, magick, magus, new age, Occult, real, religion, revealed, secret, sorcery, spirituality, symbolism, theurgy, truth, white raven, witchcraftLeave a comment

Yes really.

Don’t believe me. Fine, let me say the same sentence to you using many more words.

What was the Age of Pisces? It was the Astrological Age which began somewhere around 100 BCE and 100 CE. An astrological age lasts around 2100 years, meaning we are currently close, or have pretty much already entered into, the Age of Aquarius.

Lots of people talk about the Age of Aquarius, and how it will be a meritocratic, technological age. An age of free knowledge, open practice of magick, decentralization, sexual fluidity, and indeed the break down of many fixed, dual structures. But I want to talk a bit about the Age of Pisces before we say goodbye to it for good.

Oh, and before we begin, an update regarding the book: The Tree of Life: A Beginner’s Guide has been updated. A full email announcement regarding the changes has already been sent a while back to those who purchased it. Obviously, this doesn’t impact those who will buy it in future. But just in case you did buy it, but missed the email, here’s a reminder to go download it again.

A Very Brief Introduction

Pisces was the last zodiac sign. Over the course of 26,000 years, the belt of the Zodiac moves slowly, counter clockwise. This is the result of the Earth’s axial tilt. Basically, the Earth ‘wobbles’, and the axis is not actually fixed on the star we call Polaris. As this wobble happens, the Earth’s axis traces a slow circle around the constellation of Draco, the Dragon. This means the ‘Pole Star’ shifts too, based on where the Earth’s north pole is pointing. It is currently Polaris, but one day it will be something else, and back in ancient times it was something else too.

The other effect this has, is that the belt of the Zodiac appears to slowly move around the Earth. We determine the current astrological age by seeing which sign the Sun rises in, during the Summer Solistice. So the Age of Aquarius is when the Sun is rising in the sign of Aquarius (which is pretty much happening now by the way. I checked last year). This process is called Axial Precession, or Precession of the Equinox.

Many astrologers and even magicians make the error of thinking that the made up constellations themselves affect us, which isn’t quite right. I mean, for one, different cultures have different constellations, and the ones we use commonly nowadays really are just arbitrary patterns thought up by ancient Greeks, based on an older Egyptian model. Yes, the Stars do have magickal affects on Earth, just like everything else in the Universe, but they are far away and this affect is minimal. Our lives are affected much more strongly by the elemental forces on Earth, and by the energies of the planets in the Solar System.

The constellations should not be thought of as the cause of astrological phenomena, but rather a convenient ‘clock’. They simply represent the shift in elemental forces cause by the rotation and revolution of the Earth, and the planets. Similarly, the Axial Precession represents the completion of various cycles in the evolution of the Earth. Every astrological age is influenced by the archetypal energies ascribed to the current astrological sign, and the planet which is assigned rulership over it. But when did this cycle begin?

Presumably, the Earth has been wobbling and going through this cycle for hundreds of millions of years, over and over. But when talking specifically about the current cycle, we of the Hermetic tradition take Leo, the sign ruled by the Sun, to be the first. Not Aries (which is the first sign of the year, since it brings spring, but not the first sign of the Axial Precession).

The reasons for this are simple, because human ‘civilisation’ as we currently understand it, began around 12,000 BCE. This was the time when the Holoscene epoch began. It is also around this time that the first Agricultural Revolution began, and historians usually consider the invention of agriculture as the first step of ‘civilisation’.

Also, in the Hermetic tradition it is believed that beginnings of high magick date back to this time period. Calculating from there, we get the current time period, and the Age of Aquarius.

What was the Age of Pisces

Pisces is the astrological sign ruled by Jupiter.

What does Pisces represent? Any basic book on astrology will tell you: dreams, visions, fantasies and spirituality. It is mutable Water, meaning it is very passive, and has to do with emotions, feelings and subconscious impressions.

And how were all the great Piscean religions started?

Through the dreams, visions and prophecies of great Seers, Prophets, and Mystics. It spread through rumours, through wandering sages, through stories. The rumour of some great magician who challenged the authority of the Emperor and was crucified in a far away land was enough to turn the ENTIRE Roman empire Christian. The idea and stories of the Buddha wandering from place to place and sharing his wisdom, which was further shared by others, was the basis of spreading Buddhism across half a continent. And those religions which did not start in this time, adopted a Piscean character. Hinduism became devotional, Judaism became mystical. Islam is entirely emotional and based on feeling and trance. Even the Pagan religions which persisted in this time became highly reliant on divinations and utterances of shamans.

The Piscean cultures and civilisations of the last 2000 years have been sensual, placing a great amount of importance on emotional impact of symbols. Things were true if enough people felt they were true, and most rulers maintained power through shows and displays of their authority, like wearing impressive clothes and using symbols and banners and words which left an impression. Subconscious impressions. It is also no wonder that humanity became a highly seafaring race, and the great Empires towards the end of the Age of Pisces all held great control over the seas (Maybe in the Age of Aquarius we will perfect air/ space transport, although I do not foresee space Empires just yet).

Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, and Jupiter is the planet of benevolence, wealth, kindness, opulence, luxury, majesty and royalty. What was the dominant form of government in these last 2000 years? No, not monarchy. Feudalism. Feudalism, where power was maintained by the concept of “royal” and “noble” blood, and the hierarchy was dictated by Jupiterian concepts like wealth, valour, honour, dignity etc.

It was not military might, since that sort of power structure belongs to the Age of Aries. Yes, military played a role, as it always will, but it is generally known that the greatest warrior was not automatically made King. A royal claim by an heir with noble blood, superseded any military strength. Obviously, institutional religions played a big role. Consider the Catholic Church, and how strong they were. It is literally a full on Piscean institution. In fact, did you know that the funny hat the Pope wears is literally a fish. It comes from the Ancient Sumerian sea god Dagon, who had a fish on his head. Over centuries, it has ended up on the Pope’s head. Pisces is also the sign of the Fish.

By the way, this isn’t some conspiracy theory, but just a normal case of syncretism.

Jupiter rules benevolence and kindness. In this past Age, benevolence and kindness were considered the greatest virtues, and all who had power and status were expected to be well mannered, kind and generous with their wealth.

Every astrological Age decays over time though. The Age of Aries ended when people had become too violent, and when the abuse of power was common and military strength was a tool of oppression, and used as justification to rule. This is why Piscean religions like Christianity and Buddhism, which preached mercy and tolerance, so quickly replaced the martial cults and creeds of the past, and left a permanent impact on all the world. But in the last century, we watched the Age of Pisces reach it’s end, as man became obsessed with wealth and material pleasure, and with a near fanatical obsession to satiate emotional needs and wants. Money became the sole object of worship and desire, both the means and the end to all endeavor. Wars were fought for money and material resources, and people’s opinions, beliefs and values all became heavily reliant on emotions, and everyone who wanted power had to make appeals to emotion, and those in power made great shows of false kindness and opulence.

Celebrity worship is perhaps the most overt symbol of a Piscean excess. The worship of people surrounded by Jupiterian symbols, and their followers who feel emotionally connected, and even reliant upon, them.

Pisces is also ruled by Neptune. Neptune is a planet whose influence was not strongly felt until the last century or so, when it revealed itself. Neptune rules psychology, psychosis, psychadelics. Now, this post is not about the end of Pisces and the birth of Aquarius. I am simply giving an idea of what the Age of Pisces was, and how to think about it.

Some of you may say I am interpreting history through a very specific lens. But that is precisely what history is. All ‘history’ is a narrative, an interpretation through a certain lens. If we simply take the facts and a sequence of events as they happened, without any interpretation, then that is not history, that is a chronicle.

To divide history into astrological ages like this is no more or less ‘scientific’ or ‘academic’ than, say, dividing it up into things like the classical and medieval eras. Those are also just interpretations and narratives.

But what was the Piscean lie?

Look at the signs of Pisces and Aquarius. Both represent duality. But they both show it in a slightly different way. Aquarius shows duality as fluid, as two different strands which weave and mingle together, and then separate. Like a double helix formed from energy. But Pisces shows duality as being fixed and held in place, and even opposing.

By the way, anyone who ever wondered why Piscean religions were so obsessed with categorizing and defining ‘good’ and ‘bad’, will now see why. It isn’t just morality they separated, but gender too. Everything became one way or another, yin and yang, with little room for doubt. You either were a peasant, or a noble, and unlike modern times these categories did not shift so easily. It was exceedingly rare for, say, a peasant to become a noble, and even a nobleman who had lost all his wealth and land and castles, was STILL a noble and had to be treated as such. So, Piscean culture was highly dual and rigid. And it was a very emotional culture, so rational arguments against this would hold little weight.

Many grimoires of magick from the Middle Ages, to a modern magician, may seem….outdated, and dogmatic.

Let’s take some popular ones. The Book of the Sacred Magic of Arbamelin. This is a popular one from the 14th century, and is most likely the basis of many later grimoires like the Ars Goetia. The first sections of this book document the journeys of a figure called Abraham the Jew. He travels across Europe, Arabia, Egypt and other regions. He meets Kabbalists, Christian mystics, Egyptian and Islamic magi, Pagans, Black Magicians, and each of them teaches him some small part of magick and wisdom. In the end, Abraham concludes that the best and truest magick he learned was from the only High Adept he met, which is an Egyptian mage named Abramelin.

In the second and third sections, he explains the basics of an elaborate working called the Abramelin ritual. However, as he explains what magick is, he immediately starts off by criticising and decrying paganism, polytheism and idolatory. He criticizes elemental magick, astrology, alchemy, and every other craft besides Kabbalah and Christian mysticism. Although he has so far defined them really well, he now repeatedly emphases Abrahamic values and the importance of prayer, and warns people against anything besides that, and also how everything they do must also be for the betterment of ‘their neighbours’. This sentiment is then echoed in later grimories like the Ars Goetia, which also seem to be emphasizing religious worship. It’s almost like they’re compensating for something.

Let’s take the Bhagawat Gita. It is not a religious scripture…not really anyway. It was almost certainly written by mystics. It is a very funny little book, because it seems to contradict itself so often. It begins by declaring that all systems of class, gender and caste are arbitrary in spirituality, and no individual is held back from spiritual awakening because of their birth. It also declares that traditional religion and priesthood have become erroneous, and that the study of scriptures can be a distraction. But then, towards the end it seemingly retraces its steps, reiterating feudalism, casteism, the importance of following religious norms and emphasizes divisions between people.

What of Dr. John Dee? His diaries on Enochain magick are full of seeming dead ends, incomplete systems, seemingly random and arbitrary materials, and a repeated attempt to interpret everything within the Christian framework. I mean, that’s why it’s called ‘Enochain’ magick, even though the ‘enochian’ Angels never called themselves that, nor indicated that they had anything to do with Enoch. At one point in his dialogue with the Angels, they straight up tell him not to bother with worship and religious observances, and also that Jesus was a mystic, not the literal son of god, and need not be worshipped. Yet, he continues his Christian theological interpretations, seemingly.

Why did the Sufi mystics, even though they clearly did not believe in Islamic dogma, pretend to follow and accept Sharia law? I mean, half of them didn’t, and these were chased out of Arabia, but the other half did. Even after their beliefs and contemplations became significantly different from Islamic theology, they continued to attempt to fit it in with what the clerics said.

Or what of the Hindu prophetic figure and theologian, Adi Shankaracharya?

Towards the end of his life, he went off to live alone on the top of a mountain. Here, he had a bunch of spiritual visions and experiences with the Goddess Shakti, and composed what is essentially a magickal grimoire called the Saundarya Lahiri. This is very similar in style to European grimoires, and contains hyms, spells, pentacles and sigils, along with detailed descriptions of invocation and the Maha Yantra.

However, this book has many strange instructions. For example, some hyms are required to be chanted, say, forty thousand times, and under very specific conditions, to be effective. This sort of thinking has persisted in Hindu magick, where exceedingly long and elaborate instructions are given for basic magickal workings. So elaborate, that no one in his right mind would even consider attempting them, unless you want to be in the wilderness on the midnight of the Spring Equinox standing before a roaring fire and repeating a mantra eighty thousand times, after having fasted and abstained from speech and sex for several weeks.

Or let’s take the Ars Goetia? Are you really going to wear a lion skin belt, pray to Jesus, then invoke demons from the Bible who shall appear breathing sulfur?

What about the Grand Grimoire. Half the recipes in that book will either poison you or kill you, and I genuinely cannot imagine that anyone in history has tried some of the ones which involve ingesting toxic metals, or growing a bean plant inside a decapitated human head for attaining wealth.

Hey, and how about my very own Golden Dawn tradition? Anyone who’s read the Golden Dawn books might find that there’s plenty of information that’s contradictory, seemingly incomplete, distorted, and just outright WRONG.

You get the point. I mean, if you can call upon a Spirit by merely chanting it’s name and visualizing, why do some books have you sacrifice rare, exotic virgin animals at a very specific hours of the night using a dagger made from a very specific type of wood from a very specific tree which is found in only very specific places, collected at a specific time, and in a specific way? How can an art, as sacred and universal as Magick, be so goddamn complicated, inaccessible and bizzare?

The short answer is: it isn’t. It’s lies.

Yes, really.

I would say about 90% of the instructions and methodology from both grimoires and religious scripture can be safely and easily left out in actual ritual performance. They serve no greater purpose, nor is there any greater or special significance to them. Yes, they are often symbolic, and studying them can help one understand the specific symbolism of that particular occult tradition, but more often than not it only gives you a glimpse into the psyche of the specific magus or mystic who wrote these things, and may not apply to others even from the same tradition.

The Long Answer

The Age of Pisces was a time of duality. It was a time of Good and Evil. These were fixed categories, and the important thing was to align with the Good and reject the Evil.

Many magi of this period, and even ages before, were terrified of one thing: magickal knowledge falling into the wrong hands, and being misused for the purposes of what they would have called ‘evil’. Another danger when simply writing down knowledge that was once well protected and only passed personally from Master to Student, was about how to make sure that only ‘worthy’ students received this knowledge.

The first instance of magickal knowledge being fully committed to writing, in it’s entirety, comes to us from religious scriptures of religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Still not meant for the public, these books are essentially encoded. They use symbols and archetypal stories to get important spiritual ideas and concepts across, and over time these stories and symbols have become more refined. As reading and writing became more widespread, books of magick also began to contain intentional lies and manipulations. Often, it was something as simple as little omissions here and there, or subtle distortions to important symbols, or extra steps to rituals. For example, your average book on alchemy goes from being a set of instructions on metallurgic refining, to being an allegorical, symbolic legend, filled with wild goose chases, and the work appears so complex and troublesome that any ordinary person would simply toss away the book in annoyance, except someone who has already received alchemical instructions or performed basic experiments. A worthy student who can sift through the lies to get at the real matter of the book.

Additionally, bear in mind that the practice of magick leads to a strong, almost radical sense of individualism. But that doesn’t mean people were always free to express this. So, when writing works of magick, they had to be sure to conform to socio-political and cultural norms. For example, even if the writers of the Keys of Solomon were not Christian, they had show that everything they were doing was, in reality, Christian after all, and completely in line with Christian dogma. The author of the Book of Abramelin may have believed that both men and women could do magick, but he still couldn’t say outright that we should reject gender roles, just as the authors of the Bhagawat Gita couldn’t just reject the caste system.

This, by the way, is true even today. I can’t, for example, tell you to reject or even break tyrannical laws in your country, because that would probably get this blog unlisted from search engines and possibly even banned in various countries. So far, I’ve always straddled the edge between what is and isn’t socially, culturally or politically allowed, and will remain that way. Only you can infer my true meaning and beliefs about religion, politics and the modern world in general. I can never state them outright, because I’m not keen to draw undue attention.

To us, living in the Age of Aquarius, “good and evil” seem like superfluous concepts. We live in a time beyond Good and Evil, and understand that they are subjective boundaries and not based upon anything real. Doesn’t matter what your political or ideological leaning is since both, the existentialists like Nietzsche came to the same conclusions as the post modernists like Satre. This is not a rigth wing-left wing thing.
Good and Evil do not exist, and so it makes no sense to try to be a “good” person. But rather, the Aquarian ideal is about truth, honesty and moral integrity.

The Gods don’t want us to be good and reject evil in this Age, but rather be truthful and have integrity, and reject lies and deceit. And so the Aquarian Magi focus on being as open, transparent and as truthful as possible, and do everything they can to cut down lies, propaganda and subversion. It is one of the reasons why, these days, we do not demand that society, governments and religions be ‘good’, so much as we want them to be transparent and honest. Honesty is a virtue, while ‘goodness’ is seen as pretentious. This is also why modern magicians can invoke Spirits who were formerly called as ‘demon’. These ‘demons’ represent things which, to the Piscean cultures, would have been seen as ‘evil’. To us, no such dichotomy exists. All that we ask for and focus on, is clarity and integrity, and the same is expected from us.

But that was not true in the previous age. It may not make sense to us, but to those who lived in the time it seemed perfectly fine to lie, manipulate and distort information in order to serve the ‘greater Good’. After all, what harm was being done, except deny power to those who were evil?

Problem is, there was also a lot of copy-pasting. A lot of books of magick, yoga and spirituality are filled with material that was simply copied from older books by people who neither practiced nor understood the material. A lot of them merely gave their opinions, and the best logical answer they could come up with, to make sense of all this. A vast majority of occult grimoires fall into this category. They’re simply amalgamations of previous works. The Grimoire of Armadel is perhaps the best example of this. Naturally, all the lies and distortions are retained, since the authors simply had a scholastic interest in these books, and did not practice magick themselves. And so, there’s a further distortion.

A lot of things that are written on the topic of high magick and yoga are just completely…..meaningless. They serve no purpose besides a passing scholarly interest, and it is sad to see so many beginners of magick get so worked up over arbitrary categories, needlessly complex rituals, contradictory philosophies, and various theological and moral restrictions. I think a majority of New Age literature is just that, further opinions given on these various distorted works. A distortion of a distortion of a distortion. Wonderful.

