magic – Page 3 – Between The Pillars

Archangel Uriel tells me about Manifestation

March 4, 2017June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 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, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 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.

Invocation of Archangel Raphael

November 23, 2016July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged 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, zodiac17 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.

Follow my blog for more content. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until next time
~White Raven

Encounters With the King Paimon

October 31, 2016July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged are goetia, conjuration, contract, daemon, demon, djinn, dromedary, Encounters, evocation, Expereinces, goetia, growth, kabbalah, key of solomon, King, King Paimon, lesser key, magic, magician, magick, Paimon, solomon, spirit, spirit work, spirituality, summoning, white raven38 Comments

Written August 17th, 2016 | Edited: 11th March 2019

I’ve been into Magick and occult for a long time now. I’ve learnt a lot, and I’ve encountered all sorts of stuff. One recurring thing was, evocations of the Ninth Goetic King, Paimon. For some reason I had an affinity for this particular Spirit over all others in the Goetia. The very first ritual I ever performed, was in fact an evocation of this King.

I’ve called on him many times, but there was always a fairly big gap in between, meaning every time I summoned him, I was always much more knowledgeable, experienced, and more mature than the previous time.

I want to share a brief description of the events that transpired each time, and what results I got. Evocations of this Spirit give me a timeline, a way to chart my growth as a magician.

I’m not sure what purpose this serves, but eh, who cares. I feel like writing this.

Background of Spirit

“The Ninth Spirt in this Order is Paimon, a Great King, and very obedient unto LUCIFER. He appeareth in the form of a Man with a feminine face sitting upon a Dromedary with a Crown most glorious upon his head. There goeth before him also an Host of Spirits, like Men with Trumpets and well sounding Cymbals, and all other sorts of Musical Instruments. He hath a great Voice, and roareth at his first coming, and his speech is such that the Magician cannot well understand it unless he can compel him. This Spirit can teach all Arts and Science, and other secret things. He can discover unto thee what the Earth is, and what holdeth it up in the Waters; and what Mind is, and where it is; or any other thing thou mayest desire to know. He giveth Dignity, and confirmeth the same. He bindeth or maketh any man subject to the Magician if he so desire it. He giveth good Familiars, and such as can teach all Arts. He is to be observed towards the West. He is of the Order of Dominations. He hath under him 200 Legions of Spirits, and part of them are of the Order of Angels, and the other part of Potentates. Now if thou callest this Spirit Paimon alone, thou must make him some offering; and there will attend him two Kings called LABAL and ABALIM, and also other Spirits who be of the Order of Potentates in his Host, and 25 Legions. And those Spirits which be subject unto them are not always with them unless the Magician do compel them. His Character is this which must be worn as a Lamen before thee, etc.”
~Ars Goetia, Lesser Key of Solomon

Stop staring at it now, move along.

Paimon is a Goetic King. I have been unable to determine what his name means. It may be derived from Peyman, which in Persian means Oath or Promise, although personally I feel it has a European origin. “Mon” is a suffix that may be added to the name of a Daemon (spirit). In Prakrit, Pai mean’s “Lord”. In Chinese, it’s a variation of Bai, meaning white.

He does not really appear in any religion mythology. There was an Arabic God called Arsu, or Ruda, who rode a Dromedary, and protected travelers and caravans. Supposedly this was Paimon. He never told me this specifically, but this is the impression I get.

He is chiefly a Spirit of Knowledge, and also rules over money (not wealth, but money in particular). Thus, one could say he also represents the gaining of money, and the status and influence that brings, as well as infatuation with money that binds and enslaves people. I often make spiritual art that can be used for channeling (none of it is on this blog…at the moment). I’ve had an energy worker look at my art of Paimon and say that “binding” was a sensation they got. Others have had Paimon tell them about the true nature of money and what it represents.

An interesting thing to note is that the wording of the Goetia seems to imply that he is the most powerful Spirit, who has a huge number of functions. He rules over 200 legions, meaning of all the Goetic Spirits, he rules the highest number.

Paimon is a popular spirit to work with for many Magicians, probably because he covers a lot of ground, and seems to be particularly wise and friendly in nature.

Nature of the Spirit

Name: Paimon
Rank: King (Sun)
Number: 9

Zodiac: Mercury in Taurus, First Decan
Angelic Counterpart: Haziel
Element: Earth
King: Ziminar
Archangel: Uriel
Colours: Gold (Sun), Orange (Mercury), Green (Taurus), Greenish-Blue (Personally channeled)
Direction: West, North West

Sphere: Tiphareth
Incense: Frankincense
Stones: Any stone associated with the Sun, Lapis Lazuli
Metal: Gold

Experiences

1. The Noob and the King

The first actual ritual I ever performed in my life was an Evocation of Paimon (ambitious I know). I basically had no idea what I was doing. I had spent the week making a wand (not a proper symbolic wand, just a wand), and my circle, as well as a rough Triangle on white paper. I put my wand, and a dagger on the altar, along with a rough seal i’d drawn with pencil on black paper. Back then i didn’t know about incense, so I just used an incense stick. I could not find an incense holder, so I held up the stick with a bit of clay. I put it in the centre of the Triangle.

After that, I just did the LBRP, and the called out to The Spirit in various ways. I had not memorized any invocations (heck I barely remembered the LBRP), so I read out the Bornless Invocation, and then just called out in a language resembling that of the Goetia, but not quite so harsh and Abrahamic. I believed, and believe to this day, that “As Above, So Below” also means that if you call out to a Spirit/Deity/Demon/Angel expecting it to have evil and malice, you will certainly bring forth those emotions.

“Treat others as you would want to be treated yourself”, was said by the Buddha.

After about 30 mins, I’d begun to feel strange, but, being so new, i was expecting PHYSICAL manifestation (as in I expected a physical demon to appear in the tiny room. (In hindsight, if that had happened, I’d be scarred for life). So I kept calling.

To be honest, I think I wanted it to work, but really didn’t expect it to work. By this time I’d kind of lost faith. I was beginning to think it wouldn’t work since I’d not done everything according to the book. Despair and faithlessness began to take hold, and in my frustration, I shut my eyes in frustration and chant even more….

…and then I saw him, and nearly jumped out of my skin.

Or rather, I suddenly saw the vague shape of a man, robed, holding some kind of scepter in one hand, and a sword in another, with a face that looked like it was pale and elderly, but at the same time I had the sense of a more grand, beautiful figure adorned with jewelry. I was pretty terrified, since it only now dawned on me what I was truly doing. I hadn’t really thought this through, so I just asked for the first thing that came to mind, and promised to venerate him in art, in return.

I then closed gave the license to depart, and closed the ritual.

Over the next few days, I kept waiting for the request to be fulfilled, actively looking around me and being alert at all times. Naturally, it did not happen, and now I began to doubt magick itself. Eventually, I decided that it must not have worked, and then forgot about it. The moment I did, my request had been fulfilled within a few hours!

I was pretty amused, and excited at the same time. It did not manifest exactly as i’d wanted, and that’s when I realised that it was important to be very specific when you ask for stuff. Also, being so doubtful and paying attention is like admitting you don’t have faith in it, and so it won’t work. But I didn’t care, since this was my first practical success.

UPDATE (2019): I find it interesting that in the 2018 horror film “Hereditary”, they ended up depicting Paimon with a scepter too. Even though none of the public artwork of him has that. Then again, those guys used real Occult chants (and so probably called upon various energies, and probably poured their fear and horror into it, due to ignorance).

2. By the Book

The next time I evoked him, it had been some time since the first ritual. In this time I’d learnt a bit more about Magick, and had done some Planetary and Candle stuff, and made some oils, incenses and such. I’d also made a better Triangle, this time as a Black Mirror.

Now that I knew about associations, I burnt proper incense in a censer (Frankincense and Myrrh). I had a proper seal, drawn in Gold ink upon black paper (I have an article about seals, check it out!). I’d also made the Seal of Solomon, the one with Tetragrammaton on it. I did this invocation on the 4th moon Day, on a Sunday in the Hour of Sun.

On my altar i’d put a candle, the Seal, some Lapiz Lazuli and a Sun stone. Outside the circle was the Triangle, propped up and with the Incense in front of it. I had candles outside all four corners of the circle. As you can see, I went more by the Grimoire.

I did the LBRP, once again read the Bornless Invocation, and then did my calls, this time reading it from the Ars Goetia (meaning it was far more Abrahamic than I feel comfortable doing). At one point, from the corner of my eye I saw a little ball of light shoot across the room into the Triangle. Needless to say, it startled me and broke my trance, but I continued. In those days I had to struggle and be very still in order to maintain anything resembling a real trance.

Eventually he appeared, sort of, but not in the mirror, but a vague face reflected in the glass holder of the candle. I made the declaration that he should come when I call upon him in the future. I was under the assumption that such contact needed to be made before further interactions with a Spirit, not even realising that I’d already called him before and that counted as first contact. Medieval Grimoires truly are a poor resource for beginners, because they’re so muddled and confused themselves.

Again, the lack of manifestation disappointed me. I think at the time I was too concerned external things like signs of physical manifestation, the incantations, the incense and such.

I should mention now, even here, I did not use curse, constraints and such. Demons don’t like to be tied up and forced to listen to our problems. No one does really, least of all human beings.

And fair enough. Life is suffering for all, and no one has time to hear you whine.

I ended the ritual soon, having figured out many issues with it, and disappointed at the lack of proper contact.

I decided to ditch formal invocation and go with my heart, put out offerings, ditch the Bornless Invocation (for the time being), and not have so many candles. This was the middle of Indian summer, and I was sweating so much due to the heat I couldn’t have continued even if I wanted to.

3. An Experiment

The following Tuesday, hour of Sun, I decided to do an impromptu invocation. I wanted to see just how much I could strip away from the Grimoire ritual and still have it work.

This time I had no incense, just a candle, the Seal of Paimon, my wand and that’s it. I didn’t even use my physical circle, just cast one myself. I did this facing East too.

I did the LBRP, and then informally called out, saying what came to mind. It worked..well, sort of. I encountered two of the King’s princes, and got some questions answered. These were the ones mentioned in the Goetia: Labal and Abalim. I asked them a lot of questions, including questions of how to correctly perform rituals like this.

This experiment yielded some strange results, But that’s a story for another day. I was told not to do too much unplanned work for real results, as in try to do it on a Sunday, have incense and offerings, and at least my circle. At that point I was still new to magick, and I think I still needed all the external aid I could get. I was also told not to become to obsessed with formalities, and focus more on the Evocation itself than on the ritual.

After this I stayed off rituals for some time and focus on study. The next ritual I’d do would be the Samael Invocation, which is the first post I made on this blog!

4. Great…no, Grand Success!

I finally got success, and performed the ritual as I would like to.

This was done on Sunday, hour of Sun, Waxing Moon. I don’t remember which phase, but as a general rule of thumb I try to do it on the days mentioned in the Grimoire, so it must have been the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th or 14th day.

I had the incense, the candle, the stones, both Seals of the Spirit and of Solomon, the circle and the mirror, and an offering of Milk and Honey.

Before this ritual I listened too some Binaural beats corresponding to the Sun Frequency, to get into the corresponding trance.

