Personal Deity Invocation – Building a Natal Septagram

 

Like making a movie, some of the chapters of my book “Talismanic Magic for Witches” ended up the cutting room floor. My book project was just too large, and whatever was deemed either too complex or not fitting in with the theme of the book was omitted. However, I can re-purpose some of these chapters as blog articles, like what I am doing with this one.

One of the first methods that I developed in the late 1970's to invoke a spirit, typically one that was a demigod or a major spirit, such as one of the 20 chiefs of the Nephilim, or other similar entities, used a septagram pattern to define the specific personality of that entity. I have written about my methods of performing this kind of evocation in my blog in previous article, discussing the septagram as a symbolic tool, and then a three part article on the keys to invocation and evocation, which you can find here, here and here.

This article, unlike others that I typically publish in my blog, has a ritual pattern for you to use, if you should want to work with this kind of extension of the talismanic septagram ritual structure. I would recommend getting a copy of my book “Talismanic Magic for Witches” since this ritual fits into the ritual patterns from that book.

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One of earliest methods that I developed to invoke a personal deity or demigod was to define its personality as if I were building it for a simple natal chart by performing the invocation of all seven of the planetary intelligences and then qualifying each one with one of the signs of the zodiac. For instance, I would perform the planetary invocation for the planet Mars using the septagram icon and then through a stated and expressed invocation, summon and define that quality of Mars as being in the sign of Scorpio, if I wanted to define that quality of Mars as an astrological quality. This was done for each of the seven planets sequentially, where each one was defined as being in a specific zodiacal sign and that would define the overall personality of the entity summoned within a kind of ad hoc natal chart definition once that ritual action was completed.

Defining a deity or demigod by invoking and qualifying all seven planets as residing in a chosen zodiacal sign for each would build a kind of natal chart and define the personality of that entity. When I devised this methodology, I believed that performing this operation would explicitly define the personality of the entity that I wanted to invoke. I could choose any planet and sign combination that I felt defined that particular facet of the spirit’s personality without being constrained by astronomical rules, such as Mercury and Venus would need to be close to the Sun, and that Jupiter and Saturn would represent the natal generation or period of the chart defining the personality. Any combination could be used, even ones that would be rare or impossible, like the Sun in Leo and Mercury in Capricorn. What would be missing would be the specific placement of the planets in the degrees of the signs, and there would be no house assignments. This would be a very simple natal chart without houses or aspects between planets. Such a simple chart would just define the planetary aspects of the personality of the target entity.

This was, I had thought, a pretty useful mechanism for defining the personality of a personal deity or demigod. To give such a spirit a foundation or energy base, I built what I called a pyramid energy envelope consisting of four different elemental pylons set to the four watchtowers, with the central pylon set with the invoking pentagrams of spirit creative and receptive. I overlaid an invoking vortex using the rose ankh upon that energy pyramid, opened a western gate portal and set an inner circle around the central altar and septagram icon. Then once all seven planetary intelligences were invoked and defined each through a zodiacal sign, I would set a great rose ankh in the zenith of the magic circle and lesser hexagrams of union (earth) to the four watchtowers, and perform a grand invocation of the deity or demigod. The combination of four elementals, making up the pylon pyramid of energies, the seven planetary invocations, and the rose ankh and hexagram invoking vortex generated an entity fully personified and expressing all of the qualities that I expected it to have.

Of course, the limitation of this kind of invocation mechanism is that it would be cumbersome and time consuming to define every single spirit in a spirit list, such as the 72 angels of the Ha-Shem, or the 72 demons of the Goetia, although it could be done. I decided to reserve this methodology for personal demigods and deities that I wanted to invoke, carefully selecting all of the variable components of this ritual that would serve to define the personality of the entity and give it a tangible manifestation through the use of the elemental energy envelope. This ritual worked quite well and I wrote a number of them to invoke specific entities that I wanted to access in my various magical workings.

One thing that I will note here is that this would be the perfect ritual to add the other planets beyond the traditional seven. Using an undecigram to perform this kind of working and qualifying all eleven planetary intelligences would produce an array that would be closer to a real astrological natal chart than just using the seven traditional planets. I know that in this book there is a dearth of celestial magical operations that would use the eleven planets, but this is due to the fact that the planetary array of spirits is typically defined by the number 7 or 12 in most of the operations. This is because celestial magic never advanced in association with modern astrology, but remained connected to traditional astrology. While coming up with spirit lists that would use the number 11 instead of just 7 would be a requirement to expand the use of the planets in celestial magic, here is a methodology that would be perfect to use the eleven planets to define any kind of spirit, demigod or deity that you would care to invoke using a custom ritual.

The ritual, which I have called the Tetra-Elemental Natal Septagram Invocation rite, has a number of components that the operator would need to determine before being able to write it up as a specific magical working. I would recommend selecting your favorite demigod as an example and going through the steps to determine the attributes of this ritual and then write it up and perform it. I think that you will be surprised and delighted by the experience.

The following list of components will be needed to be selected before you can write up the actual ritual working.

• Select the four specific elementals that you want to use as the pyramidal energy envelope. You can examine the 16 different elementals in my book “Elemental Powers for Witches” - p. 91 - 94 to select the ones that you would like to use. You will need to select these four elementals and assign them to a cardinal point or watchtower. For instance, one of the workings that I wrote had all four elementals of the base element of Fire, and this made a very fiery and energized energy field to act as the base of the ritual.
• Select a zodiacal sign for each of the seven or eleven planets. You will need to research what the qualities for each of the planets would be when associated with a specific sign. This is a fun exercise that allows you to create a kind of natal chart for the entity that you would like to invoke. Write down the qualities for each planet in a sign of your choosing as if you were describing that quality of the spirit. These will be read when you perform the planetary invocation for all seven or eleven planets.
• Write up a grand invocation for the target entity that you want to invoke. Describe the entity’s qualities and its personality, representing the union of all seven or eleven planetary attributes. This will be read at the end of the ritual under the cooling energies of the great rose ankh glowing in the zenith.

As for a parchment sigil that would be used in this written working, you can draw a sigil based on the entities name and using an appropriate alphabet wheel and also a sigil representing the reason that you summoned this entity and what you desire to accomplish. You can also add the symbols for the seven or eleven planets and the signs that they theoretically occupy, representing the defined natal attributes making up its personality.

You could also add symbols for the four elementals that you chose to activate and give an energized life to this spirit. Yet for this working there wouldn’t be any talisman. It functions more like an invocation than a celestial magical working, but because it uses all seven or eleven planets and has a tetra-elemental energy, there would be a kind of talismanic field, based on the requirements of the talismanic equation.


Tetra-Elemental Natal Septagram Invocation Ritual

Here is the pattern that I put together for this ritual so you can choose to write up a working to invoke a personal deity, demigod or specialized spirit. This ritual is performed within a fully erected and charged magic circle.

1. Take up the wand from the altar and proceed to the eastern watchtower. Facing the east, draw an invoking pentagram of the base element to the base, and above it, draw an invoking pentagram of the qualifier element. Join the two points together with a narrow invoking spiral, creating a pylon with the elemental quality.

