summoning – Between The Pillars

The Best Way to do The Bornless Invocation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is the Bornless Ritual

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

This is the most commonly encountered version of the ritual:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Structure of the Ritual

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

The Invocation of the Bornless One

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How to Perform the Ritual

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time.
~White Raven

Invoking Lucifuge Rofocale

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who is Lucifuge Rofocale

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

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

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

Lucifuge in the Grand Grimoire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucifuge in Religion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucifuge in the Occult

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why I Did This Ritual

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

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

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

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

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

The Invocation of Lucifuge

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusions and Aftermath

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~White Raven

Invoking Gabriel for Emotional Insight

June 4, 2017June 11, 2020Tagged Angel, archanegl, armadel, christianity, conjuration, da'ath, emotion, emotional balance, encounter, evocation, expereince, gabriel, grimoire, hinduism, holyliving one, invocation, islam, judaism, kabbalah, magick, Occult, paganism, real, religioun, ritual, solomon, spirituality, summoning, watcher, water2 Comments

Written: June 4th, 2017 | Edited: 20th March 2019

I have returned, like Osiris, arisen from the grave, after spending months and months in hibernation.

Okay, I’ll cut the drama. This post is about the Invocation of Gabriel, but I feel like I do have enough people who read regularly, small though that number may be, that I should write a few words about my absence.
I’ve not written anything here in months, and that’s because I was first busy in real life, and then, as I became free, the time had come for me to advance in magickal grade, and I had to finish up everything from the previous grade that I’d been putting off.

I also started putting stuff on the YouTube channel. There will now be a full series on Tarot there, so go check that out if you want.

Surprisingly, in this time is when I think I gained the most readers I ever have, and got a lot of messages. Most were quite nice, and made me feel good about this place. However, several were quite concerning.

I have decided to be a bit more responsible and reserved about what I write, especially regarding the Goetia. I’m merely sharing my experiences, and it’s meant to inspire others. These are not meant to serve as lessons. I am not a professional exorcist, and I don’t want anyone to think so, nor be responsible for anyone doing something stupid and getting trapped. I feel I already put repeated cautions and warnings in these posts, and it’s usually fine. But magick is fickle, and it draws a lot of mentally ill people. And I got nothing against them, but I don’t know how to deal with that either. Usually it’s not even people who’ve done something stupid with magick, they just think they have. Maybe someday I’ll be mature enough to know what to do in such a case, but not right now.

Anyway, now that’s done, let’s get started.

The Name Gabriel (גבריאל)

(remember, Hebrew is read from the right to left)

I shall begin by explaining the name. Gabriel is the Cardinal Angel ruling in the North, over the alchemical element of Water.

The name Gabriel (in which the “A” would be pronounced the way you pronounce Arsenal, rather than how you pronounce Gabe) translates as “God/El is my Strength”, though you may also interpret it as “The Strength of El/God”.

(At times I have seen people say “Gavriel”, and it’s true that in old Hebrew that would have been an alternative pronunciation, but as far as I know, in modern Hebrew it may only be read as Gabriel, as Beth only becomes a Veth if it has a point inside).

It is comprised of the letters Gimel-Beth-Resh-Yod-Aleph-Lamed. By the way, the letter Gimel itself represents Strength. The numerical values of this would be 3+2+200+10+1+30= 246.

Gabriel in Religion

In Judaism, Gabriel, along with Michael and Rapahel, is considered among the most important Archangels. Although not called so in the Old Testament, he/she is called so in the Book of Enoch, and thus one of the Seven Judaic Archangels.
His primary mention is as the “Man in Linen” in the Book of Daniel, where he serves as an interpreter to Daniel’s vision. It is suggested that he is a warrior, and fighting some sort of War. Naturally, he is generally thought of as an Angel of Might and Protection, standing at God’s Left Hand (in other words, on the Pillar of Severity, which related to the element of Water, his element), and leader of the angelic choir known as Kerubim.

In Christianity, Gabriel is fairly important and has more or less the same role as he has in Judaism. He is venerated as a Saint in the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican tradition.