I myself was once really worked up over these things. What is a demon, what is an angel, what is a god? What does it mean to be noble, what is the purpose of culture, and how to be a good person? Growing up, I often had a keen interest in doing the “right thing” and frequently remained obedient to rules, procedures and expectations. Now, I can look back and see it was nothing but servility. I was merely going against my own better judgement for people who did not know better. In fact, many people I listened to were just weak and confused, and were trying to pass it on to the next generation. I realised that power is not always earned, and often people who have been granted authority did not earn it, and do not deserve it. Just because someone says, with confidence, that something is right and correct and moral, does NOT make it so.

Redeeming the Truth

So…what is to be done?

There’s no one size fits all solution. It requires personal discretion, and most importantly, experience.

For example, try to understand the essence and purpose of a ritual and cosmology, without following it blindly. What does the lion skin belt of the Ars Goetia represent? The Animal self, and tying it around your waist represents that you have conquered your inner demons.

Remember that most mythology and scripture is symbolic. For example, the ‘end times’ in the Biblical Revelation represents, not the “end of the world”, but rather Apokalypsis, which is a Greek word meaning the attainment of knowledge, or Gnosis. it also shows the passing from the Age of Pisces to that of Aquarius, which has been happening since around 1980.

A lot of things are exaggerated. Many Tantric mantras do not need to be repeated 40,000 times. Just 40 times will suffice, and you can have the intent of putting the power of a thousand recitations into a single one. These recitations are simply to enter a meditative trance, and imprint the instructions into your subconscious. If you can understand the why, then the what is irrelevant.

Remember that everything the alchemists did refers to real chemical phenomena. If you understand chemistry, you shall understand the instructions.

The Enochian tablets are pages of an instruction manual, not an object of worship or altar piece.

The cosmologies of Gods, Angels and Demons always refer to the elements, the planets, the zodiac, or the 9 gates of understanding.

There’s also few tips I can give. Remember, your OWN gnosis and experiences, and your own thoughts and worldview supersede everything.

But what if you’re wrong?

Trust me, better to think for yourself, and be wrong, than not think at all. The risk of being wrong, and having to reevaluate your beliefs is the price for self determination. Personally, I remember when I first started magick so much of it felt wrong, meaningless, obtuse, misleading or just plain ignorant. But I had to convince myself that it was written by masters who knew more, an that every occult author was of the same caliber, and every book contained valuable information. Never occurred to me that many occult authorities could be..well, just some guys who never had any spiritual experiences with dumb opinions, beginners just like me.

Remember, sometimes, if things feel wrong or don’t make sense, that’s because they are wrong. Not everything happens for a reason, not all categories are true. Sometimes, bad ideas are very popular. Sometimes, the thing that everyone believes could be wrong. Just because something is older, doesn’t mean it’s better, and all people, even masters of High Magick, are human and fallible.

This applies not just to magick, but to a lot of things.

And, most importantly, the Piscean Magi lied.

That doesn’t mean they were bad people or had bad intentions. But they lived in a separate paradigm. Maybe the magi from the Age of Capricorn shall look at us the same way, unable to understand our obsession with honesty and integrity. Perhaps in their time, being truthful and honest would be so common place, that they’ll see our obsession with transparency and openness as weird. Or maybe general reality would have become so magickal and fluid, that ‘truth’ will just feel like a childish and infantile concept, because nothing will appear fixed even to ordinary people.

But we can only go with what makes sense to us in our time, and this applies to those who came before us too.

So without judging them too harshly, remember to take everything they wrote with a healthy amount of skepticism. A lot of it is simply a clever little distraction.

Until Next Time
White Raven Invictus

An Ancient Egyptian Initiation Ritual

October 16, 2020August 12, 2022Tagged african religion, ancient egypt, ceremonial magick, deities, egyptian, egyptian magic, egyptian magick, gods, golden dawn, hermeticism, horus, initiation ritual, isis, kabbalah, kemetism, nephthys, new age, paganism, rite of initiation, spell, spirituality, thothLeave a comment

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) is a well known and common magick ritual. These days, its even begun to enter mainstream spiritual thought. The ritual was originally created by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to banish spiritual energy and clear a space.

The LBRP is well known not just because is is an energy clearing ritual, but also because it lays out the format for various other rituals, both greater and lesser. It was originally a Golden Dawn ritual, but Pagans, Satanists, Thelemites and various other minor Temples and traditions use this format. It also incorporates many different systems, and this gives it some sort of universal appeal.

I’m sure a majority already know it, but to recap, the ritual goes like this:

Kabbalistic Cross (Part I)

Face EAST.

Visualise a brilliant ball of light floating above your forehead, about 12 inches in diameter.

Using either a dagger, or your middle and index finger, reach up and draw the light down to your forehead.

Vibrate ATAH

Touch your solar plexus, visualising the light travelling down your body to form a similar ball under your feet.

Vibrate MALKUTH

Touch your right shoulder, visualising another ball of light.

Vibrate VA-GEBURAH

Touch your left shoulder, visualizing the light travelling across your chest to another sphere.

Vibrate VA-GADULAH

Clasp your hands at your chest, and vibrate LA-OLAHM

Now say AMEN.

Invoking the Watchers (Part II)

Once again, with your dagger and index/middle finger, point outward. Now, trace the Banishing Pentagram of Earth (beginning at the bottom left, moving to the top point).

Once it is traced, stab it in the middle, and see it burst into white flames. As you do so, vibrate YHVH (Pronounced YEHOVAH)

Now turn clockwise to the South, tracing a quarter circle with your dagger/fingers, and do the same.

This time, vibrate ADNI (Pronounced ADONAI)

Continue clockwise to the West, and do the same.

Vibrate AHIH (Pronounced AHA-YAH, or Ehee-yeh for anglophones)

Finally, continue to the North. This time, vibrate AGLA.

Continue clockwise to the East, completing the circle you were tracing.

Now say the following:
“To my right, MIKHAEL”
(vibrate the name of the archangel, while visualising the towring figure of Mikhael appear to your right. Repeat the same for the other three archangels)
“To my left, URIEL“
“Before me, RAPHAEL“
“Behind me, GABRIEL“

(Mikhael and Raphael are generally seen as male, Gabriel and Uriel as female)

Spread your legs and your arms, as if forming a pentagram with your body. Now visualise a white burning pentagram, similar to the ones you traced superimposed on yourself, and also focus on the four Pentagrams you traced previosuly.

“For about me flames the Pentagram”

Visualise a Hexagram burning at your chest. This can be the GD Hexagram, or just white.

“And within me shines the Six Rayed Star”

Visualise a brilliant column of light shining within you, travelling infinitely upward and downward.

Finally, repeat the Kabbalistic Cross (Part III)

Thus concludes the well known LBRP.

Uses of the Pentagram Rituals

As we saw, this was the banishing ritual. In order to do the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram, all we’d need to do is replace the banishing pentagram of the Earth with an invoking one (starting at the top point, moving towards the bottom left point). While the LBRP is a general banishing, the LIRP is a general invocation.

The reason the Earth pentagram is used, is because it is the lowest element, and thought to “contain” the other 3 elements within it. This is also why it is a white pentagram (if we were to invoke Earth separately, we’d use green and black pentagrams).

Many magicians will start the day with a LIRP, and do an LBRP before they sleep. This draws in spiritual energy to start the day off, and ends the day by clearing all energies from their mind and environment. It’s not too different from working out in the morning, and meditating or reading a book before sleep (or…drinking coffee in the morning and alcohol at night).

You can try this out for a week or so, and see how it works.

I want to provide a Initiation ritual that utilises the Egyptian gods along with the Invoking ritual of the Pentagram. It is based on a Sumerian ritual, but I always found the Egyptian deities resonate more with hermetic and kabbalistic work (for ME personally).

This ritual is to be every single day until the effects are felt, and serves as a simple initiation into the Hermetic tradition. It also draws in energy, so it is a good ritual for anyone who works with pagan, thelemic, kabbalistic or hermetic magick.

The Egyptian Initiation Rite

For this, all you need is a glass or cup, filled with water.

I’d suggest doing it in the morning, after bath/shower.

All the words given in bold capitals must be vibrated. Vibrating means saying the word with a deep, resonant voice, almost like a hum or song. When we vibrate magickal names, we draw the breath from within the belly and chest, and it will feel like the word is “vibrating” the whole body.

The rest of the words should be stated with a firm and clear voice, without any fear of being heard or judged. This ritual is simple, but very powerful when done right.

Cross of Ptah (Part I)

Face EAST.

Visualise a brilliant sphere of light above your head, about 12 inches in diameter.

Reach up, and draw down the light to your forhead.

Say “The world was created..”

Now touch your heart center, visualizing the light travelling down your body in a column, to form a sphere under your feet.

“…by the thought of the Heart”

Now touch your right shoulder, forming another ball.

“Life was given..”

Touch your left shoulder, drawing the light across.

“…by the magic of the Word”

Clasp your hands, and say “Amen”

Invocation of the Gods (Part II)

Now, trace an Ankh (clockwise for invoking, counter clockwise for banishing) of the Earth in the East.

Vibrate RA-RAURET

Turn to the South, with your fingers still outstretches, tracing a circle of light and draw the Pentagram again.

Vibrate HAUHET-HEH

Continue to the West, and do the same.

This time, vibrate NAUNET-NUH

Continue to the North, do the same.

Vibrate TA-TENEN

Continue to the East, closing your circle of light.

Now say the following:

“To my right, AUSET”

“To my left, NEBET-HET”

“Before me, ASAR”

“Behind me, AUSET”

Each time, visualise the mighty forms of the respective deities appearing in each direction, holding an ankh in one hand and the wajded staff in the other (although it is entirely up to you how you want to visualise them. Go with what feels natural)

Spread your hand to either side, and procliam:

“For about me flames the Living Ankh”

Visualised the circle you traced becoming a sphere around you. The top half is a dome of brilliant pale sunlight, and below you is a dome of black, earthy ground. In the center, standing tall, is the Ankh

“And within me shines the Eternal Djed”

As you say this, cross your arms across your chest, and visualise the Djed shining in your entire being, and a beam of light travelling infinitely upwards and downwards.

Blessing of the Water (Part III):

Take you glass/cup/goblet of water. Move to the Easter quarter, right in front of you. Here, you had invoked Tehuti. State:

“Lord Tehuti, hail unto thee! I ask for thy blessing in my life, and the path of High Magick”

Pause a moment, then walk clockwise to the South (where Heru is invoked), and repeat the same recitation to him. Then do the same as you continue to the West and finally the North, making your prayer to Auset and Nebet-het. With each recitation, visualise the glass of water glowing brighter and brighter with light.

Now return to the center of the circle, and hold out your glass, visualising it containing bright, burning white light:

“Within the elixir shines the eternal light!”

Visualize an Ankh glowing brightly within the water.

“And within me dwells the eternal life!”

Consume the water, visualising the white brilliance entering your body, and filling your whole being with the same bright light.

Now, repeat the Cross of Ptah (Part IV) and end the ritual by bowing down.

Meaning of the Ritual

The ritual may sound long, but the whole thing will likely take little less than 5 minutes, and it probably took me longer to write it than it will take to perform it.

The speech at the beginning is a homage to the primordial creator god Ptah, who spoke the cosmos into existence (much like the God of the old testament).

The four Pentagrams utilize spiritual concepts.

Amun, the hidden Godhead, and Ra, the highest deity and God of Light. Their compounded form Amun-Ra represents the beginning of all things.

Heh is the personification of infinity, or the flood of Chaos that existed before the beginning of the world. Hauhet is the feminine form, while Heh is masculine.

Nu is the primordial watery Abyss, from which all life first emerged. It is the cosmic womb, and Naunet is its feminine form, while Nun is masculine.

Ta-Tenen is the primal mound, or the first piece of land that emerged out of the waters of chaos that filled the abyss, at the behest of the godhead. Upon this mound, the first Djed was erected and Time began.

Aten refers to the sun-disk, and the light of the heavens. Aker is the name for the kingdom of Matter.

The Ankh is the symbol of life, and it is carried by all Egyptian gods. The Djed is a symbol of the indomitable Will. Djed and the Ankh represent the male and female principle respectively.

Left to right: The Djed, the Ankh, and the two combined

You may know the four deities Tehuti, Heru, Auset and Nebet-het by their more common Greek names: Thoth, Horus, Isis and Nephthys respectively.

Thoth is the God of Writing, and the celestial scribe. He is the ruler of Air. He may be visualised as having the head of an Ibis or a Baboon, with glowing pale skin, as if made of moonlight, with similar eyes. His garments may be seen as plain and white. On his head is a crescent with a sun disk.

Horus is the God of War, and the avenger. He is the ruler of Fire. He may be visualised with the head of a hawk or falcon, with burning red skin, as if made from flames. His garments can be seen as having gold or bronze armour plates. On his head if the double crown of ancient Egypt.

Isis is the Goddess of the Fertility, and the cosmic mother. She is the ruler of Water. She may be visualized as a beautiful woman, with golden, glistening skin, as if made of liquid metal. Her garments can be seen as shimmering with multicolored rainbow light, or as deep blue, and embedded with precious stones. On her head is the throne of Egypt.

Nephthys is the Goddess of Night, and the patron of both chilbirth and death, and also magick. She is the ruler of Earth. She may be visualised as a younger woman, with dark black skin, as if made from fertile soil. Her garments may be seen as simple green/brown robes with a golden trim. On her head is a pillar.

Reference for the Sun disk on the head of Thoth, which isn’t given in the previous image.

When we make the crossed sign across our chest, we pay homage to Asar, known more commonly by the Greek name Osiris, the King of the Gods and ruler of the Duat (underworld/realm of the Gods). He rules Spirit.

Initially, there may be some resistance to the daily ritual. As with any new habit, it will take some time to become natural. But it’ll happen eventually.

Also, I’m aware that some of the incantations and recitations may seem bit clumsy to some people, so feel free to reword them in a way that makes sense to you. As long as the general tone and contents are retained, how you word it is up to you.

That’s all for now. I’m working on a bunch of stuff and I’m really excited to put it all out. I’ve got a lot of stuff regarding Indo-European magick, I want to talk about next. Look forward to it!

Until Next Time
~White Raven

New Book Release | The Tree of Life: A Beginners Guide

July 22, 2020July 28, 2020Tagged ceremonial magick, ebook, golden dawn, grimoire, guide, hermeticism, high magick, introduction, kabbalah, lurianic, magic, magick, Occult, paths, qlipphoth, sephiroth, spirituality, witchcraft7 Comments

Hello, and welcome back.

I’m very pleased to announce the release of my first book on Magick. I present to you The Tree of Life: A Beginner’s Guide.

It contains a wealth of information regarding the Sephiroth, Kabbalah, the Tree of Life, Astrology, Sacred Geometry, the Qliphoth and much more.

Let me start at the beginning. I am a Hermetic Kabbalist, and have been practicing Magick for several years. I’ve been sharing my thoughts and experiences here since 2015.

Over the years, lots of people have asked me various questions, the most common being how to get started with magick and spiritual work.

For those who want a start, this book is the prefect thing for you. It will familiarise you with the basics of High Magick, and in particular the Tree of Life and the philosophy of Kabbalah.

So, I bring you some of my best work yet. This book has gone through various iterations, as I’ve compiled all my knowledge regarding Kabbalah, and the Tree of Life in particular, and tied it all up in a articulate fashion.

What’s the point if you have to spend decades pouring over books just to get started? And let’s be honest, not everyone speaks English as their first language, and even those who do may find the writings of eccentric English noblemen to be difficult. Don’t get me wrong, these writers were brilliant. Some of the most important people who lived in the last century. But, it is time to make the knowledge more open. The Age of Aquarius demands it.

Kabbalah is a beautiful and sacred art, and has usually been kept hidden. In this book, I have explained all the details and symbolism in plain and clear language. I wanted to write something that anyone, even a complete novice to Magick, could read and understand. It will provide a clear and complete understanding of the Sephiroth, and exactly what they are, outside the usual framework of religious dogma. I have tried to cover all the bases, and touched on astrology, alchemy, and sacred geometry as well, and how they relate to the Sephiroth. As far as I’m concerned, understanding the Sephiroth is the key to all practical magick, as well as life in general.

It is my great hope that this book will answer many, many questions that people have, and especially help those who want to practice ceremonial magick and have a thirst for information that is not designed to mislead them.

I have also put in high resolution diagrams, as well as two different versions of the Tree of Life that can be easily printed on an A4 paper without loosing quality. I’ve made sure of this.

For the time being, I have decided to use Gumroad to release this book. If all goes well, you can look forward to more books on a variety of other topics. I am working on a conclusive method for Invocation and Evocation as well. That one might take me the longest time, but there is plenty more to Magick 😀

Head over to:

https://gumroad.com/betweenthepillars

You can also click this link here and go directly to the product page.

How does it work? You purchase it on Gumroad and then you get a PDF version of the book. If you experience any issues with the purchase, send me an email. As of now, it’s going to be an E-Book (maybe some day I’ll be fancy enough to sell physical books. But then again, I dislike being fancy).

And for those who have been asking for years now, don’t worry. The invocation of the Archangel Michael and the recipe for making Fairy Salve are going to be my next posts. I’ll touch upon how to cast a circle as well.

That’s all for now. Thank you for all your support and generosity over the years 🙂

Until Next Time.
~White Raven

The Best Way to do The Bornless Invocation

July 1, 2020July 2, 2020Tagged Angels, Ars goetia, bornless ritual, demons, egypt, evocation, goetia, golden dawn, hermeticism, high magick, invocation, Invocations and Expereinces, kabbalah, lesser key of solomon, magick, mathers, Occult, ritual, solomon, spirituality, summoning7 Comments

Yes. I know. This is the first time I’ve made 3 continuous posts without a 6 month gap between them. You must be so proud.

Before we get to today’s article, I have an announcement to make. This Full Moon, I’m releasing an E-grimoire, which will be the first of hopefully many on specific topics. It’s going to contain a lot of theoretical, and practical information along with diagrams. More on that later, but look forward to it. If you’re reading this after June 2020, chances are it’s already out. Check the ‘Books’ tab on the top bar.

