ON ITS WAY
My Book has taken so much longer than I could have ever anticipated. It is nice to finally see it in the "UPCOMING" section on my publisher's web page. Visit NEPHILIM PRESS and look around
http://www.nephilimpress.com/forthcoming/
The book is to be offfically titled:
Gateways Through Stone and Circle
“A Manual of Evocation
for the Planetary Intelligences"
A magical colleague and friend Inominandum, now has The Book of Abrasax published and for sale. I highly recommend his work. I plan on doing a review as soon as I read through the material.
NEPHILIM looks to have some great magician/ authors up on their sight and I've been pleased with how my work and correspondence with them has gone. I'm very excited to learn of others who have begun experimenting with the art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals and are trying to conduct these operations in earnest. It seems a large surge of magicians are collaborating and sharing their experiences. I cannot wait to hear how this work will impact everyone who tried it for themselves!
This will be evocation or invocation practices ? Drawing spirits to chrystal is know as invocation and I'm not semantic but I think it's big difference between these two things.
ReplyDeleteTechnically this art will be concerned with evocation by today's standards since the magician or operator is communicating with the spirit/angel that is "outside" the magic circle while the magician remains inside. Historically though, the grimoires made no distinction in the use of the word "invocation" and applied it to operations of both angels and demons. Through my research and largely from Hockley's records of his own experiments, the crystal or mirror was always positioned outside of the magic circle. However, as I mention in my book, I don't see problems moving the holy table and scrying device inside the circle. I've just never operated this way and all of my results this far have been from viewing the crystal outside beyond the circle's boarder.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal assessment and practice of invocation, the ritual is geared less toward the visual and auditory communication with the spirit and deals more with the encapsulating and penetrating essence of them in concentrated form. These ceremonies are more about integration and communion rather than strict communication.
Technically this art will be concerned with evocation by today's standards since the magician or operator is communicating with the spirit/angel that is "outside" the magic circle while the magician remains inside. Historically though, the grimoires made no distinction in the use of the word "invocation" and applied it to operations of both angels and demons. Through my research and largely from Hockley's records of his own experiments, the crystal or mirror was always positioned outside of the magic circle. However, as I mention in my book, I don't see problems moving the holy table and scrying device inside the circle. I've just never operated this way and all of my results this far have been from viewing the crystal outside beyond the circle's boarder.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal assessment and practice of invocation, the ritual is geared less toward the visual and auditory communication with the spirit and deals more with the encapsulating and penetrating essence of them in concentrated form. These ceremonies are more about integration and communion rather than strict communication.
Interesting. Probably I will buy it as I love all kind of magic books (not new age). I agree with invocation/evocation in traditional standards there was not really big distinction betwixt these two but I take concept of Lisiewski that evocation is when spirit shows in pretty solid form, and visible manifestation (audio, in chrystal, mirror etc.) as invocation.
ReplyDeleteDid you even consider ask spirit for system of enlightenment in christian way? I mean mostly spirits in grimoires are catholic and I was thinking about idea what they think about growing up spiritual and techniques like Notory Art. I drop off demonic evocations because I find one interesting stuff which I quote now:
After I had put away the Ars Notoria, I, brother
John, lapsed into the necromantic arts. I got so good at
them that I was in the process of composing a new necromancy and I was also making the Rings of Solomon.
Well one morning during this period I woke up–or so it
certainly seemed to me–and got out of bed, and was just
bringing the fourth ring of Solomon to its conclusion, when
I heard a voice at my ears saying, “Fool, fool, and fool!”
With fearful amazement I said, “In truth, I am a fool.” And
again the voice spoke: “In truth, you are a fool. And if you
knew how how much you will have to suffer on account of
the things you are doing, you wouldn’t ever do them again
for any reason.” After I had heard these things, the voice
withdrew. I didn’t see anybody. I was petrified with fear
when I worked on the rings, but I did not dare to confirm
them on account of this incident. And I put away the arts of
necromancy, not in part but in whole
–and yet all the time
I was still composing my book of mastery in the new
necromancy.
Since God, the Creator of all, saw that fear of him
had not recalled me from evil, he decided to recall me by
force, through strenuous ecclesiastical discipline.
