Month: November 2011

revibrahim asked you:
I could use their help, so if you have any pointers, it would be well appreciated. 🙂 Thank you if you can. 🙂

I need to start out by saying I am not a good example for this. Leaning towards more chaos magick and less cautious practices, I am willing to just go out and do things that may be considered dangerous to some. From a basic standpoint, I believe that if you’ve truly practiced banishing for some length of time, any form of banishing really, you can probably handle what comes your way. So I say, fuck it, go for it.

I recently found an opening for a job I actually wanted. Ready to throw my meager magickal powers to bear, I perused the Lesser Key and discovered Orias, a spirit in charge of appointments of prelacies and dignitaries. I equated this to the modern concept of getting a job. So I developed a ritual and called him up. I made a lot of mistakes.

The ritual went fine, and I am certain I contacted something. All through the ritual I didn’t think anything was amiss, expect it seemed the entity didn’t really understand what I wanted, and I couldn’t quite grasp what it wanted.

Only in retrospect did I spot my failings. First, the lack of communication was an obvious blunder. I should have been building a mystical communication system before I summoned. Also, in hindsight, the creature that appeared didn’t resemble any known aspects of Orias, leading me to conclude that it probably wasn’t him. From some later results, I have reached the conclusion that it most likely was one of his servants. Once again, should have seen that coming. No reason for the big man to answer his own phone when he has thirty legions working for him.

I have been doing some research since then, and I’ve learned a few things that I may try out. A few experts suggest that you should start out doing ancestor work. The theory being that you get more experience communicating with spirits, and should something go wrong, you have spiritual allies to help you out. As a chaos magician I would say the same thing goes for created entities as well. If you have some folks working for you on the other side already, you’re better off. If you would like to know my thoughts on performing either of these types of workings, feel free to ask.

I have also had it pointed out that the Grimorium Verum, a slightly less know goetic text, suggests summoning an intermediary to help you communicate with the higher spirits. Seems like sound advice to me. This all equals up to, get yourself an HGA, or at least something to help you out.

I also had the good fortune of speaking with my favorite local crone on the subject this last Sunday. She, of course, pointed out with glee more mistakes that I made. Which all make sense.

First, I was approaching the spirit as an equal, trying to make friends with it. All of the grimoires tell you to command these spirits. When doing my initial research before the summoning many sources told me, don’t be a dick. The grimoires are Medieval-Renaissance manuscripts. These are the same people who had no problems slaughtering native cultures. This made sense, but I may have taken it too far. My crone advised that I always approach these spirits from a position of authority. She made great pains to differentiate this from using power as a strong man does, as it is actually more akin to how a wise man earns respect. Now I keep hearing Cartman in the back of my head, but the advice is sound. Let the spirits know you’re a magus, you’re here to talk, but you’re not a person to be fucked with.

Second, she admonished me for not having clear expectations of the spirit when I performed the ritual. Yeah, I wanted it to get me a job, but that’s no way of starting a relationship. Once again, you are its authority, but it is not your fetch dog.

Last, and this really gave her a chuckle, she wondered why I never bothered to ask its name. I said that during the ritual I assumed it was Orias. Yes, I made an ass out myself and the spirit. Even if you think you know who you are talking to, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Don’t expect to get its real name, but you may get something that you can at least to refer to it as.

By the way, that job. I had a phone interview this morning, and they scheduled me for another one this afternoon. I am giving props to Orias and his legions for the leg-up.

My next step, I think I will attempt to summon the same being and see if we can communicate through tarot cards. That may be a language both of us understand.

Good luck. Let me know how your goetic work goes.

I am familiar with two types of astral work, but have only a passing experience with each. The first being the practice of astral travel, or “out of body experience.” I have used this a couple of times to see people I am close to. Usually, I try to conceive of at least some type of ritual to build gnosis for a magickal working, but my astral travels so far have always been spontaneous. I use deep-relaxation meditation, and then will myself to see the person in question.

My results have been limited. Once the person I went to see said they were engaged in an activity similar to what I saw at that time. No one has ever claimed to have felt my presence, nor have I seemed to have effected anything physically. The limited results do not surprise me, as I need to come up with some concrete ways to help me release my astral form. The only reason I think I had any success is that I went to people I have close ties with. Once perfected, I think it would be an excellent means of divination.

The second type of astral work I am familiar with is when a practitioner creates their own astral space for ritual or other purposes. I recently began serious work on building an astral temple. Every night as I go to sleep, I enter my temple, building up the details each night and thus making the realm as real as possible.

I would say, the major benefit of this type of work is exercising your visualization skills. It also gives you a safe room to retreat to if you find yourself under assault. There’s folks who say you can do all your work in the astral, and that it’s just as powerful or even more powerful as doing physical ritual. For every one of them, there’s someone who will tell you that doing all your work in the astral is a waste of time.

I see both sides, but lean towards the later. Yes, I guess you could do all of your work in the astral, but it seems to me to be the long ass way to do it. Creating something astrally, at least for me, takes a lot of time and repetition if you’re doing it right. Physical tools can take time to create as well, but at least you have it and can easily reach for it when needed.

Hope that answers your question. Feel free to ask more.