After casting my circle and doing some initial declarations, I began to chant, calling the spirit. I kept calling, and chanting, slipping into trance.

After a bit, everything in the room suddenly creaked, as if the air pressure had dropped suddenly. I’d heard this was supposed to happen, so it was a good sign. I also felt kind of heavy. I took this as a sign that the spirit had arrived, so I reached out mentally, and could get a response.

Since it is a Spirit of Knowledge, I had some questions prepared that I asked him. This was the first time I used pen and paper to communicate, and that’s what I usually do these days, channeling the voice of the Spirit onto paper, and then projecting my conscious thoughts back to it.

I can’t write all of it here, but some of it would eventually help me prepare my anointing oil, and in my Invocation of Lucifer, and lots of other insight would come later. I’m reading through it as I write this, and I can see in hindsight there was some stuff I didn’t understand back then.

He did tell me about the supposed “ranking”, saying it was more complicated that just rank and number of legions a spirit ruled. As Kings, both Bael and Paimon were kind of equal, and the number simply referred to correspondences. They both had their functions, and though it may seem like it to us, he wasn’t “superior” to the other King simply due to having more legions.

UPDATE (2019): Bael is the same being as the Cannanite deity Ba’al.
The Bael of the Goetia is simply a lower aspect of the deity, that is reached through evocation. Ba’al is also important because he rules the Qliphoth called Harab Serapel (which is also a lower aspect of the God). Through proper Sumerian rites of Invocation, his higher cosmic form as the God of Fertility can be reached. For my evocation of Ba’al/Bael, click here.

It was then that I perceived that the shadows in the room were reflecting in such a way that it appeared as if a hooded figure was sitting cross legged from me. It was very vague, but still there.

I also asked questions about the nature of the Goetia, about offerings and such, as well as about the existence of the spirit itself, like “are you a demon, or a God” and “are you an independent being, can you go to ‘heaven'” and “is your existence similar to humans, but without a body?”

“I have lived many lives, in many places, as gods, as demons maybe. I cannot recall it chronologically. I am many things at once. You, to whom time is linear, cannot be made to understand this. Reality to me is different than to you. I am more than a mere thought form that exists in your head…”

I inquired further, and tried to make sense of it all. Of course, now I know a little more about it than I did back then, and am now realising how meaningless it is to ask about the “nature of existence” in such linear and physical terms.

It advised that instead on a Q/A session, one could also write out their intent and evoke the spirit, and ask for all the stuff to be answered later as insight or information that one comes across. I prefer to chat though.

He also said that he was most amused by humanity, and liked to converse with them, rather then just fulfill demands. Then again, he IS a Demon, so let’s put a pin on that for now. Remember, they are here to test us, and challenge us. Primarily, to make us pay our karmic dues, and in that process, both we and they evolve.

Update (2019): I now know that these things are more complicated. At the time I was a massive introvert. Paimon was trying to get me to open up, because he knew I was verbally gifted.
I enjoy conversation too, but I was too shy back then to realise that. Now I understand that King Paimon’s nature is very similar to my own personality, which is why I was drawn to him in the first place. Many spirits, deities and angels I’ve evoked and invoked don’t have that affinity for communication. Paimon is unique in this.

5. Good Business

This ritual was much the same as the previous, in terms of altar and invocation, done a few months after. This time I tried some thicker incense, and no mirror. I also put some anointing oil this time, and had both seals of Solomon (including the one with the Hexagram).

I remember there was a gust of wind and distant thunder when I was doing the ritual calls.

One difference would be that this time, I would keep the Spirit’s seals face down, until he gave sign of arrival, and then turn it, symbolically making the spirit appear. I was also wearing a silver ring, and ritual garb.

The smoke was thick enough for him to appear in it, almost androgynous this time. The vibe you get from him is similar to what you’d get if you met a scholar, appearing as a hooded fgure, with long hair falling around his shoulders. I almost regarded him as a “acquaintance” of sorts, and he did that same. In fact, I think my greeting was “Hello, old Friend” and he said “Hello, Magician”.

~~Yeah, in hindsight….I suggest not doing that to any old spirit you invoke.~~

This time I made a simple contract, and gave a more “intense offering”.What i’d wanted manifested quite exponentially, and before the night was up! I was pretty satisfied this time. Finally.

I have done one more evocation since then, and this time the spirit was wearing a traditional Arabic crown, and looked more like a King, with longish hair.

So there you have it. How I went from a novice to doing a successful evocation. It’s been quite some time since then. These days I’ve found far easier and effective ways of controlling my life and reality, without having to barter with the Goetia. Nonetheless, I do have a connection to this particular Spirit.

But I know how Goetic magick is one of the most tempting aspects of Magick, and I was very deeply interested in it for a long time, so I decided to write this little post. I think it’s safe to say most magicians begin with Goetia, and in the beginning there is a strong obsession with it, before your mind slowly reaches a state of more calm.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it, but at the end of the day you have to train the Will to be steady and focused, to achieve your own goals without using magick as a crutch. When that happens, magick becomes integrated into life, and is more than just a tool. The Goetic spirits too, have a much more important role as spirits of knowledge, inspiration and insight. Fulfilling pacts is one of the more minor things they do, as Paimon informed me.

UPDATE (2019): These days, I rely on Goetic spirits mainly for knowledge or information. Guidance too at times. Because of their nature, they are more like humans than many other higher beings, like Gods. Maybe it’s because of their extensive interaction with humanity, but they seem to understand our unique perspective far better than most other Orders. having said that, I rely more on planetary magick than anything else. But Goetia has it’s place, and it is extremely good for magicians who are starting out.

I hope you enjoyed reading it, as I enjoyed writing it. Be sure to follow the blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

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.

Until next time.

~White Raven.

Tetahatia: Armadel Invocation

September 10, 2016June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, armadel, focus, god, gray magick, grimoire, invocation, kabbalah, magic, magick, middle path, new age, pagan, protection, religion, seals, solomon, Spells, spirit, spirituality, tetahatia, white raven, wicca5 Comments

Written August 17th, 2016 | Edited: 8th March 2019

The Grimoire Of Armadel contains a comprehensive method of invoking several Angelic as well as demonic spirits, and contains a list of several such entities, along with their characters, seals and specialisation. It was this method that I had used for my invocation of Archangel Samael. Perhaps the most striking part of the book is that it gives a style on Invoking Angels with seals and conjurations. Often, magickal grimoires exclusively contain demonic material. Angels are usually invoked through overtly Abrahamic prayers, and not for any specific purposes. This has changed in modern times, but we are referring to a different period.

I recently decided to use the Armadel again, this time invoking a more obscure spirit known as Tetahatia. This spirit had held my interest ever since I first laid eyes upon the Grimoire. He has a rather unexpected nature as far as Angels are concerned.

However what I learnt from him was very different from what I expected, and today I’m going to share my experience, and also my interactions with him.

Side Note: Tetahatia falls into that category of spirits who do not have any mythology or lore attached to them. Unlike the Archangels, Demon Kings, Olympian Gods etc. many of these minor beings did not play a big role in religion, and thus did not make it into folk lore or pop culture. That also means very little art, hymns, associations or anything else. Most of these spirits are found exclusively within the occult grimoires.

Most of the Angels in the Armadel are in other sources, so it’s easy to find material on them, as people often work with them. But for Angels mentioned only in the Armadel, and not in other places, it can be tricky. The Armadel does not mention ranks or orders of spirits, so you cannot use general associations based on Planets or the Tree of Life.

I was not able to find any reference to Tetahatia in any occult books I own, though I may stumble upon it some day. He is also not mentioned in the Shemhamphorasch, or in any other Grimoire. A google search will simply yield links to the Armadel, and to occasional questions about Tetahatia from curious people like myself. So I went into this invocation without much to go on, except what’s in the Armadel itself.

About the Angel

The Armadel says the Tetahatia is the Angel of Science and Virtue, and protected our forefathers from their enemies, and will do the same for those who call on him. Though it might be made to sound as if it’s referring to Christians of the past protected from pagans, to me “forefathers” seems to mean Magi of the past, protected from those who would seek to slander and persecute them, or hinder the Great Work.

This is mentioned under the Title “Cave of Ephron”, which refers to the ‘Cave of the Patriarchs’ in Israel, which is, like all things Israeli, sacred to the Jews, Christians and Muslims, although mostly to the Jews, and is said to be the resting place of important Abrahamic figures, including Abraham himself.
Ephron is the fellow Abraham purchased the site from. It is said that Angels protected the place from outsiders, and that seems to be the only relation to Angels of Protection like Tetahatia.

Coming back to the Armadel, it goes on to give a sigil for Tetahatia, and says that with it one can learn how a “blinding darkness may be produced, or a thing terrible unto one’s enemies, also how a blessing may fail hereon”.

So, as you can tell, Tetahatia is an Angel of Defensive magick, as well as Knowledge of Sciences and Virtues.
You can also see why many people would be attracted to him. After all, everyone wants to get back at their enemies, get revenge and other such meaningless things (revenge can be healthy, but in today’s society it is a debilitating obsession to most, and a path into depravity). He also seems to perform a function not commonly found among Angels, but in Demons. Even Angels of War, such as Samael, have been demonised and discredited by religion. It was strange to find an Angel that will teach you to harm your enemies.

Then again, I guess Jews, Muslims and Christians have spent most of their history wanting to kill everyone. And hey, no offence if you’re either, but let’s be honest, the Crusades didn’t fight themselves, and it ain’t Buddhists who run all the evil international banks 😀

(Seriously, I’m joking. Please don’t get me put on some list!)

Prep Work

Seeing the nature of the Spirit, I decided to use a red candle on my altar. Instead of making some incense, I used an incense blend I recently bought, containing frankincense, laban and a bunch of other things.

Other than my red candle and incense, I only put a few more standard items on my altar, like some stones, and nothing else. One special item I put was a steel dagger, again, given the nature of the Spirit. I did the ritual on Wednesday, in the Hour of Mercury, at Night.

Due to the lack of mythology for the spirit, I decided that I would need my own incantation, so I created one in Latin. This is what I came up with:

tetahatia venit angelus virtutis

I then applied my anointing oil and entered the circle.

The Invocation

It was a pretty standard invocation. After casting my circle, doing the preliminary banishing and saying some declarations, which I always do, I sat down to meditate with my mind fixed on the flame, and began to chant, and in a little while slipped into a trance.

I did not chant for a specific number of times or anything, since I don’t know of any number associations for this spirit, I just kept chanting.

Soon, my eyes dimmed, and my heart began to race, but it still beat softly, in an almost subdued fashion. Eventually, I felt very hot, and the candle began to glow brighter and formed an aura, and I knew the spirit would appear soon.

Suddenly, the flame grew very large, and I began to see a figure inside. Tetahatia was here. I then greeted the spirit, and we began to talk.

Appearance

I saw multiple appearances of Tetahatia. In the flames he appeared as a feminine man, with curly hair that seemed would be brown down to his shoulders, wearing a sleeveless clothing that looked extremely Greek, but not what a man would wear, but what a woman or child would wear in Athens. Superimposed on him, the candle’s glow made his wings, but his wings were shaped like curved cross-guard of a sword, as if a giant sword was part of his body.