On this blog I have two types of visitors. The first are people who are curious about the Occult or just starting out, and come by to read about my experiences with summoning demons, explanations of the pentagram or simple spells. Then there’s those who are experienced Occultists, who can put up with me rambling on and on about specific Sephiroth and Gematria values, and understand every word perfectly. At the very least, anyone who reads this blog has made the choice to learn about and hopefully practice the true magick of the Light, free of superstition, danger and shallow spiritual thrills.

What I’m writing about today may attract people who are so new to the Occult they don’t even know it’s the Occult. To them I say, keep an open mind as you read, and don’t stress about not understanding some things.

I know this because the Bornless Invocation was my first foray into the Occult. While I had some exposure to new age stuff before, it was with this ritual that I was exposed to names like Crowley, Mathers, the Golden Dawn etc. Until then, I only thought of spirituality in the hippie sense. I couldn’t even grasp the depth of what I’d stumbled on.

It’s a bit strange thinking back on it. How something that has become an integral part of my life came to me when I was bored and randomly typed “how to summon demons” into Google. Fate perhaps, or just luck.

Today I’m going to go over a brief history of this ritual, and then tell you the most efficient way to perform it, at least according to me.

A lot of information on it online is from dabblers and armchair occultists, because few real practitioners of Magick actually use it in ritual practice. But I’m one of them, so let me give a clear guide to it, without the nonsense.

What is the Bornless Ritual

I’m guessing most people, if not all, came to know of this ritual from the Ars Goetia, which is the first part of The Lesser Key of Solomon. If you google it, you’ll find a lot of websites that basically copy paste the same ‘definition’, calling it the ‘prliminary invocation of the Goetia’. While that’s technically true, it gives off the wrong impression.

This is the most commonly encountered version of the ritual:

“Thee I invoke, the Bornless one.
Thee, that didst create the Earth and the Heavens:
Thee, that didst create the Night and the day.
Thee, that didst create the darkness and the Light.
Thou art Osorronophris: Whom no man hath seen at any time.
Thou art Iabos:
Thou art Iapos:
Thou hast distinguished between the just and the Unjust.
Thou didst make the female and the Male.
Thou didst produce the Seed and the Fruit.
Thou didst form Men to love one another, and to hate one another.
I am Ank F N Khonsu Thy Prophet, unto Whom Thou didst commit Thy Mysteries, the Ceremonies of Khem:
Thou didst produce the moist and the dry, and that which nourisheth all created Life.
Hear Thou Me, for I am the Angel of Apophrasz Osorronophris: this is Thy True Name, handed down to the Prophets of Khem.
Hear Me: Ar: Thiao: Reibet: Atheleberseth: A: Blatha: Abeu: Eben: Phi: Chitasoe: Ib: Thiao.
Hear Me, and make all Spirits subject unto Me: so that every Spirit of the Firmament and of the Ether: upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry Land and in the Water: of Whirling Air, and of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God may be obedient unto Me.
I invoke Thee, the Terrible and Invisible God: Who dwellest in the Void Place of the Spirit: Arogogorobrao: Sochou: Modorio: Phalarchao: Ooo: Ape, The Bornless One: Hear Me!
Hear Me: Roubriao: Mariodam: Balbnabaoth: Assalonai: Aphniao: I: Tholeth: Abrasax: Qeoou: Ischur, Mighty and Bornless One! Hear Me!
I invoke Thee: Ma: Barraio: Ioel: Kotha: Athorebalo: Abraoth: Hear Me!
Hear me! Aoth: Aboth: Basum: Isak: Sabaoth: Iao:
This is the Lord of the Gods:
This is the Lord of the Universe:
This is He Whom the Winds fear.
This is He, Who having made Voice by His Commandment, is Lord of All Things; King, Ruler, and Helper. Hear Me!
Hear Me: Ieou: Pur: Iou: Pur: Iaot: Iaeo: Ioou: Abrasax: Sabriam: Oo: Uu: Ede: Edu: Angelos tou theou: Lai: Gaia: Apa: Diachanna: Chorun.
I am He! the Bornless Spirit! having sight in the Feet: Strong, and the Immortal Fire!
I am He! the Truth!
I am He! Who hate that evil should be wrought in the World!
I am He, that lightningeth and thundereth.
I am He, from whom is the Shower of the Life of Earth:
I am He, whose mouth flameth:
I am He, the Begetter and Manifester unto the Light:
I am He, the Grace of the World:
“The Heart Girt with a Serpent” is My Name!
Come Thou forth, and follow Me: and make all Spirits subject unto Me so that every Spirit of the Firmament, and of the Ether: upon the Earth and under the Earth: on dry land, or in the Water: of whirling Air or of rushing Fire: and every Spell and Scourge of God, may be obedient unto me!
Iao: Sabao: Such are the Words!”

First things first though. The Lesser Key of Solomon is a famous medieval grimoire of unknown origin, claiming to have been written by King Solomon himself, but that’s probably not true. It was very common for medieval authors of grimoires to remain anonymous, and attribute their books to legendary figures like Solomon, Moses or Christ. This was partly to protect their identity, but also to separate themselves from their work. Most magicians even today write under a pseudonym (including me), so that people can focus on the information instead of the person.

The book has five parts, although most people only know about the first, the Ars Goetia. This is a list of 72 ‘demons’ who allegedly helped King Solomon (a Biblical figure who was a great King of Israel) build his Temple at Jerusalem. The book gives their seals, descriptions and various rituals to summon them. The book was compiled in the 17th century, although it is based on many older texts, such as the works of Johanne Weyer, Henry Cornellius Agrippa and Eliphas Levi.

And that’s what the book was for centuries. However, in 1904, a man named Samuel Lidell Mathers translated this work, along with several others. Mathers is an important figure within the Occult, one of the founding members of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (i’m sorry for so many long names right off the bat, but the quicker we get them out of the way the better. Many of you will already be familiar with these).

Mathers was the first to translate and publish this manuscript, and it was edited by his then friend and fellow Golden Dawn member, and the well known occultist who rose to infamy: Aleister Crowley. At the very beginning of the book, Crowley decided to add a rather peculiar ritual: The Bornless Invocation.

*A rare photo of Mathers and young Crowley together. This was when Crowley was initiated into the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn by Mathers.*

Now, understand that this ritual was not part of the original manuscript. In fact, i’m sure the original medieval authors of the Lesser Key wouldn’t even have known about this ritual. But, it was not created by Crowley either. The Bornless Invocation was originally in Greek, although if you look at its contents, you’ll see it actually has Egyptian origin.

It was most likely created by Gnostics, a mystery cult in era of the Roman Empire which would go on to become Christianity. Many Gnostics would have been Greek, and were heavily inspired and influenced by the Egyptian and Jewish mysticism making its way into Europe. That would explain why, despite being Greco-Egyptian, it appears to have Abrahamic language that we see in Judaism and Christianity, and why it places an emphasis on Osiris, whose myths and symbolism served as a basis for the Gnostics to create their own symbolism and tradition. Also, for the sake of clarity, i’m referring to the early Gnostics of the Roman Empire, who were basically proto-Christians, not the Cathars who were around almost 800 years later.

*Ancient Roman Gnostic Talisman. Notice the Egyptian God Anubis, holding a Greek caduceus, and meeting a Roman soldier. Notice the Six pointed stars in the Sky.*

It’s also worth mentioning, that in this version by Crowley, he added “I am Ank F N Khonsu Thy Prophet, unto Whom Thou didst commit Thy Mysteries, the Ceremonies of Khem“. Khem is the ancient name of Egypt, and Ankh F N Khnosu was a magickal motto used by Crowley.

In the older, Abrahamic versions, it is written as “I am Moshe Thy Prophet, unto Whom Thou didst commit Thy Mysteries, the Ceremonies of Ishrael“. Here, Moshe is the Hebrew name of Moses, and Ishrael is the fabled Holy Land of the Biblical Jews (not to be confused with the modern nation state of Israel. There is much overlap, but they’re not exactly the same thing)

The Gnostics probably used Jewish symbolism, but Crowley saw fit to make it Egyptian, based on its origin. As it should be obvious, this translation was made to be practical to ceremonial magick, and not necessarily accurate. Many linguists and historians have translated the ritual in various, more accurate ways since then, although none have the same flair as the GD version.

The dialect you see here is late Middle English, or at least, what people in the Victorian era (such as Mathers) thought Middle English was like. Hence why many words have suffixes, such as the term “flameth” instead of flames. Pre-classical English used to be language with almost as much beauty and intricacy as Sanskrit, Latin or Hebrew. This is the dialect used in many English versions of the Bible.

The reason Crowley chose to include this ritual in the Goetia, is because it calls upon the authority of the Most High. The term ‘Bornless One’ means that which is eternal, which has no beginning. In fact, a more accurate translation of the name would be “Headless One”. To us modern people, that name sounds scary. But to the Gnostics (and possibly ancient Egyptians), it meant something more profound. Having no ‘head’, means having no ‘Ego’. That which is ultimate and self realised.

The original prayer calls on Egyptian God Osiris (Asar). In the modern version, we see the term ‘Osorronophris’, which is a Greek distortion of ‘Asar un-Nefer’, meaning Osiris the Beautiful.

Osiris, King of Gods (Middle), flanked by his son, the God of War, Horus (left) and wife, Goddess of Fertility, Isis (right). The Jews would later depict this as the Mercy and Severity of God.

The Golden Dawn worked very heavily with Egyptian gods, so it’s clear to see why they would choose this ritual. It appealed to their highly Egyptian sensibilities and style of magick, while still retaining the Kabbalistic/ Gnostic imagery they were familiar with. Within the GD tradition, Osiris is often considered the highest God. Modern media presents him as some sort of underworld Deity. But when you realise that the ancient Egyptians believed the afterlife was under the Earth, not up in the Sky, this has much more significance.

Osiris was also the God of fertility (and Egypt was a largely agricultural society). The annual flooding of the Nile marked the Egyptian New Year, and it was linked to the rebirth of Osiris. But the most important thing for us, is that the Pharaoh was said to be the living manifestation of Osiris on Earth. Thus, he commanded authority over the entire Empire.

That’s what the Bornless Ritual is: authority. When you stand within the magick circle, and summon angels or demons, you do so with that authority. The performance of this ritual is the the proclamation of that authority, that has been granted unto you by the Divine (however you choose to think of it). Put bluntly: it is an Invocation of God, and in the magick circle, you are the God of the circle.

Structure of the Ritual

There are various versions of the ritual. However, for the practical 21st century magickian, this version is the most powerful and correct, as well as efficient. I present to you, the Bornless ritual:

The Invocation of the Bornless One

Thee I Invoke, the Bornless One!
Thee that didst create, the Earth and the Heavens!
Thee that didst create, the Darkness and the Light!
Thou art Asar-un-Nefer, whom no man hath seen at any time!
Thou hast distinguished between the Just and the Unjust!
Thou didst make the Female and the Male!
Thou didst produce the Seed and the Fruit!
Thou didst form us to love one another, and to hate one another!
Thou didst produce the moist and the dry,
and that which nourisheth all created life!

I Invoke Thee, the Mighty and Ineffable God,
Who dwelleth in the Void place of the Spirit.

I am He! The Bornless Spirit!
Having sight in the feet: strong, and the Immortal Fire!
I am He, the Truth!
I am He, who hates that evil should be wrought in the world!
I am He that bringeth the Lightning and Thunder!
I am He, who showereth life upon the Earth!
I am He, whose mouth ever flameth!
I am He, the begetter and manifester unto the Light!
I am He, the Grace of the World!
The Heart Girt of the Serpent in my name!

Hear Me, and make all Spirits subject unto me,
So that every Spirit of the Firmament and of the Ether,
Upon the Earth or under the Earth,
On dry land and in water, if whirling air and of rushing fire,
And every spell and scourge of God,
May be Obedient unto Me. Amen!

It is this version used by the OTA, a group founded by Mason and prominent ceremonial magician, Poke Caroll Runyon. The OTA omits the “barbarous names” and has no repetitions, and I agree with that. More on it later.

Also, I should mention, I changed “terrible and invisible God” to “mighty and ineffable God”. The words used in the original and OTA version are really bad, because most people have a negative association with the words “terrible” and “invisible”. Western ceremonial magicians frequently fail at separating their innate guilt and fear from this most sacred and beautiful art of Magick. It is up to you, but I suggest using my words. And for what it’s worth, the original Greek translates to something like “I call upon you, awe-some and hidden God..”

When reading the ritual, you may notice that it has two distinctive parts. The first, appears to be a ‘prayer’. It involves several lines praising the Divine, and describing it in various ways. You will notice that it reconciles all duality, always using both sides of every aspect. The Divine is the source of ALL things.

The second is seemingly abrupt. Suddenly, the praises stop and we are met with a string of “I Am” statements. This ends with both a proclamation and a plea, simultaneously asking for and granting ourselves authority over the Cosmos.

The third part, which is removed here, are strings and strings of random words. These are the famous ‘barbarous names’, and they usually are what makes the ritual much longer than is presented here. You can see them in the original version I have provided at the beginning.

“…Hear Me: Ar: Thiao: Reibet: Atheleberseth:………etc.”

Usually, the whole thing is repeated multiple times, with these barbarous names dividing each part. Many of these were probably Greek distortions of Egyptian terms, and many were probably Greek originally, and yet who knows how many more have been added by the Golden Dawn. It should be noted that both of them further distorted several names, although to be honest no one at the time knew as much about these things. Over the years many others have tried to ‘correct’ these names. For anyone interested, here is an online journal which gives the origin and meaning of all of them, as well as the entire ritual.

How to Perform the Ritual

First of, let’s start with the barbarous names, and why modern magicians omit them. Some people might think it just seems like a bunch of mindless, meaningless nonsense. Ironically, those people would be correct.

You see, the mind has two halves. There’s the critical, conscious part, and the subconscious, intuitive part. Successful magick relies heavily on the subconscious mind, since the magician must have absolute faith when he performs his magick. Any doubts, limiting beliefs, and harmful perspectives can hinder the work. If you’re doing a ritual, and all the while thinking about how it’s all stupid and fake, or worried about whether you’re doing it right, or trying to think about the logic of it…well, the ritual would fail.

The way Crowley put it: by forcing you to recite these odd, strange and senseless words, you would push away the doubt. In his words “by enthusiastically invoking something we know not to exist, we are refuting the conscious mind!” (not the exact words, but close enough).

I wouldn’t quite put it that way though. A better way to think is that you’re keeping the conscious mind occupied. By giving it a fairly complex task to perform and keep track of, you’re keeping it from hindering with the ritual.

But, this is actually not a great way of doing so (and in case you’re wondering, the evocation methods that the Golden Dawn finally ended up using did not use the Bornless Invocation, nor any orations from the Ars Goetia). The barbarous names are a bit tedious. You can use them if you want, but a much better way to keep the mind busy is by adding complexity to the ritual. It is for this reason that many Occult rituals have such intricacy. I wouldn’t doubt Crowley and Mathers, as they were very powerful magicians, but I personally find the barbarous names clumsy. Poke Runyon, an equally powerful mage, seems to think so too.

Okay, so now let’s focus on the other two parts. An Invocation consists of two parts: praise and identification. In the first, obviously, we praise the Spiritual force being invoked. You may have noticed this in religious ceremonies, where the Deity in question is called by his many epithets. You may have heard Hindu prayers, where the gods in question is clearly defined using all sorts of traits, such as appearance, powers, clothing and other things. You may have heard Christian hymns where Christ or God are praised through the various roles they play in people’s lives.

The purpose of this is simply: to help us visualise the Spiritual force. If you look at most Occult Invocations, they always begin with such a prayer. This helps the magickian clearly formulate and understand what s/he is communing with, like an ‘image’ of the force. In the Bornless Ritual, we are trying to call on the Divine itself, which is why all the traits seem contradictory, since the Divine is the source of ALL things.

The second part is what religions usually leave out: identification. This is the actual “Invocation” or ‘calling in’ of the Spiritual force. Religion always uses the first part, because it wants you to feel the Gods, without identifying with them. I mean, if most religious worshipers were to identify with their Gods, they they would have no need for religious dogma. They would no longer need the religion to be a middle man between them and their God. And, to the credit of religion, invoking deities requires a well balanced individual who has done spiritual groundwork. Most people cannot just invoke a Deity without preparation. But since the Bornless Invocation calls on the Divine itself, it has few dangers, and anyone can perform it (because the Divine is in all things, whether we like it or not).

Thus, during the first part of the operation, the magus must fill himself with faith and devotion. I normally kneel when I do this part, and speak the words as if in prayer. It’s not just about repeating the words, but understanding their implication. If you believe in and pray to God, this should be done with the same fervour.

Then, the identification. At first, you were calling upon the Divine. Now, the Divine has been invoked and entered the practitioner, and s/he has to assume that mindset and framework. This is where I suddenly stand up straight and proclaim the “I Am” statements in a loud and resonant voice, believing each of them completely. In this short sequence, you have to completely identify with the Divine, and assume the persona of the Master of the Temple. Ideally, having a strong Will and Self Esteem helps. If not, then that can be built up. Doubt and fear have no place, because you’re going to be calling upon forces that will place a great strain on you, as well as those who will test you at every turn.

Personally, I also recommend people who are struggling with self esteem or confidence issues to recite the Bornless Invocation every morning like a prayer, since recognizing oneself as Divine is a crucial aspect of any occult practice. On the other hand, if you’re already really confident and can do this easily, you should be careful using this invocation because it may inflate the Ego, which is one the biggest dangers in magick.

Repetition is not needed, though you may recite it three times if you want, with identification happening in the final half of the 3rd repetition. A lot of the extra bits from the original are unneeded in serious occult practice, although being familiar with the text helps.

In Conclusion

I’ve run out of complicated things to say, so I’m going to link two videos here. The first is an old recording of Israel Regardie reading out the Bornless Ritual, as originally intended by Crowley and Mathers. Regardie was the man responsible to publishing most of the teachings of the Golden Dawn, along with Crowley and Dion Fortune, who were both his peers within the Order. Here he is using the Egyptian version by Crowley.