Like all Angels, Gabriel is only mentioned in passing in the New Testament, as Christians rarely venerate Angels by name, probably because the Church has made them terrified of ever doing anything that’s “against” the Bible, including Angelic veneration. No offence, of course 🙂
He is generally considered to be the One who will blow the Trumpet that initiates the Day of Judgement. This is the most striking and common association of Gabriel, as the harbinger of Rapture.

In Islam, Gabriel is called Jibril, and of all Angels, he is the most important in this religion. Jibril is said to be the one who delivered the Quran to Muhammad, their prophet, and is thus highly exalted as the Angel of Revelation. There’s more to this but, honestly, i’m not that familiar with Islamic tradition.

Here’s an interesting thing: due to Islam and it’s spread to the East, Jibril/Gabriel is also the most easily recognized Angel by the people of non Angelic traditions like Hinduism and Sikhism. Eastern Spiritualists, from India, all the way to Japan, will think of him/her as the “go-to” Angel, if they ever need one, and so it is quite common for depictions of Angels in the East (though rare) to bear resemblance to him.

For example, during Rath Yatra these past couple of year, which is an important festival in the Indian state of Orissa, venerating the local deity Jagarnath, I’ve noticed they’ve been putting white angels on all four sides of the roof of the chariots. All of these angels hold a trumpet and are modeled after Jibril. Another instance is that a few years ago, I was in Mumbai, at the airport, and there was a particular set of artistic fixtures, depicting 12 angels. All of them were dressed like Jibril and blowing trumpets.

Look closely at the little golden statues on the chariots. Sorry but this is the best image I could find. Orissa is a bit….behind on the whole mass communication stuff.

Also, in a recent Japanese anime, called No Game, No Life, there’s a winged character called Jibril. She is not meant to be an angel, instead a technologically advanced species, and has nothing to do with religion.

But it is interesting that when the Japanese want to name a winged character that looks like an Angel, they usually choose the name Jibril or Gabriel. In fact, even in Japanese media where they are depicting angels, they like to take Gabriel as the protagonist. Gabriel connects very much to people in the East.

Gabriel in Magick

In ceremonial magick, and some other systems as well, Gabriel is regarded as the Cardinal Angel/Watcher of the West, and thus, she is associated with the element of Water, and the Moon. Since water also corresponds to Scorpio (as well as Pisces and Cancer), so does Gabriel. Bear in mind though, that unlike with the other Watchers, you wouldn’t use the symbol of Scorpio to Invoke Gabriel.

Not actually sure why (yet), but it seems the GD asked us to use the head of an Eagle instead, which symbolises the Holy Living One of Water. The Eagle is apparently an exalted sign of Scorpio. Maybe it is because Scorpio has much darker associations than Leo, Taurus and Aquarius.

She also deals with the subconscious, as it is the dark, shadowy, watery, passive and feminine, much like the West, where the Sun sets (Ra is his aged form, Atum). Thus, she will also be associated with darkness, endings, and the Twilight (fitting for one who heralds the end of the world).

In fact, it may be that using Scorpio would Invoke Gabriel in her darker aspect as the Bringer of the Apocalypse. And ya know, I like my sanity.

On the Tree of Life she is placed on Yesod, the Foundation, which deals with our emotions, the Nephesch (animal soul) and the Sacral Chakra. Her colours are orange and blue, which is from the GD flashing colours. She may also be seen in silver, violet or brilliant light blue (like ice. This is how she comes to me.)

As such, she shall be regarded, like the other three Cardinal Angels, as the highest Authority ruling over the angels, spirits and demons associated with Water.

I used the seal given in the Grimoire of Armadel, which says this regarding her:

“CONCERNING GOD, THE PRESERVER, THE DESTROYER, AND THE CREATOR

(GABRIEL and his Spirits) These Spirits do teach you all kinds of Mysteries. Thus is the Character.