Thus
one night in an ecstatic dream I saw a man robed in a red
toga or epitogium coming into the solarium where I was,
along with some others clad in similar costume. He sat
down there in the throne like a master. And seeing by the revelation of the Holy Spirit in my heart, I knew this to be
the lord Jesus. Coming before him I sought mercy, prostrate, as is the custom for monks in the chapter before
masters of the order. And then the lord Jesus, my master,
ordered one of his associates to beat me harshly. One of
them got up and began to hit me hard with his fist, saying
“Take that,
because of the things you have done and are
doing that are contrary to your Creator.” And he beat me
very hard, so much that I was awakened by the extreme
pain and suffering I was enduring. I was much amazed,
being in pain in my shoulders and the other places where I
had been beaten, and I smarted for almost the whole of an
hour. And thus the Lord chastized me and did not deliver
me to death. And because of this I put away the necromantic arts, and the book of that art which I was composing,
and I repented and confessed. Here ends the first part of
the vision.
This is quoting from John of Morigny diary but I always wanted focus on angelic beings as more soul development than material (which angels can do turn up your compatibilities and skills by some special prayers)
Thank you for the engaging reply.
DeleteI'll break this up into a few sections. Lisiewksi comes up often (I suppose naturally) in my discussions with other magicians in my field or from beginners hoping to achieve some success in the realm of evocation. Reflecting back on this I find it humorous that I am now in a place of some authority to actually speak on the matter with experiences to back me up.
In a recent email I replied to someone who had being doing his own research and study and Lisiewksi was brought up yet again. You may find some of my ideas on him interesting, but then again, you may not. I have a lot of respect for the man but find that some people adhere to his ideals and axioms as if they were extensions of the gospels themselves. I find that rather humorous and ironic since the majority of his hard core followers have not much to show for it so far as I’ve read or heard. They are so dedicated and strict to following his method of developed ‘subjective synthesis’ that their reasoning has become dangerously narrowed.
Email: …-evocation to manifestation of physical appearance is at the pinnacle of ceremonial magic and seems to be truly achievable by very few. At least I know of very few others who have achieved it successfully who are honest. (that is to say those Who I believe have achieved it). Interaction with the spiritual world is an ongoing journey of interpretation, comprehension, and being able to truly discern or descry what you are seeing or trying to see.
Lisiewksi’s methods are veritable and contain a lot of groundbreaking methods in making Old System Magic work but he forgets that he did not begin where he tells his students or readers to begin. He had years of Golden Dawn ritual training and visualization, and countless other skills he integrated which he now terms as “New Age”. He fails to mention, realize, or admit that all of these experiences or skills helped get him to where he got when he achieved “physical manifestation” of a spirit- even if he no longer uses these methods anymore or sees them as “valid”. He may not use many of the techniques he used to practice anymore, but they still served a purpose. There is not always a “bypass” for this.”
This is something I conceived of after achieving “Physical manifestation” but others not being able to. After all, I have had at least four magicians confide in me that they followed all of Lisiewksi’s methods religiously for years and after all that, still achieved zero results. They were so heart broken and I knew how they felt having some devastating early failures myself.
So to answer your question, yes…..developed scrying abilities are very beneficial for seeing and conversing with a spirit correctly even in cases of “physical manifestation”. There is a bit more to it than just “telling the spirit to do so” or “perfecting your subject synthesis”. Your magical abilities and awareness have to be at a level that your physical mind understands and accepts the ability to “see” the spirit fully. Not quite as simple as it sounds in some books. My father and I grew up being able to see spiritual beings which helped but even I had to work to develop it to see and hear things clearly on command.
Anyhow, on to answer your next question- I’ve asked the angels many spiritual, and what you would say were “religious” questions and the responses have always been amazingly simple and direct but non-dogmatic. Every time I asked about gaining further knowledge, occult and otherwise spiritual knowledge and wisdom, (mostly “how do I become better?” questions involving personal life, magic, abilities, etc.) their responses were what you might hear in speeches of any religion concerning the finer points of humanistic living: Commit yourself to more non-distracting works, be still in nature and in every space you are able, be kind and humble toward one another for there are deeper connections than what you realize, look not to the pages of man but to our own instruction in the silent places of your mind, worry not on the trivial pursuits and arguing and instead follow the perfect path of nature and voice of creation that is ever present, etc.
DeleteMost of their teachings and lessons fell along these lines. Although I am comfortable with the Christian faith and have much love for the deeper teachings, I have no desire nor trust in the “furthering of its truth and religion” to people. The Angel’s do not speak “religiously” they acknowledge Christianity and certainly the “highest Divine” but they care little for man’s parameters of faith and their interpretation thereof. I learned quickly to begin asking the “right” questions instead of trying to lead the conversation in a way I though I already knew was correct. If I can share one piece of advice is that angelic beings appreciate sincerity, humility, and genuine openness when it comes to talking to people. There is subtleness to their discourse that suggests they are explaining very foreign concepts to a mind of very limited perspective. They are kind and instructing in this where the demons will sometimes speak with a mocking or cleverly sarcastic tone to point out our limitations.