The second is a video of Poke Runyon performing it within the OTA. This is the version I have used, more or less, and here you can actually see the rite in action during a live ritual. Here, the barbarous words and references to Egypt or Israel are omitted, with no repetitions. (I’ve timestamped the moment where it begins. It’s up to you if you want to watch the rest of the video, which is about an hour long and deals with OTA methods of Evocation. If you’re using mobile, the timestamp may not work. Skip to 55:40)

I like the flair with which the OTA do the rituals, but I dislike their flat tone and spoken pronunciations. This is understandable as it’s simply a minor invocation to the OTA, and much more attention is given to the rituals preceding and following it. While their rituals are no doubt powerful, and while they take great care in creating their temples, props and sigils, I really don’t like the plain English and somewhat dull non-musical recitations, or the spooky woo aesthetic. In fact, it’s all a bit cringey (no offence to any OTA practitioners 🙂 )

I think in terms of the actual words, Regardie says it with more fervor. Notice how he even pronounces all the classical English words correctly. While I always felt the Golden Dawn made everything over complicated and inaccessible, they did understand the sublime beauty of the whole process and didn’t try to replace that with cheesy looking props and spoken English orations. At the very least they made the effort to learn the Hebrew, Enochian, Latin, Greek and Egyptian orations and correctly pronounce them. But it WAS inaccessible. Most ordinary people don’t have time to learn 6 different languages, or procure lion skin belts, or make golden lamps burning olive oil impregnated with snake fat. The OTA has greatly simplified the whole process and made it so anyone, with discipline and commitment, can enter into the Temple of the Mysteries. Personally, I would combine the fervour and force of the GD performance, with the simplicity and flair and the OTA.

That’s all for today. I hope this helped you gain a better understanding of the Bornless Invocation, and various theoritcal and practical aspects of High magick.

I hope you look forward to the release of my first E-Grimoire this Sunday. Be sure to follow this blog for more content. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus. Thanks for reading.

Until next time.
~White Raven

The Most Powerful Occult Ritual I’ve Ever Done

June 9, 2020Tagged alchemy, astrology, ceremonial magick, demons, Egyptian gods, evocation, gods, golden dawn, heirarchy, hermeticism, invocation, kabbalah, magic, magick, new age, paganism, ritual, Talisman, witchcraft3 Comments

First off, I want to announce that I’ve made an Instagram account. I basically dislike most social media, especially Twitter and Facebook. However, some people have asked for a better communication methods than back and forth emails, so Instagram it is. I’m not even sure what I’ll put there, but we’ll see.

So anyway, I’ve been engaged in High Magick for years now, and I subscribe to a specific tradition of ceremonial magick called Hermetic Kabbalah. In particular, the types of rituals practiced by the early 20th century group called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (to whom almost ALL modern spiritual movements can be directly or indirectly traced).

I‘ve done all sorts of rituals over the years, and tried out different variations. Sometimes I go with what an old grimoire is saying, sometimes I stick to the traditions of one or more Occult groups, sometimes I use a modern, minimalist method and sometimes I create my own. Some rituals work better than others.

I’ve never had a definitive ritual structure that I used for everything, because I wanted to learn and explore first. Most magickians are expected to develop one over time. Trust me, learning from personal experiences is much better than dogmatically adhering to some premade system (that’s called religion).

Recently, I started doing some rituals that are largely derivative of the Golden Dawn method. I just want to share how I do them, and my thought process behind a recent Invocation I did. The reason is so that people can see how Magickians design rituals and ceremonies seemingly from scratch, and completely on their own without having to rely on a grimoire. It’s something anyone can, and should work towards.

It may work better for some people than others. I may share how to actually do the ritual on the blog at some point.

The Magickal Heirarchy

An important thing to understand about ceremonial magick is its hierarchical nature. Essentially, it’s a soft polytheistic idea that when you call upon spiritual forces, you start from the ‘top’ and then work your way down. This is similar to Hinduism in some sense, in which all Gods, Demons, Humans etc. are ultimately manifestations of a single Divine Force, which fragments into small forces, which further fragment into further forces (or avatars).

The Western ceremonial tradition handles this as an almost social hierarchy, instead of using ‘avatars’. You’ve probably seen it in books like the Ars Goetia, where we have Kings, which then rule over Princes, which are then rule over Dukes, then Earls and so on.

The Golden Dawn tradition intertwines Abrahamic and Egyptian hierarchies, and these can be as fluid as one needs. At the top you have the Divine, invoked through Godnames, and beneath that are the Holy Living Ones, each ruling an alchemical element. Then Archangels, Angels, Planets, Elemental Kings and their kin, Spirits and Intelligences etc.

Intertwined into this are the Infernal hierarchies, with Archdemons on top, then Demons, Dark Planets, King of the Quarters and their kin.

Additionally, they try to include the various Gods and Goddesses of Egypt. These forces are are generally parallel to the Angelic hierarchies.

Almost all members of the Golden Dawn were strongly rooted in the Rosicrucian tradition. They constantly struggled with classifying the Egyptian and Demonic forces, and when they did, they made it so needlessly complicated that I genuinely struggle to understand their descriptions in some places. It’s a thing I’ve always seen monotheistic occultists struggle with, when it’s really not so complicated.

There’s also the Enochian system, but that’s for another time (and oh boy won’t that be fun).

A lot of witches and pagans today have a strong dislike of ceremonial magick, because they consider it rigid and narrow. They think it doesn’t allow for individualism or personal interpretation. However, this is untrue. Most of the time it only seems to be rigid, but in truth it’s still extremely fluid and open, and many systems have been combined to create it, which are far form cohesive.

The ritual I designed relied on my own interpretation of the hierarchy. I begin with preliminary banishing and meditations. Then, I call upon the Most High, which is completely personal.

After that, I invoke the God that I feel should preside over the ritual, and the entire ritual derives it’s power from this God.

Next, the Holy Livings Ones. These are neither fully Abrahamic nor Pagan. The GD corelated them to each of the letters of the 4 lettered name: YHVH.

However, their forms are derived from the Sphinxes found in both Egypt and Sumeria. They are: The Lion (Y), The Eagle (H), The Man (V) and the Bull (H). They each represent an Alchemical element: Fire (Y), Water (H), Air (V) and Earth (H).

From there, I invoke an Archangel, the Planet/s whose energy is used in the ritual (and if needed, the Olympic Spirit under them). Then come the Elementals (and their King), and then the Angel and Intelligence (Archon) of the Element.

Now, on some occasions, I will invoke an Archdemon or King of the Quarter at this point. Remember, technically the Archdemons and Kings are equal to the Archangels and Elemental Kings, and not ‘under’ the planets, Angels or Intelligences. However, it is generally a good idea to Invoke them after the Celestial and Planetary forces have been called. And only then, should you consider calling on Demons and Spirits. In fact, if the ritual does not require calling upon any infernal forces, it should be avoided altogether.

Obviously, most rituals do not require going through the entire chain of command. It all depends on the ritual, and I’m simply giving the whole thing to explain the logic of it all.

True and powerful magick could be performed by simply uttering one’s intent. There’s nothing to stop this. Just saying something puts your energy into it. However, that’s not always enough and not everyone can do that. Hence we have ceremonies and rituals and spells. The Invocations simply give it more power, and the hierarchies are more to help us put our magick in a logical framework, rather than representative of the actual state of affairs regarding these spiritual forces. Ultimately, we are the ones doing magick, and these forces simply help us connect to various parts of our own Soul.

Different people may have different hierarchies. Someone may consider Christ to be the Highest Force, while another may call on Krishna. One person may think Lucifer to be a God, while to another he could be an Archdemon. Ultimately, the ‘ranks’ you ascribe to these spirits are components of your own Psyche.

The spiritual forces are the same, and what symbols you use to approach them do not matter. However, it is more likely than not, that our mythologies and stories are at least rooted in some reality.

The Invocation of Air

The ritual in question was an Invocation of the element of Air itself. The purpose was to consecrate a talisman for certain purposes. The talisman, which in this case was a Ring, would be blessed and consecrated with various energies from the dominion of Air.

Now, this is not the usual way of consecrating talismans. In fact, you can read about the usual method here. However, this was not an ordinary talisman. Therefore, I was guided to create a ritual that would call upon the entire Air hierarchy. This was also for my own learning. While I asked each and every Force to bless the ritual and talisman, it can also be utilized for much simpler workings. Instead of asking every force to bless the ritual, you could simply just invoke them in the correct sequence, and that would make the ritual much more powerful. This rituals took about an hour, but technically much shorter versions could be performed based on requirement.

So, I spent about a week working out a hierarchy I was comfortable with. I performed a simple divination from time to time, asking the Archangels if what I was doing was correct. At times, I was asked to make corrections and changes were suggested.

this image is just a representation, not the fill actual hierarchy. It shows the Four Worlds of the Kabbalah, on which the Hierarchy is based.

I did the ritual on a Sunday, in the Waxing Moon. The entire day prior had been spent preparing for this ritual, and I think that certainly added to the power. I should mention, while I did use GD rituals and chants, all the prayers were written by me personally. I was told that prayers should always be written to any spiritual force by the individual (if s/he is able), because this is a much stronger expression of love and devotion than merely repeating what has been written before.

The ritual technically had to begin at sunrise, but I was more or less close enough to it. That is to say, I woke up at 6:00 AM, showered, had coffee and began getting things ready. I later realised that the reason this ritual was so powerful was because I had done nothing but work towards it from the moment of waking. On another day, I would do a similar Invocation of Fire, which was slightly weaker because it was at midday, and my mind had already been filled with other distractions.

I had an altar at the Eastern edge of the circle. At the center of it was the Armadel sigil for Raphael, with the Talisman on it. I had previously the area with water and incense. At the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the altar were my dagger and wand, for banishing and invoking respectively.

Around the altar, was a cup of water (water), a stick of incense (fire), a small container with salt (earth) and a feather (air). Outside the circle, I had placed a covered cup with rum from a newly opened bottle, and a small lamp with my own personal blend of fairy salve, which I keep specially for offering to the Elementals.

I also had sigils to the Olympic spirits of the Sun and the Moon, called Och and Phul respectively. The Olympic spirits are often called for consecration of talismans.

The Sun and the Moon are the planets that rule Air (Jupiter and Mercury rule Air, Venus and Mars rule Fire, and Saturn rules Earth).

I started the ritual, with a Salutation to the God Ra. Ra rules the Sunrise (as Hathor, Tum and Khepra rule the midday, sunset and midnight respectively. They are different avatars of the god Amun-Ra, the Egyptian Sun God). After the salutation, I spent a few moments in meditation.

Then came the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (and a short prayer to the Tetragrammaton), and then the banishing Ritual of the Hexagram ritual, followed by the Middle Pillar ritual to ground myself. These three rituals are essential components to most ceremonial workings.

I spoke the Invocation of the Bornless One. This is a well known ritual in magick, and gives you the ‘authority’ to command the Temple and all Forces that appear within it. It is a Greco-Egyptian prayer that calls upon Lord Osiris, who rules the Element of Spirit. (Next post will be about that, since I’ve had enough people ask me about it over the years)

Now, I could begin the ritual itself. I remained facing East, because I was invoking Air.

First, a prayer to Thoth, the God who rules the element of Air. The elements of Fire, Water and Earth are ruled by Horus, Isis and Nepthys in the GD tradition. This was a prayer that I wrote. There some invocations out there that are very elaborate and long, but you really don’t need such long invocations. Although many magicians are uncomfortable with this, having the blessing and aid of Gods is extremely important for spiritual operations. Even medieval Christian occultists would make prayers to the Holy Trinity.

As I did the prayer, I saw Thoth appear, enormous and with an Ibis head, standing as they are depicted in ancient statues. He held up his hand and blessed the ritual. Next, I made a prayer to the Kerub of Air. The Kerub of Air appears as a Man, and I traced the Hebrew letter Vav in the East. I could feel energy flowing from the direction as the Kerub empowered the ritual.

I then did two pentagram rituals, invoking Spirit (Active) and the element of Air respectively.

The most important part of the Ritual came now. I was going to invoke the Archangel Raphael until I was effectively one with him. The remainder of the ritual and consecration of the Talisman would happen with me adopting the guise of Raphael. I had prepared a Greek Mantra.

Remember, to call on any entity, the chant “Agios [Entity]” works very well, and is used in several traditions. Thus, my complete chant for Raphael was:

Ela! (x5)
Agios Raphael! (x7)
Kalo Se Sena! (x10)

It translates to Come! Saint Raphael! Hail Unto Thee!

In fact, I have lately discovered that magical chants and mantras, especially those in ancient languages, should be sung, not just spoken. This empowers them significantly. As I repeated the chant, I slipped into a near complete trance. I saw the Archangel Raphael, with brilliant eyes shining yellow, with long black flowing hair. He often appears to be in yellow robes with purple triangles stitched onto it. He blessed me, then entered me. When I was done, the union was complete. I was me, but I was also Raphael. This is called complete invocation. Usually this takes longer, but with practice it came become quick. Also, the entire ritual done until now, along with the musical key and incense help greatly.

We held out our hand, and called into it the Cosmic kingdom of Air. I saw the entire Universe before us, and then I saw it in a purpulish hue. It was all the nebulae, clouds, dust, plasma, supernova, and everything that gave it beauty and sheen. I saw all the ‘Air’ in the Universe compress together until it was one ball of energy in my hand, bluish and purple. I pushed it into the talisman, and now it grew heavy and warm.

Then I did the Hexagram rituals to Invoke both the Sun and the Moon, for these are the planets that are under the element of Air, and opening both spheres give me the energy I needed. I uncovered the sigils of the Olympic Spirits, and asked each to bestow the planetary energies into the Talisman.

Now, I lit my lamp, and made a prayer to the Elemental ruler of Air, called Paralda, and his kin, who are the the Sylphs. You see, the Elementals co-exist with us on this material plane. This is why so much magick involves the four elements and quarters, because it is the Elementals who grant us the energy for the magickal working. If we were to use our energies, we would cause damage to ourselves, even die. The Elementals must be regarded with great respect, for they are more like us than anything else.

I welcomed them into the Circle and presented my offering. I thanked them for coming, and the Ruler Paralda blessed me in return. I could see little specs of light curling around my hands, giving me the energy I would need to do the consecration.

At this point I was totally in trance, and beginning to get tired. There was sweat dripping from my brow. But I continued intuitively. I made a prayer to the Angel of Air, called Chassam, and Archon of Air, Ariel. The angel empowered the ritual with the invigorating energy of Air, like a gentle breeze. The Archon bestowed upon it, the powerful winds that strip away ignorance and stagnation, and bring knowledge and liberty.

Now I sat silent, regarding all the energies I had invoked.

Then I got up, and performed an invocations of the Shadow side with a ritual I had very carefully prepared. I was told before hand that I did not need to call any of the Infernal hierarchies, except of course, the King of Air.

When I whispered the words to invoke the Shadow, I felt hot and there was a pressure building up. Just as with Raphael, I began to chant. I was still singing, but not vibrating, the name. King Amaymon was there even before I was finished chanting his enn.

I uncovered the alcohol, and welcomed King Amaymon. The Kings are only to be called on important occasions, and received very well. Amaymon is, in some ways, the Black Sun, and possibly an avatar of Lucifer.

He graciously accepted my offer. I saw nothing, though the image that comes to mind is a figure dressed in pitch black robes, so dark that no light reflects, with dark blueish eyes and hair, wearing a dark metallic crown.

If archangel Raphael represents the beauty of the Sun, then Amaymon rules over the Black Sun. Overcoming the Black Sun, and resisting it is integral for any Magician to truly reach adept-hood. The usual symbol of the Black Sun is the Sonnenrad. It is a Nazi symbol, not a pagan one as many New Agers claim. But this is no co-incidence, because they are an example of a group that was completely consumed by the Black Sun. The spirit of rebellion is a powerful force, but as Nietzsche once stated:

“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”

I requested Amaymon to open the Eastern gate. This would let loose the “dark” side of Air, that needs to be tempered and integrated. If Air is the element of the mind, representing Liberty and Knowledge, then it’s dark side is Rebellion and Transgression. It can be a destructive force that levels civilisations, but when integrated and channeled to serve the Divine Will, it becomes the force that breaks the shackles of deception, ignorance and delusion. It breaks the chains of conformity that keep us bound. But anyone who doesn’t know what they are doing, should not invoke these energies, lest he become unbalanced and be consumed by his own Shadow. The Kings of the Quarters will open the gate if you ask them, without regard to how you will handle it. But a divination I had done before told me I was prepared.

I think Amaymon even asked “are you sure”, to which I said yes. I got the impression that the Gate was opened.

The moment this happened, I felt energies so strong, I suddenly had the thought that I may pass out. I hadn’t eaten anything, and suddenly got very dizzy. I felt my stomach drop, and I began to sway. The energy continued to build up, but I was being told to hold on, and to brace myself. So I did, for as long as I could. For a scary moment, I genuinely thought I would faint. You know that light headed feeling right before you loose consciousness? When your mind goes blank and all you want to do is lie down and close your eyes.

But then I recovered my composure. The energy swirled around me, I made a gesture as if breaking chains that were around me. I said a short prayer, and then pushed this intense energy into the talisman.

As is tradition, I used the salt, water, incense and feather to consecrate the Talisman in all 4 elements, and proclaimed it’s purpose. I used the Rose Cross, and the name YEHESHUAH YEHOVASHAH to seal it.

The Rosy Cross Sigil, for protection and sealing.

The Kings can open the Gates, but I needed to close the Eastern gate myself, using the Rose Cross again. Then, I began the various thanks and farewells to all the Gods I had called, and finished with banishing all the forces I had invoked and giving a license to depart to any lesser spirits.

I instinctively waved my hand about, as if dispersing energies, because I still felt a lot of stuff around. Finally, the ritual ended.

Sometimes, though rarely, I use a Tarot deck to gauge the relative ‘power’ of a ritual. This is a pretty crude method, and does not show the efficacy of the ritual, only how much energy was generated. But, I still asked the archangel Raphael to tell me how powerful the ritual was, on a scale of 1-10. Then I pulled out an 8. All in all, a pretty good ritual!