In this Sigil is taught what Mysteries the Lord God is willing to permit to operate in Creation, through the uncontaminate Inner Knowledge whereof also (Abraham) did rule and govern himself and went forth by the command of the Lord God to travel in the Land of Chanaan, wherein also he sojournrned and was buried by his two (Sons) in a Mystical Sepulchre, that is to say in the Cave near unto Cariatarbee, wherein also Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were interred. Now this same Cariatarbee is Hebrew Mambre, and Ephrata. In this land did Abraham behold Three and Adore One, and thus was it counted unto him for righteousness. In this Sigil is taught Who be those Three Persons meet to be adored, and how they do harmonise together; also as concerneth the Angels and Men what Mysteries they do operate; also how they do harmoniously act through Created Beings, Angels and men. All these things be shown forth in the Letters and in the Sigil herewith given, through their Number and Combination.”

“OF THE LIFE OF ELIJAH

GABRIEL is a Spirit who did teach unto the Prophet Elijah all the Mysteries of Divinity. He is to be invoked on a Thursday before Daybreak. His Power is very Great, and he can do you great good, in the which he will instruct you. Thus is his Character

In this Sigil there be taught the Methods of restoring and transplanting both health and mental force.”

An interesting thing that I would point out is that the Preserver, the Destroyer and the Creator are, in Hindu mysticism, the three aspects of the Supreme Being (the All). The Preserver is Vishnu, the Destroyer is Shiva and the Creator is Brahma, and they together form the Holy Trinity/Trimurti in Hinduism: the first emanations of the All, and above all other gods.

Ultimately, they can be thought of as sitting on the Three Supernals on the Tree of Life.

Elijah is a Arbrahamic prophet and one who could work miracles, such as raising the dead and being able to influence natural forces like fire and wind.

Since water is a feminine element, in Magick we visualize Gabriel as a woman.

Associations

Name: Gabriel/Jibril
Rank: Cardinal Angel/Watcher/ Archangel
Quarter: West
Sphere: Yesod
Zodiac: Eagle (Scorpio), Pisces/Cancer, The Moon
Element: Water
Colour: Blue and Orange, Violet, Silver, Light Blue
Metal: Silver
Incense: Jasmine
Numbers: 9 (Sephiroth), 246 (Name)

Prep Work for Invocation

So, the last Invocation i’d done, some months before this one, was of Uriel, and i’d been told that my Altar, which i’d always make by New Age standards, was far too cluttered and lacked a focal point. So this time I took heed of that, and made it more traditional.
I normally have a candle, a crystal ball and incense, but this time I decided to symmetrically work from the outside to the center.

At either side of the Altar, I put a blue and orange candle (a LOT of shit went down in acquiring those candles, for various reasons. But that’s a story for another time)

I used a stick of the corresponding incense, which is jasmine, and kept it to the right, out of view, but close enough that the smoke was flowing over the Altar. The focal point was my crystal ball, and around it a crescent of 9 smaller stones, open towards me. Between me and the ball were the seals.

Finally, towards the back I had a cup with holy water, and a bell and ring, both made of silver. Bells are often rung in Eastern rituals to call forth Spirits.

Simple, clean and stacked with symbolism. I did the ritual on the Day (Monday) and in the Hour of the Moon, while it was waxing. The essentials for this ritual would be a seal, a blue candle, and circle. Water and Incense for extra energy. Everything else was personal choice.

The Invocation

As always, I did my preliminary recitations and banishing, some other formalities, and then invoked the element of Water, and then I began my chant.

Update (2019): For the preliminary work I suggest casting a circle and doing the LBRP. You can also do the Middle Pillar or Hexagram ritual if you want.

To invoke the element of water, trace the invoking pentagram of Water in blue, and vibrate ELOHIM TZABAOTH as you do it. Then trace a symbol of an Eagle (a simple outline of an eagle’s head from the side, with a beak sticking out and a dot for the eye), vibrating EL as you do.

Remember to do the same at the end of the Ritual, this time with the banishing pentagram of Water.

I usually chant whatever comes into my mind at the time, when I’m already moved by emotion after the initial invocations. I don’t record it anywhere, and usually have forgotten what I said by the time the ritual is done. So I can’t tell you what my invocation was, but you’re welcome to formulate your own. Just make sure it’s something that appeals to you and moves your Heart.

