Art of Armadel, Theurgic Ascension and Sethian Gnosticism

We have already obliquely defined the art of Armadel as the art of disposition, and that such an art was dedicated to the acquiring and obtaining knowledge, wisdom, deep mystical insights and illumination - a kind of gnostic wisdom. We have also been able to determine how the magician would approach the grimoire and unlock its various sigil characters in order to obtain that knowledge. However, the biggest stumbling block to organizing the Grimoire of Armadel into a fully operational work is to organize, decipher and make sense out of the strange sub-chapters where the sigil characters are exhibited. In other words, we need to make thematic sense out of the two books, which are entitled as Book I, “Theosophy of Our Fathers”, and Book II, “Sacro-Mystic Theology of Our Fathers.” As they presently stand, there seems to be no pattern or structure to these two books.

A cursory glance at the sub-chapter headers for each of these books seems to only demonstrate a profound disorganized confusion and a seemingly obsessive focus on highly obscure biblical themes. What could possibly be gained from unlocking the sigil characters of Zaphkiel to have that spirit reveal the secrets of the lives of angels before the fall? One could acquire more insight by reading and studying Milton’s “Paradise Lost” than performing this operation. Even more absurd is the sigil character for Thaveal who reveals supposedly what transpired at the circumcision of Jesus at Nazareth. How do these operations aid the magician to obtain the coveted blessed state of illumination? This question goes unanswered, but it would seem that each of the sub-chapters would represent some kind of step or stage in the process of acquiring a god-like acquisition of the Spirit World and all that it contains.

As I have said previously, it is likely that the chaotic thematic nature of the books and sub-chapters would have to be exchanged for something that does make sense. I even proposed making use of certain Sethian Gnostic works that are near and dear to my heart, but before that can be done, I will need to determine the structure and operational use of these two books - to plumb their nature and function. Perhaps the only way to accomplish that task to is first step back from these two books and look at them in a more oblique manner.

Book I contains twenty-two sub-chapters, which shouldn’t be too surprising, considering that the grimoire has an obvious Qabbalistic bias. Book II contains sixteen sub-chapters, so it would represent a more earth-based mixture of good and evil, light and darkness, since the number sixteen is analogous to the Divine Tetrad emanating into physical manifestation.

The first book could be compared to the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life as well as the Ten Sephiroth, which would accord some of the archangelic spirits a dual representation. The key to Book I is the occurrence of nine Hebrew letters thinly disguised as angelic spirits. One could assume that all of the sub-chapters in Book I are associated, either directly or indirectly, with the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life. When Qabbalists encounter the pathways in some work, they realize that this indicates some kind of implied spiritual ascension. To walk the pathways is synonymous with ascending the planes through transformative initiation, ultimately achieving full union with the Absolute Spirit - the One. So the thematic function of Book I is to provide a catalyst for union with the Deity, which is a form of theurgistic ascension.

If we carefully look over the twenty-two sub-chapters, we can see that there are eleven archangels, nine Hebrew letters and one Olympian spirit. Samael is listed twice, and the attributes of Haniel and Anael both refer to the Sephirah Netzach. The sub-chapter “Concerning Pythene - Abuses of Necromancy,” which is attributed to Samael, and the sub-chapter “Concerning the Nature of the Genii,” which is attributed to Anael, could both be swapped for two sub-chapters in the second book so that each of the attributes of the first book would be unique, refering to qualities that are not influenced by demonic spirits. For this reason, I would pull the sub-chapter “Concerning the Life of the Angels Before the Fall,” which is attributed to Zaphkiel, and the sub-chapter “Concerning the Creation of Angels,” which is attributed to Och, from the second book and put them into the first book, thus allowing all of the attributes to be unique. So we now have twenty-two unique attributes containing the first nine pathways, followed by eleven Sephiroth (Samael is now accorded to Daath) and two planetary Olympian spirits, which are Mars and the Sun.