Now, ironically, the ring is way too narrow for my finger. Ha. Probably should have checked beforehand. But I can still slip it around the little finger, and it tingles where it touches the skin. It does work very well.

And that’s it for now. So remember to check out the new Instagram page (@whiteravenmagus). If you liked what you read, be sure to follow my blog, and share it with anyone who may enjoy it as well.

Until Next Time
~White Raven

The Tree of Life in Yetzirah

October 4, 2018June 11, 2020Tagged air, angelic choire, Angels, ascent, ego, element, Expereinces, golden dawn, hermeticism, journey, kabbalah, kundalini, light work, lightning path, magic, magick, meditation, meditations, methods, new age, path, religion, self, sephiroth, spheres, tree of life, white magick, yetzirah2 Comments

Written: October 4th, 2018 | Edited: 27th March 2019

Alright. I’ve not posted in 2 months. Part of that is I was moving back to India after living in Europe for 6 months and got very busy. I was working on and off on a post about Nativism vs Globalism in Occult, but it just turned into 6000 word political drivel, so I just stopped. Maybe eventually that stuff will see the light of day.

But anyway. Let us talk about the Tree of Life in Yetzirah. Last year, I wrote about my experience meditating on each Sephirah of the Tree in Assiah, and briefly explained how the four Trees of Life work in Kabbalah. Read that if you’re unfamiliar with the four worlds model.

What is Yetzirah

This is, like last time, a week by week documentation of the meditations on each of the ten Sephirah. Much like Assiah corresponds to the element of Earth and the Material World/Body, Yetzirah corresponds to the element of Air and the Astral World/Mind, and thus most of effects were psychological.

It is worth mentioning that the energies of each sphere were not nearly as intense as those in Assiah. Maybe it is because Earth is the first and hardest element to master. We are, after all, primarily living and functioning in the world of Matter. The material world has many forces largely outside our control and we have far more control over our own Mind. I was also prepared this time.

Yetzirah corresponds to the element of Air, and the GD Grade of Theoricus (2=9). This is placed at Yesod. The idea of these meditations is to develop the Mind, and by definition the Ego.

The Assiatic Tree corresponded to the Astrological houses (which includes the elements, Planets, The Zodiac and Polaris). Similarly, Yetzirah contains the various Angelic choirs of the Kabbalah. Bear in mind that the GD definitions stay true to the original mystical meanings (at least, as far as Hermetic Kabbalah in concerned), and not the various later interpretations, present in modern Judaism and Christainity. These later interpretations are due to the attempt to reconcile the two religions, and have them “fit” whatever narrative the Church was following in any given period. Whenever needed, I’ll mention such discrepancies in the names. I’m sure that many of the new interpretations serve the religious purposes of these traditions. However, I am more concerned with the Occult purposes. Also important: leave any knowledge you have of Angelic hierarchies from New Agery at the doorstep.

Ashim|Souls of Fire

The Ashim (also “Ishim” or “Eshim”) are the Souls of Fire. In mythology, it refers to the souls of men who lived a just and good life, and became angels upon passing. They are the closest to mortal affairs. They are said to be beautiful, made of ice and fire, which is an interesting duality. They correspond to Malkuth (in Yetzirah. This will apply to each Sephiroth).

The first four spheres are difficult and test you more than reward you. I was prepared for this, but it still hit hard. Almost right off the bat, I went into a mental rut. I was not able to pay attention to stuff I was doing, nor truly able process most thoughts that came to my mind. I put up with this lack of alertness by directing my attention to memes, youtube videos and a bit of light sketching. I became absent minded (one time, I forgot my laudry was in the machine and left it there for 3 and a half hours). I also ate simple food, because I literally could not bring myself to think about cooking.

Well, this began to ease around the 6th or 7th day, when I began to get my shit together. Interestingly, during this period I got a lot of menial tasks done, and watched a bunch of movies I’d been putting off. It’s amazing just how much time goes off just thinking, and processing thoughts.

When you’re a magician, and a ceremonial one at that, you have a great tendency to be lost in deep thought, and this is actually quite a waste of time. I realised this then, but it took almost 4 months before I was able to fully rid myself of the habit and start being more productive. It seems Malkuth in Yetzirah corresponds to the lowest part of the mind, engaged in the performance of menial, automatic tasks.

Kerubim|The Strong Ones

When one thinks of a “Cherub” you think of the little winged babies that shoot arrows at people to get them to fall in love. This was largely a Catholic idea, and the result of trying to incorporate the Roman God of Love, Cupid, into Catholic imagery.

He had been “babified” to make him more “innocent”, something the Romans had already begun by depicting him as a young boy.

The original Cupid, and his older Greek form Eros, the son of Venus/Aphrodite, was depicted as a handsome young man with delicate features: a more virile God of Love and Male fertility, and earlier still Eros was a more terrifying, primordial God, almost akin to the primal male force called Yogi.

Although the Christian version of Cherubs is a bit flawed, the original Kerubim in the Judaic tradition were the Choir of Angels associated with Yesod. Yesod is the Foundation, and the Kerubim are the strong, unearthly spirits that uphold it. Yesod is also associated with sexuality, and that may be how the Cherubs become associated with Cupid. The Kerubim were also shown as guardians of the Mesopotamian Tree of Life, supporting the thrones of deities (which is also very relevant to their role in Yesod). They are shown as having 4 heads: a lion, an eagle, a bull and a man. These, of course, symbolize the Holy Living Ones of Kabbalah and the Egyptian tradition. If you google “Mesopotamia s

Sexual Energy is the Foundation. Preserve it, but don’t let it decay. This means a lot and cannot be unpacked here, though most people reading will have some sense of it. As far as I can tell, the Kerubs guard the way to the Tree of Life, and consequently, the higher spheres of the conscious mind.

To go through Yesod in Yetzirah meant having to withstand, endure and fight against some of the strongest subconscious influences, like lust, lethargy and distraction. The entire duration of this, I was constantly aroused and uninspired, and very tired, and was even going to bed as early as 10 pm. There were all sorts of other little things, like barely making it in time in the morning. One day, I lost my sketchpad. I looked EVERYWHERE, and at the end I was literally convinced it had been stolen by some supernatural entity (it had slipped under the mattress. Go figure).

This taught me very less, and was more of a survival challenge. However, it made one very important change in my life. You see, like most normal people, I still believed the bullshit food pyramid issued by the US Department of Agriculture in the 1980s.

In order to combat this overwhelming fatigue, I started to see if I could make changes to my diet. Me, and a friend of mine who’s a health/fitness nut, delved deeper into the nutrition thing. Like everyone, most of our food was carbs and sugar, which is apparently a terrible plan.
This is an occult blog, so I don’t want to talk much about food, but after this I began to switch to a more high fat and protein diet, while eating less carbs and almost entirely eliminating sugar. Needless to say, I’ve been much better and energetic. Yesod in Yetzirah also related to perception itself. I was so convinced that it was a spiritual forces I needed to worry about that was causing all these issues. This was my own flawed perception, and it turned out to be things as simple as diet and mental alertness that I had to work on.

Beni Elohim|Children of Gods

“Oy vey, what’s this White Raven?! Hmm? Are you insinuating that the original Hebraic and other related traditions were originally polytheistic and pagan, until some intolerant upstarts demonised the Hebrew Gods and all foreign influence, and subtly changed the entire theological and spiritual structure to fit into a monotheistic doctrine so that they could keep all the stuff that came from supposed devil worshipers??!”

Why yes, yes I am.

“Oy Gevalt..!!”

STOP.
Now calm down. First off, before you start freaking out: no, I am not an anti-semite. If I was, I wouldn’t be sitting here explaining the subtleties of Jewish mysticism. I just have e d g y t a s t e s.
And yes, most other religions all did such things (including my own), and it’s something we have to accept. But remember, Judaism should be no more exempt from critical analysis (by outsiders) than any other religion.

Yes, Elohim quite literally means “Gods” and Beni Elohim means “Children of Gods”, and they reside in Hod, the sphere corresponding to Mercury. In modern Judaic, and some Christian, traditions, the “Beni Elohim” have become related to figures like the Nephilim, Fallen Angels, Demons etc.

Any intellectually honest follower of Judaism and Christianity will see that there is no single consensus on what these terms mean, and it’s all really a product of mistranslations and distortions of the Abrahamic texts. Most modern work on them involves massively misunderstanding Biblical texts.

In the Old Testament, Beni Elohim have been defined as an Angels that descended to the Earth and procreated with human women, and gave birth to a race of giants.
In the Hermetic tradition, as well as in the Kabbalistic tradition, it doesn’t matter.

The “Fallen Angels”, Azazel and his followers, taught Man the material sciences, and the art of war and weaponry. They were removed from divinity, but served as Initiatory figures in the lower planes. This is also the critical and analytical state of mind. This is part of Hod.

In a way, they pulled us out of our natural state. One might say that this is bad, and that we humans should adhere and submit to nature. That is, to some degree, the hippie position. But to be dragged out of one’s inherent base nature is to escape stagnation, to become aware of and escape habits.

We are supposed to sleep as long as we want on weekends, and take warm showers. When things don’t work out easily, or are difficult, it is seemingly better to leave them be, to eat when we are hungry, fornicate from time to time and enjoy our free time through leisure. This is after all, the natural and innocent state of man.

Why then, was this knowledge of science, technology and art taught to us? Why did we develop rules and tenets, why did we diverge so far from our natural state? As any hippie worth his organic salt will tell you it is not important and all these things are evil.

But you know what? Through the pursuit of unnatural things born of the ego and desire, such as discipline, self control, aggression, tool making, schedules, diets, exercise, grooming, and self initiated challenges, such as abstinence, fasting and heck, even going out of your way to take cold showers, have strengthened us and helped us overcome the bindings of material nature.

They are what gave us the name of homo sapien, the Thinking Man, and separated us from animals, capable of logical analysis, critical thinking, and scientific reason. They are not wrong, and the knowledge and challenges presented by the Beni Elohim, which seem like a waste of time, are actually the tools to empower us. No one ever said that man in his simple, animalistic state was truly a man. We become conscious for a reason, and and we return to the Source not as innocent beasts, but as akin to Gods themselves.

In the Bhagawat Gita, it says that the Supreme Being sends forth Souls of man, gods, demons and spirits in every Cycle, but when they return to Him, they are no longer fragments of his Consciousness, but fully developed Individuals. Let no one ever tell you to disregard all that your ancestors have built, and live akin to animals.

Update (2019): In the Hermetic tradition, Azazel and the like are meant to be figures that resent Creation and believe that the Divine Plan of the All mind to perceive itself is a pointless endeavor, due to the sheer pain and suffering that is present in the Universe. The mythological version states that they want the Divine Plan to be abandoned, so that all may return to the state of Unity once more.

The angels of light, instead, want the Divine plan to be fulfilled and a return to Unity that way. Ultimately, all forces want the same thing, and thus they all help the magician. This is a metaphor of course, but I think it’s closer to the truth than the good/evil dichotomy of organised religion. This is the reason for the Yin/Yang symbol, where the two forces are held in balance together.

However, in the mythology, Azazel and his kin wanted to ensure that only the worthy would practice magick, to ensure that those who are allowed to progress on the spiritual path would be sure to full-fill the Divine Plan, and perhaps end the suffering of existence. So they challenged us, distracted us, and gave us powerful tools that could tear us down if we let it get out of hand. All of this was a test, to see if man could survive, and prove himself. There are alternative versions of the myth of course, but this is my preferred one.

Elohim|The Gods

In modern religious thought, “Elohim” is simply defined as another name for God in the Bible. However, this word has become notorious ever since it came to light that in the original Hebrew, it would have been a plural. While El, meaning God, is singular, Elohim, is plural, literally meaning Gods. It can also be interpreted as dual, the collective term for El (God) and Eloha (Goddess).

The first line of Genesis, in modern English, is “In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.”

However, this line in the original Hebrew version it is Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve’et ha’aretz, which literally translates as “And so, the Gods created the two heavens and Earth”.

I add “And so” at the beginning, because the statement implies a kind of continuity, and persistence, rather than a beginning.

Now, I am no one to preach to a Jew or a Christian what his religion means. That is up to them to decide. The truth is, this is simply the linguistics, and the actual history and development of the word, much like that of the Old Testament itself, is not fully clear.

Many people have interpreted this as simply referring to the infinite and pluralistic nature of God, while yet others have insisted that “Elohim” was merely a generic term for all Gods of Israel and the surrounding region, and still refers to the Abrahamic deity. Maybe this is so. There is a fantastic historical and linguistic content creator on YouTube called Metatron. He is very credible, well read and Christian. He unpacks this in a brilliant video here.

However, in the Hermetic Kabbalah, being a very academic system, we consider Elohim is mean “Gods”, and it falls on the sphere of Netzach. This choir implies endurance, and the birth of a firm determination to follow your passions.

During this week, I felt devoted, and driven to do what I had to. Be it listening to a podcast, designing or filming, exercising, doing dishes, illustrating, and even rituals. I do daily rituals, and they aren’t very long, but in this period I once held a meditative state for a prolonged period of time, wanting to see how far I could go.

By the end, I was a bit tired and drained. I had picked up a few excessive obsessions this week, like the obsession with counting calories and trying to multi task way too much. I suppose it was an excess of Netzach energy. As the week ended, I dropped such pointless and pretentious obsessions. We are not machines, but it’s also good to understand one’s limits. Most people don’t. I certainly didn’t, and probably am still in the process of learning.

Melekim|Kings

You see, in Judaism, the word for “Angel” is Mal’ak. According to Ben Shapiro, a conservative american Jew who does political commentary, the word literally means “messenger” in Hebrew.

From what I can find, no one really uses the word “Melekim” anymore, and when they do, they simply mean it as generic “angel”, same as Mal’ak. Kind of odd if you ask me, because they derived “Moloch”, the Judeo-Christian demon, from Mal’ak, meaning ‘Mal’ak’ was the God of some unfortunate pagan semitic-tribe.

Melekim is the angelic choir associated with Tiphareth, which you will know corresponds to the sun and the Self. Whatever comes to your mind when you think “Angel”, the archetypal idea of a divine being of light with wings, which serve as messengers between the Self and the Ego, or God and Man, in pure white robes and a golden halo/sun disk, are the Melekim. The solar symbolism should be obvious.

The first morning was exceedingly calm. This week I got a lot of stuff done. I got several periods of creative inspiration, which came as prolonged bursts of insight. This was also the period of a very important project, which I am glad I had not had to do in the previous weeks, in the lower spheres.

On the other hand, this was also a period of Ego inflation, as this was basically Tiphareth (Self in Ego) in Yetzirah (Ego).

I have an interesting thing to share. Often I pace around the room, thinking about stuff. I am pretty sure most people will get what I mean. I’m referring to that constant internal dialogue you have, where you process thoughts, ponder over things, and talk to yourself. I don’t know if everyone does it how I do, pacing around the room, but I know that everyone does it in some way.

Naturally, such period are great traps, because sometimes you get caught up in a particular line of thought that simply goes on and on, until you suddenly catch yourself. You realise you’ve actually managed to tire yourself from pacing and thinking, and have wasted almost an hour. You then get back to what you are doing, the mind being somewhat quieter.

I know one of the goals of meditation is to learn to stop following such lines of thoughts, and just observe them as they come. This is what the Tibetans call “the monkey brain” because it is always chattering. It is, ultimately, as aspect of the Ego.

My monkey brain is especially talkative, and though I’ve been learned to stop running after it, sometimes I can’t help myself and stumble upon some particularly interesting set of thoughts. (FYI, remember, Sexual Energy is the Foundation. Do not weaken that, for that keeps the Monkey in check.)

During one of the later nights of the week, after a walk through the forest with some friends, I was awake till very late. My poor attempt at making Slavic food (a rice dish called Plov) had gone badly, and I wasn’t entirely calm. My mind was running through various thoughts. I don’t know how long I paced, but since it was late and I had nothing else to do, I allowed my mind to run loose and I continued to pace, and my mind went from one thing to the next, chattering away about all manner of things. On and on, I willingly paced.

Then something very peculiar happened. For the first time in my life, I reached the end of such a line of thoughts.

You see, normally we don’t reach the end of our thoughts, just cut them short. Through the practice of meditation, one learns to stop following the thoughts. They’re still there, you’re just choosing not to run after them. But to actually reach the end, was a weird and mystical experience.

I believe Paulo Cohelo, the Brazilian author, alluded to this in one his books. I think it was in The Valkyries. It was like my mind had been steadily producing some physical substance that had been coming out of my head, and suddenly, this stream of stuff reached it’s end. It was like a physical hole in my head closed, and relaxed, as this stream of substance actually reached it’s end, instead of being cut off and withheld.

And I hate to make such a crude metaphor, but it was like I was in the toilet, and all the waste had been expelled, and my hind muscles relaxed, glad to be free to the burden of relieving oneself. I’ve heard a similar effect is produced by writing down all your thoughts, so you can stop thinking about them, and get them off your head onto paper.

I’d silently and patiently listened to the Monkey’s chattering to the very end. It actually had nothing more to say. I felt like I had not a single thought to produce. I felt a strange and deep silence, which was exaggerated by the late hour. True silence, with nothing to be heard, and nothing to be done, and a totally empty mind. Sleepiness and lack of food probably added to it.

I then proceeded to meditate until sunrise, without any distractions or thoughts. It was fun!

Seraphim|Fiery Serpents

In Christian and New Age literature the Seraphim are often the highest of the Angelic beings, while in Jewish hierarchy they are placed Fifth. On the Tree of Life they fall on the fifth Sephiroth, Geburah, being the warlike and forceful angels, thus called “Fiery Serpents”.

They’re depicted as having Six Wings, and help carry out ritual purification, mentioned as doing so in the story of Solomon and his Temple. The Serpent motif is an important one, often connected with Royalty, such as in Egypt and Japan, and with the Kundalini/Caduceus.

This week was a strange one.