In the days of the grimoires, man had even a narrower sense of reality and anything a spirit would speak about countering the “world of the Bible” was viewed as trickery or deceit, meant to lead them astray. This is not to suggest that all spirits are perfectly truthful, but I pity the long term magician who tries to learn from any spiritual being with a medieval mentality of the dualistic universe. Kabbalists certainly don’t….when we learn the deeper teachings; we find they didn’t even believe that then.
- The quote and relation below as fascinating and one we should look at deeply for a few reasons.
Delete1. Although this experience may have indeed been very real and terrifying, the magician let fear and most likely, unconscious terrors of a wrathful and judgmental God keep him from learning the identity of the spirit who’s voice they heard. What were the precise reasons why he felt what he was doing was wrong, (was it really God or a spirit/angel? 0r more guilt from his Christian culture which considers such things as taboo) what was the source of his fear really?
2. I’ve read or heard of 4 excellent cases where some talented magicians were getting to “high places” in their work but encountered some of the more terrifying beings and situations where it immediately reverted them into “Born Again Christians” or into very fundamental and strict/rigid positions of belief and religious structure. It’s actually a common possibility for the rare, gifted individuals who begin to progress. ( TO KNOW, TO DARE, TO WILL, TO KEEP SILENT) We have to know and Dare past these fears if we ever encounter these situations. (Honestly all REAL magicians do. Anyone who hasn’t had a similar encounter to this where its shaken your spirit so close to your core and made you question your belief and true power/safety, has not progressed very far in the magical arts in my opinion. WE get knocked off our high horse, typically more than once from beings which are much more powerful than we. However, magicians dare to be bold regardless; we just hope to become wiser and more humble as we learn. (that’s the hope anyway) If our mind doesn’t go on close down from fear of evil/damnation/ and the unknown…we press ahead.
3. Don’t you find his conception of Jesus rather odd and counter to the figure you find in the Bible??:
“ And then the lord Jesus, my master,
ordered one of his associates to beat me harshly. One of
them got up and began to hit me hard with his fist, saying
“Take that,
because of the things you have done and are
doing that are contrary to your Creator.” And he beat me
very hard, so much that I was awakened by the extreme
pain and suffering I was enduring.”
This is so very interesting as it denotes perfectly the harsh tones of obedience of early Christianity during the Dark ages. It in no way compares to the Jesus of the Bible though which is ironic but predictable. This very account only helps support my ideas above concerning his fear. (brought on by him being raised in a strict and unbending religious society rather than a punishing Creator) Fortunately I’ve studied enough of Psychology and Religious Anthropology to make an educated guess at his own psyche and guilt attacking him rather than a being of ‘Divine forgiveness’. Another reason I can’t take this account to heart is that I’ve never encountered anything like this myself. Encounters with angry, spiteful, and powerful spirits? Yes…Dangerous? Yep. Higher beings informing me I was on the wrong path and needed to change some actions? Most definitely. But never being “whipped by Christ’s henchmen”. Remember, I wasn’t raised Catholic :) Its not my reality, not my “subjective Synthesis”…..that sort of “belief” has no place in my personal experience and seems very odd and out of place.
4. The more I work from the grimoires and get more experience under my belt (which is made of lion skin by the way ;-) )I have found that
Deletea. The methods work and the spirits DO in fact exist and often appear just like many of these books describe and the entities are knowledgeable in the areas the books profess.
b. These beings aren’t exactly what the reader imagines from the descriptions which are given in the books because the authors of the grimoires were speaking from a very LIMITED culture view of the universe and cosmos…That is to say, their ENTIRE frame of reference didn’t extend much past their own cultural views.
c. Alternative ways of believing, looking at the world, and understanding spiritual matters was a punishable taboo in all of Europe and England (and early America) for many hundred years. Human beings cannot conceive of what they have never experienced beyond their own social environment…if they do, it is colored with ideals and archetypes that they can understand. –Truth- Spiritual beings in and of themselves have no religious, social, cultural, or ethic structure that is recognized by mankind. I learned that it takes a good deal of energy for spirits to “translate” their being well enough to make themselves comprehensible to magicians who are very selective in their “range of agreeable perceptions”.
5. A Secret: I’m a traditionalist not because I blindingly believe in the strict hierarchy and ideals of Renaissance and medieval era Christianity/Judaism, but because I am able to mentally and accurately follow the simple guidelines of ceremony and ritual to a conceivable end, in an agreeable manner, to achieve the results I originally sought. That is to say, my S.S or belief structure was built up enough to tap into the divine workings to actually cause evocation to occur. Make no mistake however, that the true spirit and bliss has no place for fear dominated dogma and is free from shortsighted ideals like, “this being separate from that”.
