healing – Between The Pillars

Archangel Uriel tells me about Manifestation

March 4, 2017June 11, 2020Tagged Angel, Archangel, archangel uriel, armadel, body, conjuration, Earth, expereince, focus, good vibes, grimoire or armadel, healing, kabbalah, Knowledge, magic, magick, new age, Occult, philosophy, prayer, religion, soul, spirit, spirits, spirituality, summoning, universe, Uriel, vibrations, white raven16 Comments

Written: March 4th, 2017 | Edited: 19th March 2019

Hello, and welcome to my blog! There’s all kinds of things here, from New Age to full fledged Ceremonial Magick. Stay a while, see if you like something. I am White Raven, and today I’ll be telling you a story, that I hope you will find entertaining and informative.

I have a tendency to write long posts, but have patience. I promise it’ll be worth it.

In all forms of Ceremonial Magick, there are four chief Archangels, each attributed to a cardinal direction and alchemical element. They are often called the Watchers.

Uriel is the Angel of Earth, in the West. A little while ago, I invoked her, and this is my personal experience, what methods I used, what I learned, and what happened afterwards. I have also got invocations of Raphael and Gabriel.

The Name and It’s Meaning

Uriel, pronounced “Ooriel” or “Auriel” means “God is my Light”, though you may interpret it as “Light/Glory of God” or “God, the Light”.
It also has a more unsettling interpretation as “Fire of God”, but we’ll get to that later when I talk of the more martial aspect of Uriel that has pretty much been dropped in New Age traditions.

It’s spelled אוּרִיאֵל, and so the numerical correspondence is 1+6+200+10+1+30=248. Interesting fact: there are 248 positive commandments in Judaism, and said to be 248 parts of the body in the Torah.

It originates in Babylon, where people spoke Akkadian, an ancient Semitic language from which Hebrew and Arabic come. Many angelic names come from Zoroastrianism and their 7 aspects/children of Ahura Mazda, known as the Immortal Ones.

In Religion

Note: I will refer to Uriel as “she” but it should be noted that in Abrahamic scripture Uriel is male. While undoubtedly of supreme importance in Magick and the occult, Uriel’s standing in the Abrahamic religions is kind of sketchy, and i’ll go over this briefly.

In Judaism, only the first three Archangels are mentioned by name, and Uriel is only ever named when there is need to add an Angel for the fourth cardinal direction, though he/she is usually seen as one of the 7 holy archangels.

She is generally considered to be the “illuminator” and the source of heat and light, but Uriel also turns martial (from a modern perspective) very quickly. Uriel is often identified as the Angel with the flaming sword who guards the gates of Eden. There is an important mystery here, related to the Path of the Flaming Sword, that can be seen on the Tree of Life if you connect all 10 Sephiroth. If the Triad is the Garden, where do you think Uriel would stand? ^_^
Understand this and the entire post will make a lot more sense, as well as her “darker” aspect.

She was also named as the Angel overseeing “thunder, earthquakes and calamities”, as well as the one who checked for the name of God written in blood outside the homes of the Jews in Egypt. So, along with Illuminator, Uriel also becomes the Angel of Repentance. This is mostly due to the Abrahamic perspective of what “illumination” was, being the same to them as conversion to their faith and repenting one’s sin. (Hint: it involved a lot of bloodshed, mainly of Pagans, who were usually actively at war with the monotheists, except hat one time they got together to build Solomon’s Temple, which the Pagans would later lay siege too.)

In The Book of Enoch, Uriel is mentioned first as the ruling Angels of Tartarus, and he is also seen as the ruler of Gehenna, which is the Jewish equivalent of “Hell”, or more specifically, the Greek Fields of Punishment. He guides Enoch, the Abrahamic patriarch and also warns Noah of the Flood. Again, connect this to the position of Uriel on the Tree.

In Christianity, Uriel’s story is dependent upon the source you use, but she is generally thought to be one 7 Archangels by the Pseudo-Dionysus teachings. Though she is depicted in Catholicism when talking of the 4 Archangels, she not canonized ,and so her relevance is only to the Orthodox and Protestants. Some interpret her as the Angel of Light, especially Orthodox, while to others she is the Angel of Fire. The Anglicans consider her a Saint.

Within Islam, the 4th Archangel is Azreal, the Angel of Death, so Uriel is not an important part of the religion.

In Magick

In Magick, Uriel has long been regarded as an important Archangel, and is found in several grimoires and sources. In the Grimoire of Armadel, which I’m using here for her seal, she is mentioned as:

“Spirit who did reveal unto the Prophet Esdras every description of Prophesy, he did also aid the Children of Israel in the Camp of the Babylonians. He teacheth natural Sciences, Physics, and Medicine”.

“In this Sigil there be taught the method of understanding what and of what Kind were those twin Souls (namely) Henoch. The faculties of the Mind and Understanding are purified, and these also in such a manner that they may be exalted from the lowest degree unto that which is most perfect of all. By the which composition also there can be a transmission made of the participating Power or that power of communication of the comprehension of Spirits”

Within the Golden Dawn system, she is the Archangel ruling in the North over Earth, generally depicted holding a book or an Earth Pentacle, strong and unwavering. Her symbol is that of a Circle with an equal armed cross, a “plus” inside. The Arms are generally the colours of Malkuth. The Bull, which is incidentally an animal of the Underworld, can be associated to Uriel, as the Holy Living one of Earth is in the form of a Bull.

Uriel is, strangely, not the Ruler of Malkuth, making her the only Watcher who does not rule a Sephiroth. Nonetheless, she will be placed on Malkuth. She stands instead as the protector of Knowledge, and hers is the flaming sword. However, I invoked her as an angel of Malkuth and watcher of Earth. To invoke her other aspect is not something I am ready for, yet.

And I’m guy who’s invoked Yog Sothoth without any bad consequences. I do know what I’m doing, so trust me when I say I don’t feel ready to Invoke Uriel as the guardian of Knowledge.
Tell me if any of you try though, those who get what I really mean. I’m interested to hear about it.

As for astrology, she is not attributed to any Planet since she rules the Earth itself, and her Zodiac sign will be Taurus primarily, and Virgo/Capricorn secondly.

Associations

Name: Uriel
Rank: Archangel, Cardinal Angel (Watcher), Guardian of Eden and Keeper of Gehenna in Tartarus
Element Ruled: Earth
Quadrant Ruled: North
Zodiac: Earth/Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Sephiroth: Malkuth
Colours: Black and White (Magick), Green (Alchemy), Orange (Abrahamic)
Magick Symbols: Pentacle of Earth, Equilateral Cross, Flaming Sword
Other symbols: Fire, Scroll, Book

Prep Work and Altar

Uriel is the Archangel of Earth, so there isn’t really a specific time or hour when she is strongest. I just did my invocation on a Monday, at midnight, and it worked out fine. Just like with Rapahel, I used the sigil and made a name plate to go along with it, which has Uriel’s Hebrew name in black on white.

I decided to take a slightly more traditional approach than usual, using a crystal ball.

The crystal in question was a sphere of Blue Anhydrite (anhydrous calcium sulfate). The New Agers call it Angelite, so it seemed apt (also, it’s the only crystal sphere I own, and ideally I’d prefer obsidian).