Update (2019): These days I prefer to write them out before hand. the Latin Vulgate is a good source for inspiration when it comes to invoking angels.

Anyway, as I continued my invocation, the first thing that happened was that my incense, which was just billowing around randomly, became rhythmic. It’s never done that before, but very soon my incense was circling in a spiral shape, curling around like a helix. It was wafting through my candles. As it did so, it would become illuminated, and glow purple, and then dissipate. It’s hard to describe it in words, but I felt like it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen during a ritual. Part of me was tempted to stop, and take a picture. But i’m not that stupid, so I pressed on.

Eventually, I felt weightless and my vision went blurry, and this continued until manifestation. Interestingly, at the moment of manifestation, all of a sudden I became very alert, and conscious. With Raphael and Uriel I had been overwhelmed with emotion, but with Gabriel I was buzzing with energy, like i’d had a coffee.

Interaction

Gabriel’s manifestation was very strange, and unlike anything else I’ve seen, in that I could not see her face. Her skin appeared black, but not as if it was dark, like with Samuel, but instead as if a bright light was shining behind her, and casting a shadow.

I’m still not sure why this was so. maybe it symbolised the sun shining behind her, setting in the West. On the other hand, her clothing itself, appeared an icy, neon blue flecked with snowy white. Her wings were also light blue, glowing so bright that it looked white, and here hair looked like it was long, and down to her waist.

Imagine a royal bathrobe, but the robes were open down the middle, and where her skin would be, that is her face, hands and the middle of her torso, were just black, as if blank. Very strange. But nonetheless, Gabriel had come, in all her glory.

Update (2019): She’d appear to me again years later (this year). Her appearance was the same, but now I could see her electric blue eyes, dark blue hair, and stern, yet kindly face. Imagine someone who is kind, but for that reason they are stern and rigid, so that they can push people to do the right thing, even if it’s uncomfortable. Her face is very serious, though you can also sense a deeper sense of caring. That’s what she’s like.

Artist: SpecialSpaz/Deviantart

She told me various things, and some of it I’ll write about here.

She primarily told me stuff about my emotional state, and it would be pointless to go into that here without any context. But put very simply, she talked of the subconscious mind, and it’s nature, and how it should be kept in check.

“The subconscious is watery, and much like water, or this incense, it flows freely, as long as it is allowed to. It will spill and spread in every direction, it is untamed and unstable, and that is reflected in the nature of emotions. It is associated with the Moon, which tugs at the ocean to cause waves, and does the same to the subconscious.
The Cup represents the container, and it can be used to control and contain the water. it corresponds to Binah, and thus to Saturn”

Now, as you may know, while Yesod is the Nephesch, Binah is the watery, feminine principle among the Supernals. In a way, you could think of it as a higher manifestation of Water, and Yesod as the lower. It is due to this that Saturn and Moon get along so well.

While the Moon is the raw, untamed animal soul, aka the subconscious, Saturn represents discipline, rigor, hardship and struggle. It represents Laws and Control. Saturn also rules over the Earth, and thus the Physical Body.

When I invoked Gabriel, I was going through a phase of being susceptible to subconscious impulses. Part of magick is surrendering control to the Higher Self, but that’s hard when the Nephesch is just waiting for the opportunity to flood my mind with every imaginable indulgence, constantly resisting. When the Magician tries to make progress, the subconscious is very acceptableness to temptations from it’s lower, darkened realms.

This story should make a little more sense now

But according to what Gabriel said, the key to controlling the Moon, is Saturn. You see, the Moon must be reigned in, indirectly, by adhering to Saturnine principles. Now, Saturn is generally a planet you want to keep more or less out of your life, as it brings hardship, but it seems the only way to control one’s emotions is through that hardship Putting one self through Saturnine rigour, that is restraint, and discipline, is what will teach how to control the subconscious. FYI, this MAY be what Yoga was originally designed for, by the Sages who created it.