My eyes closed and I saw a more vivid, yet unclear image, which probably conveyed more about the spirit than a simple illusion in a candle flame. It was a vast, blackish space, and there was a feeling of huge gaping emptiness in all direction. In this space, floated the vague figure of a man with his arms stretched out. His wings were still a cross guard, but something like a sword’s blade also appeared to stretch out from underneath him. It seemed there was some light in the area, like orbs going around the place, as if held by the figure’s gravity, and pointing towards him like comets. At some point, I saw just a sword and no man.

Make of that what you will.

Interactions

I first asked him what he was supposed to be, to which he replied that he was an Angel, of the Order of the Seraphim.

He told me he was indeed an Angel of Science, Virtue and Protection, but also dealt with espionage, subversive activities, and hindering those who attack you.

“I am both with and without Light”

I then asked him how we should produce a “blinding darkness” for our enemies. His answer was quite befitting an Angel, not at all what I expected, but neither was I disappointed. I’ll mention some of it here.

Enemies may be blinded by their ignorance. No spell can blind a person more than his own ego, ignorance and fear (these are essentially the things a magician strives to subdue). He also said that a large number of people today were blinded to a degree by these very things. They are reactive, polarised, and cling to their fear, arrogance, pride, anger and hatred, and nourish them. These things can be used to blind them, and keep them from harming you.

It makes sense actually. We are conditioned from childhood to have large, dysfunctional egos. This ego is what blinds us from seeing the truth about anything, since people are far too polarised to look at anything objectively. It also binds us from living the life we want. In case of Magicians, the danger of having an overblown Ego is even greater!

He told me that instead of using spells or wishing ill on others, I should use their own ego to stop them from causing me harm. You don’t so much produce a blinding darkness to harm others, but simply send them away from you by turning their face towards their own darkness, and using it. He said it was something to use on those stopping you from doing your own Will, not on the innocent, for then you yourself will have darkness within you which will blind you. He also listed various methods of doing this, some “ethical”, some not.

I asked him though, if he was an Angel, shouldn’t he love all of humanity?

“I am an Angel, and capable of such love for humanity, but you are not the same right now”

He said there was a balance to be maintained. Those who are following their Path, have the right to protect themselves from the deviated ones who get in their way, otherwise all who are true will be pulled back down.

He said that the way of escaping this darkness is to focus on one’s true Will. In other words, this darkness can only blind he who has succumbed to his ego and does not do his Will, and instead interferes with others.

“Never lose sight of the Will!”

UPDATE (2019): I understand now what he meant. At the time, I was far more naive, and much more easily angered. That is why he said “you are not the same right now“. He was not referring to the human condition, but my condition at the time. He was also right, that following your true path will slowly subdue the Ego. When he spoke of causing a blinding darkness, he meant that people who are blinded by their ego are easily manipulated. When you clash with such people, the natural instinct is to fight. But that’s wrong. The correct response is to be diplomatic, to raise yourself above them. Often, that fills them with even more rage and anger, because they cannot imagine not being taken seriously, and their mind is muddled. When you think with a calm, clear head at all times, you can see the true intention of people. You can see when they want to subvert you, or harm you. Often, humouring them while keeping them at arm’s length is the best strategy. When you aren’t infatuated with your Ego, you can tell people what they want to hear. This feeds their arrogance, but does not bother you.

All in all, the calm, collected and focused person can very easily manipulate those think highly of themselves (and that’s the majority of the human population). The more you deal with situations calmly and objectively, the clearer it will become how this is done. It is not wise to use it on the innocent, as that is what a psychopath is. But it is good to hone this tool, and a great passive defense against harm. It is the power of not reacting strongly. He who reacts, is “blinded by darkness”.

Conclusion

I think I pretty much understand everything the Spirit said. It’s actually some pretty standard and generic stuff in Magick, but with a new perspective. It’s not quite what people would expect after reading the Armadel, but it is true.

People end up destroying themselves in the most spectacular fashion due to their own Darkness. No person can harm another, as much as he can harm himself. I feel like this darkness within is often taken lightly, and can be a great tool to hinder enemies without dragging ourselves down to their level. After all, one does not need to use hatred and anger or even produce negativity, but “let people’s own darkness blind and smother them” (Tetahatia used those exact words). Those who can rise out of it will do so themselves).

I am not saying this is something that should be done, but it’s important to know what we can, and can’t do, before we decide if we should. If a drunken man keeps flashing a light in your eyes, you are justified to hold up a mirror and blind him, rather than pick a fight. After all, he simply needs to turn off the light if he wants to see again.

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

Until Next Time
~White Raven

Why Your Magick Seems to be Failing

August 17, 2016June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, doesn't, evocation, failing, focus, guide, implements, intent, invocation, kabbalah, magic, magick, masturbation, new age, not working, Occult, pagan, religion, ritual, sex, sexuality, Spells, spirit, spirituality, universe, wicca, work10 Comments

Written August 17th, 2016 | Edited: 8th March 2019

Magick, like all other fields pursued by humanity, requires dedication, practice, study and commitment. That is why dabblers usually end up quitting before they actually find anything. We’re all familiar with the former “occultists” who tried out the occult for something very simple like money or love, didn’t actually bother learning anything, and eventually quit because it didn’t work, either because they didn’t put any effort into it, or they did put effort into it but didn’t know what they were doing and screwed themselves. Then there’s the average atheist who did a ritual once, just so he could boast about how it did not work and shut out spirituality entirely.

But why then, does magick sometimes not work, especially when we’re new? The thing to remember is: Magick always works. It may not seem to work, but it always causes some kind of change in you or your surroundings. So perhaps the real question is, why does magick sometimes not work the way you want it too. Just by thinking, praying or even focusing your intent on something, you do magick. You use your intent to move your hand, and your brain sends electrical signals to the muscles of the hand to move according to your Will. This is magick, and everything is really just an extension of this principle, from casting a spell for money to Invoking the Gods of the Zodiac.

There’s plenty of little factors which determine the degree to which your magick will work. I think everyone knows that. However, people get confused and target the wrong factors; superficial things like the appearance of your tools, your circle, the time at which the magick was done, the incantations spoken etc. Sure these things affect, and greatly aid your magick, but they’re just extensions. The key to magick lies, not in the external, but in the internal: on your physical, mental and emotional states.

Now, i’m not going to go on a lecture regarding how magick works, but i’m going to give you a little list of things that may not be obvious, especially to a newcomer. Someone really ought to do so, so i’m doing it. Bear in mind though, that you will grow and become more capable with experience. I myself have a lot to learn.

However, mentioned here are things I wish someone would have told me when I first started out, so I would not have blamed lack of ritual tools and such when my Magick didn’t quite work out. That’s all for dabblers who feel there is only one way of doing magick, while the real mistakes are often subtle and simple. Guess what, it doesn’t actually matter if you levOsa or levioSA.

You Masturbate Too Much

Though this isn’t the biggest, or even the most important, i’m going to put this on number one, and make it a bit long, since it is this very topic that made me write this article. Because this is apparently a really important factor that for some reason no one wants to mention.

All the grimoires say things such as “you shouldn’t be defiled by a woman” before a ritual, whereas religion says to be celibate. Modern adepts say don’t be celibate but abstain, and science says sexual repression is unhealthy. Som traditions say sexuality is the literal key to magick, while others act like ejaculation is the greatest and most evil sin the magician can commit. The internet is full of polarised opinions about sex and masturbation, and they usually don’t focus on the magickal aspect. The ones that do, usually talk about sexual rites, not spirituality in genera;. I can talk about it, from personal experience, instead of tiptoeing around something that forms one of the central pillars of the human being.

So, first off, we know most religions condemn masturbation. No, this is not just false superstition, and like all religious tenets, it’s based on some reality. On the other hand, Science has shown us that sexual repression is unhealthy and leads to problems. Then there’s this thing called the NoFap community on the internet, which is basically a community of people who stopped masturbation, usually those who had become too addicted to it, and talk about the positive experiences they have had (keep in mind, they aren’t celibate). They’ve even got some broscience to back it up. I don’t know about it’s validity, but I do understand the spiritual side of things. And then you have guys like Crowley, who it feels didn’t do sex for magick, but rather did magick for sex (jk).

There’s a good discussion that could be had regarding the Sacral Chakra, Yesod and Gamaliel, but put simply, your body contains a reserve of creative force, and the crucible for this is Sephiroth of Yesod, or the Sacral Chakra. This energy is physically represented by the sexual fluids, just as the life force is represented by blood. This creative force is what is used to push you onto Tipareth and Kether, above Yesod, or manifest things on Malkuth, below Yesod. It is the raw energy reserve that is used for magick, like fuel. It is also used whenever you do things in daily life, and urges you to be creative and accomplish things.

Making sense yet? Naturally, this energy is constant and does not deplete, except in the most extreme circumstance, which is during sex, when humans perform their highest act of manifestation, that is creation of life. So when you masturbate, you’re wasting this energy on nothing more than pleasure, and giving it away. Why do you think they say “sex sells” and constantly surround us with sexual stimuli? Because they want people to continue wasting all their creative energy and being creatively exhausted. We wonder why so many people are unfulfilled in today’s world, and it is because today’s world glorifies sex and masturbation, and makes you think it is the path to success (Wolf of Wall Street). Yes, it relieves stress (so does meditation), but you need to work first to accumulate stress.

Things like this abound the internet. Though healthy, they make it seem like doing it a lot is good. Disagreeing get’s you branded a religious lunatic or a toxic male. I should make it clear, i’m NOT saying it is a bad or immoral thing or saying it makes you a “loser”. I’m not that stupid. A magician should also learn abstinence, even though it is considered taboo these days, much like masturbation was in the old days.

So, put simply, stop masturbating often. I’m not saying practice celibacy (just as bad), but abstinence. Today people have become slaves to lust. Learn to control that. Advanced magicians say it like it’s very easy, but they’re middle aged and don’t feel it so strongly. They already have a degree of sexual control. I know first hand how difficult it is, especially at early adulthood, to let go of it, but work towards it. Once you learn to control your lust, you’ll gain an incredible amount of control over your life. And you’ll suddenly realise just how powerful magick is. It will also benefit you in life, you’ll be stronger and motivated. That does not mean kill your sexual passions, or repress them. That will lead you down a much, much worse path into hell (it is no unknown fact that celibate priests turn into pedophiles. To stop this, some monks become eunuchs, but that is extreme asceticism)

One thing that confused me at first was the concept of sex magick. After all, if masturbation could be used for manifestation, it can’t be bad right. I’ll say this: in a ritual setting, none of the above matter. I don’t know why, but in a ritual masturbation is an effective tool.

I can’t say exactly how to go about it, for it is different for each. But remember this, every time you spill this energy, it takes time to replenish. Know thyself. It is up to you what you want to do about it. Don’t go into the circle spent, unless the ritual demands it.

Trust me, eventually lust will become just another feeling you can choose to feel when you want. It shall no longer rule you.

UPDATE (2019): I’d like to add a bit to this, since I’ve learned some new things over the past few years. Sexuality is one of the hardest things that a magician has to deal with. First off, the context does matter. Masturbating to pornography will leech your energy like hell. That is something most people can agree on, stop masturbating to porn. Casual sex is fairly tricky too. I’d be careful with getting too promiscuous.