I put it on top of an Earth Pentacle, and used some stones leading out from the centre to divide the altar into 4 halves, the way the alchemical symbol for Earth is, in which I then put the sigil and name card, a bowl of Earth, a bowl of Salt and the Ace of Pentacles Tarot Card. When it comes to the altar, I don’t really have a scheme, and just let my imagination run wild for each Ritual.

I used a Green Candle and vetiver root as incense (though the Golden Dawn recommends patchouli for Malkuth, vetiver is more suited to my culture).

When I felt like the Altar felt complete and the associations were correct, I pointed it towards the North, did all the preliminary stuff, and began the Invocation.

Update (2019): For the preliminary stuff, I recommend the LBRP, and then Invoking Earth. For this, trace a green invoking pentagram of Earth as you vibrate ADONAI HA’ ARETZ. Then draw a black symbol of Taurus in the centre as you vibrate ADONAI.
Remember to do the same again at the end of the ritual, this time doing a banishing pentagram. The LBRP will also suffice, since it also banishes Earth.
You can also try the more complex meditations prescribed by Gareth Knight, but when I did this ritual I didn’t know any of this and still had success. This is all for that extra umph.

The Invocation

I called to Uriel, and she came. Uriel, ruling over a feminine element, appeared to me as a pleasant lady with short hair, wearing something that looked like a dark kimono. It was the same colour as blackish, fertile earth, the way it would look after tiling. Around her waist was a white belt.

She held a book, and that was it. No wings, or anything spectacular. I guess you would say she was very grounded, which makes sense. She had a sort of protective, wise and motherly feel about her, perhaps because as humans we usually regard the Earth as our mother. And of course, that androgynous, ideal perfection that’s characteristic of Angelic beings, which I have always considered breathtakingly beautiful, though somewhat distant and inhuman (which I guess it is).

At first I was trying to manifest an image in the crystal ball, but instead my eyes kept being drawn to the candle flame. That’s where the manifestation began to happen, but I began to try and force it on the ball, but that broke my trance, and I took some time to go back and see Uriel in the fire.

At this point Uriel suddenly spoke, and told me not to have divided attention.

“The key to any manifestation, is to give it complete focus. Stop being divided and make decisions without fear or hesitation. Look at where the manifestation happens. Do not force it, for it is born first in the Unconscious.”

She also told me to not have a cluttered altar, which is how I’ve seen many altars done these days, and how I did them until this point.

“Don’t confuse the mind. Choose one point of focus, build the altar around it”.
Normally, I’d just have a candle, but I had a crystal ball right next to it, and my eyes kept switching from one to the other. I guess that was some valuable insight for me. After all, the ancient grimoires have very simple settings. It’s only these days that people make overly complex altars. Or maybe it’s just me. I used to keep it simply, maybe it’s time to go back.

Update (2019): Since then I’ve always built simple, focused altars, and it’s worked GREAT!

Next, she told me about the physical body, and how to make it better.

“You, as a magician, strive for mental discipline. The same must be done for the body. As Above So Below. You reject negative, depressing, or inhibiting thoughts such as self pity, though they are gratifying, the same must be done for bad physical habits. It will be painful and hard at first, but rewarding. Do not indulge the body! Learn to abstain!”

The body will naturally try it’s best to match your self image, so first, I’d suggest developing a positive one in the mind, before you go trying to change the body itself.

“All four Great Planes are made of vibrations. They vary in degree, but the Earth plane, your body, does not differ from the mind and soul. Sound is what controls this plane, as thoughts control the mental, and emotions control the emotional plane. The body is identical in nature to the mind and soul”

I thought about this. Sound is essentially produced by vibrations, and as you know, EVERY atom in the physical plane vibrates. Everything technically produces sound, even if it’s inaudible to us. I think she meant that what we hear, the vibrations that enter us are what are the major influencing our bodies the most. Light also vibrates, so I guess vision also matters, but if you think about how many people we talk to, how much music we listen to, i’m sure she meant sound. During a ritual, there’s only so much you can decorate the Temple and visualise, but you can speak infinitely. Even as a type this, and even as you read this, there’s a voice in your head narrating this to your mind. Your eyes are not the main input for this data. They are telling that voice what to say.

Finally, I asked about a personal problem, namely, how to overcome my chronic habit of procrastination (as I write this sentence, it’s been almost a month since I began this article. Of course, I was very busy for about 2 weeks, but even so I put it off longer than I wanted to.

“The solution is simple, use Magick”

Gee, thanks. Why didn’t I think of that before.

No, really, I was confused, but then I realised it was very obvious.

“Everything is contained and controlled by the Subconscious, which is altered with Magick. The Conscious mind does nothing but observe and interact with the World. It is not what controls your actions and behaviors.”

I should mention, this ritual was done a little after New Year’s.

“Conscious resolve does not mean anything, if the Subconscious programming goes against it. Right now, think of all the people who have pledged to go to the gym. They are motivated, and want to push themselves, but most of them will lapse, because the subconscious will resist anything that goes against it’s conditioning. Magick is not a short cut, so do not scorn it. It is the KEY! The Key to all change, to all things! Magick is the key to the lock that is the subconscious. With Magick, you can condition yourself as you please.”

That made me think. Magick of course, does not just mean rituals. It is a perspective, a way of thinking. I’ll admit, at this time I wanted to get to working out, but I knew that, like before, I would lapse. You see, I’m quite bad at keeping schedules. Daily workout, or studying back when I was in school, even daily yoga: things which were tough, were things I could not keep up. But, there is one daily thing that I’ve been able to keep up: My magickal practice. When I started this routine, I surprised myself that I had not just let it drop.

I asked Uriel’s help in reaching bodily perfection, and thus sealed this into my subconscious. After that, I’ll happily say I’ve managed to workout every single day. Naturally, it is difficult to properly describe every single change that took place in life. After all, self transformation is an continuous process, but this is a gist of what it taught me.

Update (2019): Since then I’ve always built simple, focused altars, based on her advice and it’s worked GREAT!
I’ve also learned to stop procrastinating in the past 3 years, based on her advice. Heck, now I’ve become that guy who schedules his day hour by hour, week for week. To an extent, life is so different I couldn’t ever go back. If I don’t schedule things or be productive, I feel bored.
I’ve also grown older and more mature, but at the time this was what I needed. I could have never imagined finishing work on time or waking up at 7am then, and I was full of self loathing. I also understand that she revealed some very important mysteries, which I could not appreciate fully at that time. I’m also very fit. At the time I could not even imagine not being skinny and potbellied. Now I feel weird if I don’t work out and do yoga each day. As I’m editing this post, I’m just realising that I’m actually not the same person as 3 years ago. I guess no one is. We all change, like the mutable Earth of Virgo. It’s up to us if it’s for better or for worse. So, I say if you need help and advice for your life in the physical plane, finances, careers, body goals etc, call on Uriel for help.
Many magicians I’ve met become infatuated with the spiritual and mental compenent of magick, but totally lose interest from the material world (aka the “real” world) and withdraw into their homes. They will call on the great Archdemons of the black Legions, but to wake up at dawn or go jogging, to deal with annoying co-workers and keep deadlines is torture to them.
Are they strong or weak? You tell me.
Do not be like that. If you’re like I was, raise yourself up.