2. Proceed to the southern watchtower. Facing the south, draw an invoking pentagram of the base element to the base, and above it, draw an invoking pentagram of the qualifier element. Join the two points together with a narrow invoking spiral, creating a pylon with the elemental quality.
Proceed to the western watchtower. Facing the west, draw an invoking pentagram of the base element to the base, and above it, draw an invoking pentagram of the qualifier element. Join the two points together with a narrow invoking spiral, creating a pylon with the elemental quality.
3. Proceed to the northern watchtower. Facing the north, draw an invoking pentagram of the base element to the base, and above it, draw an invoking pentagram of the qualifier element. Join the two points together with a narrow invoking spiral, creating a pylon with the elemental quality.
4. Proceed to the center of the circle. Facing the center, draw an invoking pentagram for spirit receptive to the base, and above it, draw an invoking pentagram of spirit creative. Join the two points together with a narrow invoking spiral, creating a pylon with the elemental quality of spirit.
Return the wand to the altar and pick up the sword. Proceed to the eastern watchtower, and with the sword draw the pylon residing there to the pylon in the center of the circle at the zenith point.
5. Proceed to the southern watchtower, and with the sword draw the pylon residing there to the pylon in the center of the circle at the zenith point.
6. Proceed to the western watchtower, and with the sword draw the pylon residing there to the pylon in the center of the circle at the zenith point.
7. Proceed to the northern watchtower, and with the sword draw the pylon residing there to the pylon in the center of the circle at the zenith point.
8. Proceed to the eastern watchtower and draw a line on the floor from the east to south, then the south to the west, then the west to the north, and then a line to the east.
9. Return the sword to the altar. Take up the staff and proceed to the eastern watchtower. Begin a circumambulation starting from the east and proceeding deosil around the circle with a spiral arc towards the center of the circle, passing the eastern watchtower three times and entering to the center of the circle. 10. Place the staff before the center altar and imagine the energy field fully activated within the circle. Then return the staff to the altar and pick up the wand.
11. Using the wand, proceed to the northern watchtower, and therein draw a rose ankh before it, projecting into it a deep violet color.
12. Proceed to the western watchtower and draw a rose ankh before it, projecting into it a deep violet color.
13. Proceed to the southern watchtower and draw a rose ankh before it, projecting into it a deep violet color.
14. Proceed to the eastern watchtower and draw a rose ankh before it, projecting into it a deep violet color.
15. Proceed to the center of the circle and draw a rose ankh to the nadir, projecting into it a deep violet color.
16. Return the wand to the altar, take the sword and proceed to the northern watchtower. Using the sword, draw a line of force from the ankh in the watchtower to the ankh in the center of the circle at the nadir.
17. Proceed to the western watchtower and using the sword draw a line of force from the watchtower to the center of the circle.
18. Proceed to the southern watchtower and using the sword draw a line of force from the watchtower to the center of the circle.
19. Proceed to the eastern watchtower and using the sword draw a line of force from the watchtower to the center of the circle.
20. Return the sword to the altar, and pick up the wand. Proceed to the northern watchtower and starting from there, proceed to walk in around the circle widdershins, and slowly arc into the center of the circle, passing the northern watchtower three times, and holding the wand out to push the forces to the center of the circle. Once reaching the center, push the combined powers into the nadir. The invoking vortex is now set.
21. Return the wand to the altar. Proceed to the eastern watchtower, face the west.
22. Draw invoking spirals to the southeast, northeast and then the western watchtower – these positions are the Guide, Guardian and Ordeal respectively – address each when drawing the invoking spiral.
23. Draw lines of force with the right hand, from the southeast angle, to the western watchtower, to the northeast angle, and then back again to the southeast angle. The gateway is established
24. Proceed to walk slowly from the east to the west, and when arriving at the west, perform the pantomime of opening the veil or a curtain with a dramatic flourish. Step close into the western watchtower and turn to face the east, performing the descending wave of energy from above the head to the feet.
25. Proceed to walk slowly from west to the east, imagining descending into a chamber – stop at the center of the circle where there is placed the central altar.
26. Draw an inner circle around the central altar, starting in the north and proceeding widdershins around the circle until ending again at the north. Retrieve the wand and sigil from the altar and proceed to the central altar, standing on the western side. Place the sigil in the center of the septagram icon. (The center icon could also be the undecigram if you are using the eleven planets in this working.)
27. Using the wand, draw the invoking pattern for the first planet on the septagram icon. Start at the point opposite the target planetary point and draw a line towards it, then continuing drawing following the lines of the septagram until you reach the point just before the target, then draw the last line projecting the energy of the wand to the action.  Then point the wand at the sigil, and then draw an invoking spiral on the septagram icon, centering on the sigil and exhaling the breath. Then read the specialized zodiacal quality definition for this planet. Do this for all seven or eleven of the planets (if you are using an undecigram), reading the specialized zodiacal quality definition for each.
28. Standing at the central altar, facing the east, with the wand in hand, draw a great rose ankh in the zenith point. Project a deep violet color into the ankh.
29. Then step one step away from the central altar, facing the southeast, with the wand draw a lesser hexagram of union (earth) to the southeastern angle. Draw a line of force with the wand from the hexagram to the sigil in the center of the septagram icon.
30. Turn to face the southwest, with the wand draw a lesser hexagram of union (earth) to the southwestern angle. Draw a line of force with the wand from the hexagram to the sigil in the center of the septagram icon.
31. Turn to face the northwest, with the wand draw a lesser hexagram of union (earth) to the northwestern angle. Draw a line of force with the wand from the hexagram to the sigil in the center of the septagram icon.
32. Turn to face the northeast, with the wand draw a lesser hexagram of union (earth) to the northeastern angle. Draw a line of force with the wand from the hexagram to the sigil in the center of the septagram icon.
33. Draw a rose ankh upon the sigil in the center of the septagram icon and project a deep violet color into it. Then draw a line of force from the ankh in the zenith down to the ankh on the sigil.
Intone the prepared invocation of the entity three times, and then call its name repeatedly, with a dramatic voice. Let the voice diminish in volume until it is just a whisper.
34. Sit in meditation before the center altar and internally call to the entity until a response is sensed. Use the imagination to help enhance the experience of the entity.
35. When the meditative communion with the entity is completed, then stand before the septagram icon and take up the wand and draw a banishing spiral over it, and give the target entity a warm farewell and thanks for visiting.
36. Place the wand on the septagram icon, and then turn around and proceed to the west then turn again to fact the east.
37. Draw invoking spirals to the northwest, southwest and then the eastern watchtower – these positions are the Guide, Guardian and Ordeal respectively – address each when drawing the invoking spiral. (These will be the ordinary themes, not the angels.)
38. Draw lines of force with the right hand, from the northwest angle, to the eastern watchtower, to the southwest angle, and then back again to the northwest angle. The gateway is established
39. Proceed to walk slowly from the west to the east, and when arriving at the east, perform the pantomime of opening the veil or a curtain with a dramatic flourish. Step close into the eastern watchtower and turn to face the west, performing the descending wave of energy from above the head to the feet.
40. Proceed to walk slowly from east to the west, imagining ascending out of a chamber – stop at the center of the circle where there is placed the central altar.
41. Take up the wand and proceed to the eastern watchtower and with the wand, draw therein a sealing spiral.
42. Proceed to the southeastern angle and draw a sealing spiral.
43. Proceed to the southern watchtower and draw a sealing spiral.
44. Proceed to the southwestern angle and draw a sealing spiral.
45. Proceed to the western watchtower and draw a sealing spiral.
46. Proceed to the northwestern angle and draw a sealing spiral.
47. Proceed to the northern watchtower and draw a sealing spiral.
48. Proceed to the northeastern angle and draw a sealing spiral.  
49. Return the wand to the altar. The vortex is sealed and the ritual is completed.

So, that is the ritual pattern, and as you can see it uses a structure that should be quite familiar to you, having examined several varieties of this rite representing the workings in this book. I invite you to try and write a working and experiment with it. You won’t be disappointed.

Frater Barrabbas

Frater Barrabbas Author Literary Tour - Part 5 - Spirit Conjuring For Witches

 

After getting my book on the Qabalah published there was a bit of a lull in my literary activities. It was a time for writing a lot of articles on my blog, a media boon shown to me by my mentor Taylor Elwood, developing some new magical approaches and attending pagan conventions. A new convention started in Minneapolis called Paganicon that I attended, and I also attended Pantheacon one last time. It was a busy period for me, overall, and I hadn’t had the opportunity of trying to figure out what I wanted to work on for a new manuscript. I had some ideas that I was kicking around, but nothing really firm or focused.

It was during this interlude that I got more involved with my Witchcraft community, and I was examining my own history and path as a Witch and a ritual magician. One topic that was all the rage at the time was medieval and Renaissance grimoires. Quite a number of newly translated grimoires became available to the public, many appearing for the first time in print. While this area of magical practice had become something of a major focus for ceremonial magicians, I had already developed several different ways of performing this kind of magic back in the 1980's in conjunction with my particular methodology for working planetary and elemental magic. I felt a certain disdain for the emphasis on Christianity or Jewish monotheism that seemed to be the core spiritual perspective for these newly published grimoires. I felt that the cultures of the 16th and 17th centuries that had produced these grimoires was so far removed from us today as to make their approach to magic and religion to be antiquated at best, and somewhat superstitious and ridiculous at worst.

While the baseline for magic and western occultism was established by the writings of Agrippa and Paracelsus in the 15th to 16th century, and followed by a number of others, it was the occultists of the 19th and early 20th century who had brought these ideas and practices into the modern age. The older teachings had their relevance in the continuity of ideas from that period to the present. Just as I would find the writings of Blavatsky or Dion Fortune to be dated and even a bit anachronistic, the writings of Agrippa, Paracelsus, Dee, Ficino, and Pico Mirandola were even more dated and immersed in a cultural context that no longer existed. To take any grimoire as originally written and to practice it would require the individual to also reconstruct the cultural beliefs and practices of that time, which by now is nearly impossible. Even the grimoire purists had to pull together various practices, both antique and modern, along with a very modern perspective on magic in order to make these books useful and viable, although they would downplay or even deny that activity.