(I am NOT supporting asceticism or self harm. I do NOT condone it or recommend anyone to do it. No spiritual enlightenment is found by destroying your body, the anchor of your soul. I make this very clear. I am not a fan even of the mild asceticism recommended by Regardie)

I incorporated into my life, a practice of restraint. I started first with what was most easiest, restraining myself from indulging in food, learning to bear some hunger. This then was extended to my sexual activity, and later it naturally went to my other urges. I was able to remain much more calm, and centred. When the subconscious realises it is no longer being catered to, it naturally changes course, creating positive waves, in hopes that those would be heard instead.

The kind of discipline taught in Martial Arts is another good example

No wonder then, that many religions have mandatory fasting periods. This is an ascetic practice, with the intent of teaching one to control himself.

Gabriel also spoke briefly about the charging of talismans, which basically became the key for me to fully understand the elusive ritual known as the Mass of the Holy Ghost.

Update (2019): You can read about how I make talismans here, and here for seals.

She also spoke regarding the symbolism of her trumpet, and how it signifies the “end times”.

“When the Trumpet is blown, the dam breaks open, and the waters of the Nephesch flood forth into the Consciousness, carrying with them the pollutants that it has acquired. The waters will be purified, but Man must face the horrors it has brought forth”

Most likely, this is a reference to a specific stage of a magician’s progress, as ultimately all Magicians must face their inner demons in full force (although you start dealing with your own darkness pretty much from the moment you become inclined to this path). I think it has something to do with Da’ath.

That is more or less how the encounter went for me, and I must say, it was quite rewarding. I’m still working on many of the issues I had meant to gain insight into, but progress is definitely being made.

And that about wraps it up for now. I hope you had fun reading this, and maybe even learned something, or simply found insight ^_^

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

Anyway, until next time..

~White Raven

Archangel Uriel tells me about Manifestation

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Name and It’s Meaning

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

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

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

In Religion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In Magick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Associations

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

Prep Work and Altar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Invocation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The solution is simple, use Magick”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time
~White Raven

Evoking Gremory, the Great Duke

January 20, 2017July 24, 2020Tagged Angel, Angels, Ars goetia, ceremonial magick, conjuration, daemon, demon, duke, expereince, female, feminine, golden dawn, Gremori, Gremory, Grimori, guide, hexagram, hinduism, kabbalah, lesser key of solomon, love, new age, Occult, OTA, paganism, pentagram, Poke Runyon, poliel, red, relationships, religion, sexuality, solomon, spirits, spirituality, summoning, venus27 Comments

Written: January 20th, 2017 | Edited: 15th March 2019

This is about the Goetic Evocation of the Duke Gremory.

In my previous Goetia post I had mentioned how I hadn’t had the need to Evoke Goetic spirits for a long time. In fact, the last time I evoked a Goetic spirit was before I Invoked Samael, which is the very first post on this blog.

So naturally, in that time I’d learned a lot, and I brought all that into this Evocation of Gremory. It is heavily inspired by the methods of Poke Runyon, and I must say, it worked better than I’d ever expected.

Update (2019): These days I use some of the methods from Paganism, Hinduism/Buddhism, Demonolatory and Christianity far more. The traditional devotional methods, with chanting and drama work far better for me than formal western ritualism.

Info From The Ars Goetia

“The Fifty-sixth Spirit is Gremory, or Gamori. He is a Duke Strong and Powerful, and appeareth in the Form of a Beautiful woman, with a Duchess’s Crown tied about her waist, and riding on a Great Camel. His Office is to tell of all things Past, Present, and to Come; and of Treasures Hid, and what they lie in; and to procure the Love of Women both Young and Old. He governeth 26 Legions of Spirits, and his Seal is this, etc.”

Always keep Seals facing down, and preferably in a container. Don’t leave them lying around, especially face up. These are sacred objects.

Nature of the Spirit

At first glance, she seems to be the same as the rest, with a crown riding an animal, with the powers of divination and of procuring love. There’s many, many spirits in the Lesser Key that have these two skills, but out of all these, Gremory does stand out, for two reasons. One, of course, is that she appears to be one of the very few, if not ONLY spirits who appears as a woman. Several Goetia appear female, in practice, but in the book, every single one is referred to as “He”, meaning the author imagined them to be all male. Except Gremory, who is explicitly called “she”.