Thank you for reading. I hope you found my account interesting and motivating ^_^

If you enjoyed this, you might want to consider following my blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time
~White Raven

Cleansing and Banishing the Sacred Space

December 28, 2016June 11, 2020Tagged banishin ritual, banishing, christianity, clean your room, cleansing, healing, hexagram, holiness, holy water, lbrp, magic, magick, new age, Occult, paganism, pentagram, philosophy, prayer, protection, religion, spirit, spiritualityLeave a comment

Written December 28th, 2016 | Edited: 14th March 2019

This is a follow up to my previous post about the time I had trouble with an entity.

One of the few things that unite magicians, witches, shamans, tantrics and all manner of people within the Occult, is actually a simple routine that all of us share: namely, the act of cleansing and banishing, be it via ritual, smudging, sprinkling holy water, or all of it combined. This is an important routine, though it may seem small. The same way we brush and bathe daily, wash our clothes and clean our house from time to time, we must do so with our sacred space, not just physically, but also energetically. I’m a ceremonial magician, so naturally for me that means my ritual implements and temple room.

People in general, already clean their bodies physically, and many do so even mentally. As a practitioner of magick, I find this to be one of my very important practices.

There are plenty of ways to do it, depending on system and preference of the individual, and can be easily found online. I just thought that today i’d write my own method too, and some thoughts to go with it.

Why Must We Cleanse

Everything is essentially energy, from Matter to Spirits. Ancient philosophies have professed this for centuries, and new advancements in Quatntum Physics hint at a confirmation. Problem is, this energy needs to keep flowing. If allowed to assimilate, it tends to stagnate, and degenerate into harmful energy, “demons” or “shells” if you may.

When you let dirt or garbage accumulate, and it becomes a breeding ground for insects and rodents, which in turn causes disease. This is the physical manifestation of this principle, but it extends further too. This is why we clean ourselves daily, and routinely clean our homes, is it not? What would happen if you stopped brushing?

The same happens with thoughts and spirits. When people overthink their problems or try to focus on too many things, they becomes stressed, and too much stress can lead to burnout, illness or even death.

On the other hand, it is always said that everything invoked in a ritual should be banished at the end of it. If allowed to linger, it will be reduced to something bad, like fresh food, which must be eaten immediately. If you just let it sit on the table, it will become cold, soggy, eventually rot, and be reduced to mulch, at which point you probably shouldn’t put it in your mouth. And this brings me to an interesting point.
It’s not necessarily “evil”. Mulch isn’t “evil”.
But, it is no longer something human beings can eat. Even if it’s not something that’s intentionally causing harm, it’s still going to.

All three are linked of course, and you cant have one without the other. Dirty and disorganized surroundings means a mind in disarray and the existence of “demons”. You won’t see a Saint living among trash.

So, cleansing is vital. I’m sure you knew that already, since i’m essentially just repeating things everyone else says, but I thought it would add structure to this post ^_^

Physical Cleansing

Other than cleaning yourself and your house routinely, it is also important to keep your surroundings clean and organised.

When I was a teenager, like most teens I never really bothered doing so. My room would be cluttered, I’d have old junk and papers everywhere, and I was somewhat a hoarder. But this is the worst thing you can do. Don’t let things pile up. All of these habits were reflected in my magick and life.

All around the world, in every culture, there is some kind of routine cleaning of the house that takes place. In Europe and North America, this is seen in Spring cleaning, since Spring is usually seen as the first season of the year, and many Asian countries even celebrate New Year at this time. Here in India, we do it around the festival of Diwali, when people clean out their whole house, throw away lots of old junk, give away clothes for charity, as well as forget old grudges. You have to keep clearing out old things so new things can come in.

Personally, I do so around every 4 months. I throw out everything I don’t need, clean up the place, and organised things neatly. A good environment leads to good magick. Of course, things begin getting cluttered within a few weeks, but it’s easily managed.

As far as the Temple goes, it is obviously important to keep it free of anything foreign. Many people even have completely empty rooms for ritual work, while others have ornate Temples and they don’t let outsiders even enter.

I don’t have a Temple at the moment. I keep my ritual implements in a box, so that it does not get too dusty, and I try to keep the room I do rituals in relatively clean. Unlike your house or room, Ritual Spaces are a bit more fickle. If you’ve ever been to a Hindu temples, you’ll see that shoes are not allowed inside, and for this very reason.

Also, I generally take a ritual shower and wear fresh clothes before I do Rituals. This is something else found in Hinduism.

Most ceremonial magick grimoires also advise you to do so, and even anoint yourself with oils and perfume.

Just think of dirt to be a direct representation of stagnant energy, and cluttered areas to represent clogged and disorganized energies.

Mental Cleansing

There are many things that people do to achieve a clean mind, like meditate, do yoga, work out etc.

I ground myself everyday with the Middle Pillar, and then meditate afterwards, generally at the beginning of the day. I let all my thoughts and worries fade away. It helps me get clarity, and calmness, especially after hectic or stressful days. In other words, I refuse to carry thoughts from one day to the next or brood on them.

I actively pay attention to sad and depressing thoughts, and try to banish them as soon as they come. It’s not exactly easy, since I’m someone who used to get easily depressed. Before I became a magician, I used to spend a lot of time brooding, and getting pulled into depressive and neurotic thought patterns, which would then make me sad and demotivated, and I’d basically do nothing but sleep and surf the web. That’s how I spent a big chunk of high school. I had even stopped art for almost 5 years. And if I was like that in what is essentially the most carefree time of my life, I shudder to think what I would’ve been like in Senior Secondary, college, and the rest of my adult life.

Now, I’m vigilant. I reject depressive thoughts as soon as they arise. They keep appearing, tempting me to fall down a spiral of depravity, but I just kick them back into whatever hell they came from. Every now and then, of course, I do get sad or depressed (like any normal human beings), and then I shudder to imagine that once upon a time this used to be how I felt almost all the time. I remember the first time I did it. I was thinking about something, and I felt a wave of depression wash over me, and a familiar descent into dark ideas. Then I stopped myself, and simply said “i didn’t invite you to fuck with me. leave, now”, and I almost could physically feel my thoughts residing and me returning to normal.

Anxiety, dark thoughts, overthinking and worrying aren’t the only thing cluttering the mind. Nietzsche, a philosopher I greatly admire, believed that human beings are stopped from reaching their true potential because they allowed their mind to be cluttered by meaningless things, especially lust.

I can’t say about lust, but I try to keep my mind free from things which clutter it: anything that does not serve a purpose. I don’t dwell on things that are meaningless to me, or get easily agitated.

I can’t say I always manage all this perfectly. After all, I am still learning. But over time, I’ve become quite good at handling my moods, emotions and thoughts. I rarely ever get depressed these days, and for me that is a great achievement.