Since I was a very modern practitioner of ritual magic and had developed my magical technology out of modern practices and extended by my own experimentation, I felt that this approach was the best one for modern Pagans and Witches. So, after banging around some ideas in my head for a while, I came upon the idea of writing a book for Witches and Pagans on how to use the magical tech that they already had, with a few extensions and additions, to practice a form of classical evocation that would fit within the practices of modern Witchcraft. I asked the acquisitions editor for Llewellyn what she thought of such an idea for a book, and she was quite interested and said to send her a table of contents, a pitch for the book and a sample and she would give it some serious consideration. So, that was how the book “Spirit Conjuring for Witches” was born. I wanted to give to my community something very valuable and missing from their current practices. I set to work on this project in the spring of 2015, sent in my author questionnaire with the pitch, table of contents and a couple of sample chapters and I proceeded to work on this latest book project. I completed this work and presented to the publishers in early 2016, and it came out in print in early 2017.

This book, like the previous one, required me to do some extensive research. My research project was to examine the history of witchcraft and determine the reports and nature of the familiar spirit in both antiquity and the middle ages. My main thrust in the book was to equate the familiar spirit with the modern concept of the higher-self or inner deity. It is my belief that there is an inner deity in all humankind, existing in various stages of conscious awareness. When it is recognized and actively celebrated, it acts as a liaison between the domain of spirit and the host’s human consciousness. I proposed that it was an important component for performing evocations within a Witchcraft context, representing an integral connection with the Witchcraft practices of antiquity. Once that tool was defined and developed, along with the correct attitude and mind-set necessary to enter the spirit world, then the Witch followed the five classical steps for conjuring a spirit. Those steps are purification, invocation, constraining, binding and releasing. These steps are likely the same as those practiced by the great Witches of antiquity, although the cultural context and proper mind-set are completely modern.

None of these practices are explained in any Book of Shadows that I have ever seen, either private or public. The base-line practices of Witchcraft today typically are rites that are performed by a coven or small group. A single Witch practicing her craft and engaging with the Deities and the Spirit World seemed to be something that the witches of legend or fairy tales would have been able to do. My book placed the practice of Witchcraft magic back into the context of the individual practicing alone and without the need or desire for a coven or group. It is a powerful method of magic for the solitary Witch, which I believe is much more like the Witchcraft of tomorrow than what might be found today.    

The book included a few bon mots, mostly because I wanted some feedback and support from the community for what I was about to place into the hands of the Witchcraft community. Yet here is the advertisement found on the back of the book helping folks to figure out if they would want to buy this book.

The greatest witches of legend and folklore practiced their craft through spirit conjuration and by employing a familiar spirit. Now, centuries later, these arts can be acquired
and mastered by modern witches. Join witch and ritual magician Frater Barrabbas as he shares a system of witchcraft-based magic developed to safely perform invocations and evocations; travel in the spirit world; create a spirit pact; and construct your own rituals for spirit conjuring. Exploring history, folktales, myths, and personal experiences, Spirit Conjuring for Witches shows how to magically develop human-to-spirit relationships and ultimately master both the spirit and material worlds.

It is brief but to the point. This book provides the first of the missing lore that is not found in the Book of Shadows, and it represents a complete methodology that requires practice and a disciplined approach to make it work optimally well for the practitioner. There is so much packed into this tome that I cannot but fully recommend this book to my fellow Witches, Pagans and ritual magicians. If you haven’t read any of my books then this should be the one that you should read to start your own version of my literary journey. You will be skipping three books to get to this point, but the magical technology that it will bequeath to you will be extremely beneficial. There have been over 6,000 copies currently sold, so it must be pertinent in order to be so popular.

Some of the topics, aside from the spirit guide or familiar, that I present in this book gives the reader everything that she or he would need to engage in performing spirit conjuring. I have written extensively in this book about the godhead assumption rite and developing your own personal godhead votive cult, which is central to the spiritual activities of evocation. If you don’t develop a relationship with the deity within then there is little possibility of optimizing your experience with other spirits. I also discuss the classification of spirits, how to see into their world, and how to communicate with spirits. These techniques border on the paranormal abilities typical of those who are sensitive to such phenomena; but for those who do not have this capability I also discuss the use of dice or knucklebones, which is a tried and true mechanism for communicating with spirits or even deities. I also introduce to those who have not read any of my previous books the rituals of the rose-ankh vortex, the double gateway of the west (underworld) and east (ascension), and the methods for developing a spirit shrine and offering table and how and when to use them.

In the appendices I have produced lists of angels, demons and other spirits, and a guide for engaging with the grimoires within a Witchcraft context. Everything that a Witch needs to know regarding spirit conjuration is in this book. To my knowledge, I have omitted nothing and it is a good example of a comprehensive exposition of this kind of craft, which is something that I have built into all of my books. I don’t want people to accept what I am writing based on either trust or faith. Instead, I am inviting my readers to take the rituals and concepts and use them to find out for themselves whether these practices that I have outlined actually work. The proof in the pudding is in the eating, an old adage that is quite appropriate for my writings. If you want to know something then assemble the necessary components, practice the forms and then plan and execute magical workings. While I can only write about these topics and how I have engaged with them in the magic circle, it is up to my readers to go out and try them and see for themselves if what I have written is true.

My whole approach to writing books is to inspire others to experiment, develop, invent and create their own personal magic. Every magician, witch or goetes from the beginning of human consciousness has had to build their own methodology to work magic. If you can’t get beyond the stage of using rituals and spells written in books then you will never be able to develop yourself as a magical practitioner. You have to own your magic, and you can only do that when you learn to write your own rituals and develop your abilities through repetition and continued practice. There is an element of discipline involved in developing an expertise in the practice of ritual magic. There is also a need for openness, curiosity, inspired imagination, creativity and experimentation. It is part of the practical necessity for being able to own the magic that you are working.

The modern Book of Shadows for Witches has many areas that are lacking, much of it would be associated with a complete cultural immersion that a folk tradition would already possess. However, in the area of the practice of magic, there are three areas that are typically omitted in the traditional practices of Witchcraft magic. The first is spirit conjuring using a familiar spirit, which this book covers quite well. The second missing practice are the rites of using magical energies, such as elementals, and the advanced techniques associated with them, such as the vortex, pylon, invoking pentagram, and the techniques of resonance. The third missing practice are the rites of celestial magic, which is the making of talismans and working planetary magic. There is also a fourth missing practice, although it is implied and loosely covered in some of the rites of modern Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows, but these techniques, based on sacramental theurgy, need to be expanded and fully documented in order for the rites of a fully magical and pagan-engaged Witchcraft to be developed. These have been, and are, for the most part, my objectives in writing the “For Witches” series of book.

My purpose in writing the “For Witches” series is to fill in the missing lore for the magical practices allotted to modern traditional Witchcraft so that it can fully engage with all of the more advanced attributes of that magical faith. To be a fully realized Witch is to also be a fully capable ritual magician. These two roles are one and the same, since Witchcraft in terms of how I define it, is a magical religion. The two systems, religion and magic, are joined together and practiced as one tradition.

Frater Barrabbas

New Book - Spirit Conjuring for Witches

Now that I have more or less recovered from my eye surgery, I can finally get back to the business of writing articles in my blog. I have been absent since late December, and quite a lot has been going on since then, both from the standpoint of the occult, politics and my life situation. Hopefully, I will have time to write up on these and many other topics in the weeks to come. Not being able to read for more than a week, and not being able to perform much in the way of extracurricular writing (outside of work) has been quite difficult for me to manage and quietly accommodate. I love to read and write, but for nearly a month I had to keep my writing to a minimum to give my eyes a chance to fully recover, and not subject them overly to eye strain. Now that I have passed that period of recovery, I can fully pursue my writing tasks.

After the holidays, and in the middle January, my book project, “Spirit Conjuring for Witches: Magical Evocation Simplified” was at long last published. I got my printed copies around that time, and the book was released a week or so later, well before the February 8 launch date. I have been quite pleased with the book so far, and so have others who have read it and posted reviews. You can find this book on Amazon here.