Traditional depiction of the Spirit

Also, it is specified that Gremory helps you gain the love of “young and old” women. As I said, many Spirits of the Goetia can help you get love, both romantic or otherwise, but this Spirit is the only one for whom age is specified. I find that odd. It seems to imply that Gremory deals with very specific tastes of people, helping you procure the love of people who are considerably younger or older.

My interest of course, was in the divination aspect of it all. I mostly call on the Goetia for information and understanding, or to make changes in my perspective.

About of the Spirit

I have not found any mythology about the Spirit, outside of the Ars Goetia and the Pseudomonarchia Daemonica, but at this point, that’s become a pretty common occurrence with Spirits which are not evidently important, and I’ve written about this before, so I wont rant about it.

The name Grimori is derived from both English and Italian. Grimoire, as you probably already know, means a “magickal textbook” in French (the Ars Goetia is a grimoire), and consequently, in English, and probably came from Frankish, Greek or Latin.

The Italian word for grimoire is grimorio, and the plural is grimori. So the name of the Spirit here literally translates as “textbooks of magick” in Italian.

I personally believe that Gremory is simply the anglicized version of Grimori. Or, it has something to do with Sodom and Gamorrah, like someone pointed out. Though that sounds like the usual Abrahamic fire and brimstone nonsense to me.

Let me guess: there was some well-of pagan city in the Middle East that the monotheists decided they hated. Maybe it has sexual freedom.
At some point disaster struck, as is inevitable, and they rejoiced by writing about it as God’s wrath. To me, using metaphorical names for cities you despise instead of real ones betrays cowardice and the inability to face enemies boldly.

Associations

Name: Gremory
Rank: Duke
Number: 56
Planet: Venus
Metal: Copper
Sphere: Netzach
Incense: Rose
Tarot: Two of Pentacles

Element: Earth
Angelic Counterpart: Poliel
Ruling Archangel: Uriel
Ruling King: Göap

Preparation of Ritual

I did this on the Day and in the Hour of Venus. I know the Goetia says to do it on very specific Moon days, but I ignored that for once. The Moon was 24 days old, and it doesn’t make too much of a difference anyway. The best results may be on specific days, but really, it’ll work whenever you do it, as long as you know what you’re doing.

First of course, I cleansed myself and the room, put on my ritual garb, and anointed my temples.

I had with me the Seal of the Spirit as well as the angel Poliel (given in Poke Runyon’s book), in green on white paper, as well as the Pentagram and Hexagram of Solomon, around my neck like they do in the OTA.

I also drew the Sigil of the Spirit on the other side. This is the first time i’ve done so, and it means I’ll have to make a new Pentagram every time I evoke a new spirit. I don’t do this anymore either, but you can if you want.

I put the Angelic and Demonic seal on top of each other, both face down, on the Altar, which faced North, along with the incense, the Hexagram, face down as well, with a Green candle in front of the Triangle, which is fitted with a black mirror, and my stones in a crescent shape.

The Black Mirror used by the OTA

I used the black mirror scrying method. I’ve tried this method only twice before, but I think this will be my choice for all evocation from now on, because it worked so well.

I meditated on Venus for a while, listening to binaural beats of the corresponding frequency, then I started the ritual, with my preliminary banishing and declarations (you know, generic stuff), then sat down facing North and began.

Update (2019): This was the one and only time I used the full OTA method, as an experiment. While it is powerful, I no longer use many aspects of it, as I mentioned at the start. I no longer use the black mirror, opting for incense instead. I also do not draw the Sigil of the Spirit on the other side of the Solomon Pentagram. The intent of that is to bind and control them, and that conveys fear.

Calling on Poliel

Normally, when you call on a Spirit, you should invoke their Angelic counterpart from the Shemhamphorash first.

The Shemhamphorash says to recite ~~Psalms 145:14~~ Psalms 144:14 (from the Latin Vulgate, which is fundamentally different from the standard Bible when translated).

More so I began by petitioning Uriel to send to me this Angel, and then began to recite the verse.