There was great assertiveness, and way too much aggression, and at one point I exploded at someone. There were certain things that said person had been doing, that were bothersome to me and others, yet no one ever said anything, not wanting to bring in negativity into our work. Unfortunately, one day, having not slept the previous night for various reasons, I was cranky and tired, and it was as if all barriers of caution and doubt had given way. I just let loose, not angrily, but with a certain sternness. It was not a very good idea, but it was as if tension that been building up for weeks finally broke through. It felt good to say things bluntly and as they are, without regard to the norms that generally dictate social interactions.

Needless to say, all was forgiven eventually, and awkwardness eventually died out. We remain good friends, but sometimes it’s important to speak out for yourself. You’ll be amazed that others who feel the same, but can’t speak will keenly follow. This is especially true if you’re fortunate enough to be a naturally assertive person, since not everyone is.

Other than that, my appetite disappeared, and I went about 3-4 days without basically eating any meals. So I must have eaten snacks, but at the time I had little more than curd, nuts and fruit that was hanging about. Strangely though, I was full of energy, and experienced no side effects of not eating, going about my day as always, even exercising as usual.

Finally, an event of note. I had a plan with some friends to go somewhere. This plan, you see, had been delayed and cancelled several times, as getting everyone organised and ready to go out on a day always proved to be a chore. I think everyone reading can relate. The classic torture of trying to make travel plans that always fall through at the end.

This particular night, as usual, at maybe 2-3 am, each of them pulled out one after another. We were supposed to leave next morning.

All had some excuse or another, and I think for at least 3 or 4 out of 6 it was just that they’d had way too much to drink. I had avoided drinking for this very reason. I’m also that guy in the group who’s good at planning, so I usually take charge in making plans and such, trying to make sure everything’s taken care of.

I think that night it finally hit me. I just thought “fuck it, i’ll just go do shit alone”.

I mean, these were my good and close friends, with whom I have shared many fond memories. But after that, until the time of return, I traveled extensively, going far and wide, and alone. Sure, sometimes I accompanied others, but I entirely gave up on trying to get others organised.

I think it was ultimately based on my own fear of travelling alone, always wanting at least the assurance of someone else. Let’s be honest, a lot of people are like this. No one enjoys doing stuff alone, mainly because we feel self conscious.

But this was an important moment. After this, travelling alone over far distances, seeing all sorts of things became easier. Heck, I like films and always tried to encourage others to go see movies with me. Now I just went alone.

I’m not a loner or an introvert. I enjoy the company of others. I’ve just realised that few people actually enjoy seeking out experiences, and it’s much, much easier to be independent.

Strangely, it strengthened my bonds with friends, as they were no longer people I depended on for company so I could go places, and instead became people whose company I genuinely desired.

Some people found this attitude of mine very strange. I’d abruptly wake up early in the morning, grab my things and catch the train to another city. Halfway through the day people would ask me where I was, and I’d just tell them honestly. They found it odd that I’d just left without any noise. And I think some also longed to do things completely by themselves. I remember there was always someone who wanted to go do something specific, but everyone would always be busy or not interested.

So I say to you: fuck it all. Just go do whatever you want to do, wherever you want to do it, and don’t wait for others, or you’ll waste your entire life waiting. Who is destined to share those experiences, will come along naturally.

Chashmalim|Brilliant Ones

Chashmalim (often written Hashmalim) are the Angelic choir of Chesed (also pronounced with the same guttural “Ch”, as in Ch/Hasidic Jew). In modern Hebrew, Chashmal translates as “electron” or “electricity”. Chesed is associated with mercy, kingship, wealth and other Jupiterian things.

This week brought a satisfying conclusion to a project I’d been working on for almost 6 weeks, which as I mentioned had begun at the same time as my meditations. At the end, I had to present a short film to a large batch of Europeans, none of whom who had a particularly good grasp of English.

And, Europeans being Europeans, decided that it would be a great idea to have a round of beer before I went on stage, in the goddamn afternoon.

Regardless to say though, it went great! Chashmalim, as the name suggest, are where all the mental energies lose momentum and settle down, being the final spot of true manifestation before the Abyss. No wonder it is the sphere of Kingship. One may say this is the pinnacle of the Rajasic/Kingly mode of being.

I also had an acute awareness that I was playing a character. In everything I did, it was not truly me who did it, but simply a persona that had been adopted. This is a more complex topic, I know, so I just mention it in passing. Chesed is the point of first manifestation in Yetzirah, which is the world of the mind, ego and personas. You may say it is the sphere where Personas form, and where one became aware that one is ultimately just adopting various Personas throughout life. These personas are the things that separates the lower spheres in Yetzirah from the Supernal Triad.

Realising that you adopt a persona, or rather a set of personas as you go about life, lets you realise that you are not the Persona itself, and the Persona does not rule you. When I went up on stage, I consciously adopted the Persona of a speaker, and it filled me with confidence and eloquence. I was able to communicate very well, and felt like public speaking was somehow very natural to me (even though it’s not).

Also, amusingly, this was when I first decided to grow a beard. You will remember that all beings associated with Chesed have beards, and I thought it looked kind of nice.

So yeah, I have a beard now.

Aralim|Thrones

Sometimes called Dominions by Christians, the Aralim are the choir of Binah. Depicted as wise elderly men, the Saturnine symbolism is obvious. While the Wheels (which we will get to) are the moving and active (masculine) force, the Aralim are the passive (feminine) and stable force, like the Vehicle driven by the Wheels.

As my work was done, and I had nothing much to do in the few weeks before returning home, this week I rested. Saturn is the place of rest, as Saturday is, and why God made the World in Six Days and rested on the Seventh.

It is also a time of things ending, and passing. People wrongly assume that Binah signifies “Loss”. Loss only occurs when one has formed an attachment to the things that are leaving his/her life. You can’t do that, since everything will end anyway, and wanting it not to simply invites suffering.

As I mentioned, my time in Europe was coming to a close, and also the time of others I knew. This week was filled with me saying goodbye to several of my friends one after another, as many of them left for their homes.

It felt strange, as there was no real guarantee we’d ever even see each other again. It was a very surreal experience for me, when I truly understood what the Buddha meant by “attachment brings suffering”. I was determined though, to allow things to pass as they would. And so it happened. People who almost saw each other as family by now departed, perhaps forever, going separate ways. Not much more to write about this, except that the last days were happy days. It was bit depressing though.

I also want to point out something you must have noticed already. My meditations in each sphere were peculiarly linked to real life circumstances that were fully external and well outside my own personal reality. The meditations always coincided with meaningful events. Such is the power of Synchronicity.

Auphanim|Wheels

These are the Wheels I mentioned earlier. They are depicted as Wheels covered in eyes, that are inhabited by the Kerubim. The colour of Chokmah and Yesod in Yetzirah are also shades of the same colour.

These are the Wheels that you may have seen in the myriad depictions of Angelic beings in Japanese media, and the symbolism of invisible Wheels that direct the forces of the Universe is a powerful one, ranging from the conceptual cycles of life and entropy, to the Chakras, to psychedelic visions of machinery, to the Wheel of Astrology, to the swirling galaxies and nebulae, to the very manner in which the fundamental forces work.

Chesed is the first force that directs the energy of Kether downward into the Tree, being the place of Tahuti and Uranus, as well the entirety of the Zodiac. In Judaic lore, the Wheels, also known as “Spheres” or “Whirlwinds”, move and hold up the Throne of God.

During this week I traveled extensively. I also broke through into new meditative states, but those are experienced and interpreted differently by everyone, so not much point trying to explain that. It would be the defining aspect of this week though. I had free time so I’d sit in silent meditation for long periods, to that point where all goes silent and the light appears. When all physical feeling is lost, and you suddenly become aware of the true nature of things, even though it is only a glimpse. I often meditated until sunrise, and then went to sleep.

Chayoth ha Qadesh|The Holy Living Ones

This refers to the Angelic Choir of Kether, and I suppose one may think of this as the collective angelic forces ruling over the astrological house of Neptune, and Polaris (The First Swirlings). It is also refers to the Holy Living Ones of kabbalah I mentioned in Kerubim: The Man, The Lion, The Bull and The Eagle, which symbolise the four elements, and the four faces of YHVH.

This is it, the Crown of Yetzirah, or the Mental/Astral World of thoughts, the highest State of the Conscious sphere, which exists as a manifest “God”, like the “God” of organised religious traditions.

I spent this entire week preparing to leave, and all momentum had slowed down. I was exceedingly calm, and totally alone, and these contributed to creating a very content State of mind. I do not have many reflections to share, except that I was quite content, and longing to return home. Thanks to Synchronicity, I returned home on the very last day of the Week, and of this meditation.

People who read this blog may know I have nationalistic leanings, but I did not know how much until I set foot on the soil on which I was born. Seeing my home, and my people after so long left me almost emotional, and hit me with a deep and profound sense of joy and happiness, to the point where I was smiling stupidly listening to the hordes. Coming to Delhi is jarring though, since it tends to completely disrupt and break all mental peace. Unfortunately, when you live in a region around a Capital, all the important stuff, including airports, are there. And Capital cities are often soulless dystopias.

Still, the familiar scents, sounds, and visuals made me feel grateful, for no amount of fantastic sensory experiences can ever parallel the beauty of one’s own homeland and people (and soon we were out of Delhi).

FYI, I don’t mean it in the sense of of race, religion or any subgroup, but as the broader, loosely defined concept of one’s own “community”, generally associated with, but not limited to, an ethnic group, or set of ethnic groups (as in India or America’s case), a cultural or spiritual unit, or an intellectual bloc or geopolitical zone. The land of your forefathers, your Gods and your fundamental values has a deep significance.

It is also why almost all Occult traditions ultimately lead people back to their roots, which is also why I think so many Occultists, especially in the West, follow native/pagan religions instead of Christianity, or have some version where they merge the two. This is true even in the Middle East. Even though Islam is an ethnic religion, almost all Islamic occult traditions have old pagan influence unique to each region (Arabic, Turkic, Persian etc.).

The Occult is, by nature, nativist. I am now entirely convinced of this, after having learned about countless occultists and occult traditions. T

his phony attempt, that has raged for 2000 years, to unite all peoples under a single artificial banner, a “correct” religion, some universal spirituality, is bullshit.

If there be some Universal Creed (which there most likely is), it is found through one’s own roots, and any attempt to enforce such a thing will inevitably be the product of some individual culture’s conditioning. That does not mean, by the way, to pledge allegiance to some lofty sounding ideology or political figure on a pedestal, and to quietly submit to the norms of a culture and religion, and fade away into the masses of your culture.

These are mere safety nets, to ensure the system works and people are relatively content. To be an occultist means to delve into the Chaos that lies at the boundaries of Society. Only he who knows Chaos can adequately defend Order. And right now, more than ever before, in the face of this attempt to wipe away people’s identity and turn them into uniform drones, this means to stand for one’s people and homeland. This is what truly unites us. This is what “diversity” means.

You may very well say, that this set of values, this “God” is an illusion, that identity is an illusion. Sam Harris and many other spiritual atheists have said so. And to soem degree they’re right. This “God”, these values of “nationalism” or “homeland” or “community” are consciously perceived. They are the crown of Yetzirah, the Chayoth ha Qadesh, and obviously they are below the spiritual truths of Briah and Atziluth. But such platitudes are part of the spiritual blindness that has caused people for centuries to disregard Yetzirah and Assiah, Air and Earth. Statements like “the material world is just an illusion” or “identity and culture are artificial” are symptoms of this. It shows that the person saying them has not understood the lower worlds, and so he simply cannot understand the higher ones. I won’t trust any spiritual truths following these statements, because they will be incomplete and imbalanced.

People need community. They all have desires and thoughts, beliefs and values. It is simply not possible to discard these so non nonchalantly without having a pretty good replacement. It is a spiritual idealism that has left people alienated, isolated and bitter, and very susceptible to fall to political ideology

Corporate Propaganda to sell you something. You know very well they’re just models, but it’s part of the drama that this is a real college picture. Trust me, I’ve actually been the “token foreigner” for a pamphlet. Not that I minded though.

Reality. To Each their own Sovereignty

I hope you enjoyed reading. If you want, follow my blog for more Occult content. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

If you have any thoughts to share, please leave a comment below.

Until next time, farewell.
~White Raven

Invoking Lucifuge Rofocale

June 14, 2018July 24, 2020Tagged black, conjuration, demon, devil, expereince, golden dawn, hermeticism, invocation, kabbalah, Knowledge, lucifer, lucifuge rofocale, magic, magick, mysticism, new age, Occult, philosophy, prayer, qliphoth, religion, satan, satanic, saturn, spirit, spirits, spiritual, spirituality, summoning28 Comments

Written: June 14th, 2018 | Edited: 26th March 2019

Finally, we have reached that point. The big one. Everything I’ve put on this blog has been leading up to the big reveal that i’m actually an evil illuminati satanist, teaching people the evil ways, converting them to the darkness, invoking the Anti Christ and bringing about the END of the Catholic Church!

Lol, just kidding. Lucifuge Rofocale is pretty cool, and quite powerful, but he’s not quite the literal devil, and hopefully today I will be able to dispel some smoke and mirrors by sharing a genuine and cohesive invocation of the Spirit.

As for the Church: the rampant pedophilia, hypocritical political stances, corruption and toxic globalism that they spew out like diarrhea these days will bring their end anyway. We don’t need to do anything, because not even most Catholics like the Church.

I’m not a black magician or a satanist, I’m a Hermetic Kabbalist. This may ruffle feathers on both sides, but I don’t worry, because I speak totally from experience. This post isn’t giving opinions about Lucifuge, just talking about my personal experience. Take it for what it is, and the rest is up to you.

Besides, this isn’t the 90s. Being a satanist ain’t edgy anymore : )

Who is Lucifuge Rofocale

Unlike Lucifer or other demons, Lucifuge isn’t actually someone who appears in any prominent religious scripture or even mythology. In fact, it doesn’t look like he is even mentioned anywhere before the 18th Century.

He also has basically no presence or influence on pop culture (although at the same time one might say he has influenced all modern demonic fantasy in existence. We’ll get to that).

This makes him a much more obscure being. In fact, the literature on him is so specific, that either you know exactly who he is, or you have literally no clue. He’s one of those rare figures that appears exclusively in occult literature, with no overlap in mythology, folklore, fantasy, pop culture, or anything outside of practical magick.

Lucifuge in the Grand Grimoire

He is a figure mentioned in the infamous Grand Grimoire (also known as the Red Dragon), which you may or may not have heard of. It is a book from the 19th Century (though allegedly based on material dating back to the 16th Century) and contains all sorts of information, ranging from herbal alchemy to full fledged evocation. It also has a strong political importance.

The contents themselves are quite interesting. For example, much of the herbal alchemy instructions mention exact chemicals, like copper sulfate and arsenic etc, instead of just plants, or, as is more often, symbolic allegory. This is probably because by this time chemistry had become significantly more developed and organised. It’s got a literal chemical recipe for the “Philosopher’s Stone”, which I found very amusing.

But other than that, the more interesting aspect is the list of demons. It diverges from the traditional systems, and has several demons that are not typically mentioned in older works. The most important of this is Lucifuge Rofocale, the Prime Minister of Hell.

The inclusion of modern democratic titles like Prime Minister, instead of usual aristocratic titles like Earl, Count, Duke etc. insinuates that Lucifuge as the Prime Minister is more important to the practitioner than the Emperor, which is Lucifer (in my opinion, an obvious allegory to democracy taking over monarchy, which would have been a growing opinion at the time. The Victorian Era, the beginning of our modern, industrialized world of Nation States.)

The method of evocation itself is very similar to the Ars Goetia (the usual skin-an-animal, draw Jesus’ names, cut a wand from a specific tree at a specific hour and use incense etc.). However, it is a lot more elaborate and instead of letting the magician experiment, it is very specific, and mentions the exact sequence of events that will take place. This of course, can never be true, but I appreciate that they went to the trouble.

Basically, you evoke Lucifuge, ask him to lead you to hidden treasure, and then promise to repay him with very complicated and time consuming rituals for the rest of your life or he comes and takes away your soul, or all your treasure.

This is yet another departure from traditional Grimoires. It greatly simplifies Infernal hierarchy, greatly over-complicates the rituals, filling them with many pointless actions, and instead of offering several things that the magician might want, it basically boils everything down to “treasure”, received from a single “devil”, and in exchange for eternal allegiance/soul. No wonder it caught on.

Update (2020): After more examination, I’m convinced that many “pointless” parts of the book that aren’t pointless at all. Rather, the one who wrote it probably wanted to keep “unworthy” or uninitiated people away from it, and has knowingly filled the book with empty promises of power and false techniques.

This is probably also the truth behind the Philosopher’s Stone.
In fact, one of the Spells for Invisibility is down right dangerous and will most likely end with the person being seriously poisoned and possibly dying. The final sentence for the spell is “…and all of this must be taken very seriously. After all, it’s not included here as a joke!”

So yeah. The Grand Grimoire was written by an edge lord. I bet he’d love 4chan.

I think you must be starting to see why this grimoire is important. This is the first grimoire that brought many of these concepts into notoriety, and inspired the modern Hollywood depiction of any and all Occult practices. If you ever wondered why all the satanic horror films in the 20th Century have some guy sacrificing animals, calling the Devil, and foolishly making a pact selling his soul for something he desires, then this is literally the source.

The Grand Grimoire, probably because of how simply it puts everything, without any allegory or mystical commitment, is very attractive to the average layman who wants to dabble in the occult, much more so than the Goetia. Of course, it has a strong monastic component, especially in the preparation, like fasting, praying, taking astrological times into consideration and biblical symbolism, but all this basically gets ignored when it’s depicted, or the monastic practices take on a negative element, like having to kill someone you love, cause permanent damage to yourself or “leave your humanity behind” (not the humanity!)

Lucifuge in Religion

So that’s who Lucifuge Rofocale is. A spirit from the Grand Grimoire, who can be thought of as the Archetypal pop culture devil, as it is his characteristics you see in most mass media, because he HAS no deeper meta narrative, or any strong mythological basis. You only ever see the Luciferian archetype of a cosmic rebel in deeper storie,s which are more strongly rooted in theology. Lucifuge Rofocale is the antithesis of Lucifer. This makes sense because the modern perspective of the Devil is linked to Saturn (as it should), which is the planet associated with Lucifuge, while Lucifer is the reverse force, associated with the Sun.