With the all of the attributes determined, the twenty-two sub-chapters of the first book can be directly associated with the twenty-two paths of the Tree of Life, where the paths begin at the lowest level and ascend to the highest level. Since the first nine paths at the highest order are already determined, it’s only necessary to find attributes for the remaining thirteen paths. This was accomplished, but the results were less than satisfactory, since the top three Sephiroth were already fully allocated to the top nine pathways; less troublesome were the two planets, Mars and the Sun. However, the list of archangels, angels and planetary spirits can now be grouped in a logical order, beginning with the bottom most path (Thav) and ascending to the top (Aleph). I have determined the following list of spirits, but I would assume that others might come up with a slightly different list. (The two paths with an asterisk were taken from Book II.)

1. Caphael (Thav)
2. Michael (Shin)
*3. Och - Sun (Resh)
*4. Zaphkiel (Qoph)
5. Gabriel (Tzaddi)
6. Phaleg - Mars (Peh)
7. Samael (A’in)
8. Raphael (Samek)
9. Haniel (Nun)
10. Camael (Mim)
11. Uriel (Lamed)
12. Zadkiel (Kaph)
13. Thavael (Yod)
14. Tetehatia (Tet)
15. Hathatia (Chet)
16. Zainael (Zain)
17. Vau-Ael (Vav)
18. Hetael (Heh)
19. Dalate (Daleth)
20. Gimela (Gimmel)
21. Bethel (Beith)
22. Alepta (Aleph)

The second book contains sixteen sub-chapters, and looking over the spurious topics, it would seem that there are eight sub-chapters associated with diabolic themes, three associated with the Deity, three associated with humanity, and two miscellaneous topics (paths of wisdom and knowledge of good angels). As I have already said, sixteen sub-chapters are synonymous to the sixteen elementals. If we are able to attribute positive and negative qualities to these elementals, we would come up with eight negative and eight positive ones. This is done by making a relative determination that Fire and Air are positive, and Water and Earth are negative. That means that combining the elements using only positive to positive and negative to negative attributed elements will produce four combinations that are positive, and four that are negative. When combining a positive element with a negative element, if the top element is positive, then the resulting elemental will be positive; conversely, if the top element is negative, then the resulting elemental will be negative. Using this simple rule, four positive and four negative elementals will be produced - giving a total of eight positive and negative elementals. The following list should make my proposed structure quite clear.

1. Fire of Fire (pos.) - Cassiel (God universally One)
2. Air of Air (pos.) - Michael (God as Trinity)
*3. Water of Water (neg.) - Samael (Concerning Pythene)
4. Earth of Earth (neg.) - Lucifer, Belzebut, Astarot (Angelic Rebellion and Expulsion)
5. Fire of Air (pos.) - Gabriel (God as Preserver, Destroyer, Creator)
6. Air of Fire (pos.) - Spirits/Angels of Power, Joy and Love (Three Paths of Wisdom)
7. Water of Earth (neg.) - Hemostopile/Mephistopheles (Invisible Devils)
8. Earth of Water (neg.) - Brufor (Binding Devils)
9. Fire of Water (pos.) - Zadkiel, Sachiel (Knowing Good Angels)
10. Fire of Earth (pos.) - Phul, Gabriel (Life of Man)
11. Air of Water (pos.) - Ophiel (Regeneration of Adam)
12. Air of Earth (pos.) - Aratron (Destiny of Man)
13. Water of Fire (neg.) - Bethor (Devils and their lives)
14. Water of Air (neg.) - Asmode, Leviatan (Binding Devils)
*15. Earth of Fire (neg.) - Anael (Nature of the Genii)
16. Earth of Air (neg.) - Laune (Knowledge of Devils and Banishing them)

Notice that numbers three and fifteen were pulled from the first book.

I have now given a structure and an organization to the two books where little or none had existed previously. The names of the two books could also be considered spurious, so in my opinion, better names for them would look something like this:

Book I - Ascension of the Initiate Into the Heart of God,

Book II - Descent of Spirit into Light and Darkness - the Heart of Mankind.