I must say, I was skeptical at first, since I don’t really use the Bible for anything, but this worked ridiculously well. I finally understand the whole obsession of western occultists with the Old Testament. This might be the fastest connection I have ever made with a Spirit or Angel. I recommend the Latin Vulgate for any Shemhamphorasch Angel, and the Demonic Enns for the Daemons of the Goetia.

I very quickly slipped into a trance. I must have recited it for maybe 2 minutes and I felt a very strong, very substantial presence in the circle. When I opened my eyes, the candle was tall, steady and bright, and I could almost feel Poliel standing behind my in the circle. There was no visible appearance, but I wasn’t going for one either.

If I had to define his presence in a picture, it would be this.

“Greetings, kind one”
That’s new.

I requested the Angel to stay with me and aid me in the Evocation of Gremory. The Angel agreed, and I felt invigorated and courageous, and I knew I had Poliel on my side.

I definitely recommend calling Shemharphorash angels before the Goetic spirits. They will aid you greatly, even if it’s just for guidance. However, I do not reccomend that for full fledged deities in the Goetia, nor for High demons like Belial.
Especially not for the ones who are also pagan deities. Some may take offence. It depends on the daemon itself really. You will usually be guided.

For the lesser ones, you may have to call the angels just to get in touch. But then again, I tend to stay away from lesser demons and angels anyway.

Evoking the Duke

And now the real work begins.

I started with the Bornless Invocation. I don’t use the one given in the Mathers/Crowley Goetia. I use the OTA version, because it’s much shorter, but with the Egyptian names given by Crowley.

I’m sure the original works for many people, but in my opinion, Crowley and Mathers completely butchered the barbarous names and all it does it break my trance rather than create it. The later Egyptian version created by Crowley (and used by Regardie) works better, but is still needlessly long and pointless.

After repeating it thrice, I went on to the Conjuration itself, of which, once again, I have my own version, inspired by Poke Runyon’s, since I find the one in the Goetia far too long, drawn out and a bit too Abrahamic. I recited this thrice as well. At this time, I did not know about the demonic enns, or I’d probably use that instead.

All this while, I stared into the mirror, and I think at the end of the third time, the Spirit must have come, as it should, and I felt a light presence.

But I was not able to feel a full connection, so I kept chanting as the presence grew stronger, because I generally don’t welcome a Spirit until they have given a substantial and evident sign of manifestation. So, I kept chanting.

The Spirit grew impatient. As I chanted, I heard some guy outside, yell “oh my GOD!” and at that moment my candle, which I was holding, fell off the holder, face down onto the mat and went off, and I was left alone in the dark. Accident? Well, as Master Oogway would tell us, “there are no accidents”.

Anyway, so now I knew the Spirit had come. I lit the candle again, I turned up the Sigil, pulled off the cloth covering the Hexagram of Solomon, and gave my greeting to the spirit.

“Oh my god what is wrong with you. Here I’ve been trying to talk and yet you ignore me and continue to chant, you really need to be more mindful of your surroundings, even in trance, and have some faith in the spirits you call” (Yeah, definitely a female spirit. no offence)

She sounded pissed off at first, but then she calmed quickly and greeted me too. Since I was using a black mirror, I only saw her face. She certainly was a woman, and looked almost like a Princess and wore a crown, with long black, kind of unruly hair, and a eyeliner, which seemed to across her face, like a band. She looked like a warrior princess, if that makes any sense, with the hair and band with the crown.

She also felt and talked like that. She certainly had a royal presence, but at the same time also a rebellious, somewhat intimidating energy.

She regarded the Hexagram with a hint of disdain, saying it had been used to make her obey for centuries.

Update (2019): I use neither the Pentagram nor Hexagram given in the Goetia these days. Unknown to me, at the time my own Hindu upbringing would clash with the Abrahamic style rituals. Took me a while to fully understand this, and caused me, as I said at the start, to alter my rituals to make them more comfortable. I opted for the Hindu approach in the end, since it is ingrained into my subconscious anyway.