The user named Jeannot left a very helpful and good review on Amazon, and it was the very first review. Here is what she had to say:

“Let's start off with a basic preliminary statement: this book is not for beginning magical practitioners in the way of providing magical tech; in that sense, it is geared more for intermediate practitioners. That said, this book is excellent at giving beginners goals to aspire to.

Frater Barrabbas does a fascinating and excellent job of reintegrating the concept of the witch's familiar into modern practice, putting it in a modern context with roots going back beyond Medieval and Early Modern European incarnations of the spirit helper. He relates it to the "head gods" of African Traditional Religions (ATRs) and the various spirit helpers of the PGM, or Greek Magical Papyri. For those who are willing to put in the work, I'm sure this book will provide much fruit.

This book stands with the work of Gordon White, Jake Stratton-Kent, and Peter Grey. Frater Barrabbas provides a witchcraft that is vital, active, and local, capable of functioning in the witch's immediate environment.”

Being compared to Gordon White, Jake Stratton-Kent or Peter Grey is quite complimentary, although I consider them to be authors who have written books quite beyond what I set out to do with this book. I guess the most important question that one might have about this book has less to do with the material within than for the motivation for me to write it. Why did I write this book? Is it yet another book proposing that Witches adopt the practices and methodologies of the Ceremonial Magician? Well, the answer to that is no, it was not my intention to sell the techniques and methodologies in use by either ceremonial magicians or traditional practitioners of magic as found in the old grimoires. This book was written by a Witch, practicing ritual magic, for other Witches who would wish to also practice this kind of magic. It was not written for either ceremonial magicians nor was it written for the traditional magicians who utilize the old grimoires.

What I am proposing in this book is a system of magic that is distinctly Witchcraft based and not outside of what might be considered the magical practices of that modern tradition. I wrote this book for modern Witches and Wiccans, and my purpose was to introduce to them the practices and techniques already inherent in their traditions to formally summon and manifest spirits. My aim was to help Witches adopt the spirit model of magic and fully develop it as a mainstay of their tradition. It is my hope that this book will start a new wave of Witchcraft magic that will stay abreast of other cutting edge magical traditions. I wanted Witches to expand beyond thaumaturgy and using the simple constructs of the energy model of magic to reach their true potential as magical practitioners, emulating the capabilities and legendary deeds of the mythic Witches of folklore and antiquity. However, I wanted them to use the features and components of their existing traditional modern lore to accomplish this end.

As an observer of modern Witchcraft and Wicca magic, I have noted that these traditions relied too much on one or two models of magic, and that the spirit model was only partially active in these magical practices. One of the reasons that I gave for this lack of a formal system of performing an invocation or an evocation is that such rites and techniques are not to be found in the traditional Book of Shadows, as witnessed by my own Gardnerian third generation BoS. While it is true that old Gerald, to a lesser extent, and Alex Sanders, to a greater extent, practiced grimoire based magic, none of that lore was ever formalized to become part of the tradition of Witchcraft. The closest thing that I have found so far that approached a grimoire based magical type of working was the Vassago goetic demon evocation and scrying session found in the book “Mastering Witchcraft,” and no where else it is so plainly promoted. I had once thought that Paul Huson’s book would have become the basis or the foundation for a deeper form of magical workings, but if it did, that fact was not absorbed into the tradition and passed on. It remained, like the grimoire workings of old Gerald and Alex, an outlier to the practice of modern Witchcraft.

Needless to say, the book “Mastering Witchcraft” and others like it didn’t propose a comprehensive and formal system of invocation and evocation, so the spirit model of magic was never really a part of traditional modern Witchcraft. It never really caught on, probably because in order to be adopted, it would have required some rather major changes to the practice and celebration of Witchcraft. As a system of magic, the spirit model doesn’t lend itself easily to coven based magic. For instance, if a coven were to perform a goetic evocation then only one individual would actually do the work and the others would function as helpers or just witnesses. Since everyone who practices magic has different capabilities, it is possible that while the leader performing the rite would be in full possession of her skills and abilities as a Witch, others might not get as much out of the rite. Being able to translate and assimilate spirit contact is something that has to be learned and mastered over time with lots of experiences. Certainly, it wouldn’t be a good idea to expose newly initiated or uninitiated members of the coven to this kind of working, so it would be something to which only a more experienced or mature group should be exposed. That is because the key to controlling and mastering the encounter with spirits is the active godhead assumption, and without this mechanism to guide and protect the practitioner, spirit conjuring could be considered a hazardous operation.

Perhaps one of the most important contributions that my book makes is to equate the familiar spirit of antiquity with the modern day godhead assumption of practical magic. That this practice found its way into the BTW and Wiccan traditions as a major liturgical rite from a basic exercise in the Golden Dawn system of magic shouldn’t be too surprising. What is surprising is that such a liturgical rite in Witchcraft has an ancient pedigree going back into antiquity, as the Greek Magical Papyri has amply shown. It was an important and pivotal rite in antiquity, where a magician sought and achieved a spirit mediator to assist in his magical workings. Those who practiced magic in antiquity, and even more recently as the 16th and 17th centuries believed that human nature, without the aid of a spirit helper or some other supernatural assistance, was quite helpless, defenseless against spirits and deities and incapable of producing magical or miraculous effects. It was only in the 19th century that the belief in the power of untapped human potential became an important theme in magic and occultism. That theme went on to produce the energy model of magic, and it supplanted many of the other systems of magic until the last twenty years or so. We who practice magic now realize that a greater capability lies in the use of all of the models of magic simultaneously, but in the traditions of Witchcraft, formal adoption of the spirit model still lags the other techniques.

Making the godhead assumption, called the "Draw" in Wiccan-speak, into a personal ritual of self-empowerment seems like a profanation of the liturgical nature of this rite. However, it isn’t a profanation, it is an obvious magical expansion of a mechanism that is used to facilitate communion with the covenstead godhead to one that elevates the individual, temporarily, to the level of an earth-bound and incarnated deity. Performing this rite continually over time will dramatically impact and affect the consciousness of the practitioner, transforming and empowering them over the long course of a magical practice. Additionally, such a rite is more suited to working alone or with only the most intimate group, since the celebrant is sharing something that is extremely personal and private, so that it remains detached from any kind of egoic corruption. There is nothing quite like the ego trip of someone who forces his or her group to engage in worshiping them as they assume the simulacrum of some godhead. Godhead assumption must be balanced with a great deal of humility and service to the deity so that it doesn’t regress into a form of unearned ego-based self glorification. 

Another mechanism that has to be altered is the covenstead magical circle and the invested dual deities and dread lords of the four quarters that ward and protect what transpires within it. Certainly, in order to take full advantage of working within a magic circle that represents the boundary of all that is sacred and spiritual, a Witch has to deliberately thwart the inherent protective measures that such a mechanism provides. Opening up the magic circle to the whole of the spirit world (instead of the covenstead protected simulacrum) is an important first step, since by crossing the circle watchtowers, making therein a cross-roads, will open that sacred space to everything that is within the spirit world. Someone who deliberately performs this act must first adopt a personal godhead assumption in order to protect themselves from negative, hostile or callous neutral spiritual encounters.

Anyway, these topics and many others are discussed in detail in my book. These are not new ideas, because I have written about them previously, but now I have collected them altogether into a single, concise book. I think that you will find this book to be useful and hopefully, it will have an impact on the greater world of Modern Witchcraft.

Frater Barrabbas

Some minor errors found in the current edition.

After carefully reading over my copy of the book, I have found a few errors in the book, particularly Appendix 2, p. 234. The actual date of the Grimoirum Verum is likely to be the early 1600's, and not the 1500's as I had written. According to Joseph Peterson, the direct precursor to the Grimiorum Verum was a book entitled "Clavicula Solomonis De Secretis" and the extent copy of this book is a Polish Leipzig version dated around 1620's. It is likely that the Grimoirum Verum was produced not long after that time, but it still predated the Goetia, probably by a couple of decades. While I had submitted edits that would have corrected these dates, for some reason that didn't get installed, perhaps because they might have been confusing to the editor who had recourse to my emails but not to me directly. Anyway, this is minor point, but I felt the need to clarify in this article. I am sure that there are probably other inaccuracies, but overall, I feel that the editing and writing for this book is one of the best that I, in combination with the Llewellyn team, have produced so far.   

Secret Key to Invocation and Evocation in Ritual Magick - Part 3

This is part 3 of a three part series on the art and practice of invocation and evocation as taught within the Order of the Gnostic Star. This final part is about the Archetypal Gate series of rituals developed as a replacement for the more cumbersome methodologies initially developed in the Order.