These two names would be much more functionally useful, so I will use them instead of what was used in the original grimoire. Therefore, it would appear that the two books now have a completed theme and structure, which consists of a theurgistic ascension and then a descent, ostensibly, to redeem and regenerate the material world with the product of that ascension. This brings us to our next consideration, and that is elaborating on the specific themes for all of the sub-chapters, since what is listed and elucidated in the original grimoire seems quite superficial and even extraneous. I am proposing, of course, to institute a completely different theme altogether; yet one that will further and deepen the thematic structures already solidly determined.


Neoplatonism, Sethian Gnosticism and Cultic Ascension

Spiritual ascension, as determined by the practice of theurgy or religious rites, has many mythic and metaphysical exponents in the Western Mystery tradition, beginning with late classical times and continuing through the modern age. This is not a new spiritual perspective, by no means, and we can therefore pick and choose from any number of pagan, Christian, gnostic, Masonic, Rosicrucian, alchemical, occultic or even neopagan perspectives. However, the structures of the two books have determined at least that the basic foundation will be qualified by the Qabbalah, regardless of the system used. What may not be completely realized is that this underlying theme will allow us to choose something that hearkens back to the Neoplatonic roots that they all share. Still, if I am going to build a specific theme from a known tradition, I should state my reasons for doing so, and also apply that tradition to the existing underlying structure. That, of course, is my next objective. (I will keep in mind that everyone else is free to pick and choose their own source tradition to work with this grimoire.)

For the past several years I have been reading and studying the written works of an obscure Gnostic group called by scholars, Sethians or Barbeloites. They are called this because they believed that they represented a secret line from the third son of Adam, who was known as Seth. Whereas all of the people who considered themselves Jews could mythically claim to descend from this remote biblical ancestor, the Sethians believed that they represented an exclusive or rare lineage. Sethians also appeared to believe in a spiritual being whom they called Barbello, a feminine Spirit or Goddess like entity who, along with the ineffable and unnameable One, generated the host of entities who were collectively called the Pleroma (fullness). If you could imagine a Qabbalistic system consisting of the Sephiroth Kether through Hod, excluding Yesod and Malkuth, then that would be a good approximation of the Pleroma.

Was this lineage that the Sethians wrote about a secret blood line? No one appears to know - the last Sethians probably disappeared before the fall of Rome. Yet looking over their texts, they seemed to promote a secret teaching and represent an esoteric lineage of individuals, who happened to chose a specific biblical patriarch to mythically represent their cult, rather than a rare blood line. The Sethian cult probably emerged out of Alexandria, and it may have initially contained a splinter group of esoteric Jews, however their religious beliefs were based much more on a deep antinomian interpretation of Jewish religious beliefs and traditions, making them more like a counter movement. They seemed to have engaged in some form of baptism or ritual immersion, although whether that rite involved any kind of water is unknown - it may have been more like a cultic initiation. They also appear to have practiced forms of Neoplatonic theurgy and extensively used the philosophical constructs of emanationism, the three Hypostases, cultic ascension and salvation through spiritual wisdom (gnosis). The Sethians would have found the modern Qabbalah to be a system very close to their own doctrines and beliefs, since both drew heavily from the same Neoplatonic sources. Therefore, their writings should be capable of being interpreted and understood from a Qabbalistic perspective, which would server a dual purpose of determining the sub-chapters of the grimoire and defining the specific gnostic scriptures.

Perhaps in many ways, the Sethians seemed to mix, in a heterogeneous manner, pagan philosophy, gnostic and Jewish beliefs and practices. They were also reputed to engage in some kind of practical sex magick and erotic sacramentation, at least according to their Christian polemicists. I have found these ancient practitioners and their beliefs to be surprisingly very similar to my own, even though the context of my practices are rooted in a post-modern setting, and the Sethians existed in antiquity. I am a polytheist pagan, but also a monist (in the Neoplatonic definition of that term), who practices ritual magick and theurgy. Qabbalah and Angelogy are very much a part of my occult work, so what I do has elements of Jewish Neoplatonism blended into it.