Failure to cleanse your mind can lead to the accumulation of stress, and then people begin to rely on various things to cope, like smoking, excessive drinking, or drug abuse. At the very least, it leads to depression, eating disorders. Excessive masturbation too, to make themselves happy.

Trust me, I know. I’ve seen so many people around me slowly and hopelessly go down that path, and if you don’t cope, then you just get more and more depressed like I was.

Besides, as you grow as a magician, any and every thought or emotion can manifest immediately. I’m not even kidding. So it is even more important for magicians to watch their mental state, because sometimes even entertaining certain dark thoughts can cause them to manifest. I’ve known people to die, because a magician got angry at them. And this will affect you much more than it will affect others, you being probably more sensitive to spiritual energies.

Spiritual Cleansing

As I said before, pretty important to clear your spiritual energies from time to time. I learned the hard way what happens when you don’t. For me, daily banishing rituals, and, as I mentioned before, grounding, handle this quite well. These days I also do daily yoga, to calm down and focus my Will.

Most modern magicians are not monks and sages, who have the luxury of living atop mountains, in caves and monasteries. I, for one, live in a densely populated city (among the most populous in the world, in fact), travel through big crowds and have interactions with many people. This is even more amplified with the existence of the Internet, when energy travels freely and rapidly all over the globe. In fact, it is the closest thing we have to a physical manifestation of the Human Collective Unconscious.

It’s good to clear my energies from time to time, though this varies from person to person. There are some people who absorb energies easily, and for them it is even more important to spiritually cleanse themselves. I am not one of those people, but I have known such people, who fall ill easily after going to crowded places or travelling a lot, since they basically act like sponges and take in everything that comes their way. Remember, every exchange, even every glance, is an exchange of energies. If someone looks at you and has bad thoughts, even that is a tiny exchange.

Then there is the issue of rituals. As a ceremonial magician, I banish before and after every ritual, as is often done within the Golden Dawn system. I don’t allow any unneeded energy to linger, and I think witches and such also do the same. This means not only preliminary banishing, but also banishing anything invoked or evoked during a ritual, be it a spirit, or a particular planet or element, and even guardians of the quarters, all released from the working, or in very rare cases even exorcised (if they’re actively trying to harm you. more on that here), by name.

Even with Gods and high Demons/Angels, even if you don’t give them the license to depart, you do formally close the ritual. Maybe you thank them.
Basically you return the heightened energies to normal (or at least, as normal as they are in your life). In fact, when magicians move out from a place, they often do an elaborate cleansing and formally close the Temple for good. If you just pack up and leave, those energies you left behind tend to stagnate. Personally, I think most haunted houses and structures are due to this. This is probably why it happens in places where someone died and never got their final rites, and so the energies of grief and sorrow, or pain and unfulfillment never actually got resolved.

Rituals I use to Cleanse and Banish

Smudging is the first thing. This is something witches, neo pagans, and even people of many religions do, including the pagan religions of the Africans and Native Americans, and any modern magickal traditions that stem from them, in order to clean a space.

Smudging is an old tradition. You’re basically cleansing with fire and air, the male elements. There are many herbs that people use. Common examples are sandalwood, white sage, and frankincense. I have all three, though normally I use frankincense. You can’t just send out the stagnant energy into the world and leave a Void, so generally I smudge with the intention to transform, not just banish. Send out the old and bring in the new, in other words, transmute the harmful into the useful.

Generally I use a censer and use my hand to spread the smoke around making sure to get it in every nook and cranny. I also keep the windows open, to allow everything to leave. I swear, after smudging a place, it literally looks like it’s glowing in a warm, clean light, as if someone applied a photo filter.

Just like cleansing with fire and air is smudging, cleansing with the feminine elements: water and earth is also done. I generally do this by sprinkling holy water around a place. This is done in Christianity and Hinduism too. Holy water is often made of water and salt (the salt is the Earth).

The origins, of course, are Greco Roman, where things were consecrated by sprinkling them with holy water using a branch of rosemary.

The next thing of course, is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, which I use as my primary banishing ritual, since it pretty much covers everything. I do it daily, and before and after I do any ritual, no matter how big or small. I even do the LBRP before I begin smudging rituals, and do it at the very end, after the whole house is smudged.

I do the LBRP along with a daily Middle Pillar Ritual. The LBRP banishes all elemental energies, while the Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram banishes planetary energies.

Cleansing and Banishing usually go together, and essentially ensure that nothing harmful can ever linger around. No matter what I do, as long as I maintain these practices, things are fine. I should mention, of course, that I don’t fuss too much on the physical aspect of it.

Everything begins first with the mind after all, and I find that as long as I do daily LBRP and Grounding, and keep myself clean, it usually reflects onto everything else, be it my temple or my surroundings. My mind has a lot more powerful impact on my surroundings, than they have on my mind.

In reality, most commonly I will just do the Pentagram and Hexagram rituals, but I do some smudging from time to time too. I’ve basically stopped holy water at this point, because I find it’s not needed for me. But if you were to ever attend a full fledged group ritual, perhaps performed by some Occult order or Witch Coven, they’d be using all of these techniques together. Really, it’s like looking in a mirror. It’s better to wash yourself, than scrub the mirror in vain.

Anyway, i’ll stop rambling now. Good day to you ^_^
Be sure to follow the blog and you can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time, this is White raven signing off.

When an Evil Entity Invaded

December 28, 2016June 11, 2020Tagged banishing, curse, demon, entity, evil, exorcism, exrocise, gods, healing, kill, magick, new age, Occult, pagan, paganism, parasite, phantom, prayer, protection, religion, spirit, spirits, spirituality, transformation., zombie4 Comments

Written December 28th, 2016 | Edited: 14th March 2019

On this blog so far, I’ve written about various invocations and evocations in a pretty carefree manner. I’m not one of those magicians who likes to add a bunch of smoke and mirrors and make things seem crazy and otherworldly, or at least, more than they already are.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t encounter problems. Like the Ancient Egyptians, I don’t like to focus on or describe harmful or problematic incidents. I learn my lessons, and stop dwelling on them. Still, shit gets weird sometimes when you practice, and you just have to accept that. The pay off though, of self realization and empowerment is completely worth it.

There is a reason for writing about this specific incident. This is a two part post. I was about to write a post on space clearing. You know, the standard routine smudging and cleansing with holy water most of us do. I wanted to write about how I do it, but first, I decided to write about a little thing that happened to me where I used it to get rid off something very problematic.

It was a little reminder that even though it’s routine, it’s pretty important to do it. Anyways, without further ado, allow me to tell you a little story. This is very different from everything else on the blog, so sit tight.

Ok, so one fine week, suddenly, things started going wrong. As in, more so than things usually go wrong. It’s difficult to pin exactly when and why this happened, and if it was associated with any particular event.

I got a sore throat, and ended up missing two crucial college lectures. At the same time, my mood started swinging quite badly, even for me, and I was generally pissed off all the time.

When I say crucial, I mean really kind of pointless, but taught by a particular teacher who was the kind of person that is miserable inside and an asshole towards everyone. She’d made it so that if you missed a single lecture, you’d have no clue what was going on, and they wouldn’t help you whatsoever, and also be an asshole about it (don’t worry, I’ve forgiven them by now).