After all, illumination, knowledge and rebellion aren’t seen as negative things in the 21st century. But wealth, discipline, obscurity and secrecy are.

If Lucifer is interpreted as a fallen Angel, the cosmic rebel, and the one who brings the light of forbidden knowledge (like Prometheus), Lucifuge is the darkness, the being that flees from God’s light and feeds into indulgence. The one who hides knowledge, protects wealth, and guards gates.

If you take the traditional “Devil” from the Bible and split his two aspects, the Rebellious aspect from the Fall becomes Lucifer and the dark, apathetic aspect that corrupts men is Lucifuge (this is of course, ignoring all other occult significance).

This is what I meant when I said he’s basically unheard of, but also the most influential. The “Devil” most average Christians (the kind who haven’t even read the Bible) fear is Lucifuge, though the more fundamentalist type may also fear Luciferian ideals of rebellion, breaking away from tradition, pleasure and antagonism.

As for his name, it’s a play on the name Lucifer. I imagine that by the 19th Century, it had become abundantly clear that Lucifer means Bringer of Light (I don’t know why New Agers keep bringing it up like it’s some new revelation). Lucifuge, on the other hand, is the literal opposite, meaning “he who seeks refuge from Light” or “the one who flees from the Light”. This also makes more sense when you think of the traditional Christian Devil, and is much less mystical and complex than Lucifer.

The meaning of the second name, Rofocale, is unknown, but there are various interpretations of it. My personal favorite is the theory the Rofocale is an ambigram. If you read Lucifer backwards, it becomes Reficul, which can be further Latinised as Rofocale. It’s a play on the very nature of Lucifuge as the reverse of Lucifer.

If Lucifer can be symbolized by a burning torch, then Lucifuge is the hidden wealth under the Earth, in perpetual darkness until dug up. And isn’t it ironic how the methods that will make you rich are often kept from you, and never taught to us in our lives, unless we seek them out ourselves? These days Knowledge is easy, but wealth has become hard. In the old days it was both these things that were denied to the masses, so who knows maybe in the future both knowledge and wealth will be in great abundance.

Knowledge is Power, Time is Money. Sun and Saturn, the correspondence could not be more clear.

Lucifuge in the Occult

Lucifuge does not play any prominent role in occult mysticism, such as Hermetic Kabbalah, and does not traditionally fall on the Tree of Life, which is the method of classification I follow. However, on the Qliphoth he is placed on the third sphere, Satariel (meaning the Dawn of God), which is the shadow/shell of the Sephiroth Binah.

This cements his Saturnine symbolism. One may say that the Vision of Sorrow is ruled by Lucifuge Rofocale, for he is said to dwell in a maze. This experience, upon being crossed, gives one a clear vision of the supernal light. Binah/Satariel rules the third eye. The Vision of Sorrow turns to the Vision of Light, Mater Dolores turns to Virgin Mary, Kaali turns to Shakti, the Crone reveals the Divine Mother.

Perhaps one might say Lucifuge reveals Lucifer? I’m not sure about that one yet.

Other than that, its basically just the Grand Grimoire. Use any form of invocation to call upon Lucifuge, since he does not have a specific type associated with him.

Update (2019): You may also use the demonic enn of Lucifuge Rofocale to great effect.

From the point of view of archetypes and astrology, I have spent a lot of time thinking about where Lucifuge would fit in. In fact, in my invocation of Lucifer, I said that he was an entity with multiple aspects corresponding to multiple planets. If that was the Solar/Venusian aspect, then this is the Saturnian/Plutonian aspect. It is heavily associated with money, indulgence, and severity. Perhaps, while Lucifer rebelled against authority, Lucifuge might be associated more WITH authority, and the wealth and power that comes with such authority and power.

This makes him a much more tricky figure to deal with, as is the case with ALL Saturnian Gods/Spirits, and it’s probably easy to piss him off. Nonetheless, I don’t feel wary as I write this, nor feel the need to whisper his name. This is the Age of Information, and the longer we speak in whispers, the more we put everyone at risk. Given the sheer amount of dubious information on such topics, I think it’s only fair I give some genuine information, since I have nothing to gain from lying.

(although the way I write will basically put off anyone not actually interested)

After all, I’m not trying to sell you a book or a program which will teach you how to instantly get rich with Lucifuge or use his powers for your darkest desires. That’s up to you to figure out, if you choose to follow such a path.

Why I Did This Ritual

Alright. Now that we’re past theory, we can get to the meat and bones of this post. This is my personal experience. I will say though, that it has been a fairly long time since this happened, and though I have the actual ritual well recorded, I have to rely on memory for some things.

The reason I wanted to do this invocation was, partly, and as is with everything I do, curiosity. I think I’ve known about Lucifuge since my earliest days of magick, when I really didn’t know what I was doing, thanks to a YouTube video by a certain infamous black magician (don’t pretend, we all know who he is).

At the time, I was quite captivated, due the sheer mystery and obscurity of the material. However, I was also afraid, because I was not yet sure I knew what I was doing. Despite having evoked Goetia once or twice, the lack of information around the shrouded entity was enough to discourage me. I was also a teenager, so the idea of calling on an all powerful, supreme dark being to grant my wishes, seemed really tempting. I decided I’d do it some other day, when I was a “real” magician, a sorcerer covered in tattoos, with dark entities at my finger tips, ready to carry out my selfish desires.

I haven’t really had much reason to invoke Lucifuge, and the fact that he does not fit into any traditional framework made me think he was probably just an urban myth created by that YouTuber to make money, probably having little merit.

It was only last year, when I was reading through the Grand Grimoire, which for some reason I’d ignored so far, that I came upon this name. And I was immediately hit with equal parts of amusement, curiosity and surprise. So, he was a real occult figure after all, even if only in one Grimoire. I was about to start something important, and felt that it would be good to raise the monetary gains from it, and maybe get some extra as well. Besides, it sounded fun (famous last words).

The Invocation of Lucifuge

Let’s begin with preparation. In the Grand Grimoire, there is a seal and characters for Lucifuge. I put the seal in red ink on one side of circular parchment, and the characters on the other. I transcribed the name L-U-C-I-F-U-G-E in a circle around the perimeter. You’ll recognize this to be a Goetic style seal. You can read more about how to make seals on my post here.

I made the circle from stones, since I’m preparing to discard my old fabric circle, and also because this ritual is traditionally done outdoors (which I’d do if I didn’t live in the middle of a massive Metropolitan city). On the outside, I suggest putting two candles on either side, similar to how it is recommended in the book, though I did not do this. I did the ritual facing North, corresponding to Saturn and the Earth. On my altar outside the circle, I made a smaller circle of polished stone and placed a black candle in the middle.

I did the Invocation of a Saturday, in the Hour of Saturn (which is always fun), while the Moon was waxing. To further get into the Saturnian spirit, I spent a big chunk of the day cleaning my room, discarding useless stuff, and clearing out the clutter. It’s usually not a good idea to do anything in this sort of timing, only something exceptional. To learn about astrological timings, read my post.

Anyway, I chose to do it at night, when all was quiet and I’d not be disturbed. I darkened the room, as I always do, and began.

I performed all the preliminary banishings, and invoked the Sphere of Saturn. To do so, you must trace the invoking hexagram of Saturn (google it) in black, and vibrate ARARITA, and then trace the Sigil of Saturn in the center in indigo, vibrating YHVH ELOHIM.
Remember to banish at the end of the ritual, with the same procedure but with the banishing hexagram of Saturn instead of the invoking one.

After that, I began the ritual. I first called to Lucifer, and petitioned him to send Lucifuge, his Minister. This was a slightly modified version of what is already given in the Grand Grimoire, and staring at the seal, I slipped into deeper meditation. I then continued to call to Lucifuge via different names, and most epithets came to me naturally. The most key thing is to be genuine and authentic. Don’t be pretentious, don’t be afraid (very important), and don’t treat it like a joke.

It didn’t take long for something to happen. Maybe about 15 minutes. In my last post, I talked about how some of the darker spirits, like Lilith or Samael, have a very intense arrival, but this was perhaps the most intense experience I’ve felt so far.

My vision became tinged with red. But then I realised that the space around me physically appeared to be bathed in red light. It got very, very warm, almost uncomfortably so, as my breathing became fast and shallow and heartbeat increased. It kept increasing, and it felt almost like I’d just finished a long run. Then, all of a sudden, it subdued, and I felt a very heavy, over-bearing presence.

It was Lucifuge Rofocale, Prime Minister of Hell. He had come. It felt cold, yet warm. Or rather, it was SO cold, it felt hot. Like a humid chill. Saturn is associated with scales and balance as well.

I remained calm and dealt with whatever had come. At first, I asked it what it was, and it confirmed it was Lucifuge, though I knew that intuitively.

I felt this presence loom over me, but I tried to remain firm and unwavering. Through meditating, my mind had gone blank, like an empty cup. Slowly, I allowed Spirit’s essence to pour into my mind. Now I know what you’re thinking, “oh my god, you’re supposed to evoke demons, not invoke them”. That’s true for “demons”, as in incomplete beings. Lucifuge falls more into the category of a deity. All biblical demons and darker pagan/eastern gods do. Goetia, fay, ayakashi etc. don’t.

As this happened, I temporarily assumed the personality of Lucifuge Rofocale. He spoke through me, and delivered messages. I felt myself being lifted up. I felt huge, and powerful, like a God. At the same time, I felt my arrogance and ego grow tremendously, and I felt as a lord would. He said that in order to have wealth, you must feel like this. You have to feel like a Lord to be a Lord.

I felt like this is what a stern, traditional state of power would feel like. Firm, earthly, set in stone, without regard to anything. This is what power is. There was no force behind it. It wasn’t assertive or aggressive. It simply was, stern, overbearing, like a monolith in a barren field. Lucifuge stated that that he had no momentum behind him. Under Saturn, he was unmoving, like rock. This is true power. Momentum is not power, momentum is force. Force is like Fire, Power is like a Earth. Lucifuge has no myths or legends, because he doesn’t evolve or change. He stays the same.

He said that to invoke him, a lamp should be lit, and alchohol of some sort must be poured. Do it in a dark room, and have no light in front of you, but on either side (as I suggested earlier). In front there should be incense. Just as Lucifer’s element is light, for Lucifuge it is smoke, which shrouds light and protects secrets from the uninitiated.

At this point I was starting to falter, and Lucifuge told me not to be scared even though he was terrifying. He who is scared gets overwhelmed by the darkness. Fear is the enemy. The true enemy, the true hell, the true Devil.

Fear, the farthermost state from divinity. The black dragon, the poisonous serpent, the typhon and apophis, all are rooted in things we fear, and a fear of the Unknown. But the Occult is literally about confronting the Unknown, to delve bravely into that which is on the edge of civilisation, just as the ancient Occultist, the shaman, would delve into the forest beyond the boundary of the village, in search of medicine, and hunters in search of food. Over time, these acts would become commonplace and standardized, no longer ‘unknown’. The boundary keeps expanding, and at the forefront are the courageous.

I was speaking very rapidly now. He said the true adversary is within. It is hate, greed, fear, filth, anger, envy, disgust, doubt and fear. He said “we are but unmanifest beings existing at various planes of existence. We have no physical reality, and no power over you. We cannot tempt you, or control you. It is the evil inside you that tempts you to the dark side. We have no control over your surroundings, only you yourself do”

At this point, my face slowly and unwittingly changed to an intense frown. I instinctively reasserted control. I had the momentary feeling that I would have to force control over my body again, but I didn’t. The moment I consciously attempted to change my expression, I was instantly in total control. As my consciousness came back, the presence evaporated rapidly, like a dream after waking up. “See, I told you we cannot control you”

It’s interesting. The fear and caution with which we approach these things, with the constant need to be in control and paranoid of loosing it, is an inherent part of the Ego, and I had momentarily given in.

You don’t give in to some cosmic being or demon, you give in to yourself.

I ended the ritual, as one always should, with proper expressions of gratitude, license to depart and banishings. If you invoked Saturn, now would be the time to banish it.

Conclusions and Aftermath

I know what you’re thinking: nothing in this invocation was especially revealing. I mean “in order to be rich you must feel rich” ??
That’s not new information. That’s mainstream man. I mean, not just in the occult, but even well within New Agery, and even outside spirituality. By now, there’s probably hundreds of books on it.

But you see, that’s why armchair occultism is incomplete. Of course, I’ve heard this many times. I knew this too, even before it was revealed in this Invocation.

But knowing and understanding are totally different. Remember, Chokmah (Wisdom) comes AFTER Binah (Knowledge), and ultimately leads to Kether (Realisation). During this invocation, something changed. The understanding didn’t come, but it was as if the idea made sense. It is difficult to describe what happens during any meditation, but I assume if you’re reading this blog, you know, so I don’t need to explain.

I came to realise what exactly it means to “feel” powerful, or rich. That is the key, to power or wealth, or to manifesting anything. Like attract Like, as Hermeticism would say.

The realisation comes throughout one’s life. It’s not a single moment of realisation, but a multitude of them occurring repeatedly over the course of one’s life.

As for money, did I get any? Well, it’s interesting. I never cast to “get money”, but I always strive towards “earning money”. Following this invocation, I ended up doing two different divinations for two different people. One was free, one I did for money.

But, of course, I don’t do occult stuff for a living. The other things that I had begun prior to this ritual worked out well, but bear in mind this was proper work that already had an assured paycheck at the end. On the other hand, for about a month, various opportunities to make cash started coming to my attention. I also ended up saving money in various ways, which is just as important.

This is how it usually works, at least in my opinion. You perform magick directed at something, and it’s rarely given to you, but you’re presented with opportunities to get it. One of the biggest things that presented itself was an art competition, with a considerable reward. However, the work that I was doing ate up so much time and energy that I willingly chose to let this competition slide. Usually, I like to participate in competitions, just to get an opportunity to improve my creative work and test it out against others, but this time, I let it go. I have no idea if the Invocation could have increased my chances of winning. Sometimes, you just gotta cut stuff loose in order to focus on what’s important. Sometimes, it’s just that poverty mindset holding you back, making you participate in every competition that comes your way. Somewhere, deep inside, you feel like you have to jump at every opportunity or miss out on something.

emotional-tech-wellness-silhouette-young-woman-practicing-yoga-on-285186332-1068x601

Update (2019): After this ritual, I left to live in a foreign country for the next 6 months. During this period, I really had to learn to be wise with money, since I had a set amount of foreign currency. While I was there, I also made the offerings to Lucifuge that I’d promised him (food offerings, basically). The whole experience taught me a LOT about money, since I met many people who were successful in their fields. Who knows, maybe the Invocation made it so I was pushed into situations where I had to learn about wealth and power. You know what’s amusing though?
When I was returning my baggage was heavy and I had to pay a fee. This was totally unanticipated, but would have happened anyway. I’d later buy some food and water. After I was done I had exactly 1 euro left.
Ha. The whole time I was there I’d been worried. I thought I was missing out on experiences by being too tight with money, since I was tracking my finances far more than the others. And yet I was left with but a single euro. This means I spent exactly how much I should have, and if I’d done anything more I’d have been short. Maybe sometimes you need to trust your gut and stop worrying.

In conclusion, I recommend anyone with at least a few years of experience to try out this invocation. However, this is one time I will recommend caution.

Lucifuge Rofocale is far too intense to be messed with or taken lightly. I will also mention now, before the Christians come screeching to save my soul, that I am not a Satanist, or Luciferian, or an LHP practitioner.

I do not live my life with fear of the Unknown or the constant fear of damnation, either in context of my own religion or any other. I simply do what I think is right, and live virtuously the best I can. I see the exploration of things like the occult, and experimentation for the sake of knowledge and growth as positive. You are free to disagree, but simply telling me I’m going to hell isn’t going to suddenly convert me from the faith I was raised in (which itself just barely appeals to me. I’m a Hindu by culture, but religious orthodox Hinduism is just as terrified of the Unknown as fundamental Christianity. It wont damn you, it’ll just tell you how you’re a disgrace for daring to think beyond what you should think.).

One final thing to mention is this. We usually Invoke deities so that aspects of our personality which are incomplete, may become whole as we “inherit” the characteristic from the Gods. Lucifer has charm, charisma, and cockiness. Lucifuge has assertiveness, power, and a healthy amount of desire. Perhaps, if you’re not able to stand up for yourself, are ridden with guilt because of materialistic desire, or stuck in a state of poverty, Lucifuge may be the one to invoke.

Well. So here we are, at the end again. I would like to thank everyone who has liked my blog and sent me positive messages. It really drives me to write more.

EDIT 2020: As of July 2020, I’ve written a new book on the Tree of Life and Kabbalistic theory. I’m quite proud of it, and you can check it by going to the Books tab, or clicking right here.

This has been my Invocation of Lucifuge Rofocale, and I hope you found it useful to your own practice, or just enjoyed reading it! If you liked this post, follow my blog, and check out other stuff I’ve written. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

That’s all for now. Take care. Until next time.

~White Raven

The Tree of Life in Assiah: My Journey

November 17, 2017June 11, 2020Tagged alchemy, assiah, body, Earth, elements, Expereinces, golden dawn, great work, hermeticism, hinduism, initiation, journey, kabbalah, magic, magick, new age, Occult, order, philosophy, religion, self initation, self transformation, spirituality, tree of life6 Comments

Written: November 17th, 2017 | Edited: 20th March 2019

I just realised I have not written anything on here in about 4 months. Well, you know what Magick is like. Every now and then you’re thrown into a state of chaos and forced to figure things out in order to move ahead, both in life and along the path of mysticism.

Anyway, let’s get to today’s topic: My 10 week long journey, traversing up the Kabbalistic Tree of Life in the Plane of Assiah.

What is Assiah?

There are four planes of existence, and most systems of magick acknowledge this. There’s many variations, and lots of different perspectives of course, but in Ceremonial Magick we classify them according to the four elements: Earth, Air, Water and Fire.