The release of sexual energy is a potent tool for magick, so never waste it. Ideally, when you release, the aim is to let the energy nourish your own energy body, or to direct it at magick, or at your partner (who will direct theirs at you). Masturbating to porn releases the energy into other sources, usually perverted fantasies, or at things other people want you to focus on (why do you think all the porn companies will put their logo on the corner of the screen. It acts like a sigil that you direct your energy at, which then helps them get richer).

Another thing is that it is different for men and women. I’m not going into how or why, but men loose a lot more from orgasm than women, and are capable of doing it a lot less to. So, it is more important for the male magician to control his lust. Men also more easily fall victim to it.

There’s a difference between lust and free sexual expression. Use your own intuition to know that. Usually, you’ll know innately what is right and wrong.

Yet another thing is that abstinence is not the same as repression. What we want to do is control and tame our own sexuality, not clamp down on it. This leads to a stagnation of sexual energy, and a break in connection with spiritual forces. It leads to that sexuality emerging as a negative force, and tormenting you since you refuse to face it.

Finally, know that total abstinence leads to an “ungrounding” of the magician. Usually, you need SOME rajasic energy to remain interested in the world, or you very quickly drift away and become monastic. That’s good if you want to be a monk, but not so good otherwise. Most people who abstain totally, either become monastic or make up for it with other practices, like eating meat. If you are vegetarian like me, you will have to engage in some degree of sexuality. Besides, most magicians usually do not want to become monks. Another thing I have noticed is that for artistic or creative people, total abstinence leads to a decline in creative insight and ability. There’s a reason most creative people are also sexually eccentric. There’s a connection somehow, since Netszach, the Sephiroth of pleasure, is also the Sephiroth of creativity.

You Don’t Have A Clear Intent

Magick will bring you exactly what you want. Though it sounds less poetic, the Universe does not give you what you need or deserve, but what you want. (Well, it shows you what you need, but ultimately you have to agree to it. It’s your life. Free Will, not even the Gods can take that from you.)

Your magickal practice should include understanding yourself and knowing exactly what you want.

Yes, it is not wise to be greedy or become infatuated with the result, but when you cast magick, you need to focus on your goal completely: spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. If you want something, focus on that, and not on the money to get it. If you want sex, don’t cast for love. If you want manifestation of a spirit, don’t be afraid and expect to see it visibly. This will take practice and focus.

Whatever magick you do, be it ceremonial magick and sending out the intent, crafting it into a sigil, or asking a deity to help you in something, be very clear what you want. It shows you have a clarity of thought. And like I said, don’t just think about it and speak it, but feel it as well. Don’t fret about seemingly impossible things that you don’t think can happen. All things are possible with Magick. Leave the little details to the Universe, just know what you want. Lack of this clarity will undermine your magick. Same goes for hesitation or unwillingness. Don’t want something? Afraid of something? Don’t cast for it. Magick is like a bullet, once you pull the trigger, it will go exactly where you pointed it initially, and can’t be stopped. If you stand in front of it, you’ll only get hurt.

I should mention, that very often you may not know what you want. You may think you want something, but you really don’t. Sometimes you may want something because you think it is the right thing to have, but deep down you know it isn’t for you. The reason I’m adding this here is because I have, at one point, had the entire heavenly and infernal host deny me something I really wanted. “Want” is a bad place to be. I just use the word for convenience, but it’s really about the feeling that you already have what you need. The feeling of abundance is important, because it will put you in a place where you can get whatever you need. When you begin to “want”, you enter a state of poverty and the magick stops working. Sometimes, very rarely, in matters of great importance, the Universe will purposefully deny you from going down the wrong path. Usually there is learning to be done before what you want can actually be given.

Recall the story of Hercules or Promethues or Moses. Sometimes, getting what you think you want prematurely can do more harm than good. Heck, take the classic story of Midas.

Personally, I’ve had times where I cast for something, but was not clear about my intent, and got caught up on little ways, confusing the Universe and having my magick manifest in way I did not intend, or expect, or even want.

Contradictory Actions

You can’t expect to be given loads of money if you yourself are greedy or stingy. You can’t expect everyone to love you, yet hate yourself or others. Don’t confuse the Universe and your own subconscious with having mismatched magick and actions.

It’s as Aleister Crowley wrote, you need to become a receptacle for the force you are trying to attract. In other words, you must act according to what you want. If you act against it, it is almost like actively seeking to nullify any magick you have done. And this applies to life in general, not just magick.

You have to match your actions to your Will, and your desires, and most importantly, to your Will. Not just actions, but even thoughts and emotions. In fact, as it says in the Bhagvat Gita, it’s better to be true to your thoughts and act accordingly, than do false actions which match your intent but contradict your thoughts and emotions, or you’re just a hypocrite. (Be true to your nature, and seek to change it to be your ideal self, than pretend and force that ideal on yourself)

So, for example, if I want to become knowledgeable about something, and do magick for it, I will need to lower my defenses, ditch my beliefs and opinions and allow myself to become a blank slate, in order for knowledge and wisdom to come, even if it makes me uncomfortable. A simpler example is if you want to have money coming in, you have to be generous and open with money, rather than being greedy, or constantly worrying about having more money. Maybe you want that perfect job, but spend large amounts of time on unrelated tasks, and don’t actually take the opportunities you’ve been give.

It’s that story of the man who asked God to save him from a flood, but refused to get on all the boats that were sent to help him.

Lack of Belief

You know what they say, you gotta have faith! Put simply, if you don’t believe in the magick that you do, it won’t work. That’s why non believers who try magick with the purpose of proving it doesn’t work usually end up doing so. Of course, there’s more to it than just that, such as practice: you can’t pick up a guitar for the first time in your life, and expect to play the solo for Master of Puppets, and then proclaim that heavy metal is bad music, just because you can’t play it, but lack of belief is still the basic issue. I mean, you also gotta believe that Master of Puppets is one of the greatest metal songs of all time, or how will you ever make yourself learn that tough fucking solo?

Magick is deeply rooted in your faith. That is why people of various religions who believe in a form of divinity, usually experience that divinity, and then feel that their religion must be the right one, since it worked wonders, not realising everyone else felt the same, including the skeptic who strongly wanted to disprove what they felt.

Proponents of purely atheistic occult (aka dabblers, i’m not referring to Luciferians and Gnostics) use this to say that magick is all in the mind, and has no external influence whatsoever, since mere lack of belief nullifies it. But you see, the magick isn’t really nullified, and it’s the disbelief, and desire for it to not work, rather than lack of belief that causes this.

As we’ve already established, when you do a magickal operation, your intent and emotions mean a lot. When you do an operation, you need to add to it the belief that it will succeed. After all, you want it to work, right? It’s like hitting the “send” button when you type a message to someone. But when you believe it will not work, or even strongly desire it to not work, that will be the magick you cast. In other words, your magick will manifest, in the form of not manifesting, since you basically cast magick for you to not get results.

Funny isn’t it. Your magick needs to work only once, and then you will know for sure that it works, but you always have to make that leap of faith, and just have complete trust that it works, especially in the face of new experiences. In fact, one reason why magick works so well the first time for many people, is because they go into it having no clue what to expect. Sometimes, they just do it out of curiosity, and are shocked by the result.

In a way, not believing in magick is better than believing there is not magick. With lack of faith, you are still open. But once you have faith in the invalidity of faith, then you’ve sealed your self. Belief is more powerful than skepticism. And a bit of skepticism is always good to have anyway.

All those quotes about faith, in all religious doctrines, were there for a reason. You must believe in “God” to know “him”. You get what you want, including not getting what you want if that’s what you really want. People who believe they will never be happy will never be happy. Belief is at the root.

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”
– John Lenon

Practice

This goes without saying, but even if your magick isn’t working quite how you want it, it will grow over time. Practice makes man perfect (I know, I’m an artist. I can compare two art works just a few years apart and see the enormous difference in them). The more you do, the more you’ll learn, and the better you will become. just just stick to it, and focus on doing your true Will, and eventually you will be well on your way.

So there you have it. There’s many more things I could say on this topic, but these basic points are things I feel it is always important to keep in mind. Besides, the masturbation thing was the important thing i wanted to discuss, because I feel no one covers it and it’s fairly important. But don’t worry too much, it’s okay to make mistakes. If you don’t make mistakes, you’ll never learn anything new!

Be sure to follow the blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

So then, until next time..

~White Raven

The Pentagram and Its Many Meanings!

August 3, 2016July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, devil, evocation, five pointed, god, guide, hermeticism, invocation, kabbalah, LHP, magic, magick, new age, Occult, pagan, pentagram, religion, RHP, ritual, seals, solomon, Spells, spirit, spirituality, wicca, witchcraft14 Comments

Written August 3rd, 2016 | Edited: 6th March 2019

Of all the symbols associated with magick and the occult, the pentagram is the most popular and recognizable, almost the emblem of Magick. And even as all the occult symbols infiltrated and found a place in the mundane world, the pentagram was above all else, as it is the common symbol for perfection, and even found on the flags of nations, both communist and capitalist. When little kids draw space in art class, they use the Pentagram for stars, and the Pentagram is what dominates the Walk of Fame. Several religions have also incorporated the symbol throughout history, and it has it’s origins all the way back in Mesopotamia. It was eventually co-opted in both Persia, and Rome, and lived through till the Byzantine era. later, the Turks would conquer Byznatium and adopt it, and it would be carried to all corners of the world. The symbol itself is archetypal, and several different meanings have been denoted to it over the millenia.

But what is the true meaning behind this famous and popular symbol? Like all symbols in Sacred Geometry, the Pentagram has several layers of information encoded into it. Much of this information transcends into higher planes, and the Pentagram might just be the lower visual manifestation of some profound higher thing. But anyways, today I’ve made a handy list of the multiple meanings on the Pentagram, as well as the inverted version of it, so you don’t have to read a hundred different sources to understand all the different associations. This isn’t an exhaustive list, just the different interpretations offered by different branches of the Mysteries.

Note: Pagans sometimes use the word Pentacle, but Pentacle refers to vast range of symbols. So, when I say Pentagram, I mean five pointed Star. I’d actually suggest against using the word Pentacle. For example, all the Seals of the Greater Key are referred to as “Pentacles”.

In Sacred Geometry

The symbol of the Pentagram is part of sacred geometry, meaning it is made of very exact and precise proportions which are considered holy.

“God is the Great Geometer of the World”

Although “Pentagram” refers to only the star itself, it is generally depict it enclosed in a circle. While this circle is very important, just the star itself is sufficient.

The Pentagram, naturally, adheres to the Golden Ratio, and is constructed on five straight lines. The regular pentagon is the middle is 108 degrees at each inward angle. The Isometric triangles on the outside are 72 degrees on the base and 36 degrees at the top. If you joined all five corners of the star, it would also form a regular pentagon. The star itself can be divided into many other pentagrams.

And if you want to draw one, you can do so easily with a compass or protractor, or even straightedge. So there you have it, a bit of math of those interested. I know I hated math, but this info is useful if you ever need to construct or draw a Pentagram, which is very likely for magicians. All the numbers used in it’s construction: 36, 72, 108, are sacred numbers, most commonly used in Judaic and Hindu mysticism.