Reading over the surviving books from the Nag Hamadi collection has shown me that the Sethians and their spiritual perspectives are very similar to my own. Therefore, I believe that two of their texts, the “Apocryphon of John” and the “Trimorphic Protenoia” would be quite suitable to act as the thematic basis for the two books in the Grimoire Armadel. I also believe that certain sections and text can be also taken from the “Three Stele of Seth” and the “Secret Gospel of the Egyptians.” The latter two documents are actually rituals; the Stele documents were used in a fragmented cultic ascension rite, and the Gospel of the Egyptians was a baptism/initiation rite.

I will select specific textual parts from these documents and use them to give a gnostic-pagan Qabbalistic theme to the Grimoire of Armadel. However, before I do that, I will need to carefully analyze, examine these four books, beginning with a general overview as well as highlighting those sections that are very pertinent to the work of the grimoire. We are looking for twenty-two sub-chapters that will be used to build a form of theurgistic ascension, and also sixteen sub-chapters that represent the descent into matter and the provenance of daimonic intermediaries of the Godhead. With these points in mind, and the internal qualifications of the twenty-two paths and the sixteen elementals, we have our work cut out for us. 

Frater Barrabbas

Ordeal of the Grimoire Armadel

Recently, I posted an article that explained the mystery of the Grimoire of Armadel and showed how it could be made into an operational grimoire. The days leading up to this revelation were filled with the inspiration of a higher genius other than my own, guiding my steps and allowing me to solve a puzzle that I have been pondering over for many years. Now that the mystery is resolved (at least as far as I am able to determine), I wish to assemble the steps necessary to fully deploy this grimoire. What I have discovered is that I already possess the ritual tools to do most of this work, and these rites are part of the standard lore for the Order of the Gnostic Star. I will have to revise one ritual, add alternative angel invocations to another, and write two new rituals. The ordeal itself is very time consuming and probably can’t be done in a single autumn and winter season, unless one has nothing else to do. Living a normal life, working at a job to pay the bills, spending time with one’s significant other, family and friends (in other words, having some kind of social life) would preclude completing this operation in a single season, at least for me. So I am suggesting that this ordeal be done in phases, and how one would go about doing that will be the topic of this article.

Members of the E.S.S.G. will have all of the lore at their disposal to perform this ordeal; those who are outside will have to build up that lore themselves. I don’t believe that this task is too difficult or incapable of being realized by someone outside of the Order, nevertheless, it will require some creativity and invention. Where I call for the invocation of various archangels, Qabbalistic pathworkings and the generation of talismans, all of these are tasks that the accomplished ritual or ceremonial magician would have at his or her disposal. However, a magician possessing the ingenuity to pull all of these pieces together is where the real creativity is required. The structures used in combining these various facets together would characterize a system of magick that is probably unique to the Order, but they would not be beyond the abilities of a crafty magickal practitioner.

I would also have to assume that what I have derived as the operational methodology to plumb the mysteries of the sigil characters found in this grimoire is only one of many different ways. I invite other magicians to find a methodology to activate this grimoire, and I look forward to a lively exchange between individuals with different magickal perspectives.


The Ordeal

The Ordeal is divided into three phases: the preliminary tasks, the ordeal introit, and then the actual ordeal (Mysterium Gateway). The preliminary tasks may take a full season to implement, but the introit and actual ordeal should be done serially, one immediately after the other, and should only take a couple of months to complete. Let’s look at these steps and determine what needs to be accomplished to fully activate the ordeal.


Preliminary Steps

The ritual magician has basically two preliminary tasks to accomplish before the ordeal proper can be started. These tasks involve the invocation of twelve archangels and the production of six talismans. I will now discuss each of these two preliminary tasks in greater detail.

During the course of a season, the ritual magician should perform a separate and distinct invocation for each of the following archangels. I would also recommend that a charged linking parchment containing the sigil signature of this spirit be produced, and a proper liber spiritum, or book of spirits, be kept. The liber spiritum should be a small blank book consisting of a page or more of notes and other information kept on each invoked archangel. These twelve archangels will be called again when the actual ordeal is performed, so the ritual magician will have to have an established link maintained and kept active with all of these spirits. I would recommend that the magician contact each of these archangels once a month for the duration of time between seasons when one will be required to perform the ordeal.