Each element corresponds to one of the four Planes of Existence: Assiah (Physical plane), Yetzirah (Astral plane), Briah (Archetypal, or Etheric plane), and Atziluth (Creative plane).

This is a very complicated topic, and an entire book could be written about it (check out Israel Regardie’s The Tree of Life), so don’t get upset if I simplify things quite a bit for the sake of convenience.

Assiah is the name of the first world, and corresponds to the element of Earth. It is the plane of material reality and matter. Put simply, this world in which your body exists, that you currently inhabit and are full conscious of.

The screen on which you read this, and the material it is made of, is part of Assiah. Not just matter, but your family bonds, personal relationships, your career, wealth and psychical well being, are also part of Assiah. From the fundamental particle, to everything you can physically perceive in the Universe, as well as any bonds or attachments you form to material reality, are part of Assiah.

And when it comes to the Magician, the part of him that anchors him to Assiah, is his physical body, and extends to his personal, subjective reality, aka his ‘Kingdom”, or Malkuth, the 10th Sephiroth.

This diagram is mixture between Hebrew and Japanese (Shinto/Buddhist) cosmology I found. They are very similar.

Now, each of the four planes corresponds to one of our four bodies, or vehicles. No doubt you’ve heard of people learning to use their astral body, which new agers dub as “light body”, and sometimes even using their etheric body. It’s interesting how many beginner spiritualists enthusiastically dive into these higher worlds, without focusing on the first, most crucial one: the physical one.

Malkuth corresponds to the GD Grade of Zelator, and it is during the first phase of this grade that one builds his body in Assiah. It is essential that one master his body, and gain a certain degree of mastery before going much further. Even if you don’t follow the GD system, it’s never too late to revisit something simpler. I like to think that it doesn’t matter when we do stuff, as long as we do them.

In this post, I want to talk about each sphere. The exercise basically involves entering each Assiatic House, of which there are 10, each corresponding to a Sephiroth in the Tree of Life. You meditate on each house for a week. During this process, your earthly qualities are brought out, and you’re forced to face them, as they reintegrate into your body, now awakened. Sometimes it’s pleasant, sometimes not. But it’s all worth it at the end.

Olam Yesodoth |Earth | The Elements

Olam Yesodoth is Hebrew for “Sphere of the Elements”, and corresponds to Malkuth in Assiah. This was the very first week and I did not know what to expect. The way I see it, Olam Yesodoth corresponds to the Physical Body and the base physical feelings and desires. It is also as low as a man can go on the Trees. We magicians are used to dwelling somewhere in Yetzirah and Briah, so falling to Assiah can be rough. You must make your way to Yetzirah once again, and re-live all of the material stages of development, which as you may know is the “lower” or “baser” nature of man.

Perhaps it has to do with learning empathy as well. Suffer like those on the lower rungs, those still in Assiah, and perhaps you will see what motivates and drives them, and why you cannot understand them. But, it is also a realisation and acceptance of your own lower nature, and how you’re also human at the core.

After all, each human being in reality spans from Malkuth in Assiah to Kether in Atziluth. He is just not fully aware of this yet.

During this first week, I just lost all will to do anything. I was exhausted, tired and bored. Everyday, i’d come home and just sort of lie on the floor, until I could eat and sleep. I watched some videos, but mostly I just wanted to sleep. It was as if the very vitality was sucked from me. This is how I used to be before I got into spirituality, and I had forgotten how being tired all the time even felt. I’d gotten out of the habit of sleeping during the day, so I never actually did so this time. This week was lazy and uneventful. I shudder to think that many people do live like this on a daily basis. (But the age of Aquarius is starting to I am certain it shall end. It already is starting to appear visibly in society)

Levanah | The Moon

Levanah is the Hebrew name for the Moon, and corresponds to Yesod in Assiah, which corresponds to the genitals and one’s libido. So, what do you think happened?

Let’s just I had a heightened libido during this week, and I took care of it however I could. It was like being a hormonal teenager, or a pervert. Another week of nothing, just realising how perverted one’s mind can be, and how easy and tempting it is to give in to complete lust.

I imagine this is the path that leads to hedonism. Usually, somewhere along that line, people get “saved” by religion or spirituality. I’m one of those people who got into magick early, so I have little experience with such feelings, except as a younger teen, and that’s my only reference point.

Kokab | Mercury

Now, things started to get kind of interesting.

Kokab is the Hebrew name of Mercury, corresponding to Hod in Assiah. This, I feel, must correspond to the digestive system and food habits. During this week, I suddenly had stomach problems, like acidity and aching. See, when I was younger, I used to have this problem perpetually. Then, it sort of improved as I got older and stronger, but now it was suddenly back, and I was forced to take a long hard look at my diet.

Ever since I became a magician, I decided to eat healthy, but I never REALLY did. I quit meat, and cut down on junk food, but I still sort of cheated and ate some shit. During this week, it ALL went. Anything and everything: cafeteria snacks, soft drinks, sugar, chips (or crisps), most biscuits, juices, and processed food. I began to prefer Sattvic food (look it up), and boy, was it great. I didn’t quit delicious food, I just quit the stuff that’s bad but pumped full of enough chemicals to make you think it’s “delicious”, when it’s really just addictive.

My health, body and energy levels improved dramatically, and I ended up saving a lot of money too. It’s strange when you realise how much we actually need to eat, and how much we actually eat. Two balanced meals a day is actually enough, along with fruits and nuts at certain times. Everything else, I see as an occasional luxury. Although, I still drink coffee, the holy nectar : )

Black of course. And home brewed, like it should be. None of that instant 280 g of sugar per cup bullshit (we got Starbucks in India. Not the biggest fan). I’m not saying be a vegan, but all religions and spiritual practices recommend a certain kind of diet, from the ancient Egyptian priests to New Age gurus, from the frugal yogi to the rich Mason. They aren’t just all saying mumbo jumbo meant to keep you from happiness, trust me. Eat clean, pure and high vibration foods as much as possible. It’s worth it. After some time, you won’t even miss that can of coke you drink daily.

Nogah | Venus

Nogah is the Hebrew name of Venus, corresponding to Netszach in Assiah. I can’t actually tell which part it corresponds to, and my best guess is going to be the stomach.

You ever skip a meal or two? Or just go hungry for a day? You start to feel sort of sad, or depressed, or have pessimistic thoughts, and you’re not sure why. Nothing severe, just sort of a negative feeling, that disappears immediately after you eat a nice meal.

Well, it’s because your brain runs on Glucose, and without that, your moods get erratic. Furthermore, low blood sugar is known to cause depression. Well, for that reason or some other, this week I got depressed. Severely.

Like REALLY depressed. People keep pointing out that simply being sad is very different from real depression. Well, what I felt was more like real depression. I wasn’t sad, really, nor was there any particularly negative thoughts. I just couldn’t find the motivation to do…anything at all.

I simply could not get myself out of bed in the mornings. I didn’t feel like playing games, or reading, or even watching a movie. It took everything I had just to do my daily ritual. I couldn’t enjoy anything. At times, I even felt energetic, and motivated, but couldn’t channel it into anything, or be happy doing anything. In fact, not just happiness, I couldn’t even feel angry, or sad, or emotional. It was just dark, and empty. Made me understand what it would be like to have no purpose in life, and no reason to live. It was desolate.

I also had a SEVERE crisis of faith. In magick, in the Divine, in the Self. I didn’t want to continue. Just give up, and become a nihilistic atheist. What if all this was a sham? What if all my prior success was just one big coincidence? What if nothing had meaning after all? What if I was just going mad?

Update (2019): This crisis of faith was basically me passing through Paroketh (The Veil) in Assiah. This lies above Hod/Netszach, and below Tiphareth.

But this was promptly restored. I ended up reading a Hindu blog about the lack of faith. Hinduism approaches the idea of faithlessness very differently than, say, Christianity, so I ended up feeling reassured after that. It doesn’t condemn you for not having faith, but assures you that you need to stay true to yourself, but also tells you rather sternly that no one will save you but you, so get your shit together and figure it out. At the very least, it says that whatever you’re feeling is true and real, that you’re not just “wrong” for these feelings. It says if you’ve ended up an atheist, then it’s better to be one than force faith. At the same time, if you choose to be faithful, then you have to find that yourself. Anything else would be empty.

Go find your salvation, or accept your life. Whatever gives you satisfaction. Don’t worry about what any scripture says, since ultimately your life is yours. Just as Arjuna had to go face a war, and do his duty as a warrior. Krishna was with him throughout, but never raised his weapons, though he was the Lord of the Universe.
No one saved Arjuna. No divine miracles were performed, none of his sins were pardoned. There were no Gods on his side, and no angels singing in the sky. The future for him, looked bleak and bloody. But still he fought, and won.

All he was given was a sermon, and a vision. And the he rode out to meet his fate.

Shamash | The Sun

Finally, in the 6th week, I left the lower spheres behind and entered Shamash, the Sun, corresponding to Tiphareth in Assiah.

The Sun corresponds to your Heart, and what is in it. This is where the Self is.

This was a great week. It’s difficult to put into words, but this week I was at my creative best, and I put in a lot of work. The desire to succeed and produce something good, to improve my skills and let the Higher Genius flow through, became very strong. And so, I ignored everything else, and I put in the work. This week jump-started the main goal of the Zelator grade: that of mastering the element of Earth. Now that the lower nature had been overcome, every week from then on brought more positives than negatives. This was when I felt better again. Christ has been resurrected.

Maadim | Mars

This was an intense phase. Maadim, as you can guess, is Mars, corresponding to Geburah in Assiah. The energies of this week were so strong, that their influence remained with me long after the week was up, and even after the entire exercise was up. Eventually, they faded, but they left a permanent impact upon my beliefs and opinions, which I don’t think will ever go.

Maadim is fiery and intense, and thus, deeply connected to your religious, political and social beliefs and opinions. Even though we magicians should be depolarised, we’ll always have some subjectivity, and certain leanings. Maadim polarised me to a immense degree, but due to this, it changed my thinking. Or rather, helped me think for myself rather than simply be led on by whatever was told to me by any side.

I wouldn’t say it put anything new into my mind, but brought out and laid bare what was already there. In a way, it forces you off the fence, and makes you take a stance in life, and after the week was over, I was much more certain of where I wanted to be in life, and even after I centered and grounded myself later, these things became a part of me, because they resonate with me deeply, though I never realised this before.

I wouldn’t say I, or anyone else is forced to submit due to social norms. Rather, we’ve accepted certain norms from birth, and never truly questioned them, or how we feel and think. Imagine North Korea: most of the world’s actually just a milder version of it. We were taught certain things were good and accepted, and we shunned everything else so strongly we never gave them a chance. For me, entering the occult was part of stepping out of the firelight.

A majority of the people are stuck in such a state of indecisiveness and neutrality, making it easy to sway them to either side, with enough incentive.

I remember, one night I didn’t even sleep, because I was too agitated at my own thoughts, and how far they could go. At the same time, I also recognized an intense hate, and maniacal rage. I understood, for the first time, how The Nazis must have thought and felt as they unloaded their rage onto those whom they deemed to e responsible for their suffering. Though I understood this, I couldn’t help but be swayed by it, and it would be long before I would calm down.

Nonetheless, it is important to understand this inner monster that is Mars. Only by understanding it, can you control it and use this energy to constructive ends. Interestingly, this is not only how the tyrants felt, but also the heroes. Both Hitler and Churchill. Same energy, just depends on where you direct it.

Anyway, i’m much more sure of myself now, and much more confident.

Update (2019): Ultimately, these feelings would stay with me for the next year and a half, and then it would take another 6 months before I could call them “resolved”. I thought everything could be fixed by having a logically coherent political ideology. But humans aren’t “logical”. We’re too complex, reality is too fucking complex.

India was having quite the political crises at the time, and I was too willing to take sides.

I never did anything physically, but mentally I went DEEP. But eventually I went so deep, that an abyss opened up in my belief systems. Suddenly everything collapsed, and I realised the futility of it all. This was partly shown to me by higher forces. They showed me the sheer intricacy of this system and society we have built over 2.3 million years, and our place in the cosmos.

Maybe it was just be transitioning from the idealism of my teen years to the realism and practicality that marks adulthood. But at least I gained the ability to think for myself. I was freed from the fear of social conformity.

Tzedek | Jupiter

Tzedek is the name of Jupiter, and corresponds to Chesed in Assiah. Now, bear in mind that the energies of Mars were still very active and strong.

Tzedek rules our ability to be reasonable and think clearly. Just as Maadim is the Right Shoulder, the force and power behind our dominant hand, Tzedek is the Left Shoulder, the hand of mercy and receiving. I calmed down somewhat. I believe all that really happened is that I was able to see the OTHER side of every argument. I didn’t agree with it, but I could somewhat relate to and appreciate other opinions. At the very least I felt a bit more merciful. During this period I just stopped and began to reflect, looking upon the long, long road ahead of me. The Golden Dawn self initiation is no joke after all. It’s not quick or easy.

I also became confident and my opinions became set in stone, after being tossed up and rapidly changed in the chaos of Maadim, they were cemented by Tzedek. At the same time, I was made to come face to face with my out of control tendencies I started to not enjoy any sort of mindless indulgence anymore.

The paths from Tiphareth to Geburah, and then to Chesed also represent overcoming the Shadow. This was all aspects of my Shadow I’d discovered. You could say this was a period when I became less hedonistic and much more disciplines, and almost monastic.

Shabbathai | Saturn

Shabbathai is Saturn! It corresponds to Binah in Assiah. This corresponds to the Right hemisphere of the brain. It rules intuition, subjectivity and creativeness. The sacred feminine, the subconscious, and Chaos.

With this, I crossed the Abyss (not the big one, but just the “Abyss” in the context of this 10 week exercise. A part of me crossed a part of the Abyss, you could say) and enter the Supernal Triad in Assiah.

This was a strange week. I felt the prevalence of of two emotions: agitation and lethargy. I’d get easily riled up and angry over stuff, especially the news. The Maadim energies were coming back.

For some idiotic reason, I also got the idea of pulling all nighters to work, as Saturn also rules over hard work and rigour. However, every time I tried, I’d always end up falling asleep anyway and waking up tired and annoyed. It’s not like I haven’t stayed up before, but during this time I just couldn’t.

I worked hard though, on all my work, and it felt good. The rigour and pain taught me much, and to accomplish things after giving it your best just feels so much more rewarding, and your work naturally gets better. However, it also brought with it just a tinge of sadness and loneliness…

If I was to use one word for this week, it would be “internal turmoil”, but it was all for the better. By the end of it, I’d made a habit of avoiding any and all agitating and polarising stuff. I had developed a dedication to more important things in life, and all other things just became less important, especially things that simply to satisfy the Ego. My opinions did not change though, but the obsession was over.

Mazloth | Neptune | The Zodiac

Now we enter the great Sphere of Chokmah, to which Mazloth corresponds. This sphere rules over the Zodiac, as well as the planet Neptune. It is the Left hemisphere of the brain, and thus, it is divine logic, higher intellectual thought, the conscious, and Order. The sacred masculine.

This was a good week. I became wiser, and calmer. The Maadim energy finally began to subside and balance out. I began to prefer positivity, and things with higher value.

I felt much, much less drawn to negative, weird, and sensational things. Despite having previously thought I knew the “truth” in Maadim, I now realised that I could take nothing for granted. The rabbit hole goes very, very deep. I mean, I began to read some of the actual history and literature about my own country, and it’s leaders, including Gandhi.

Man! Imagine finding out that you’ve been blatantly lied to, through every imaginable medium, from school textbooks to movies, about every aspect of your culture and society. It’s not a pleasant thought. And this brought with it, a new sense of nationalism. The kind that everyone swears they do not have, or shun, until they actually start looking at stuff objectively. It brought to light both good things and bad things.

Not the lowly, shitty “nationalism” that involves claiming the achievements of your ancestors and finding scapegoats that you can blame. Not the kind that make you insist that anyone who doesn’t see things your way is “anti national”. No, more of an understand of where you’ve come from, and how many sacrifices have been my by your ancestors. I began to think about what it all meant, to belong to a place, to call it your home, and also what responsibility that might bring. What are we meant to do, by “belonging” to a nation. What does it mean to love one’s “Motherland”, or to hate it’s “enemies”?

But. as Buddha said “All is Illusion”.

My country is just one example. I began to develop a habit of looking “deeper” into things, to understand and perceive reality with an objective mind, and learn to follow my gut and intuition.

I had new ideals to strive for. Real ideals.

Rashith ha Gilgalim | Uranus | The Pole Star

You’d think the Crown, the sphere of Kether, would be some kind of amazing, revolutionary phase. Rashith ha Gilgalim corresponds to this highest sphere. It means “The Great Swirlings”, refering to the Pole Star, and the stars that circle around it, as well as Uranus, the Father of Thought.

It rules the Pituitary gland (master gland). Unlike what I imagined, this week was fairly mundane. I had a bitcoin mining craze for a day or two, until realising my GPU wasn’t really fit for it. I went and bought some new clothes.

By the end of the week, I had normalised again. All the energies the past 10 weeks had brought settled down and began integrated. I became whole again.

It felt like I was no longer swayed and controlled by the forces, but instead that all these new forces and energies I had discovered and been exposed to had become tools in my arsenal, reserved for when needed.

As I returned to being a mundane fellow, I knew I had changed internally, and irreversibly. I had become a wholly new person, one who had awakened every earthly force that existed withing him.

Thus, I ended my journey up the Tree of Assiah, and prepared for the rest of the grade of Zelator. There was still a long road ahead.

I follow the self initiation methods given in the book Kabbalah, Magick and the Great Work of Self transformation, by Lyam Thomas Christopher. It’s probably the most popular around right now for those who want to self initiate using the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tradition. Highly recommended if you’re serious about magick and spirituality.

Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading that, and would like to read more of my work. In that case, why not follow my blog?

Trust me, it’s great! And sometimes, it even makes sense! Other than that, do check out some other stuff I’ve written.

If you have hate for me or want to get into a long, pointless, time consuming debate about philosophy, leave a comment!

Well, that’s all for now. Do check out some of my other writings, you’ll probably find something useful. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until Next time.
~White Raven