The Unity of the Five Elements

This is the most important meaning of the pentagram, which is Universal, regardless of which philosophy or tradition you follow.

In Kabbalah, the top left hand represents Water, then going clockwise it is Fire, Earth, Air. The top hand represents their sum total as Spirit.

Put very simply, the Pentagram= Air+Water+Fire+Earth= Spirit. And since everything is created of the elements, the Pentagram represents the sum of everything in the cosmos, aka the All/Divine, as well as the mirror image of it, which is Man, who hosts the Spirit.

Often, the circle around it can be interpreted as the material/manifest world, in which all 5 elements are contained and restricted, or the Divine Unity which binds all together.

As Tetragrammaton

The letters YHVH, pronounced Yehovah or Yahweh, is the Hebrew name of the Divine. These days it has become corrupted as “Jehaovah”, the patron deity of Israel and the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. But the original mystical name YHVH does not refer to a specific deity with human attributes. It’s is a mystical name, made from the Hebrew letters Yod-He-Vav-He.

Each letter represents one of the four elements, Yod is the sacred Fire, with He being Water, and the Womb of the Great Mother. Vav is Air, or the Son born from the Union of the Male (fire) and Female (water). The second/last He is the Lesser Mother, or Bride of Vav, representing Earth. YHVH = Fire Water Air Earth.

This name, YHVH, is called Tetragrammaton, and so the Pentagram represents Tetragrammaton, as you can tell from the above discussion. I write this separately because there are multiple symbols that are used for the Tetragrammaton, not just the Pentagram, but the Pentagram itself is the sum of all elements, which IS Tetragrammaton. This might not be making a lot of sense to those of you who are new to magick, but try to keep up. You’ll understand eventually.

When the Tetragrammaton is depicted as a Pentagram, is often looks like this (as far as I know, the first depiction like this was by Eliphas Levi).

As you can see, the Pentagram is combined with other symbols to give the full meaning. The figure of Tetragrammaton is what is used as one of the Seals of Solomon.

So in simple terms, the Pentagram represents The Divine, or rather when the Divine is depicted as Tetragrammaton, the symbol for it is the Pentagram.

You might notice that the Pentagram is five pointed but YHVH only has the four elements. There is VERY long and complex reason for that, laboriously conceived by our great mages of the Golden Dawn, who perhaps enjoyed tedious and mind numbingly long thought experiments. I won’t go into it here, it’s not important if you just want to understand the Pentagram.

But for what it’s worth, the five lettered name is YHSVH, with the letter Shin representing Spirit. The name then spells Yeheshuah, and that is the original Hebrew name of Jesus.

(mind blow?)

By the way, that is why the old symbol of the Five Wounds of Christ was an inverted Pentagram, before it’s association with Satanism. There’s literally medieval Churches which have the Inverted Pentagram in their spires.

As A Symbol for Man/Spirit

Now that we’ve established that the Pentagram represents the sum of all elements, and the Divine. However, Man is said to be the reflection of the Cosmos too. You may have heard how God made Man in his image, and also that God dwells within us. This, the Pentagram becomes a symbol for the Human Spirit (which is basically the same as the Divine). This is best captured in Hinduism, where Brahman (The Cosmos) and Atman (the Soul) are considered identical.

“As within, So without”

(Note: For anyone actually confused when I say Man, I also mean Women. Please no bully)

Man is made of the four elements, together form and house the Spirit. This is the pentagram. One might say that the spiritually awakened man, who has the five elements working in harmony within him is the Pentagram. Each element can be represented with separate symbols too. For Earth (the physical body), the symbol if the Cross.

An interesting depiction of this is Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, where you see a person eagle spread in the form of the Pentagram, representing the Five elements, superimposed on a person standing with his arms out and tilted upwards in the form of the Cross (or specifically, the form of a man hanging on the Cross, known to the Christians as the image of the Crucification), representing the material body of Man. (Of course, this image itself has it’s own multitude meanings, as does the Cross).

While performing the LBRP, which is a basic ritual in ceremonial magick, this posture of the Pentagram is assumed at the end by the magician, to invoke the five elements within him. The Pentagram is both the Microcosm (Man) and the Macrocosm (The Cosmos)

EDIT (2019): According to Da Vinci himself, this symbol shows Man has the perfect blueprint of the Universe, made in the Golden Ratio (this is his official definition. He was definitely an Occultist). I won’t break down the image here, but it’s got some very strong symbolism. According to me, he is showing the Mundane, that is the Earthly vessel of Man, as well as the Sacred, the Awakened Man, as the same being. Or perhaps, like the symbol of Christ, he wants to show the emergence of the Awakened Man upon Crucifixion of his flesh. This is the same concept shown in Hinduism by the Lotus emerging from the mud.

Secondly, I should mention that the Pentagram enclosed in the circle represents Man, and so it is used as the symbol for the Earth element in many traditions. When I say “symbol” I mean implement. For example, in the Golden Dawn, Fire is represented by a Wand, Air by a Dagger, and Water by a Cup. The element of Earth is often symbolized a wooden Pentacle. Although the actual Pentacle has a Hexagram on it, it is depicted with a Pentagram on tarot cards.

Lady Venus

Venus is the Goddess of Love and Fertility, called the Morning/Evening Star. The Pentagram is closely associated with her as well, and this might be why we use it to depict stars in general. It should be noted that Venus rules over fame, drama, music and the arts. This is probably why the Pentagram is the symbol of celebrities and stardom.

If you look at the orbit of the planet Venus throughout the cycle of 8 years in the Earth’s sky, you will see it traces a rough Pentagram shape.
There is a lot of astronomy and math behind this, which I wont claim to fully understand. Google it if you want.

EDIT (2019): The Pentagram is not the Kabbalistic symbol of Venus. That would be the Seven sided star, or Heptagram. Nonetheless, the Five Pointed Star is a powerful and important symbol of the Sacred feminine.

When we are talking about Venus, we often mean the “lesser” aspect, known to the Greeks as Aphrodite Pandemos. This is the well known Goddess of Love, Sex, and fertility. This is the Heptagram Venus. This Venus, in Hellenic mythology, was the daughter of Zeus.

However, Venus is also the symbol of the Sacred Feminine itself, in it’s higher aspect. This Venus, known in Greece as Aphrodite Ourania, was born from the castrated phallus of Uranus falling into the Sea (Neptune). This is the ancient aspect known as Ishtar/Ianna in the Middle East, and as Shakti in India. This aspect is rightly symbolized by the Pentagram.

Remember how we discussed at the start that the five pointed Star first emerged in Mesopotamia? Well, in Mesopotaia, it was the symbol of Ishtar, and in Egypt a symbol of Isis. In Rome it was that of Venus, and even later in Christian Byzantine, it was used as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. All of these deities represent the same force.

Ishatr was known as Astarte to the Greeks. Astarte. That’s why the Pentagram is symbol commonly called a “Star”. Mind blown?

Well, the “star” in question, at the time, referred not to the planet Venus, but to Sirius, or the “Tear of Isis”. It was the brightest star in the Sky, and it’s heliacal rising symbolized the ancient Egyptian New Year. The festival is still celebrated in Egypt.

Spirit Over Matter

You might have noticed how each arm of the Pentagram represents one of the elements, but the Spirit is the one on top. While the opposite of each element is depicted on the arm opposite to it, the Spirit, having no opposite, is on top. Even when you see Pentagrams with a different combination of the elements, the Spirit will always be on top.

The reason should be obvious. The Spirit is separate to the other elements. The Pentagram also depicts the message that the Spirit is superior to the material body, hence, “Spirit over Matter”, and here by “Matter” I mean “flesh”, or one’s Earthly life, desires and ambitions.

A thing to note here is that the astrological symbol of Venus also depicts this.

It’s a circle over a cross. Remember what I said about the Circle of the Spirit and how the physical body is shown as the Cross. The Circle is over the Cross, so once again, “Spirit over Matter”. I think it’s interesting how the Pentagram is a symbol of Venus, and the message it contains is contained in the astrological symbol as well.

In magick, it can be said to symbolise the exaltation of Spirit over Matter.

Inverted Pentagram

So, now that we know that the Pentagram is symbolic of Spirit over Flesh, we can see what the Inverted Pentagram stands for.

The Inverted Pentagram is structurally the same as the Pentagram, so it symbolizes the same Unity of Elements, The Spirit but now it is flipped, with the Spirit BELOW the four elements. You know what that means: the Inverted Pentagram depicts “Matter over Spirit”.

The Inverted Pentagram and it’s strange message have their own significance. You’ll be interested to know that the Second Degree of Witchcraft is symbolised by this Inverted Pentagram. I’m not a witch though, so I don’t know what exactly they do in this degree.

The Inverted Pentagram stands for a message that opposes what the Pentagram stands for, and this can be seen in the astrological symbol for Mars, which is the opposite of Venus.

As you can see, this time the Cross of Matter, which is now in the form of an arrow, is above the Circle of the Spirit.

The Order of the Eastern Star, which I believe is the Sisterhood associated with the Freemason Brotherhood, use an inverted Pentagram to show the Union of the elements.

EDIT (2019): In magick, this is the exaltation of Matter over Spirit, and is the opposing counterpart to the normal Pentagram. In this way, the upright Pentagram become the Key to access the Angelic forces above the realm of Matter, while the inverted version is for the Infernal forces beneath Matter (hence why Inferno lies under the surface of the Earth, while Heaven is symbolised as being in the Sky. It wasn’t just primitive people being superstitious. It was symbolic.)

We talked about how the Kabbalistic symbol for Venus was the Heptagram. Well, the Kabbalistic symbol for Mars in the Pentagram. Mars and Venus are strongly connected too. In Kabbalah, the Pentagram would a more male symbol.

I’d love to get into, but Kabbalah is just far too much for this already long article. In Kabbalah, the Pentagram (and the number 5) represent Kinetic energy, or motion. This is perhaps the most clear reason why the Pentagram is used as a symbol for Magick. It is the symbol for invoking any and all spiritual and mundane forces. It is Symbolic of force itself, and magick relies heavily on Invocation and Evocation of forces. It is like a spinning water wheel, helping you harness the latent energy of water and turn it into power. I could go on and on, from one thing to the next.

The Right and Left Hand Paths

The Pentagram and the Inverted Pentagram have been symbols in the occult for a very long time. The distinction was not commonly used by ancient magicians. It is generally seen as a modern new age idea. In ancient traditions, they would have been used together.

Eventually, there was the divide within the occult between the Left and Right Hand Paths. One of the primary differences between the two was whether God was inside us, or outside us. Now yes, I know that there’s a lot more to this, relating to the history of Black and White magick, and a long history of philosophical and ideological struggles, and we can argue about that forever.

But this was the first time the LHP and RHP properly came about. LHP believed that God was inside us, and so we should serve the Self only, so they chose the Inverted Star, which was Flesh over Spirit. This was probably influenced by the founding of atheistic Satanism at the time. The RHP guys said that God was external, a theory which had already been believed by the Church for centuries, and so they believed in serving others, and picked the normal Pentagram, Spirit over Flesh, which they interpreted as serving others before self. And so they argued whether God was within, or without.

