Harnessing the “Burning Ring of Fire:” Fiery Wall of Protection Oil in Rootwork and Solomonic Conjuration

By Frater S.C.F.V.

A. Introduction: The Wall of Flame that Burns Transgressors

Fiery Wall of Protection Oil is a well-known and time-tested condition oil in the Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork traditions. While standard Hoodoo Protection Oil will ward off evil and guard the people and places anointed with it, Fiery Wall of Protection goes a step forward to ensure that if anyone crosses its protective boundary, they get burned. To illustrate this point with an analogy, if the general-use Protection Oil is a fence blocking a property, Fiery Wall of Protection is an electric fence.

Like many Conjure methods, the Fiery Wall formula finds the roots of its rationale in the Bible. Zechariah 2:4-5 states: “Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.” Similarly, the Fiery Wall of Protection formula surrounds us with Divine, Angelic, and Herbal protection with power and heat behind it.

Variations on the Fiery Wall formula–of which there are many, as we’ll see shortly–have long been used by Rootworkers for a wide variety of reasons. These have ranged from combating curses, jinxes, and crossed conditions being thrown in our direction to keeping abusive men away from their children, to keeping potential mistresses away from husbands, protecting children from sexual predators, keeping away the law, protecting soldiers doing tours in active warzones and many more.

Fiery Wall of Protection is perhaps best-known as being linked to the famous candle working that uses it, but it can be used in much subtler ways when the herbal formula is applied in Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, Sachet Powders, Floor Washes, Incenses, and so on. As cat yronwode (2000) notes, you can “Use the Oil to dress yourself or any wooden furniture or metal surfaces such as door knobs. The sachet powder is deployed by sprinkling it in carpets or laying down piles in the corners of the room. The incense powders can be burned at any time to set a shield in place in a given area. The mineral crystals can be applied to an area in the form of a floor wash or sprinkled into the rinse water of your laundry, to dress the clothes you wear when dealing with people from whom you desire protection.”

About the famous Fiery Wall Candle Working, Miss Cat (2000) adds that “basically, this spell is an enactment of the results one desires, with candles standing in for the participants, somewhat after the nature of doll-babies. Often the major reason to perform this spell is to remove a bad person from a social situation such as the family or a work site. Depending on how wicked the “Perpetrator” is, this removal can be performed with differing degrees of severity, from very mild to very extreme. The form in which I learned this spell is Catholic Christian hoodoo and it calls for the total and unconditional removal of the unwanted person from life. However, it can be adapted for use in other religious — or completely non-religious — contexts, and with a lessened degree of severity, if circumstances warrant mercy. Variations such as these arise because different folks have different reasons to work such a spell and because the conditions they are working under may differ.”

The Fiery Wall formula is potent and useful, but like all tools in the Rootwork arsenal, it also has its limits. As Michelle Gruben (2017) aptly states, that “a Fiery Wall of Protection (…) does not punish your enemy for past sins, and it does not prevent them from transferring their negative attentions to someone else.” Thus, it will not necessarily be helpful to undo malefica that has already been thrown at us, whether that be jinxes, crossed conditions, or substantial mental, spiritual, or physical curses. For that, we need to look to other methods (e.g. using Uncrossing condition Oils, doing Despojos, using spiritual baths, using suffumigations of Uncrossing-related herbs and incenses, etc.). However, once that work is completed, a Fiery Wall is a wise way to seal a protective barrier around the space that has been cleansed and made spiritually “clean.”

B. Different “Woods” to Build the Fire: Herbal, Root, and Curio Variations on the Fiery Wall of Protection Formula

If you ask 10 different Rootworkers about the Fiery Wall of Protection Formula they use, you’re likely to get 10 different answers. This is because it is a folk formula that has been used for years with regional variations in different parts of the United States, depending on the availability of different ingredients, substitutions employed, and variances in “style” from say New Orleans to Louisiana.

To better understand the “root essentials” of Fiery Wall of Protection, let’s analyze some variants of the formula and then try to tease out the key components that need to be included to make the Fiery Wall formula what it is so that it can do what it needs to do.

1. First, cat yronwode (2000) notes that the Lucky Mojo formula uses “Rue, Sandalwood, Black Snake Root, and other herbs and essences.”