That’s how I initially perceived it. Looking back on it though, everything turned out okay, and I did quite well on that particular course. At the time though, it caused me quite a bit of stress, because the classes kept happening and I was falling behind and didn’t know what to do. Naturally, when your mood goes bad, everything in your life changes to match your mood. Things go wrong and awry, and don’t work out in your favour.

During this frustrating period, I ended up having a pretty big beef with someone I knew. I had to do something about it. Being young and naive, just waking up to my own magickal potential, I accidentally cast a curse, which is the only time in my life I’ve foolishly cast a curse of that nature. It was fueled by hate, and desperation, and I thought was the way to go. I suppose deep down I knew it was wrong, but desperation can be a hell of a force.

When people become a threat to you, there are very specific methods of shielding your self, or binding them. I’ve even written about one. You’re not really supposed to hurl a ball of hatred and anger at them, because it’s just going to harm you further.

When I did the ritual, I very specifically said I wanted a certain person to be taught a “lesson they wouldn’t forget” (and they did), but that was just my wording. However, the emotions I was feeling at the time were deeply resentful and angry, and my throat, still not healed, was just making me more furious, and all that energy was added to the spell. I think this curse might have increased the effects I would face in the coming week. Bear in mind that all the bad shit happened first, before I cast the curse. The curse itself was not responsible for what happened, but a byproduct of it.

In fact, before I cast it, I had an inkling, like a little voice in my head telling me that the person I was going to curse was a magician and I should stay away. The one thing to keep in mind when casting magick against someone is to think very carefully if they are themselves a magician or have one working for them, because that complicates things a lot more. Generally I listen to those gut feelings very carefully, because that’s the voice of the Higher Self, but for whatever reason, in my delirium I ignored it, thinking “no way a person so depraved could be a magician”.

Lol, how wrong I was. Who said depraved magicians who suck the energy of others don’t exist. I don’t know if they were one, because they did seem to learn their lesson, but I have a feeling they might have had shields and my curse might have backfired, but I cant know for sure.

Update (2019): I’ve met such people throughout my life. They’re barely human, sunk to the depths of hate and depravity. They’ll drag you down with them, do everything in their power to make the world a worse place. Once upon a time (such as when I cast this curse), I hated and feared their influence. Now however, I completely shut them off. Their spiritual energy is parasitic and ugly, and generally they’re not fully aware of what they’re doing. I do not give them even a foothold within my own space and mind, casting them out immediately. Maybe they deserve mercy, but not mine. They deserve neither my time nor energy. Let them seek help, and only then may someone spiritual seek to give them love and acceptance. But if they insist on being a burden to the world, I certainly want to have nothing to do with them. If they send parasitic entities after you, exorcise it without mercy. Return it to the Void, to the Womb of the Great Mother so that the energy may be transformed into something good.

Anyway, so couple of days later, in college, a different mentor drops the bomb on us, telling us about a pretty large assignment that needed to be done by Friday. It was already Tuesday afternoon, and if we wanted to submit by Friday afternoon, we had just 3 days.

I had stuff to do on Friday, so I wasn’t planning to come on that day. This meant I had to finish this mammoth task by Thursday afternoon. Now, we all know colleges like to give mammoth tasks and incredibly tight deadlines, and most of my classmates knew it wasn’t really serious. After all, no way could anyone finish it, at least completely. Most people would present about 30-75% on Friday and get an extension. It’s more of a token way of saying “look, i’m working sincerely”.

But not me, and this is further indication that the energies around me at the time were clogged and my mind was confused. I somehow came up with a really time consuming idea, and decided to do that for my assignment, and I was already short on time. Even my mentor said I wouldn’t be able to finish, but I stuck to it. For some reason, I had decided to be overly enthusiastic and ambitious with that one particular thing.

Pointless, of course. I worked almost every hour between Tuesday and Thursday, staying up both nights, but I kept running into problems. My measurements would turn out wrong, i’d run out of important supplies, certain pieces of stationary broke down or went missing, one night I split dirty paint water all over my floor by mistake, and little annoying things just kept happening.

Also, a little thing happened that I really should have paid attention to at the time. Someone in my home had this little dream. In it, they woke up in the middle of the night by the sense of urgency and panic, and saw, floating at the foot of my bed, a zombie. Well, not really a zombie, but the figure of a person, who looked lifeless, like a husk. It had vacant, glassy eyes and a dark mouth, and it had nothing below the torso, so it was hovering.

I should’ve paid more heed to it, because it was most likely a warning. I don’t really want to make this sound all paranormal and cheesy, but that was how it was. Any magician worth his salt would take note of this, but me, being busy as I was, ignored it.

I carried my nearly finished wreck of an assignment on Thursday morning to college, hoping to finish by afternoon, but, lo and behold, after my first class we were informed that my mentor was absent, and so class was cancelled.

That was music to everyone’s ears, but not mine. Why? Because it meant i’d have to come on Friday. So i’d stayed up like a moron trying to finish my work, only to realise I had more time. This extension helped though, because when I got home, I was beginning to realise things were way too problematic than they should be, and my throat wasn’t getting better for some reason.

And then came the icing on the cake. I needed to present a certain document for something very important, but this document could only be printed by a lawyer, and you’d need to go to a district court to get it done, and I had no time to do it, since it was already Thursday evening, and I needed it by the next day.

Once I got home, I calmed down, and did an invocation of Mars, to help me fight all these problems, and destroy these obstacles that kept needlessly popping up (including my prolonged coughing). After this invocation, I was gargling, and I spat out a hell of a lot of mucus, thanks to Mars purging my system, and felt a lot better. I was sure my throat was cured. Something worried me though, because even though I felt clear and refreshed, but the mucus I had spit out, was almost reddish in colour. It was red.

Anyway, after this invocation, I tried to arrange this document to be printed without having to go to Court. At least my cough was gone, right?

WRONG. Well, not entirely. Next morning, I woke up early and somehow finished my work to a meaningful level. I wanted to go to college early and submit and come home immediately.

It was here that I learned that my younger brother had suddenly got a cough, and here that I realised that something might be wrong. When I had banished my cough, why had it passed on to my brother? It should just go, not linger about.

Anyway, so I’m rushing off to college, and it takes me about an hour and a half to get there by train. JUST when i’m almost to the last station, I receive the most idiotic message ever. The totally-urgent-assignment-that-needs-to-be-given-asap-or-ya’ll-gonna-fail submission had been postponed. To Wednesday. Go figure. There’s something about being almost at college and realising you didn’t have to come at all, or stay up finishing a wreck of an assignment and you should’ve taken it easy. And of course, class was cancelled, again, so I just changed trains and headed home straight away. That legal document thing didn’t work out.

I was pretty stunned the whole return trip. I wasn’t used to this many things going wrong all at once, and this is when I realised that I had not done a cleansing or cleared my energies in a while, and that’s especially important for people who encounter lots of people everyday, or even travel with them, like in a public transport. I also started thinking about the entity.