Archetypal Gate Ritual and Variations

One of the more interesting derivations to the rite of invocation was when I developed and refined the ritual pattern that I called the Archetypal Gate ritual. This is a pretty complex and condensed pattern, but it allowed me to incorporate all of the important structures for an invocation into a single and brief ritual. It allowed me to discard the Gate of Revealing rite and thus make the working far more simple and less cumbersome to perform. Where the typical invocation would take around three hours to perform, this one would take less than an hour, making it idea for a working that had a limited time span.

The whole premise for developing this ritual working was to invoke the Archangels of the four elements, which was an important rite used in the first series of Enochian workings that I performed back in the early 1990's. I have since altered these rituals when I determined that the Archangels of the four elements as a hierarchy didn’t really didn’t work very well, and instead chose to use this same ritual structure to invoke the Elemental Godhead and the Seraphim and Cherubim. I have further elaborated on this ritual structure to include the Godheads, archangels and angels of the Sephiroth and the archangels of the 12 zodiacal signs. My assumption was that I didn’t need so much ritual technology to invoke these spirits, since they were as a whole, benign and powerfully aligned to the One.

So how did I determine the pattern for this working? At it turned out, it was a natural evolution from the invoking through a matrix mechanism and the Enochian Planetary vortex. The uniquely new technique that I employed for this working was a cross-roads vortex with a central pylon structure and an eastern aligned tetrahedral gateway that used the trapezoidal cross device, producing a prismatic trapezohedron. I called this new ritual structure the archetypal gateway, and it functioned as a combination entry point and domain for the spirit as well as a place to describe the imago and characteristics of the angelic spirit. Let’s examine the overall ritual pattern for this working and see how this rite was able to do so much with such a compact set of ritual actions.

Rituals using this pattern are based on the quality of the four elements as expressed through the four Qabalistic worlds. Thus, the foundation of this working would set one of the four Qabalistic Worlds as the target for the working. The obvious ritual mechanism to set the Qabalistic World was the ritual called the Qabalistic Pyramid of Power, so like other ritual workings, the first level or layer would be the specific Qabalistic World. For these workings, the first three Worlds of Atziluth, Briah and Yetzirah would established, depending on the hierarchical level of the target spirit. 

Another quality that would influence the working would be a specific device that would be used to qualify the tetrahedral gateway (in this case, an invoking pentagram), and then intoning the detailed invocation used to describe the image or imago of the spirit. Only these three qualities would determine the specific attributes of any given spirit, whether Godhead, Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangel or Angel. Other attributes would be the 10 Sephiroth (using the eneagram) and the 12 zodiacal signs (gateway set to spirit, and central pylon set with element and astrological quality). So, the four overall attributes used in this rite were the Qabalistic Worlds, Elements, Sephiroth (Planets) and Zodiacal Signs. I also employed a consecrated sigil that was drawn on a piece of parchment to further help identify the spirit in those workings.

Qabalistic Pyramid of Power consists of four pylons set to the four Watchtowers, where the base of the pylon is charged with an invoking pentagram of a specific element, and the apex, with a specific invoking pentagram of spirit. Another invoking pentagram is drawn in the ultra-point, and these become the five points of the pyramid. The element quality and gender of the spirit is associated with the Qabalistic World, where Atziluth and Yetzirah are considered masculine, and Briah and Assiah are deemed to be feminine. The Qabalistic World is defined by the combination of the five points (circle squared and pylons drawn to the ultra-point) and the final formula exegesis, where it is expressed through the artifice of a tetragramaton.

Overlaying the Qabalistic Pyramid of Power is the Archetypal Gateway. The foundation of this structure is anchored in the infra-point (an unoccupied point in the circle) with an inverted pentagram of feminine spirit, representing the materialization of spirit through the descent of the feminine Godhead. Laid upon this empowered device are the cross-roads set with the hexagram of union. The celebrant begins at the southeastern angle, draws a hexagram, and then turns to walk directly to the northwestern angle, and draws therein a hexagram of union. He then proceeds deosil to the northeastern angle and draws a hexagram, and finally, he turns and walks to the southwestern angle and draws a hexagram of union. 

After setting these four points and the cross-roads, the celebrant then projects a line of force to formulate an inner widershins circle. As an aside, the hexagram of union is a device that is drawn as two conjoined triangles with no consideration for the planetary attributes, since it represents a point of fusion or unity. Finally, the celebrant proceeds to the center of the circle and draws another hexagram of union into the ultra-point, and then using an invoking spiral, joins the central hexagram at the zenith with the inverted pentagram in the nadir. The combined structures produce a powerful invoking vortex used to summon a spirit associated with one of the three Qabalistic worlds.

At this point, the celebrant intones the first general Enochian invocation for the spirit, spending some time internally calling and summoning it. This general invocation will be intoned a total of three times within this working, and to do this the celebrant inserts the spirit’s name and its associated hierarchy into the blank lines located in the invocation verbiage.

Upon the layers of the Qabalistic pyramid of power and the cross-roads vortex is erected the tetrahedral archetypal gateway, being therefore, the third layer. This gateway is aligned to the East, so it includes the Southwest, Northwest and Eastern circle points, as well as the ultra-point. At each of the three gate points is set a trapezoidal cross device, and these three points are joined to form a tetrahedral structure (angles and watchtower joined to form a triangle, then each point drawn to the ultra-point and joined in a deosil circle). In the meso-point is set a device to qualify the gateway, then the celebrant exits the gate and charges the whole structure with an invoking spiral. What is needed at this point is to set a charge to the whole structure, and this where the staff is used to perform that task and to assume the focus of the invocation rite itself.

Taking the staff in her hands, the celebrant re-enters the gate and faces the East, holding the staff parallel to the ground. She begins to slowly turn in place in a counter clockwise direction, while ever increasing the velocity of the turning until she strongly feels the generated power. Then the Celebrant stops spinning and places the staff into the center node of the circle. She draws the infra-point up through the staff into the ultra-point with her right hand while the left is holding the staff.  Then the Celebrant intones the general Enochian invocation for the second time, chanting the name of the spirit repeatedly afterwards. The staff has now become the physical pylon through which the spirit will manifest. (I actually use a central altar in these kinds of workings and carefully place the staff tight up against the altar, and then I can remove my hand and the staff remains standing by itself for the rest of the working.)

The final stage of this working is what is known as the preparation for the invocation proper, and the focus points for this activity are the infra-point, meso-point and ultra-point depicted by the base, middle and apex of the staff-pylon. At each point, the celebrant performs a specific invocation of the spirit and its associated hierarchy. At the base of the staff-pylon, the celebrant invokes the spirit of the qualified gateway, and at the apex, he invokes the unified spirit of Atziluth. At the meso-point or middle of the staff-pylon, a special device is set to further characterize the spirit (sometimes this is the spirit’s sigil). All three points are unified through the artifice of an invoking spiral, and this is where the invocation is to be performed.

First, the celebrant performs a direct calling or summoning of the spirit by the power of its name, and then he progresses to a descriptive calling that describes the qualities and attributes of that entity. Finally, he intones the general Enochian invocation for the third and final time, ending the it with a period of repeating the name of the spirit, over and over, until the spirit is sensed and answers the calling. While performing this repetitive calling, the celebrant should draw the power down with his hand from the apex of the staff-pylon to the base, and bow before it (as if it were the spirit itself), entering into a kind of meditative trance state sitting before the pylon for the duration of the working.

         

Once the working is completed, then the celebrant closes and seals the gate portal and seals all of the circle points. However, the sigil that was used to perform this rite can be reused as an access point for future meditative trance states to contact the spirit.

I have modified this ritual working and added to it other mechanisms for invoking other kinds of angelic spirits. In order to invoke the Godheads, archangels and angels of the 10 Sephiroth, there is a modified version of the Archetypal Gate ritual that uses part of the Eneagram ritual to define the specific Sephirah, and within that expanded matrix, the celebrant is able to invoke the entities associated with that Qabalistic quality. This rite uses both the Qabalistic Pyramid of Power and Eneagram to set the proper invoking matrix. To employ the Zodiac as an expanded matrix for this rite, the celebrant sets the tetrahedral gateway to the Element of Spirit. She erects a mini-pylon in the meso-point consisting of an invoking pentagram for the zodiacal element at the base and one of the three lesser hexagrams at the apex, and this device determines the specific zodiacal quality. The Qabalistic world is always set to Briah and the invocation and imago of the spirit is unique to the array of zodiacal archangels.