Another alternative would be to perform the archangel invocations every weekend in such a manner so that three archangels would be invoked every week for a period of one month. I will probably decide on using this alternative method for the actual ordeal, requiring a full month packed with invocations just prior to the activation of the ordeal. This would make the archangelic invocations more recent and active for the overall ordeal. 

The following is a list of the archangels who are to be invoked as part of this preliminary working. You should note that six of these angelic spirits will not be used in the Uriel as Seraph Operation working; they are only engaged when an associated sigil character is used to produce a vision or gain some kind of occult knowledge.

The following list of archangels is given a Qabbalistic context; they are associated with a Sephirah and the Qabbalistic world of Briah. This is done so that the invocation can have a matrix of correspondences, allowing for greater ease in identifying and performing the invocation rite. (An asterisk marks an archangel as not being a member of the Uriel as Seraph Operation.)

 Anael - Netzach (alt.)
*Camael - (Khamael) - Geburah
*Caphael - Malkuth - (alternate for Sandalphon)
 Cassiel - Binah (alt.)
 Gabriel - Yesod
*Haniel - Netzach
 Michael - Hod
 Raphael - Tiphareth
 Sachiel - Chesed (alt.)
*Thavael - Kether - (alternate for Metatron)
*Zadkiel - Chesed
*Zaphkiel - Binah

The next set of tasks is to generate six talismans. In the grimoire only six Olympian spirits are referenced, but I decided that it would be more useful (and more powerful) to articulate these planetary intelligences as talismanic elementals. My reason for making this decision is that two of the planetary intelligences should have a decided negative or inverted quality, since they are associated with negative visions and occult knowledge in line with diabolical spiritual aspects. This ability to bend the working and interpret it in a negative manner would require a more nuanced approach than just invoking a planetary intelligence. A talismanic elemental is a spiritual intelligence that can be contrasted and modified in a subtle manner, making it fit a visionary aspect that is different than its essential meaning. Additionally, using talismans allows for a degree of portability and materialization that would not occur with just an Olympian spirit.

To facilitate these tasks, I have looked over and chosen six specific talismanic elementals, but I have decided not to use the waning moon aspects to generate two negative or “curse” talismans. All of these talismans will not be directed outwardly, but instead will be used to foster visions and wisdom. I believe that using negative talismans to facilitate this inward process would be very ill advised, so I will instead make each and everyone of the talismans during the waxing moon. I will then use two of them to help determine occult insights that could be construed negative or diabolical.

The following is a list of the talismanic elementals and their associated lunar mansions. The textual description of the talismanic element is separated from the sigil character quality with a hyphen.

Phaleg - Mars of Water - Lsrahpm (mansion #28): protection against dark forces, able to draw or catch opportunities or romantic partners - arcana of necromancers (neg.)

Ophiel - Mercury of Fire - Anodoin (mansion #21): protection for one’s home, geomancy - sacramental regeneration (pos.)

Bethor - Jupiter of Earth - Aczinor (mansion #24): star of fortune, produces great material gain - occult knowledge of angels of darkness or demons (neg.)

Phul - Moon of Earth - Lzinopo (mansion #14): domestic security - creation of souls (pos.)

Aratron - Saturn of Air - Hipotga (mansion #17): reverses ill fortune - destiny of souls (pos.)

Och - Sun of Fire - Edelprna (mansion #11): generates the charisma and power of great leaders - creation of angels (pos.)

To generate these six talismans, the magician will have to plan and perform each magickal operation at the exact auspicious time associated with the targeted mansion of the moon, particularly while the moon is waxing. I would assume that producing these talismans would probably take several months to complete. Therefore, producing the six talismans should occupy the magician’s very first steps in building up the required elements before proceeding to the next task.