I’ll be honest, I have no clue what was wrong at the time. Maybe it was my hateful curse, maybe I’d crossed someone, or something (though I can’t recall pissing any spirits off). It could just be a build up of chaotic energies, or maybe my agitation, or maybe something to do with planetary transits. After all, your reality is like a reflection of yourself. The mind gets agitated, and everything around it becomes agitated.

So, I calmed down, first off all. I came home, and I was conveniently alone, so I did a full fledged cleansing, which was overdue, both of myself, and of my home, which I will write about in the second part of this post.

I will mention one unusual, rather weird thing though. It’s the one thing that adds a somewhat magickal vibe to this otherwise mundane tale of college stress.

I started smudging in the living room, which has a balcony attached. When I cleanse, I usually open up all the windows, including my balcony door. However, even with the door open, there’s a screen door before it, which was closed AND latched.
So, after I’d smudged all around the house in a circle, I returned to the living room, and started waving the smoke around in the last un-smudged patch on the house, further towards the screen door, and at then suddenly, the screen door FLEW open, with a crash. I mean it was flung open, almost completely, and a gust of wind went out of the house. It was as if something has just been forced out through my incantations. I stood silent for a few minutes, then continued and finished.

I was stunned, but when I looked at the latch, it was still in the “closed” position, but it had come off the hook. At that moment, I fully comprehended what I had been dealing with. Something substantial enough to open a locked door and leave. I stood silent for a few minutes, then continued and finished.

Everything worked out well after that. My own agitation would be cured, though it would take a couple of days. That assignment I was worried about? We’d end up getting almost 2 months, and I did the whole thing again, properly from scratch, and things returned to normal.

So kids, what have we learned today? Cleansing is important. It’s like bathing and brushing. Click here for the next part.

Update (2019): So, as I mentioned before, this was a time when I did not understand the dangers of evil entities. Later on, I would realise that this was due to Delhi, the city where I studied, being infested with parasitic entities. The Muslims call it the “city of Djinn” for a reason. It is also a city with no patron Hindu deity.

These days, I use a talisman to protect myself. It works very well, and you can read about it here.

Another thing I want to mention is that I did run into the exact some entity in 2018. Handled it much better this time. I was rather tired after returning from Delhi, and when i was doing my daily rituals, I had the immediate sense that something was behind me, attached to my aura. I commanded it to come before me, and it was forced to detach and appear in front of me. It was a similar looking entity, but it looked more industrial, or mechanical. It had the same phantom like energy, and the lack of intelligence.

Now though, I was much better at magick. I instantly called on the energy of Mars, into Genburah, and from my right shoulder I drew out a ball of red energy. I fashioned it into a spear, and with it I impaled the parasite, with a calm and steady force. It was killed instantly. I then did the Sign of the Enterer to push it out of my aura, and the sign of silence. I traced the Equilateral cross and cast it into the Earth. I thanked Mars for his help, and asked the Great Mother to receive this energy for recycling.

The key is to be firm in your intent and resolve. Uninvited entities are not fucking welcome to come near you, or harm you. Let the Universe be very aware that you live on your own terms. Most non magicians don’t realise this. They are unable to make it clear that they aren’t to be messed with. Recall that scene from Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf tells Bilbo in a booming voice, “Do not mistake me for a conjurer of cheap tricks, Master Baggins..” as the air darkens behind him. Don’t get angry. Just be very, very firm.

So yes, that is how you deal with phantoms, parasites and zombies.

Be sure to follow the blog, and you can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until Next Time
~White Raven

Invocation of Archangel Raphael

November 23, 2016July 24, 2020Tagged air, Angel, aquarius, Archangel, armadel, beings, ceremonial magick, christianity, entities, god, healing, invocation, islam, israfil, judaism, kabbalah, magic, magick, new age, Occult, pagan, paganism, philosophy, prayer, raphael, religion, ritual, satanism, spirits, spirituality, summoning, watcher, zodiac15 Comments

Written November 23rd, 2016 | Edited: 13th March 2019

Summary of my experience with Raphael.

Good guy Raphael, forcing war councils to be adjourned with sheer optimism.
(Scene is from Makai Ouji Devil’s and Realist, Ch 32)

What? Extremely irreverent to depict mighty Archangel of Air, Ruler of Hod/Tiphareth, and Divine Healer as a comical, flamboyant optimist, you say?

Well, it’s sort of true, at least for me, and clearly the person who wrote Makai Ouji.

I invoked Raphael recently. Looking back on this blog, I realised I only ever share posts about demons and darker angels. So I figured, why not share one about a more popular, light side Spirit, and one who holds incredible power and position. You know, to maintain the balance, as the blog’s name implies and not lean toward a single Pillar. So, give it up for Archangel Raphael!

This is an invocation done using the Grimoire of Armadel

This ended up insanely long, please bear with me

“Let me show you, what happened to Nagini”

The Name Raphael

Raphael is the name of the Archangel of Air. It is Hebrew, and translates as “God, who heals”, “Healing of God, or “God, The Healer”.

It originates in Babylon, where people spoke Akkadian, am ancient Semitic language from which Hebrew and Arabic come. Many angelic names come the 7 aspects/children of Ahura Mazda (God), known as the Immortal Ones, in Zoroastrianism.

In Hebrew it is spelled with the four letters Resh-Pe-Aleph-Lamed, R-Ph-A-L (רָפָאֵל), and it’s value is 200+800+1+30= 1031.

The common name we use, Raphael, is the Latinised spelling of this name.

The Arabic name for Raphael is Israfil ( إسرافيل‎), or Israfel, which means the “Burning One”, although in Hebrew lore, that title is generally given to Uriel. In Magick, this name is used in an Invocation of Thoth. All other times, we call him Raphael.

Abrahamic Mythology

Before we move to the Magick, a quick look at Raphael from the traditional point of view.

To the Jews, Raphael is the 3rd most important angel, placed immediately under Mikhael and Gabriel, and one of the seven Archangels of Heaven. He is also one of the four highest Archangels, associated with Healing, known to have cured several important figures of ailments, such as Tobit, whom he accompanied on his journey through the desert. He overcame the demon Asmodeus, saving Raguel’s daughter Sarah from him, and binding the leader of fallen angels Azazel. He is sometimes depicted as a Serpent.

In Judaic lore, he rules the order of Auphanim (which are in the Sephiroth Chokmah), he stands to the West of the Throne of God, and is associated with one of the four rivers in Eden, very simply put. Look, we have a lot to get through.

“Sir! Would you be interested in-“
“I’m sorry, I have to go. I’m totally busy. I have exams. I’ll miss my train. I’m sure you’re doing something cool though. Really!”

To the Christians, Raphael is very similar to the Judaic Raphael, since both religions have the same source texts. In Christianity, due to the lack of complex Judaic theological structures, he is almost exclusively associated with healing Tobit and defeating Asmodeus, and in the New Testament, thought to be the Angel who healed the people at the Pool of Bethesda.

He is venerated as a Saint by the Catholic Church, as well as the Orthodox, exalted in several Renaissance artworks, sculptures and literature, as well as revered by many Protestant sects and called the “Divine Physician”. He is also sometimes mentioned as the one who brought the Ancient Mysteries to Solomon, though at times it is also Mikhael.