One could say that the split was also between Hedonism and asceticism. If the Divine is external, then Spirit must be exalted over Matter. After all, we must sacrifice everything for the greater good. On the other hand, if all Divinity is within, then why not be self serving? Why not exalt the Matter over Self?

EDIT (2019): Lots of angry people have said that I never did justice to this topic here, and I know. This post is about the Pentagram, so I merely give an introduction to the RHP/LHP split in the Occult, and how they each used their Pentagram. It’s just so that new people an have a basic understanding. I myself do not ascribe to either, and follow the Middle path. And the way I see it, this was of thinking is only growing, as the old absolutist worldviews decline.

The Satanic Pentagram

Well, as you know, the RHP/White Magick and the LHP/Black Magick are still two existing streams within magick. I’ve made it clear how I don’t buy into that idea, but I still have to admit that they’re there. And obviously, even though the utterly polarized Serving Only Others vs Serving Only Self thing is more or less gone, an ideological divide over various other issues still exists, particularly over White and Black magick. The Inverted pentagram has a more common symbolism associated with it.

You’re probably familiar with it: it’s the image of a Goat head, which is Satan, superimposed on an inverted Pentagram with an outer circle that has five characters, which, which spell Leviathan. It is often called the Satanic Pentagram.

This is the symbol for the religion of Satanism, which today is an atheistic, philosophical religion present largely in the USA. The philosophy and ideas they believe in are also present within the LHP, and so this symbol has also become an emblem for many Black Magicians. The symbol of the inverted Star now represents the collective ideologies of the LHP, as the normal Pentagram sometimes represents the ideologies of the RHP.

I don’t mean that people will always show it with the goat head, and most of the times you’ll simply see an inverted Pentagram, but this does not simply mean “Serve only Self” anymore, but instead represents the ideas and beliefs that the LHP stands for, as oppossed to the ideas and beliefs of the RHP, which are often depicted by stylised variations of the the Pentagram, which also no longer really means “Serve only others”. I’ll leave it at that.

Remember again how the Inverted Star is linked to Mars. Well, Mars rules the sign of Aries, and it’s symbol is the goat head.

EDIT (2019): I should say that this largely affects modern traditions, especially those derived from the New Age. The way I see it, true, complete and authentic traditions reject ideologies entirely, accepting that the world is complex and each person must chart his own path.

You may object, but I personally hold that the LHP/RHP split is superficial. There is only one Magick, one force. Duality is ever present, and we must live in it, but it comes form the One.

Secondly, I say that no perspective is totally correct. I venerate both dark and light Gods, and respect the Gods and practices of others. To me the split is the sign that a practitioner is still polarised and blinded by himself. When I originally wrote this article, I was not confident enough to make such a statement. But now I am. This is not the fault of people, because they simply have not experienced the spiritual process fully yet. Suffering teaches empathy, and empathy leads to an end of polarity.

Elemental Pentagrams

The Pentagram is used to invoke forces. We established this before.

Within a ritual setting, the Pentagram can be used to represent each of the other four elements as well. This depends of exactly which of the five points you begin tracing from, and which direction you go:

So, in short, there is an Invoking and Banishing Pentagram for each of the four elements, making 8, and 4 for Spirit, both for passive and active, making 12. Technically, these Pentagrams can be used to Invoke and Banish pretty much all magickal forces, depending on how they are used. This is the primary use of the Pentagram for the magician. You will see it in a variety of rituals.

Concluding Note

As you can see, the Pentagram has a vast plethora of encoded and acquired meanings. You will often see people use it in different ways and give a different explanation for it, and remember, over time it may very well acquire even more meanings and associations. In this article I tried to give as clear an understanding as I could manage, starting simple and slowly building up the layers. I follow the Hermetic Kabbalah, so I have a bias towards the Kabbalah in general. There’s probably more about Pentagrams that I missed out. As I discover them, I shall continue to edit and update this post.

EDIT (late 2019): Yeah that’s not really happening. While I updated each post on this blog this year, any new ideas, experiences or insights I have will always be written as new posts. I hate changing old work, but I also don’t like bloating them with extra content. Remember, when on my blog, always read the latest post, and you’ll know where I currently stand on most things. For one, I can actually write now without spelling errors, and in more eloquent prose. At the very least, I no longer sound like a 19th century philosopher. Now I just sound like a 20th century philosopher!

Who knows, maybe we’ll get to the 21st one day. Lol amirite mah dudes. #sorelatable #pepedidnothingwrong #ihatehashtags. But I think I might scare away all my older, sophisticated readers in their 30s and 40s. You know, millenials 😛

All symbols in the occult have many meanings built on top of one core meaning, such as the unity of five elements in this case, but even that is a condensation of many things into one symbol, and the end result is a huge amount of energy contained in a single symbol. That is why these are called Symbols of Power. They too follow the Law of Rhythm, and over time grow, evolve and adapt, growing in power, influence and popularity. They are archetypal.

So remember, whatever the Pentagram means to you, it may mean something else to another person, and both of your interpretation is as valid as the other.

Well that’s it for now. Be sure to follow the blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

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.

Until we meet again

~White Raven

How to Make Seals for Ceremonial Magick

July 18, 2016June 11, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged clay, magic, magick, metal, new age, Occult, parchment, seals, sigils, spirituality, tools, wood14 Comments

Written July 18th, 2016 | Edited: 28th February 2019

So this time we’re talking about seals: those weird designs in circles that Japanese animators and game designers love.

There are many kinds of seals in Magick: Planetary, Goetic, Angelic, Demonic etc. Seals are essentially symbols that are used to invoke/evoke spiritual energies in a ritual setting, and function similar to idols in pagan religions, though more powerful. Seals are also unique, as traditionally, they are unique to ceremonial magick, especially in Solomonic Magick.

So, if you’re a ceremonial magician, and are ever planning to work with Demons, Angels, Geotic Spirits or the Planets, chances are you’ll be needing to make seals. However, making and consecrating seals is a tricky affair. The grimoires all have grand, or differing methods to make them, and the sheer amount of ways and opinions on the Internet can confuse the novice, especially those making them for the first time. So in this post, I’m going to go over how Seals work, and how best to create them, based on your desired approach. When the theory behind it becomes clear, it is easy to choose and build one’s own practice around it rather than just borrow from others.

Seals From Metals

Most Grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon, will tell you to make seals from metal, as must have been common in the Old days. The metal used depends on the planetary nature of the seal:

Sun= Gold
Mercury= Mercury (any solid alloy)
Venus= Copper
Moon=Silver
Mars= Iron (Although sometimes they say to use a mixture of Copper and Silver)
Jupiter= Tin
Saturn=Lead

Since Uranus, Neptune and Pluto aren’t part of traditional astrology, there are no metals associated with them, but they don’t have seals either so it’s fine. I’ve heard someone say Uranium, Neptunium and Plutonium.

These make sense, but you can’t acquire them anyway (even if you got some, a piece big enough to make a seal will probably kill you before the ritual is over, or at least, mutate you into a giant potato). Personally, I feel the correct metals for the new planets would be from the Platinum group of metals (which consists of rare metals like Platinum, Iridium, Indium etc. These are often used in machinery and electronics, and thus correspond well with the Trans-Saturnine energies, even more so than the radioactive metals).

Be careful with Lead or Mercury unless you really know what you’re doing. Both are fairly toxic, if handled without care. Also, possessing Mercury is illegal in some places, so watch out for that.

There was once a time when metal was probably the easy and cost effective way to make seals. After all many of the things, from horseshoes, to tools, weapons, armour, to common day to day items would have been made from metal, so finding a blacksmith would be easy. This would have been the case for most of human history, all the way from Old Kingdom to the Industrial Era. So, all they had to do was get a blacksmith to make it for them, or even make it yourself if you knew how.

What’s important to remember is not the material they used, but that they used what was readily and easily available to them. When the Occult was revived in the 19th-20th centuries, it must have become tricky to get your hands on metal, so at that point they started coming up with other methods.

If you want to use metal seals, go for it. Since the vibration of the metals is aligned with the planets, the seals will be very strong, but the same can easily be done with colour coordination.

You can buy them online, although the ones actually made from pure metal for the purpose of ritual are quite expensive. The price goes up if these were made by hand in the correct day and hour. The cheap ones I’ve seen are usually mass produced, and made of stainless steel or aluminium, and then electroplated.

You can of course, make your own! This is the Age of Information after all, and so it is very easy to learn. DIY shit is abundant these days, for those who have the time, money and space. The most popular example is probably Grant Thompson’s tutorials, but there’s many more. I’m not an american with a garage and industrial equipment lying around, so this isn’t the path for me. But I know for a fact that many occultists, especially those that belong to Orders and Covens, prefer to use real metallic seals.

Paper/Parchment/Fabirc Seals

Most magicians today prefer to use seals made from parchment or paper. If fact, in the Greater Key of Solomon, it specifically says that if you cannot use metals, you should use virgin parchment.

First off, I just want to clarify what they mean by virgin, because when I was new, I had to look around a lot to get my answer. By virgin, they mean a parchment that has never been used for anything else. If it wasn’t already obvious, don’t use a paper with something written or printed on it.

Some old grimoires require you to make other things out of the skin or feathers of virgin animals, but that something else entirely.

Parchment usually meant animal skin, or cloth/linen sheets, rather than modern paper. But I also want to point out that when this was written, parchment was what was generally used to write things. Once again, we come back to how they used what was common and widely available, and the material itself isn’t very important. The kind of paper we have today was not around and skin or linen was much more common, ever since we did away with tablets, plates and papyrus, which were common in their own times.

So, sticking with tradition, you can use paper. A great example of paper seals still used today are the Japanese Shinto seals. I imagine these were made of bamboo or rice paper in olden days.

Now, the kind of paper you want to use may vary. Normal paper is thin, and may not be the best for this. Personally, I use pastel sheets or cartridge sheets for white seals. It really depends on how durable you want it to be. I use black and white papers, depending on the type of forces I’m Invoking.

As for writing on the paper, I use coloured ink. It’s pretty much up to you. If you can’t get coloured writing material, use coloured paper instead and write on it with black. Or heck, just use a black marker on white paper. I’ve had success with torn notebook pages and sigils drawn in pen. Depends on how much effort you think needs to be put into it.

Some people write with dragon’s blood ink, or sandalwood paste, or even real blood.

Just like metals correspondences, there’s also colours associated with each planet. These are the ones commonly used in magick, but they may vary in the astrology of other cultures and religions.

Sun= Yellow (Planetary), Gold (alchemical), Salmon/Azure (Sephirotic)
Moon= Violet (Planetary), Silver/White (Alchemical), Light Blue (Hexagram)
Mercury= Orange (Planetary), Redish Brown (Sephirotic)
Venus= Green (Planetary), Pink (Pagan)
Mars= Red (Planetary), Crimson/Scarlet (Sephirotic)
Jupiter= Deep/Navy Blue (Planetary), Purple (Hexagram)
Saturn= Black (Planetary), Brown (Sephirotic)
Uranus= White (Sephirotic), Electric Blue (Planetary)
Neptune= Gray (Sephirotic), Bluish Gray (Yetziratic)
Pluto= Indigo/Crimson/Black (Personal Opinion)

As long as the colour is correct, you can use whatever tool you want, from colour pencils, to ink. One thing I want to say is that for Saturn, it would be better to use pencil to draw, since the lead in the pencil relates to Saturn. (I know the “lead” in pencil is different from metallic lead, but words have power).