Yet another variation is used to invoke either one of the 72 ha-Shem angels or one of the 72 Goetic demons. First, the Qabalistic world is set to Yetzirah, then the cross-roads are set with pylons instead of the hexagram of union. The base of the pylon is qualified with an invoking pentagram of the zodiacal element, and the apex is set with one of the three lesser hexagrams, determining the zodiacal quality. Through this cross-road vortex the celebrant summons the zodiacal archangelic ruler. Then, the tetrahedral gateway is erected, with the variables of an inverted and western aligned gateway for demons, and obverse and eastern aligned gateway for angels of the ha-Shem. An additional qualification is where the celebrant sets the tetrahedral gateway with either an obverse triangle (angel/demon by day) or inverted triangle (angel/demon by night). I have only recently written this new ritual and I have not yet tested it, but I hope to test and fully vet it before the coming spring.

As you can see, I have managed to develop a number of variations to invoke angelic and even demonic spirits throughout the basic hierarchy of Element, Sephirah and sign of the Zodiac. It would seem that this new method, called the Archetypal Gateway, is very adaptable and quite capable of replacing all of the previous systems. Although I tend to use it mostly for angelic spirits, it’s obvious that I could use it more extensively by employing even more variations of this simple but condensed technique.  

Conclusion

After a period of nearly 30 years, I have successfully developed and deployed the various techniques and methodologies described in the three sections of this article. Each methodology has its own particular use and importance within the Order. So there will be no need to retire any of them or replace one for the other. I may add additional rituals using different techniques, but I believe that the foundation already established should suffice to perform all of the invocations necessary to function as an adept magician within the Order.

One lesson that can be derived from this over-long historical narrative is that occult discoveries tend to be serendipitous. It also demonstrates that finding a solution to a problem often heralds a completely new and better way of doing something. Through a process of active experimentation, I was able to advance the methodologies that I used to perform an invocation. I seemed never to be completely satisfied with whatever technique I had derived, and I was always experimenting with some new structure or method, and this is still true even today. Nothing that I have developed is ever the final word or the final form, and there is always a new and more efficient way of doing something than what is currently being used.

Where all of this experimentation and development will ultimately lead me is uncertain. I would suspect that becoming a master or high adept would change everything, including the methodologies that I currently employ to work magick. I have conjectured from time to time that a high adept might not need to perform any ritual magick whatsoever, and that rituals would be replaced by total immersion within the world of spirit. If one were to remain steadfastly engaged within that world, then merely by an act of willing something, as long as it had even a tiny probability of occurring, would make it so.

The trick, I suppose, would be to sustain a state of ecstatic trance, which is used to enter into the spiritual domain. If not actively experiencing ecstasy, then its potent after effects would have to be great enough to maintain a permanent connection to the spirit world. I would imagine that such a high adept would not be very functional in the mundane world, but would have to live in something like a magical monastery, where the day to day necessities would be taken care of by lesser adepts. The lesser work would be handled by the initiates, and the great work would be accomplished by the master; a wonderful position to be in if one could even find it.

To have this kind of power is to be able to make thoughts become reality, and reality is reduced to the level of thoughts - there would be no difference. Of course to wield such power, one would also need a great deal of wisdom, prescient intuition and most importantly, prudence. There are many hilarious stories about individuals being allowed one or more unbounded wishes, and how such a power generally causes far more calamity than a satisfying outcome. To such an ability must be added the sobering thought: “Be careful what you wish for.”

Until I can realize this kind of true magical power (if that is even possible within a mortal life-span), I will be content to experiment and seek better and more efficient ways to achieve the same results using the more cumbersome artifacts of rituals and magical tools.

Frater Barrabbas

Secret Key to Invocation and Evocation in Ritual Magick - Part 2

This is part two of a three part series on the art and practice of invocation and evocation as taught and executed within the Order of the Gnostic Star.

Quintedecim Complex and the Gate of Revealing

The Quintedecim complex consists of an outer four-fold elemental vortex established through the artifice of the Power Octagon conjoined with an inner circle that contains a septagramic trigon, and this is used to invoke all seven planetary intelligences associated with the target spirit. These two structures, one residing on the periphery and the other residing in the center of the circle, are joined through the employment of a magnetic vortex and a tetrahedral gateway aligned to the West, which is the underworld. To thoroughly understand these structures, it would be prudent for the reader to examine the nature of the Power Octagon and the Activated Septagram. The third element is the magical gateway, so that article should also be reviewed if needed.

As it was written in the Mystery Gateway article where I revealed how this technique of invocation could be performed, I stated that the groundwork for these processes had already been covered in still previously posted articles. I was, in fact, following a plan to reveal each of these ritual elements and expound on them before continuing with the topic that would pull all of them together into a single invocative working. Here is a quote from that article on the Mystery Gateway that pretty much lays out the various elements and how they would work together to form the layers of the octagon, septagram and the tetrahedral gateway. 

“We have already recently covered the ritual mechanisms used for the specialized Power Octagon and the Activated Septagram. I have indicated that through these two rituals alone, a magician might be able to fully invoke a spirit into manifestation in some manner. Yet the third step in this process performs two amazing and very necessary tasks. The Mystery Gate functions as a typical gateway in that it joins together into a unified field all of the previous ritual energy structures and it unlocks and reveals a distinct spiritual domain, which is essentially based on the prior symbolic configuration of octagon and septagram. The Gate of Revealing thus fuses the octagon and septagram to produce a fifteen pointed structure with a triangle in its center. I call this fifteen pointed ritual structure device, the Quintedecim Complex.”

I then proceeded to expound on the ritual that I call the Gate of Revealing, which is where all of these elements are fused into a single ritual structure. Here is another quote from that article which establishes the foundation for the functionality of that rite.

“The ritual Gate of Revealing has a basic preliminary operation that is done every time it is used. That operation is the drawing of an inner circle, placing the Quintedecim Complex trigon on top of the stack representing the Power Octagon and the Activated Septagram and then charging it with an invoking spiral and a violet colored energy. Twenty-two Trumps of the Tarot are placed around the periphery of that inner circle, representing the specific pattern of initiation that the magician is following. This pattern is then charged using the control crystal that normally is attached to a necklace that circles the magician’s neck. The magician projects the power of the crystal into each card, following the pattern of the four stages (of the Cycle of Initiation) in a widdershins vector. Upon the Q-Complex trigon, the magician places the consecrated sigil of the target spirit, where it will reside until the invocation is to be performed. In this manner, the core of the inner magick circle is set with the empowered invocation process, encircled by the pattern of one’s personal symbols of transformation.”

Continuing with quotations that describe the ritual pattern of the Gate of Revealing, I discussed the trapezoidal vortex that is one of the more critical parts of this working. The trapezoidal cross that is used to charge the cross-roads structure of this rite produces a prismatic structure called the trapezohedron, and this structure produces an overall effect that I call the para-reality or astral domain of the invoked spirit.

“Overlaying the central circle, the magician builds a powerful central pylon based vortex, where the four Watchtowers are each set with a trapezoidal cross in such a manner that a cross roads is formed (West to East, then South to North), with a trapezoidal cross also set in the Ultra-point. The four Watchtower devices are drawn to the center of the circle in the Infra-point (where the trigon stack is set) using the sword, after that, the magician draws an invoking spiral to connect the Ultra-point with the Infra-point, and then a widdershins spiral is used to generate the vortex proper.”

Once these structures are completed and fully realized, then he or she can continue to perform either an invocation (first summoning), evocation (exteriorization of the spirit), or skrying, astral projection into that spirit’s domain or even summoning the spiritual servitors. This multi-track option made the Gate of Revealing a modular ritual with several possibilities, as I succinctly stated in the article.

“From this point in the Gate of Revealing ritual, there are four possible tracks that the magician may follow. These tracks are independent from each other, but the track that completes the invocation process must be performed first, then through the use of a macro-ritual (which allows the magician to re-enter the domain of the already invoked spirit without having to redo all of the previous steps), the other three tracks may be subsequently followed. These four tracks are:

• Invocation through the media of manifestation (always performed the first time),
• Evocation through the artifice of Exteriorization (to be followed by the Iron Cross Vortex rite),
• Projection of the astral body or skrying into the spirit’s domain,
• Summoning of the spiritual servitors of the target spirit.”