In Islam, it is more difficult to draw parallels, since it has different theology, and since it is a strongly monotheistic religion, and does not clearly define any beings or spirits other than Allah (God) and Mohammed. To the Muslims, Raphael, known as Israfil, is one of the four Archangels who were sent to fetch dust from all corners of the Earth to build Adam, and who will herald the apocalypse with Trumpets, and is said to have tutored the Prophet. Said to have four wings and be a master of Music and Languages, he sings hymns and melodies for God.

Non Abrahamic Sources

Though these are older than the Abrahamic version, Archangels as we perceive them come from Abrahamic sources. That’s why I’m writing this second, and this is just for information. It’s mainly literary connections I can draw.

The Archangels originate from Zoroastrianism, as I said previously, meaning the equivalent of Raphael is the Amesha Spenta known as Haurvatat, meaning Perfection of Health.

Since he is like a snake, that would link him to the serpents of Mercury’s Caduceus. Remember, the Caduceus is also associated with healing, which is why the WHO emblem is derived from it. It originates from the story of Asclepius who was revered by the ancient Greeks as a God of Healing and whose cult involved the use of snakes. (The symbol itself is called something else, but it’s clearly derived from the Caduceus).

And, Mercury also ruled travelling, and Raphael traveled over a fair distance with Tobit.

As far as Egypt goes, he is associated with Aquarius, and the Holy Living One/Kerub known as The Man. While “The Man” is the higher symbol of Air associated with Aquarius, Raphael is associated Libra. This association means balance.

Within Magick and the Occult

Being an angel, Raphael is predominant within Ceremonial Magick, and being a cardinal angel and Watcher, he plays a variety of roles.

First and foremost, Raphael is one of the ruling Angels on the The Tree of Life. He rules the sphere of Hod (Glory) or Tiphareth (Beauty). In Hod is the Healing aspect, while in Tiphareth is the aspect associated with Beauty and the guiding light.

Hod is associated with Mercury, which Raphael rules, further strengthening the connection to Magick, and we’ve already established Raphael’s links to Mercury symbolism.

Raphael is also one of the four Archangels of the Quarters, ruling in the East, once again, becoming the first Angel that the Magician faces towards. Being in the East, he rules Air, which is also ruled by the Planet Mercury.

Raphael thus also rules the Zodiac Sign of Air, which is Aquarius, and so this also connects him to it’s ruling planet Uranus, a higher octave of Mercury. Seeing as it is currently the Age of Aquarius, or at least, we can say that the transition has begun, Raphael is the overseer of the current/coming astrological Age.

And here, you see the 4 kinds of ways in which human beings react to Magick.

As the ruler of Hod, his Qliphotic counterpart of the Archdemon Andramelech, whereas his cardinal counterpart is Amaymon, Demonic King of the East and Air.

Within the Egyptian Ceremonies, there are four Kerubs in each Cardinal direction. The lower counterpart, aka the elemental King associated with Raphael is Paralda, the King of Air.

What Raphael Represents

So, in essence, Raphael corresponds with the ability of our body and mind to heal itself regardless of damage, as well as the ability of the Earth to heal itself against the odds (the story of Tobit is full of odds against him. Think about how Beijing, being immensely polluted for decades, reverted back to having clear air and blue skies with cars being banned for just 2 weeks). Healing leads to Beauty. Mercury to Sun.

Along with that, Raphael represents the conscious mind, our thoughts, decisions, reason and logic, and what we project onto the world, and the progress of Science, which in turn, lends to the progress of Medicine, which are among the few key things that lead humanity into the Age of Aquarius, but also the Ego contained in it, which is why he is connected to Serpents. The Ego is greatly strengthened when we place the Conscious mind over the subconscious.

“Sir, are you sure it’s suppossed to be pee coloured”
“Shut up Jane. This is going to be The Future. Once we decide if it’s profitable”

UPDATE (2019): I keep talking about the association of Raphael with Hod and Mercury. In Yetzirah, Raphael rules Hod, and this is the healing aspect. In Briah, Raphael rules Tiphareth, and the Sun. This is his other aspect, associated with Beauty. In each case, Mikhael rules the other planet. So in Briah, Mikhael rules Hod, while in Yetzirah, Mikhael rules Tiphareth. For this reason, the two angels overlap a lot. While their enegy and presence is very different, they share a lot of sphere of influence. For example, Raphael heals, while Mikhael cleanses. Raphael rules beauty, while Mikhael is the beautiful face of God. Raphael rules science and medicine, while Mikhael rules the rational mind and critical thinking. I often struggled with trying to understand why Raphael was so often places on Sun and Mikhael on Merury, even though it should be vice versa. I now know that this is because of the differences between the Tree of Life in Yetzirah and Briah.

Of course, then one might say Mikhael is also the ruler of Fire. The thing to remember, that took me so long so fully accept, is that the Tree of Life and all the myth and correspondences, are simply systems of classification and metaphors for profound things that are beyond full comprehension. These are not the literal or even the highest Truth. So your subjective interpretation may be more useful to you than mine. Even here, I am simply giving the definitions used by the Golden Dawn, and the mythologies and narratives used by different cultures, and the reasoning given by historians, for the sake of reference. My own perspective deviates significantly at times. This is all just a basis for you to build Knowledge upon.

Associations

Name: Raphael
Sphere: Hod/Tiphareth
Planet: Mercury/Sun
Sign: Libra, Gemini, Aquarius
Element: Air
Direction: East
Colours: Yellow and Purple (Air), Orange (Hod), Green (Healer)
Incense: Lavender (Hod), Sandalwood (Air)
Metal: Mercury/Gold

Armadel

As always, I used the Seal of Raphael, given in the Armadel

I found something interesting though: usually, the Armadel has two sets of sigls for the Archangels, first the characters and then a circular seal. Minor angels have characters and no seals, but most major Angels who have seals almost always have characters. For whatever reason, Raphael has only a single seal.

The paragraph on Raphael also has a very lacking description as well, mentioning just the story of Tobit. I only took the Seal from the Armadel, but it’s not a Book I’d use for this particular Spirit’s invocation. There is another popular Seal of his given in the Faust Magicka. There is also a set of characters given in Poke Runyon’s Book of Solomon’s Magick

As for the seal itself, O Theos is Greek for ‘O, God’ and Agios means ‘Sacred/Saint’, then there’s Raphael and Adonay, a Hebrew Godname. The two “X” shapes are the first Hebrew letter Aleph.

Prep Work

So, it just happens so that in my daily life I need to go into and pass through the most polluted city on this planet. (You can hear more complaining, along with how I purged a parasitic spirit here, and how I eventually made a talisman to protect one from pollution here)

For a few weeks, I’d been having cold like symptoms, after there was a sudden spike in the smog levels. Initially I believed it was a flu, but it stayed for far too long without causing any fever or headaches. Eventually, I decided that it must be the pollution causing the sneezing and runny nose.

Often I’d wake up completely fine, but upon entering the city, the symptoms would come back. It must have been tiny particles of pollutants constantly entering through my nose and my body attempting to get rid of them.