However you make them, make sure they’re kept in a safe place where they don’t get ruined.

Seals from Other Materials

Clay: Seals can be made from clay. They’re not as good as metal, but they’re a bit sturdier than parchment. The clay being used should be natural, brown clay, not the synthetic white or orange clay you get, like air dried or polymer. You can then paint it with the appropriate colour.
The only thing with clay though, is that it contains the energy of the element Earth. Even though everything we use comes from the planet Earth, dirt in particular is traditionally also associated with the alchemical element of Earth as well.

Fabric: Parchment for books was traditionally made from linen/cloth, and seals can be made of fabric in the same way, and instead of using coloured ink, you could stitch coloured threads onto coloured fabric to make it. The Black Pullet actually states that its talismans be made from fabric, and gives an elaborate set of colours for the cloth and threads. Natural fabrics are better than artificial ones.

Wood/Stone: Wood seals can be made the same way as clay seals, but will need tools, so go for it if you know how. Wood is not so strongly associated with Earth, and you could probably use different types of wood based on the nature of the sigil, instead of colouring. In this case wood most closely resembles the original method of using metal. You can do the same with different stone surfaces. You can see John Dee’s Seal of God’s Truth above, made of stone. In fact, stone is the second most common material for ancient seals that we’ve found, after metal (although I suspect that’s because fabric/clay/wooden seals have probably disintegrated, while stone/metallic seals have been preserved. Most ancient seals were probably made from clay or copper)

This is about all the materials I can think of, that magical seals have ever been made from. Avoid artificial materials like plastic, for obvious reasons, but if any other natural material, likes beeswax appeals to you, you may use that. It’s all about remembering the core aspects of a seal, and how it will be used. Good Luck!

EDIT (2019): I have a great post on urban and modern material usage, here

Be sure to follow the blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

Until we meet again

~White Raven

A Powerful Invocation of Lucifer [Pt 3]

June 29, 2016July 24, 2020Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, demon, devil, evocation, expereince, god, invocation, lucifer, luciferian, magic, magick, new age, Occult, pagan, religion, satan, solomon, Spells, spirit, spirituality, white raven, witchcraft, worship24 Comments

Written July 29th, 2016 | Edited: 4th March 2019

Part One | Part Two

Interactions with the Morning Star

So I began with the standard greeting you normally give spirits, and went ahead with the ritual. I first asked him for help with some personal things, which he readily agreed. He behaved not like a Goetic demon, meaning there was no pact involving “I’ll do this for you, and in return you give me this”, but rather like a Greek deity. As you know, you don’t barter with those Gods. Instead, you revere them, and make frequent offerings, and every now and then, ask for things in return. You won’t incur their wrath if you don’t always repay every wish with a offering (although this depends on the God. Lesser Gods can be wrathful, but “true” Gods don’t). Anyone who’s pagan will understand.

Perhaps he is a Greco-Roman deity after all, rather than a Abrahamic Demon. Or maybe that’s just how I perceived him. To be honest, I was too overwhelmed with emotion to say much. He did say though “don’t get swayed by emotion! be calm and in control”.

I continued talking to him. He had a hell of a lot to say. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long invocation before. He talked endlessly for about an hour, and I wrote down everything. That’s probably why this post is so big, but then again, the Bringer of Knowledge will obviously end up imparting lots of knowledge. That’s what he’s known for. Let me write some of the generic things he said, that he’d want publicly shared. You may have heard some of these before.

“When you’re indulgent, carefree, fun and loving, you become a beacon and everyone is attracted to you. These are what make some shine and stand out, and be adored..”

“Call on me, and you shall have what you want…”

“Indulgence, euphoria, relaxation, sex, light, attraction, charm..I am in all of these..”

“Control your emotions”

“To an extent, I am of Pluto. I am also of the Sun, Venus, Mars and Neptune, and even the Moon. All planets, in fact..”

“No I don’t hate humanity. I find you amusing…”

Did he hate Mikhael? The moment I asked this, I swear I heard a laugh to my right (the direction in which Mikhael is invoked during LBRP), but I was in a trance so I can’t be sure. Lucifer too seemed somewhat amused. Seems this question comes up a lot.

“None can hate Mikael. We are on the same side, but our energies don’t mix. Water and oil do not mix, but would you say they hate each other?…
He is Seraphim. You don’t mess with them..
I love him as a brother. We really were brothers in one life, you know, but now we are transcended..
We may have taken physical bodies many times, and even fought..”

Then again, I also fight with my brother. All brother fight, don’t they. Who else are you gonna try your mettle against? (These are metaphors anyway for deeper mysteries).

“We did fight, but we are not enemies. On the plane we are on, hate, anger, pride and jealousy are meaningless..”

At one point he asked me if I was tired from writing. I started to say, “ok i’ll end the ritual”, and he was like “That was a question! I did not give you leave to quit. Are you tired? Or will you continue? It’s your choice, you are the master of this circle!” That was his drill sergeant side. I decided to continue.

(Once again, stunningly similar to Mikhael)

I asked what he was to the Goetia.

“I am to them, like a god and overseer!”

“I create, I destroy..”

“I like fine things, like poetry, prose, art and such. I also like brewing and cooking..”

And I was hit with a bizarre image of Lucifer in a kitchen, with an apron, chopping veggies.

“Yes, I am an Angel, mighty and ancient! At first, you did not know me, and you were afraid. Fear binds you to your plane, but where I am, there is no fear..”

What is your opinion on all those who fear and shun you as the Devil?

“I want them to fear me. It is my job to scare the weak and ignorant. Only he who overcomes this fear, may glimpse at the light that is me…
My kingdom is light and wisdom. The ignorant fear wisdom, like rats in sewers fear the light. One must strive to overcome this fear, or my presence will burn away his senses and shatter his small and narrow system of petty beliefs, superstitions and mindless morals. I am of Pluto! I transform ignorance to knowledge, but I will shatter the ego of those too stubborn to accept knowledge…
Thus, I masquerade as the Devil, to protect those who are not spiritually ready. They rely so much on their ego, doubt and arrogance, that if I shatter it, they will be lost”

EDIT (2019): You will notice here, that this statement was tinged with an pride unique to Solar spirits. It is in their nature, so usually you don’t question it. What Lucifer meant here is actually fairly common knowledge. Human beings have deeply rooted belief systems, and if these collapse, everything in their lives falls apart. This is the reason most Occult orders warn against premature revelation of Knowledge, and why even I am careful what I write on a public blog. Even in my own self initiation, things are revealed to me slowly, like “droplets from an ocean into the body of time”. Even I, at times being suddenly shown the falsity of my own actions or thoughts, have felt myself collapse internally, and felt bitter, angry, alienated, or nihilistic. Magicians usually have the strength to work through such periods, like Job, or Arjuna. But many people don’t, and like Cain they become bitter and resentful. Lucifer said this in his capacity as a mighty God of the Zodiac.

However, for human beings (or more specifically, magicians) it is not the right frame of mind to have, to shun the “weak” or the “ignorant”. Fundamentally speaking, all magicians and occultists are bound to the same limitations as all humans. Even if it is true, that we are somehow greater than them, I have found through personal experience that raising yourself on a pedestal leads to nothing but isolation, suffering and being cut off from the Higher Self. One of the teachings of the Golden Dawn is humility. Don’t look down on others. Everyone is suffering, even the demons and angels and gods. Suffering is constant. And everyone tries their best. There’s something extremely evil about dismissing someone who is doing their best to be up to your standard, as “lesser”.
Trust me, I’ve seen remnant traces of the caste system, belonging myself to the Brahmin caste, and what such beliefs do to people. The sense of entitlement that comes from belonging to a “pure” of “high” bloodline like tear your humanity apart.

/endrant.

“I like Luciferians, but I wish they’d talk to me more”

If you don’t know, many Luciferians are atheists and don’t actually believe in Lucifer, or magick in general. They think it’s all an illusion of the mind. I’ve dealt with many theistic Luciferians though. In general, I respect them, even the atheistic ones. Although I am more rooted in tradition and orthodoxy, I can understand the need for a rebellious current. I also partly tap into that rebellious current.

“For me, burn fat in a container of gold, or a candle which is yellow or white. Sing, dance, indulge and create! Let there be celebrations! Reject all oppression, liberate yourself from fear through knowledge.”

“Party hard. Partying means doing that which you love, not just drinking and pleasuring (unless one enjoys that the most)”

“Destroy ignorance wherever you see it, and seek knowledge”

Destroying ignorance is not the same as destroying the ignorant. That’s the fine line between the Just and the Tyrannical.

“He who is happy, has found the answer”

The candle burned for 13 hours straight. This is interesting because normally ghee lamps burn for a few hours.

Post Invocation

As he said, he will give you what you want, and very quickly. But it works only with things you truly want, things you REALLY desire, especially material things, so please don’t go begging Lucifer to get you a girlfriend or asking him to fulfill petty whims and fancies that you can easily do yourself or with your own magick.

Imagine you’re out shopping, and you really need something, but can’t find it, even after searching in multiple shops. You don’t even need an altar or circle. If you simply call out and ask Lucifer to give that thing to you, chances are it’ll show up in the next five minutes, or in the next few hours at most. Lucifer is very quick and gives you what you really want or need. In exchange, set out nice food or beverages for him from time to time, draw him or compose poetry or music in his honour. Or just burn candles. Whatever you’d normally do for a pagan god.

Most invocations will have a positive impact on your life, but this one had a specifically material one!

So in short, Lucifer’s specialty is granting your deepest desires, particularly material, and very quickly, and teaching you things that will help you broaden your mind or stuff that’ll make you an interesting person.

He is a great deity to work with if you’re experienced.

Thank you for reading. Please be sure to follow the blog for more content. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

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.

Until Next time
~White Raven

Personal Opinions on Lucifer, Written 2019

So, it has been about 3 years since I wrote this post. Over this time, this has been one of the most popular topics on the blog, and many people have contacted me specifically asking about Lucifer. I thought I should make some clarifications.

My opinions on Lucifer are still more or less the same. He is a Solar deity, and most of the association are still there. By now I’ve realised that even the story of his Rebellion and Fall from heaven tie into the symbolism of the Sun/Tiphareth. In the Microcosm, the Mind is associated with Lucifer. It is the vibrant, sparkling light that guides us in the darkness, and the gateway to all knowledge. However, there is the ever present tendency of Man to become infatuated with his own Mind, much like the tendency of Lucifer to forget that he is also part of the Cosmic Plan, of the One. Thus, Lucifer become a reservoir of the the rebellious energy that destabilizes Order, and creates Chaos. This is neither good nor bad, but contextual. In an oppressive Tyrannical system, it is precisely this energy that is needed for the liberation of the Individual. The Individual MUST see himself has exalted above the group, as special and powerful in order to stand a chance against Tyranny. Perhaps this is why most people drawn to Lucifer come from a fundamentalist Christian background.