Ordeal Introit

There are three steps to be performed for the introit of the ordeal. These steps are: performing the Qabbalistic pathworking to activate the nine paths from Aleph (#11 - Atu 0 - Fool) through Tet (#19 - Atu XI), performing the invocations of Samael and Uriel, and performing the Uriel as Seraph Operation working. I will discuss each of the steps separately. 

Qabbalistic Pathworking - Using the Order’s ritual of the Double Tetrahedral Gate, perform a complete pathworking ritual to realize the essence of that Qabbalistic path in association with the angel of the Hebrew letter. The magician will use all of the strategic correspondences associated with a Qabbalistic path, including all of the Sephiroth of Kether through Tiphareth. Interestingly, these nine paths are associated with spiritual aspects that are either at or above the Greater Abyss. Once these nine pathworking rites are completed, the nine pathways are pulled together into a pattern where they form an Enneagramic gate. The enneagram thus becomes the foundation for the grimoire based ordeal. I noticed a curious thing when I was developing this combined structure; the nine pathways form a pattern of nine gates. As a fan of the movie “Ninth Gate,” I found this to be quite intriguing (and amusing).

The next step is where the magician invokes the archangelic spirits of Samael and Uriel, in that sequence. This would be a two step process, involving two separate and distinct operations. The archangel Samael is the key to all of the dark or infernal occult knowledge associated with the infernal princes and their servitors, and Uriel is the key to all of the greater occult knowledge. Uriel also acts as the control and central angelic spirit for the entire Armadel operation.

My research has essentially shown that Samael is considered the angelic equivalent of the great adversary or spiritual antagonist, who acts as the agent of ordeals, challenges and tests that are placed on the initiate through the authority of the Godhead. Samael is the initiator who teaches through crisis and internal conflict. Another name for that spirit is Satan or Shaitan, however, this spirit is not considered synonymous with the Devil, since there are five infernal princes who fit that role without equivocation. It seems that the archangel Samael is perceived in his Qabbalistic and Jewish role as divine adversary and official challenger (devil’s advocate). This is at least one piece of evidence that would support the idea that the Grimoire of Armadel is not so much a Christian grimoire as it is a product of European occultism. A purely Christian grimoire would probably identify Samael directly as a variation of Satan. To invoke Samael, I will build a custom ritual just for that purpose – I have a few other rites in my repertoire that can act as a model.

Uriel is the archangel associated with heavenly fire (illumination), salvation and he acts as the mediator for all spiritual mysteries. In many ways, he is analogous to the archangel Ratziel, who is the angel associated with Chokmah (Wisdom). I have decided to make Uriel an alternative angelic intelligence to Ratziel, and assign the Sephirah Chokmah to him. Therefore, I will use the matrix of Chokmah and the Qabbalistic world Briah to invoke the archangel of Uriel.

The Operation of Uriel functions as a mechanism to pull the eight archangels, six talismans and the nine pathways together into a seamlessly complete magickal structure. The foundation of this rite is the Enneagramic Gate, which uses three distinct gateways (West, North and East) superimposed onto the magick circle to form powerful overlapping structures. Upon the Enneagramic Gate is placed a septagramic gateway that uses the four Angles and an Ascension Gateway to establish a septagramic vortex grand gateway. The grand gateway is erected by using the points of the Western and Eastern watchtowers and the Ultrapoint, forming an equilateral triangle.

A central circle is drawn in the center of the magick circle, opened via the opening portal gesture, and within it, the Uriel as Seraph Operation working trigon is installed. Upon this trigon is installed the eight sigils for the eight archangels that have been already invoked and the six talismans that have already been charged and activated. The Enegramic Gate, the Septagramic Vortex Gate and Grand Gateway have joined all of these aspects together, along with the six talismans, which are set on the trigon to form a hexagram. A final invocation is recited to invoke the seraph archangelic spirit of Uriel, as the union of all of the seven archangels, six talismans, and the nine angels of the Qabbalistic pathways. After the working is done, all of the structures of the working are sealed – to be used whenever required. The completed Uriel working establishes the portal through which the sigil characters of the Grimoire of Armadel are fully activated.