She is said to have the power of divination, and I asked her questions in this regard. She wanted me to get to the point, and also said she could pretty much do anything, but could not bend people against their will for prolonged periods of time (no Spirit can. They can only bring about a permanent change in your own psyche)

She also told me some fairly important things regarding desire and relationships, mostly personal, but here’s a little tit bit, for what people desire from a potential love interest.

“In this world, there are many things unintelligible, and you cannot understand them, so you must trust yourself. All people want is love, and in return, ask and they will give the same. You must be open, restless, loving and caring. No one demands much, a true partner wants love. Do no break their heart. People will test you, and you cannot give in. Each person will appreciate certain traits. Find that, and embody it. Cowardice will do no good. Be loving”

I then asked her about her history, and her “fall” from heaven (which is pretty much the mythos for all Goetia) to which she replied:

“I never actually fell. I have been worshiped under different forms for a long time. Nonetheless, my primary role for the past several centuries has been that of a daemon, and so that is who I am at the time”

I asked her if she could name a Goddess she had been worshiped as.

“People have seen me as a war goddess. Research, and you will find. I was, and am, a certain war goddess who rides a camel, and my colour is Red. She is close to you, but not very well known among the people. I have also been venerated by the Japanese as Rias Gremory, which is close to my Goetic form”.

If you don’t know, Rias Gremory is a demon from an anime. The anime is amusing at best and questionable at worst, but eh, what are you gonna do? The Japanese need their absurdism. The first season was ok, for a teenager. The rest was shit.

This isn’t from that anime, just a picture I found.

Closing and Post Ritual

I thanked her for coming, and then gave the License to depart 3 times, and her energy faded. I then gave the license to Poliel, and then ended and closed the ritual.

Of course, then I was excited to search for the Goddess she had told me about.

I merely typed into Google, “goddesses who ride camels”. After all, there aren’t many, nor are there that many polytheistic religions which have camel motifs. The result surprised me. I understood what Gremory meant when she said it was close to me.

The answer is Momai Maa. A Hindu goddess from the Indian state of Rajasthan. (FYI, where I live is a 6 hour drive from there). She’s not a well known goddess, but these days she is considered to be an aspect of the Hindu Goddess of War, Durga, who usually sits on a Lion, and is well known.

In fact, you might have heard of her even if you don’t live in India, as she’s a fairly prominent member of the Hindu pantheon. She was also pretty important in my family. Aleister Crowley’s depiction of the Thelemite goddess Babalon riding the Great Beast, is inspired by the image of Durga.

Many local Indian goddesses were identified as different forms of Durga when Hinduism spread across the subcontinent and brought more and more communities under it’s umbrella (which is better than erasing them, like the Abrahamists did i Europe and the Middle East). The deity itself is probably a much more ancient motif. Rajasthan is a desert state, so camels are an important symbol there.

Momai Maa is depicted holding a trident (called a Trishul), a sword, a lotus and a an instrument, and seated on a camel, wearing red clothing.

So Gremory was 100% correct. Momai Maa is a local, non Vedic goddess, so you won’t know of her unless you really look. If you’re ever doubtful about your magick, or want to confirm that the Spirit you’re talking to isn’t just a figment of your imagination, ask them questions like this without fear, things that you can check for validity immediately after. It really will strengthen your faith and confidence.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Sorry it was long, I’m currently trying to train myself to not ramble on and write shorter stuff.

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.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to check out my other stuff, and follow my blog. You can also follow me on Instagram @WhiteRavenMagus

This is White Raven, signing off.

Invocation of Archangel Raphael

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

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

Summary of my experience with Raphael.

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

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

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

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

This is an invocation done using the Grimoire of Armadel

This ended up insanely long, please bear with me

“Let me show you, what happened to Nagini”

The Name Raphael

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

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

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

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

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

Abrahamic Mythology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Non Abrahamic Sources

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

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

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

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

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

Within Magick and the Occult

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What Raphael Represents

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

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

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

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

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

Associations

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

Armadel

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

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

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

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

Prep Work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Invocation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Appearance

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

Interaction

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

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

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

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

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

“I am always here.”

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

Post Invocation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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, 2020Tagged 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 raven37 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.