These steps allow for a comprehensive working engaging any spirit so targeted, but such a regimen includes the custom researching and writing of the rituals that establish the Power Octagon and the Planetary Septagram. The Gate of Revealing is a modular ritual that can be used for any of the four tracks, so there is no need to customize that rite. However, the other layers would need to be unique to the individual spirit invoked, and the Octagon and Septagram are together referred to as the Invoking Vortex of the specific spirit. As of today, there are only a dozen or so custom invoking vortex rituals used for spirits that are integral to the Order because they function as sponsors, allies and patrons of the spiritual hierarchy.

Invocation Through a Symbolic Matrix

What inspired me to develop a different methodology for performing an invocation was the discovery and inspiration of a new system of magick, which I called Archeomancy. There were two different systems of this kind of magick from the very start, but the first one that I developed was called the Archeomancy of the 40 Worlds. The matrix in this case was one of the four Qabalistic Worlds and one of the 10 Sephiroth, combined together they emulated the primary spiritual hierarchy that I had developed, which was based on the Qabalah. This would include all of the angels of the 10 Sephiroth within the four Worlds.

In order to magically define these two dimensions of the matrix, I had to write two new rituals, which were based on the four Qabalistic Worlds (entitled the Qabalistic Pyramid of Powers) and at least nine of the ten Sephiroth (incorporated into a ritual entitled the Eneagram Invocation rite). Initially, these two rituals were to be performed in addition to the Quintedecim Complex to set the Qabalistic domain of the archeomantic spirit. Later on, the Quintedecim Complex was dropped for a more simplistic one; but the whole process began to make me realize that invoking through a matrix was an important directive for invocative magick.

What really tipped the balance for me was attempting to write custom invocation rites for the 36 angelic rulers of the astrological decans. I had basically determined that these spirits were very important, particularly since they were also the angels associated with the 36 Naib or Pip cards of the Lesser Arcana of the Tarot and appeared to co-rule (along with the zodiacal archangels) the famous 72 angels of the ha-Shem as well as the 72 Goetic demons. I had come to that conclusion by carefully reading what Crowley had written in his master-work on the Tarot called the Book of Thoth. I wanted to be able to invoke any of the 36 angelic rulers, but I didn’t want to have to write custom invocation rituals for each angelic spirit. How I resolved that problem was to build up the symbolic correspondences and spiritual hierarchy for each spirit and fashion that into a modular ritual which would emulate the Quintedecim complex.

This new rite would consist of an octagon base (creating an energy vortex), a spiritual gateway associated with the spiritual hierarchy of the astrological sign, a Rose-Ankh invoking vortex, and then in the center (defined by its own inner circle) the magician would perform a summoning rite which would work through the associated spiritual hierarchy. These four steps would create an alternative invoking structure that would be followed by the Gate of Revealing rite. However, I would only need to write one ritual that would have specific variables chosen at each point to set any of the elements of the symbolic matrix in order to realize the domain and spiritual intelligence of that angelic ruler of the decan within the Gate of Revealing. So this was the very first step that I took departing from previous standard of having to write unique custom invocation rituals for each spirit.

For the purpose of presenting this new technique, I would like to elaborate on the ritual process of invoking through a matrix to show how I managed to build an array of ritual structures that would do the same thing as the Quintedecim complex. I would like to cover each step in a bit more detail than the list of steps above so you can get a better idea of how I evolved these basic steps to produce a whole new methodology.

I began this rite by building a four-fold Elemental spirit base set to the four Watchtowers. What I did was erect a pylon structure to each of these four points, where the base of the pylon was qualified by the base element and the apex, with the qualifying element. I did this through setting an invoking pentagram at both points and then fusing them with an invoking spiral. I would choose the four Enochian Elemental spirits for the given astrological base element of the specific astrological decan. I would then intone the Enochian call for that specific Elemental spirit when the pylon was erected. In the center of the circle I would draw an invoking pentagram of spirit in the ultra-point (masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the element) and summon the Enochian King of that element to the base.

So, the foundation of the ritual had four active Enochian elemental spirits and the Enochian element king, and when all four were drawn together into a square and aligned to the center, it would create a unified power base for the whole working. I was able extend this foundational structure by drawing the four cross devices representing the tetrasacramentary (although any kind of device would do) to the four angles, and these would be joined to themselves along with a great Rose Ankh drawn in the center of the circle at the infra-point. The combined structures would form another overlapping square device, and thereby the power octagon would be fully erected. I would then draw together the Ultra-point and Infrapoint to form a pylon in the center of the circle, then I would draw an inner circle widdershins, intone the Enochian call of Spirit, and perform the first invocation of the ruling planet. All of these steps would help to generate the overall energy field for this working, and to do this there is only one pattern with multiple choices depending on the qualities associated with that cell of the symbolic matrix.

Once the power octagon is established, upon these layers of ritual structures I would erect the astrological gateway. This gateway would be considered a definitive invocative structure itself, and would later be used as such. However, it was the mechanism that I decided I could use to define the spiritual quality of the astrological sign, which consists of the three spirits of the spiritual intelligence, the active principle and the ruling force. I invoked each of these specific spirits associated with the astrological sign at the three points of a western aligned gateway of the underworld. So, there would be a distinct gateway for each of the 12 zodiacal signs. Proceeding through the gateway, I would then express the unified concept of the zodiacal gate, and then proceeding through I would generate an invoking vortex by drawing Rose-Ankhs to the four watchtowers within a widdershins arc. I would then erect the septagram trigon in the center of the circle, which is the final preparation for the singular rite of summoning the Angel of the Decan.

I then would perform the summoning rite of the decan with the invoking vortex, and it would consist of me performing the following operations in sequence: summoning the angelic decan ruler and also Egyptian god of decan, summoning planetary ruler as Olympian spirit, intoning the Enochian planetary call (three times), tracing the planetary angle on the Septagram, charging the sigil of angelic decan ruler and expressing its image or imago (as taken from the Sabian House visions), and finally, intoning the generic Enochian call of the angelic ruler of the decan.

After these three major steps are followed, then the Gate of Revealing rite is performed to complete the invocation process. However, as you can see, there are aspects of the astrological gateway that might be construed as a potential invocation gateway, thus making the Gate of Revealing slightly, although not completely, redundant. I would, over the intervening years, ponder over this structure, and it would lead me to the next method that I would incorporate, which is the Archetypal Gate ritual.

Also, when I performed the custom invocation of Lilith in the very early 1990's, I was instructed by her during the aftermath of the invocation to develop a new methodology for performing a quick invocation on a spirit that had already been invoked by a custom invocation rite. This ritual was called the Enochian Planetary Vortex, which incorporated the 4 Watchtowers and the 3 gate nodes to produce a seven-fold planetary invocation of a given spirit. This method would not only establish the element and the planet, but also the specific astrological sign by using three of the Lesser Hexagram devices. These seven points represented a kind of magical invoking spiral that culminated in a powerful gateway device called the Grand Gate Threshold.

This ritual structure allowed me to re-invoke an important spiritual patron without having to use the Gate of Revealing rite. Instead, I was able to use a single rite to materialize all of the important attributes and structures of the more elaborate custom invocation ritual process. All I needed to work this rite was the consecrated sigil of the spirit. Of course, this new ritual helped to plant the seed in my fertile imagination for a whole new approach to performing an invocation, even though I still had to perform the original custom methodology in order to take advantage of this new ritual technology. Additionally, the Enochian Planetary Vortex itself was a custom written ritual, even though it was a lot shorter and succinct than the Quintedecim Complex. However, developing this new method had inspired me to look at other possibilities, and that openness to experimentation would evolve into a completely new technique. 

(Continued...)

Frater Barrabbas 

Secret Key to Invocation and Evocation in Ritual Magick - Part 1

This is a three part series that outlines the history and evolution of my ritual based system of performing invocation and evocation. While this might be a rather long winded narrative about my discoveries and how I deployed new techniques to accomplish this task, I thought that it should be told so that others might know that learning magick is an incremental process. What that means is that you don’t just come up with the definitive method the first time you attempt to develop something new. Often the first approach is the least fruitful, and that it takes numerous other attempts to find the best way to achieve the desired objective. This is really quite true in the area of ritual and ceremonial magick, since there is less of a documented or standardized methodologies in those traditions for invoking higher order spirits, such as angels and demons. Having to invent your own methodology to invoke these spirits is not an unreasonable objective, although it is much more difficult if you go far from what is considered a traditional methodology. Here is my story and these are the techniques that I developed over a period of thirty years.