Once the Uriel Operation is completed, then reestablishing it only requires a specialized macro rite that will unseal all of the nodes and reactivate the spirit of the archangel Uriel as Seraph. The magician is now able to perform a working at any time. There are some steps that must be performed initially, but glossed over for subsequent uses.


Mysterium Gateway - Armadel Working

The final step is the Mysterium Gateway, which is where the sigil characters of the grimoire are fully activated and deployed by the magician. The Mysterium Gateway can be performed at any time, since all of the preliminary steps have already been completed. The core working of the Armadel ordeal has only eight simple steps, and these are listed as the following:

1. Preparations - meditation, purification, fasting - saying of the Mass and a Benediction rite.
2. During the saying of Mass (the first time), the First Character is blessed and charged with sacrament. The magician will then perform a powerful meditation session where he or she bonds with the First Character as a personal lamen. The special sigil character for the ordeal working is also blessed and charged by the sacraments of the mass.
3. Erect a pyramid of power ritual chamber and empower it with the occult system of the tetra-sacramentary. This consists of using and deploying sacramental hosts blessed from each of the four Masses for the sacramental systems of Thelema, Thanatos, Agape and Eros, and these are set to the four Angles. (Each of the Four Angles represents a complete magickal circle with altar and wards, and a magickal system unto itself, so the over-arching magickal circle for this working consists of the overlapping of four magick circles.)
4. Self Anointing is performed with a special charged chrism, then performing the Godhead Assumption and finally, summoning the Higher Self as the HGA to act as an intermediary.
5. Opening of the Uriel as Seraph Operation construct to manifest the angelic aspect of Uriel as the union of all of the twenty-two elements. The active Uriel Operation trigon is the mechanism where the special sigil character is installed.
6. Erect the Grand gateway using the points of the North and South Watchtowers and the Infrapoint to establish an inverted equilateral triangle. The three Paths of Wisdom are also activated to empower the grand gateway, each path represents one point of the triangular gate. (The two grand gateways form a grand hexagram in the center of the magick circle.)
7. Using the sigil of the associated ruling spirit, summon that spirit to charge, bless and open the mystery of the associated sigil character. Acquire a deep state of trance and seek the ruling spirit to reveal a vision of the mystery. The magician may assist in setting the theme for this mystery through reading and meditating on the appropriate text (in this case, a specific passage from either the Apocryphon of John or the Trimorphic Protenoia). If one of the infernal spirits is the ruling spirit, then the archangel Samael is used as the intermediary.
8. Once the vision is completed, then close the gates and seal all of the nodes of the rite. The blessed and consecrated sigil character may be accessed again in the future in a fully consecrated magick circle where a Mass and Benediction have been performed. (It should be kept in a liber spirtum for that purpose.)

So, all of the above steps represent what I believe must be done to fully activate the sigil charcters of the Grimoire of Armadel. As you can see, there are a lot of steps in this ordeal. Some of what I have written here might be obscure or completely opaque to the magickal practitioner who is outside of the Order. Yet I believe that an adept magician should be able to manage to figure out all of these various steps and produce something that will work effectively.

A practicing ritual magician needs to build the following ritual mechanisms in order to activate this grimoire and perform the associated ordeal.

1. A ritual to perform talismanic magic using the lunar mansions.
2. Archangel invocation rite for all 14 archangels.
3. A ritual to perform Qabbalistic pathworking and summon the angel of the Hebew letter.
4. Develop and write the Uriel as Seraph Operation ritual working.
5. Develop and write the Mysterium gateway for the Armadel operation

The other ritual structures and mechanisms are not critical parts of the overall ordeal. They are additions that lend a certain aesthetic quality and unity to it. These ancillary ritual structures are also quite unique to the way magick is worked in the Order, but they do have a powerful effect when used. This is due to the prismatic power structures that make up the ritual structures used in the Order. A fuller explanation of these mechanisms would require the magician seeker to become a member of the Order. As you can see, membership doth have its privileges.

Frater Barrabbas