In Miss Cat’s formula, Rue is there for protection, warding the Evil Eye, and helping with diffusing curses and jinxes thrown our way. Sandalwood has many uses, but here, adds protection. Black Snake Root yields both protection and boldness. Like a suggestive dress, the phrase “other herbs and essences” leaves a lot to the imagination. However, we can tease out some of those possibilities by consulting other sources.

2. Second, Papa Gee Papa Gee at Aroma G’s Botanica in Nashville Tennessee, in his Fiery Wall of Protection formula, includes “Dragon’s blood resin, bay leaf, ginger root, angelica root, marjoram, red pepper, chili, Peppermint.”

This formula adds some interesting new elements we don’t see in Miss Cat’s admittedly abridged and incomplete list. Dragon’s Blood adds, not only a fiery red colour, but also protection, good luck in the operation and help in invocations (e.g. of Archangel Michael who is often called upon in Catholic versions of the Firey Wall spell). Bay Leaf helps ensure our victory against our enemies. Ginger adds not only protection, but heat — essential for Firey protection. Angelica root is a very smart choice to include if we will be calling on Angels for protection in the Candle rite; it not only protects, but helps heal if we have been burned already, and facilitates angelic work. Marjoram helps drive off those who would wrong us and also protect our business or home from jinxes. Red Pepper and Chili both add heat–more fire to the Wall–as well as warding power. Mint is a smart choice to include, because it not only adds protection, but also builds mental fortitude and helps shatter jinxes and curses thrown its way.

3. Third, Hurricane Badessa (2022) from The Conjured Saint in Rhode Island also includes Rue and Chili among the herbs used in his Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, again for protection and heat as we’ve seen.

4. Fourth, the Art of the Root‘s Fiery Wall of Protection formula includes “cinnamon, rue, salt, black pepper, dragon’s blood, and many other protection-related herbs and oils.” Some of these are familiar from what we’ve seen so far, such as Rue and Dragon’s Blood. Cinnamon here helps “fire up” the Fiery Wall and provide purification and protection. Salt provides protection and wards curses, jinxes, and Mal Ochio; it is also a “power booster” in workings, just as salt “boosts flavours” in food. Black Pepper also adds fire as well as warding evil and offering protection.

My intense Fiery Wall of Protection Oil. Formula to follow below.

5. Fifth, Hoodoo and Rootworker Mama Sarah at Conjured Cardea uses an interesting formula with some surprising twists for Fiery Wall of Protection. Her method includes “dragon’s blood resin, calamus root, allspice, cat’s claw, juniper, sea salt, iron filings, basil, orange zest, rosemary, witch grass with frankincense, amber, and cinnamon oils.” Dragon’s Blood, Salt, and Cinnamon, we’ve seen so far, but almost everything else in her formula is intriguingly different. Calamus here helps with dominating and controlling our enemies; other formulas sometimes use Master of the Woods (Woodruff) or Master Root for the same purpose. Cat’s Claw cleanses and rebalances the space it is used in (e.g. interior of the Fiery Wall Circle in this case). Juniper is likely included to add strength and energy. Iron Filings add strength and protection; in grimoire magic, they are linked to Mars. Basil protects the home and drives away the Evil Eye. Orange Peel attracts luck and success, similar to Bay Leaf. Rosemary protects against evil and cleanses. Frankincense is included for scent, blessed power, and protection. Amber is a creative and unique choice not seen in any other formula I studied, which was likely included for protection as it “protects” whatever is encased within it. Witch Grass is typically used for binding, love-magic and cursing, but can be used to try to control enemies as well, which is likely the rationale here.

6. Sixth, Dr. E (2022) at Conjure Doctor uses a variety of herbs in his Fiery Wall of Protection formula, some of which include “ginger, rue, and angelica.” These recur in formulas we’ve already seen for the reasons already outlined

7. Seventh, Ocean Delano (2011) at Turning the Magic Around synthesized several Hoodoo sources to craft the following formula for a Fiery Wall of Protection Oil that includes “Ginger • Dragon’s Blood • Rue • Cinnamon • Sandalwood • Devil’s Shoestrings • Black Pepper • Red Pepper • Angelica.” All of these inclusions are common staples of the formula and are included for reasons we’ve already seen.