There wasn’t a lot I could do, and eventually it just grew worse. I’d been meaning to invoke Raphael for a while, and so I decided to call on him for guidance and healing.

I did this invocation on the Day (Wednesday) and in the Hour of Mercury. You can read about astrological timing here. I don’t get Lavender where I live, so I used Sandalwood, for Air.

On the altar I placed a Yellow Candle for the East and Air, at the center, and a white feather, a dagger, along with the incense and the Seal. I also had a small bit of mercury on there. All you really need is a Yellow/Green/Orange candle, the seal, and incense. You may put an offering if you want, and that’s good. Stones associated with the Angel are optional.

Like in the Samael ritual, I listened to Binaural beats of the Mercury frequency to get into the corresponding trance. I don’t use it these days because I can get into trance easily, but if you’re new to meditation then it’s very helpful.

Invocation

I did my initial banishing, castings, consecrations, proclamations and all that stuff that we magicians like to waste 10 minutes on, and sat down. Before starting, I traced the invoking Pentagram of Air, visualizing it out of bright yellow light in the East. How you start rituals is totally up to you.

UPDATE (2019): To Invoke Air, trance an Invoking Pentagram of Air in bright yellow, and trace the Purple symbol of Aquarius inside it.
As you trace the Pentagram, Vibrate the godname SHADDAI EL CHAI. As you trace the zodiac symbol, vibrate YHVH.

And the end of the ritual, remember to banish Air by tracing the banishing pentagram of Air and zodiac symbol again, vibrating the same godnames. Do this in the East.

I decided to mimic my Samael ritual, chanting a hymn from my heart, saying whatever came to mind. You can also prepare any chants or invocations that appeal to you.

I started slipping into a trance, and I don’t always write down the hymns, so I don’t remember it well. It involved calling on Raphael, first describing and visualizing his form and symbols, then using his many titles and achievements and mythos, moving to a more emotional plea, and a kind of devotional “surrender”, and then chanting his name repeatedly. In the end, I was left vibrating his name, swaying back and forth staring at his sigil.

It took me a long time to reach the climax, because my attention kept wavering, and so I kept breaking my trance and having to go back into it. Once I start a ritual, I like to see it through, so I kept going. I was not about to stop now.

It grew very hot eventually, after lots of chanting, and my body went into deep relaxation. Invoking Light Spirits is very different from Dark Spirits. Beings of Light lack concreteness, and come as very abstract energies, feelings and thoughts. Unlike my experiences with Darker angels like Samael, there’s no “peak” of awareness where your, instead, you drown into a deep trance and at the climax of the ritual, you feel extremely exalted. With darker beings it is more like an Awakening. With being of light it is more like Empowerment.

The deep relaxation almost made me want to lie back, and fall asleep, but I willed myself to go on. And then Raphael came.

Usually, there is some kind of appearance, like a reflection, or a thought, an image, or just the smoke or darkness appearing like a person, but with Raphael, it was just pure and strong emotional force. I had somehow managed to invoke the force, without the form.

I asked, or rather, almost prayed for the form, and continued to chant, although I could already make out “I am here. I am here.” in my head, but I chanted. Why? Maybe it was the 4 am delirium, or stubbornness. Not the the best thing in a magician.

Appearance

Regardless, finally Raphael appeared in the flames. And he was beautiful, and androgynous. He had long, yet kind of masculine black hair, but a very beautiful, bright and androgynous face, and a slender frame. He was wearing a white shirt, like the kind they used to wear in the 18th century, which was yellowish white. and had a dark purple kilt like thing at the waist. That was it. Strangely, no wings, dramatic symbols, abstract visions, except when I closed my eyes and there were many balls of light.

Interaction

I began by greeting him and thanking him for coming. He said he always answered whenever he was called upon, by anyone.

I asked him about my illness, and asked for help with healing. His reply was along the lines of “do not worry, it will be done by the time you awaken. Health is easy to achieve, but you must help me too”

I asked him what that meant, and he said “stop putting junk in your mouth”, and I was hit with a bunch of images going through my head, of all the bad food I had eaten, mostly of me eating hot chocolate powder directly out of the jar.

“Do you think you can consume things like that and be okay?”
“Bu-“
“The human body is easily affected. Your immunity is lowered by consuming poisons. If you want to no longer be affected by the pollution, you must do everything to strengthen the body.”
“But I eat good food. I’m vegetarian”
“Such things are merely tokens, if you continue to counter it by eating junk directly from it’s packaging incessantly to fill your stomach. And with that, you must refuse to acknowledge any weakness. Practice discipline.”

So, then I promised to be more careful, and closed the ritual. At first I wondered if I needed to give Raphael the License to Depart, since he is literally invoked with every LBRP.

“I am always here.”

Update (2019): Lilith would tell me years later that most of the time the “License to Depart” is useless for higher and powerful beings. It is only used for lesser spirits that you have bound by a ritual, which happens usually during planetary working. Often, most deities and angels, and even higher demons, do not need one. Least of all, the Watchers. It is better to say “I release all spirits bound by this ritual. I thank thee, and bid thee farewell.” Often for important beings, like Lilith herself, or major angels and gods, address them directly and thank them as well. This also applies to any spirit you have called on by name, or for whom the ritual was designed.
For lesser spirits, she suggested adding “return now to your homes and habitations. Leave, without causing harm or mischief, to man or beast, and the let the peace of God be between you and me. Amen. Good bye.”

Post Invocation

The next morning, my runny nose was nearly gone, and would disappear over time. It came back every now and then when I traveled by train, but I would will it away, refusing to indulge it by sneezing or wiping my nose, much like you ignore annoying people. Eventually, I’d make a talisman to protect me.

I also began to watch my diet, as in I stopped eating the hot chocolate. Not an issue really, because I had finished the jar right before the invocation. But nonetheless, tried to eat as much real food as possible, and not snack a lot. Even if I snacked, it would be a sandwich or some lemonade, instead of chips, biscuits and other things.

I’d been in the process of stopping the routine of soda and softdrinks. I ended up buying a can one day, but immediately the thought came to me that it was bad for me. And yeah, once you start leaving this stuff, it tastes less and less satisfying over time. You actually begin to notice the drowsy, sickening and demotivated feeling you get after eating them.

Update (2019): Over the years I’ve eliminated almost all the shit from my diet. I’ve also gotten rid of things that do not suit me. It is different for each individual. I do still eat chocolates though. But the Aztecs used it for magick, so it can’t be all that bad, eh?

I also stopped the rare consumption of Red Bull, because if anything is poison, it’s that. A few day ago, I saw a video titled “If Energy Drink companies were honest with us”, and yeah, that sealed my decision.

At first, my body craved the sugar rush, but I decided to not give in, and it went away.

Of course, I still eat peanut butter out of the jar. But somehow, seems like peanut butter is good. Once again, I didn’t stop completely. I’m not the guy who cringes if someone offers me some Coke. But, I don’t crave it.

Conclusion

So yeah, that is my experience with Raphael. I expected as much. Angels and Archangels are supposed to help you make big changes with your life, and this was helpful. Anyway, this is White Raven signing off. If you liked this, leave a like, and comment your thoughts.

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.

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Until next time
~White Raven