In a previous article (Fool’s Journey vs Hero’s Journey), I had discussed that the archetypal underworld cycle of the hero is also the pattern of transformative initiation, and that one triggers the other. This is a very ancient theme, which might have its roots back in the eons before history, since it also characterizes the same initiatory and healing pattern that the quintessential Shaman undergoes.

Through this mechanism, the seeker is able to enter into a psychic domain of ancient and archetypal collective images, symbols and the very essence of how human beings define their world. (This is what Jim Morrison meant when he said, “he took a face from the ancient gallery and he walked on down the hall.”) We unwittingly enter this world when we dream or fanticize, but there are deliberative techniques to enter into this domain that have been used since the apparent beginning of our species, and these techniques involve deep trance states induced through ecstasy. Additionally, there are many ways of triggering ecstasy, whether they are achieved chemically or through various physical disciplines, or a combination of both. The end result is practically the same, although each technique has its benefits and hazzards. One could easily label this process a kind of theurgic ordeal, and indeed it is.

The domain that such seekers desire to gain entrance into is none other than the place of spirits; whether the spirits in question are gods, goddesses, demigods, ancestors, angels, demons or nature spirits isn’t relevant since they all reside contiguously in the same reality. It is a mutable world where seekers can perceive and communicate with spirits, and a place where thought becomes form and form becomes thought. Yet the themes and symbology of this compelling spirit world can and should be incorporated into a system of magick and liturgy that gives the practicing Pagan or Wiccan access to it.

Also, pagan practitioners of any kind of magick that seeks to summon spirits should approach them with the same reverence and worshipful respect regardless of their status within the spiritual hierarchy. This means that we should approach a Godhead with the same reverence as we would approach our ancestors, demigods, or even other spirits, such as angels, demons, or nature spirits. We are able to approach them through our own spiritual intermediary, which is our familiar spirit, genius, higher-self or holy guardian angel. Not to approach such spirits with this important attitude of religious veneration (especially if they are demons or neutral nature spirits) is to invite such spirits to respond to us in a hostile and inimical manner. This perspective demonstrates the pronounced difference between how Pagans and Wiccans would approach such an operation as the invocation of a spirit as compared to the typical adherent of the Abrahamic faiths. This is because Pagans and Wiccan don’t work through a dualistic world-view of good and evil.

Therefore as pagan religionists, we need to first fortify and empower our relationship to the God/dess Within in order to gain entrance into the world of spirit, since that higher-self attribute is the key to the world of the spirits. Without it we can neither perceive spirits or immerse ourselves in their domain, since it is the preeminent psycho-spiritual mediator. Once the spirit familiar is activated and absorbed (or drawn down) into our being as our own personal Godhead, then we can fully encounter the gateway of the spirit world through an application of ecstatic trance techniques and the symbolic tropes that set the mood and theme of the working.

In the practice of ritual magick, we can also build up prismatic energy structures that give substance and a kind of magical reality to the themes of entering the spirit world. Such themes use the symbolic structures of the consecrated circle, the spiral vortex, the cross-roads, the double tetrahedral gateway (aligned to both the West and the East) and the inner circle, which represents the hidden domain of the spirit itself. Through a combination of these prismatic energy structures, Godhead assumption, ecstatic trance and the activation of the matrix of symbolic correspondences associated with the target spirit, a successful and tangible encounter with that spirit within its spectral domain is achieved.

This is the methodology that I discovered and developed over a period of several years of experimentation, and it was forced on me because I couldn’t figure out how to activate either the Golden Dawn methodology or the old grimoire ceremonial methodology. I created a new path because I was too impatient to figure out how the old methodologies could be employed, and I didn’t have a teacher to assist or guide me. I did have some handicaps such as the time period (late 70's), my youthfulness, my lack of available books or teachers, and the fact that I was using traditional witchcraft as my foundation. The various traditional systems of ceremonial magick available to me were not inherently compatible to the practices of traditional witchcraft, so I invented a new system instead, using the scant available materials and my own imagination. You can find a rather nicely written detailed overview of this methodology in an article that I wrote in June of last year (Mystery Gateway - Realizing An Invocation), and if you are unfamiliar with my methodologies, then I would recommend that you review it before getting too much further into this article.

My first approach to building a ritual system that would enable me to perform the invocation and evocation of various spirits employed an extension of the same methodology that I had earlier developed for talismanic planetary magick. I could have just used the ritual structure of a magnetic vortex as a spirit trap and then attempted to summon the spirit within it. This would have forced me to engage in a possible endless series of callings and potential dismissals, while subjecting the target spirit to a kind of Qabalistic interrogation to ensure that what answered the summoning was indeed the spirit that I desired to invoke. However, I declined to take this easier route and chose instead to focus on building up a regimen for invocation and evocation that actually generated the spirit, both its energy body and intelligence.

I also knew at that time that I could fashion an energy sphere of the appropriate kind of elemental energy using the power octagon, and within that energy field, define all seven of the planetary attributes of the spirit’s intelligence employing the artifice of the septagram. I would then fuse the elemental body with the seven-fold planetary intelligence through the artifice of a western aligned tetrahedral gateway, and unify the body and mind of the spirit as well as enter into the domain of that specific spirit. From previous experiments, I knew that an application of sacral host fragments and wine could also function as a method for quickening and fortifying the material form of the spirit (similar to an animal sacrifice). Yet the very core of this technique relied on a method for gaining an ecstatic trance state, which used a form of hyperventilation that I called the Lotus 7-breath. I experimented with the various aspects of this ritual based methodology for three years (from 1977 through 1980), and then was able to perfect it by experimenting for a few more years. By 1983, I had a fully matured ritual system for performing invocations, even though it was rather idiosyncratic and opaque to those not intimately schooled in my methodologies.

However, the one glaring weakness of this new system was that every spirit invoked would have its own custom ritual. I would have to research and determine the elemental and planetary attributes for every single spirit that I would attempt to invoke using this methodology.  This may have been acceptable for some very important and strategic spiritual entities that I needed to invoke and who also functioned as my spiritual guides and emissaries, but such a flaw would have made a comprehensive system used against a full hierarchy of spirits completely untenable. Using this methodology would have forced me to have written a unique custom ritual for every single spirit in my hierarchy. If you consider that my spiritual hierarchy consists of a total of 255 spirits (not including the spirits of the Goetia-Theurgia) then writing a unique ritual for each of them would have been a monumental project. I would still be working on it today and I would hardly be anywhere near completing it, since I would constantly be discovering a new set of spirits to add to that collection. So using custom rituals for each and every spirit was definitely not the way to proceed with this new magical technology.

Thus, as I proceeded to develop this system I discovered, at strategic intervals, a simpler and more direct method for performing an invocation. I also learned to use a symbolic matrix to classify specific spirits within my spiritual and magical hierarchy. Using the thematic mixture of specific symbols of correspondences and employing them at certain points within a generalized and modular system of ritual magick allowed me to write and perform rituals that were much more concentrated and far less complex. It also allowed me to have fewer rituals within my repertoire, which I have found is a very important attribute for any aspiring ritual magician.

The evolution of this system of invocative magick had basically three levels, and each is still being used by me (and the Order) as part of an overall methodology. These three levels can be labeled by the rituals used or the techniques employed. My first methodology was to perform an invocation employing the Quintedecim Complex (elemental octagon and planetary septagram) and the Gate of Revealing. The second method was where I learned to invoke through a symbolic matrix, and the third and final method that I discovered was a technique that I call the archetypal gate mechanism.

All of these methods use the basic ritual structures of the magick circle, the spiral vortex (using the Rose Ankh device), the elemental octagon, the inner circle, the planetary septagram (for all seven planets or just the ruling planet), the lesser hexagram and superior pentagram devices (to define an astrological sign) and the tetrahedral gateway. The mass and benediction rites are used to charge and sacralize the temple as well as provide the sacraments. A few of them also employ the cross-roads pylon vortex, the trapezoid (as the prismatic structure of the trapezohedron), an eastern aligned tetrahedral gateway, or even an inverted tetrahedral gateway (for so-called infernal spirits).

Each of these different methods have their own select and targeted spiritual hierarchy that they invoke. The custom built Quintedecim Complex is used for important spiritual avatars and elected leaders of the spiritual hierarchy, and the others are invoked either through the symbolic matrix of correspondences or some variation of the archetypal gate. I think that it would be beneficial to examine each of these techniques and write an overview of each so as to fully expound on my methods for performing the invocation and evocation of spirits. We already covered the Quintedecim Complex in a previous article, so I will spend more time discussing the other two techniques.

(Continued...)

Frater Barrabbas