However, in a different situation this same energy can lead to the collapse of Civilization. In a free, liberated society, Chaos simply causes degeneracy, alienation and the breakdown of tradition and order. Even if a magician feels he does not need these things, he must not forget about the countless people who rely on it. They are not lesser just because they are seemingly weak.

In such a case, the energy of Lucifer becomes dangerous, and often it is the Orderly and disciplined energies (such as Mikhael/Michael) that are needed for people to make sense of things, and have structure and meaning in Life. Perhaps this is why the reverence of Archangel Michael is so common in the regions of the world where there is currently a lot of uncertainty, such as high crime rates or lack of trust of the government.

Lucifer is what he is. It is dependent on the situation of the Magician to decide whether that is what is needed. Generally, the darker spiritual forces, like Lucifer, Kali, Samael etc. bring Feminine Chaos, while the lighter forces, like Mikhael, Indra, Christ, bring Masculine Order. The key is to balance the two forces, like the ancient Taoist wheel of Yin and Yang.

Those are some of my reflections on this topic.

A Powerful Invocation Of Lucifer [Pt 2]

June 29, 2016March 1, 2019Posted in UncategorizedTagged Angel, demon, devil, edgy, evocation, expereince, god, guide, invocation, lucifer, magic, magick, new age, Occult, pagan, religion, satan, Spells, spirit, spirituality, witchcraft, worship6 Comments

Written July 29th, 2016 | Edited: 1st March 2019

Part One

Associations

Great, now that we’re past all that theory, let’s get to the good stuff. People often try to force Lucifer into a single planet, but this is impossible. Lucifer is a very vast and powerful spirit and, almost like the Archangels, and has many aspects and is associated with multiple planets.

I’ve come to find that Lucifer is a spirit of opposites. He is principally a Solar and Plutonain spirit. Those two are polar opposites. I know, Pluto may not be commonly associated with him, but think of his most popular mythology. He was “cast out” of Heaven. All Plutonian spirits have a mythology of loosing something that is rightfully theirs, like Hades and Osiris, but later regain it in some way, either in myth or in their worship. Hell, the Planet Pluto itself was cast out of the Solar System, despite being so important for so long. The archetype of one being cast out of paradise is an ancient one. After all, it is the fundamental and most basic idea that all things in all of creation, from Gods to insects, were “cast out” of the perfect unity and balance of the Supreme One (Ain Soph Aur, not YHVH, which is beneath that), and this is the reason for suffering. The Hermetic philosophers and Vedic Sages both proclaimed this.

Lucifer becomes very important in this era as the Bringer of Light (transformed into an Angel of Light indeed. The Bible was right, lol). The Aquarian current is picking up, and with it comes a breakdown of old, accepted social structures and norms. This isn’t “good” or “bad”. It just is.

Lucifer is also associated with Venus, as the bringer of light, and Mars, as the rebellious Angel and ruler of Hell. Again, two opposite Planets. One might say that the Martian aspect of Lucifer is now the being we call Satan (I do not have personal gnosis of this).

Lucifer also has a Neptunian aspect, as he is very deeply associated with fantasies, drugs and indulgence. I guess, since Neptune is the higher octave of Venus, and Pluto is of Mars, that’s another polarity. Remember, don’t go on about how his myth is “corrupted” and go digging to find his original legends, if there are any. I don’t know why people treat Gods as poor helpless beings whose name got tainted. These are powerful, ancient spirits for crying out loud. They often ensure their mythology gets remembered a certain way, and even change according to people’s beliefs in them. Everything happens for a reason. As Above So Below.

When you invoke him, although he’ll carry all his attributes, his strongest will be based on how you choose to perceive him, and on his post popular mythos at the time. Ideally, you’d want to invoke him in his Solar or Venusian aspect, as the Bringer of Light, his strongest parts, at least these days. Thank all the heavy metal songs, religions, anime and video games created honoring him as the hero (or anti hero) and all the love from pagans and satanists.

So, these is all the stuff he is associated with: Sun, Venus, Neptune, Pluto, Mars, Light, Darkness, Morning, Night, Dawn, Knowledge, Rebellion, Pride, Lust, Charm, Angels, Gold, Silver, Rebirth, Transformation, Alchohol, Drugs, Fantasy, Stoicism, Calmness, Fine Arts, Music, Phoenix, Leo, Lion, Peacock, Yellow, Golden, White, Light Blue.

Lucifer and L.V.X

For those who don’t know, L.V.X is a Golden Dawn formula, used in the Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram. LVX is how you’d write Lux in Latin, meaning Light. It consists of 3-4 poses,one for each letter.

I’m connecting it to Lucifer because of the fact that it means Light, but also something else. If you at Lucifer’s most common seal, you should be able to see pretty easily that it appears to have been constructed from the letter LVX. That’s not just a coincidence.

The upside down triangle also represents Water, and the Sacred Feminine, but also the Chaos that unbalances Order. I feel like the curved lines and the V also seem to represent a goat/ram’s head.

Prep Work for the Invocation

For this invocation, I used the following seals from the Grimoire Verum. One (the ones below) I made from black paper, with silver writing, and another (the one above) on white with a gold seal and then some holy names in red and blue, like you’d do for Angelic seals. I think i captured all planetary energies properly.

I prepared the following incense:
Lemon Grass
Myrrh
Sandalwood
Orange Peel Powder
There was some other stuff, but these were the prime ingredients.

I decided not to use a candle, and instead used a golden (brass) lamp with milk fat (called ghee), the kind people use for Hindu deities. I felt like i should use it, and followed my intuition. Into the liquid ghee, I added 3 drops of some essential oils.

Right before the ritual, I also anointed my temples and eye lids with Fairy Salve.

EDIT (2019): I no longer rely on anointing my eye lids in order to sense spirits. Over time with practice, your psychic senses become more sensitive.

Pre-Ritual Manifestation

A Ritual is complete before it is even done. The actual ceremony is just a formality. When you focus your Will on it, the Spirit you are going to invoke comes to you, and the energy gets stronger and stronger, and so does your intent, until the actual ceremony when it is released from the mind. It is not rare for things to happen in the days leading up to the ritual. The prep for the ritual went very smoothly, and I also came to realise many things in my meditation that would help me in the ritual.

I was out of ghee, so I went to buy some, and I was informed that the ghee which normally came in cartons had been stopped, and replaced by a much nicer looking jar of ghee from a different company. The processed ghee used to be refined, so it was white, but this new ghee was unrefined, and was a golden in colour. To anyone confused, butter that you normally buy is basically salted, frozen ghee.

Here’s the most notable thing: I planned to do the ritual on a Sunday morning, around sunrise. Of course, the hour in which the sun would rise on Sunday would be the hour of the sun. I wanted to start in that hour and end in the next hour of Venus. Now, i’m not a morning person, and I knew that I would not be able to wake up so early (there’s a reason I do all my rituals at night), so I decided to stay up that night. I got to around 4:30, and I’d done all the prep. It was a little while until dawn, so I thought i’d rest my head for 15 minutes or so. Biggest.Mistake.Ever.

I awoke again around 8:45 am. Sock followed confusion as I realised I had fallen asleep, and was 3 hours past when I had to begin. I was a bit devastated.
Now, normally i wouldn’t be so upset, and just do it anyways, but you see, I had something important to do around 9.

However, just then I was informed that the person who was meant to show up at 9 wouldn’t be coming. Lucifer himself had made time for me, so it was wise not to postpone anymore, despite it being a different time than i’d planned. It’s best not to try and control everything. I did the ritual at 10 am.

EDIT (2019): Also bear in mind that at the time I was rather undisciplined and unable to wake up on time or keep schedules. These days I wake up at 7 am, with the Sun. Discipline IS important for all occultists and spirtualists. Even if you’re a rebellious Luciferian, do wake up on time. Staying up all night becomes a worse and worse idea as you get older.

The Ritual

Timing

I think it’s important to mention when I did the ritual. I did it on a Sunday, in the Morning. The next day was Monday, day of the Moon, as well as a Full Moon. Monday Full Moons are very strong, but what’s more, Tuesday was June 21st, the Summer Solistice, when the day is the longest in the year. As you can see, it was a period of incredible Light, when the Sun and Moon would be very powerful, and when better to invoke the Bearer of Light.

The Altar

On the altar, I had the seals of Lucifer and the lamp forming a triangle, my container with burning incense to one side, which was my offering (along with the ghee, of course). I placed six stones in a crescent shape around the lamp. It included peacock stone, jade, sun stone, lapis lazuli, and some others.

Appearance of Lucifer

Ah, and now, I can finally get to the actual invocation itself. Lucifer’s energy had been growing all week, and now reached it’s peak.

I cast the circle as I normally do, and did a standard LBRP, and you may do it however it is done in your tradition. Lucifer is powerful, and doesn’t normally need very fancy rituals or gestures.

By now, the atmospheric pressure of the room had increased dramatically, and I could feel an intense, warm energy pushing on my chest, where Triphareth and the Solar Plexus Chakra are.

I didn’t prepare an invocation in advance, instead chanting what comes to mind at the time. I called out to Lucifer, and asked him to come, into my temple and circle and me.

EDIT (2019): These days I write and memorise invocations before hand. It makes it easier to conduct the ritual smoothly.

I used some of his many names and titles, as is normally done in invocations: Helel, Helel Ben Shahar, Lucifer, Bearer of Light, Bringer of Dawn, Morning Star, Son of the Morning, Lord of Light, Father of Night, Illuminater, Lord of Inferno, Angel of Rebellion, Mighty Dragon etc. as well some of his achievements.

Lucifer came fast, and when he came my astral vision was filled with golden light. When you invoke, you often see the spirit in many forms, but I’ve tried to get some distinctive characteristics. He has white wings, and white golden hair, and pale, white skin. There is golden fire all around him. He wore a golden band on his head, and at some point he had a flaming torch, I think.

At one time, he was a pool of orbs of light. At another time, he stood in a dark forest on a pedestal of tree branches. I also had a glimpse of his court, but it went away very quickly, and when I did see it, my mind could hardly perceive it’s glory. I could make out a large, grand white building, towering columns of lapis lazuli, and intricate blue green or black stone floor. I saw glimpses of royal garment and this time his wings were in peacock colours, like the wings of Isis. The court was very disorienting, and I felt like I was falling off into golden clouds, but someone caught my hand and brought me back to my immediate vision, with Lucifer before me in the golden fire. In fact, he himself seemed to be made of that fire. “Don’t fall off now, or you’ll be overwhelmed”. As far as I can tell, his voice is soft, and silky, yet firm. Yeah, I can imagine him seducing everyone with that voice.

The feeling I got from his was of warmth, but also of dissociation. He was emotionless, and calm, not at all like the common depiction where he is supposed to be angry, broody, sly, rebellious, indulgent and out of control. He felt both masculine and feminine, and very charming, but also distant: like a person at a party who could probably seduce anyone he wanted, and drink and dance and lose control, but chose instead to sit in a corner and talk to people and keep their attention. He felt like someone who’ love to enjoy and laugh, making everyone around them happy. But, if needed, he can be a harsh teacher. He’ll give you some tough love, like a drill sergeant (interestingly, the same as Mikhael).