I could go on but I feel I’ve typed enough. My words, no many how many are typed will not fall well on unwavering ears (or eyes in this case) but that is okay. I’m able to understand and utilize Lisiewksi’s works to an agreeable end while feeling sorry for his unquestioning hardcore followers at the same time :)
Thanks for response.
DeleteAbout Lisiewski from my experience his stuff working very good but I do not agree with him in many things, but with practical sense I tried his method and they are working. The aspersions prayers etc. it's good stuff to use but the problem is not in Lisiewski work but people around him they got attached to it and trying to make some type of character, personal, being "cool" - "you don't know sh*t I'm now because I read Lisiewski's books" - there kind of people have no future in magic. That type approach to things even if the Angels come down and tell you "do this and that" and when you will trying to construct solid form in mind to attach to this, certain personality to judge other it will be always "fu**ed up" no matter how good things are, people like this will try to make with it something to feel the empties inside them and feel better not even trying to do, they stop on the drop of the results not going for the full cup. So Yes for Lisiewski works in practical sense as they very good working, No for dong-riding and trying to make something personal from impersonal practices. People do not get results mostly because they are not disciplined in the magic way, do not get fast on bread and water, praying all day etc. they trying to miss the point, trying to get something for nothing that why mostly people don't even get touch in real magic experiences and beings because they do it wrong and they are not worthy for the spirits. (And I don't mean that they are not worthy in human sense as the whole but by approach to it) Many sages said that "If you can keep 100% you will get 0%" as there are no halves in magic. So I agree with that opinion for sure and there is no matter of questioning it. About subjective synthesis it's psychologized Agrippa thought for example and from my experience I working with astrology and I found out that by working and working and learning I saw that I can cast chart in my head by closing eyes and see the planets are right now in what position or by "feeling" know what is planetary hour, it's not magic or some special gift - that is subjective synthesis which unconsciously working when you are not aware of this and this type of things are working also in magic like this and that leaf will work on as material for charm even if you don't read the book about it you will be now it because of subjective synthesis which some simple facts like this and that working you can do things by deep understanding without always consulting with books and grimoires but this is not what you working with it's just going by itself if you keep the way straight.
About that revelation I found true because I see Jesus as an aspect of God (avatar) which is Divine, in Indian culture for example it's nothing you that some god or goddess give you a slap for what are you doing to show how stupid it is in the sense your doings which can be motivated by low conscious instincts animal-like even in civilized way. I think they are real beings but they don't got monopoly for only being real, from my experience and revelations they are real in the sense that the spiritual world it's big and I can't really 100% comprehend how things going and what things are true and what not in the sense of religion and I think saying this kind of stuff is very useless for human. I would or everything in true or everything is just bumble, judging who is who it's like being conflict with life as it's simple one with many manifestations of the highers worlds, God, gods and stuff like this. So yes I think the revelation are true in the sense that he is riding in the christian spiritual boat and it's too attachment to daemons works which people mostly try to use because of not knowing how immense to know what is human beings in essential stuff so people looking all around using magic practices to feel some aliveness in themselves like drugs, alcohol and other stimulant because of unknowing deeper sense of human being.
DeleteI look forward to your book - I like Rufus's work also with this stuff but he tends to try to link (or cross sell) his own material, and I find his stuff a bit pricy for the experience. It's good to see another book on this topic coming out.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your this Era Ashen, I especially found your comments very helpful. As a beginner and having recently finished reading most of Lisiewski's works it is helpful to hear your considered opinion speaking from experience.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to developing scrying ability, I recently have been practicing staring at my dark mirror in a dark room, with one candle, as seems to be commonly recommended. Would you suggest this as a recommended approach? I do sometimes wonder if it is a waste of time, because it may simply be training the ability for the brain to impose shapes and patterns from the ambiguous stimuli, rather than training any kind of 'subtle' perception. I would truly appreciate your thoughts on this.
Another aspect of Lisiewski's writing which was rather alarming was his descriptions of rather severe slingshot effects, when things are not carried out properly. My tendency is to jump in and try things, see what works and what doesn't, and learn along the way. If I dont have all the exact equipment or contexts for a ceremony, my predilection would be to improvise as best I can at the time, see what happens, while working towards getting things exact for the future. I read a lot, but I certainly dont want to get bogged down for years only reading and performing simple meditation exercises because I cant afford a house with a perfect magical chamber, perfect robes, perfect swords etc etc...
However, those warnings about the slingshot effect when not adhering to the requirements gives me pause when it comes to this go get em attitude. In your experience, how real and severe can the slingshot effect be?