In addition, Delano’s (2011) fascinating article on the subject of Fiery Wall of Protection interestingly adds a formula for a Fiery Wall of Protection Sachet Powder:

• 1-2 tbsp Powder Base (talcum, flour, cornstarch, or cornmeal)

• 1 tbsp salt, powdered

• 1 tbsp dragon’s blood resin, powdered

• 1 tbsp frankincense resin, powdered

• 1 tbsp myrrh resin, powdered.”

My Fiery Wall of Protection Sachet Powder. Formula to follow below.

8. Eighth, another Rootworker, who wished to remain Anonymous, shared the following insights into the magical rationale behind the Fiery Wall of Protection Formula in 2011, stating that “traditional Fiery Wall of Protection smells rather spicy because of the addition of Ginger root/oil, and slightly woody scent because of the addition of Sandalwood, and since the “wall” is usually said to be created by St. Michael’s fiery sword, Angelica root is added into the blend. Other staple ingredients are Rue for reversing back evil to the sender, Devil’s Shoestring to trip the enemies from doing harm on you, and Black Pepper or Grains of Paradise, for protection and banishing. There are more ingredients depending from one Rootworker to another, such as Red Pepper, but with these, you can’t go wrong.”

9. Ninth, the ever-insightful Sam Block (2012) at the Digital Ambler, when analyzing the structure of the Fiery Wall formula, provides an interesting Planetary perspective to illuminate the ingredients in a style typical of grimoire magic. To quote Sam, Fiery Wall of Protection Oil “combines the essences of Fire, Mars, and the Sun to create a barrier of protection that both drives off evil and keeps harm out, a two-pronged approach that helps keep the things anointed with it safe and free from all harm.  It’s also good at driving out evil entities from a place already anointed with it, burning them out, as it were, from their current place and keeping them from coming back.  Although the oil has traditionally been categorized as more Solar than Martian, I incorporated the strength of Mars to lend the recipe and consecration a bit more oomph.”

He goes on to say that he “based my recipe off of the one Ocean Delano used, with a few extra things to pump up the power.  The idea was to combine fiery, hot, and protective Martian and Solar materia: Martian to give the oil the fire to kick anything wicked approaching it in the balls, Solar to lend the oil a defensive character to let nothing harmful pass through.  Since both Mars and the Sun are ruled by fire, anything hot, peppery, spicy, or stinging would do.  I found more than half of the stuff I needed in my spice cabinet, and the others can be found at swanky gourmet supply stores or new age/occult suppliers.”

Sam’s Fiery Wall of Protection formula includes the following:

• “1 tbsp pink rock salt (trace amounts of iron oxide)

• 1 tbsp true cinnamon

• 1 tbsp dragon’s blood resin

• 1 tbsp frankincense resin

• 1 tbsp myrrh resin (related to Saturn, but the myrrh plant is spiky and thorny, good Martian qualities)

• A dash of chili powder

• A dash of powdered Saigon cinnamon (hotter than true cinnamon, but cassia will suffice)

• A dash of crushed red pepper

• A dash of powdered ginger root

• A dash of finely ground black pepper

• A dash of red sandalwood (normally ruled by Venus, but used to “build” a wall of protection; its redness helps, and is used in hexing in some traditions)

• 1 cup castor oil

• 1/2 cup olive oil”

One thing I love about Sam’s work is that he is a master of meticulous details, a trait I wonder if he derives from his meticulous work as a computer programmer. We see this in his decision to include Pink Rock Salt in particular for the Salt component because it contains “trace amounts of iron oxide,” with iron being linked to Mars. He goes beyond most recipes to include not just Dragon’s Blood or Frankincense, but both, with the addition of Myrrh for its Saturnian connections linked to boundary-setting in the Fiery Wall as well as its spiky, thorny qualities, which fit the Fiery Wall’s intention to “bite back” at those who try to cross it. In another great example of Digital Ambler meticulousness, he includes not one, but two kinds of cinnamon, the second being Saigon Cinnamon. The other ingredients we’ve seen before. A combination of castor and olive oil are included to provide a pure and stable based to hold all of the above along. It’s a thorough and solid formula overall.

10. Tenth, in her excellent Conjure Cookbook: Making Magic With Oils, Incense, Powders and Baths, Miss Talia Fenix (2010) provide the following formula for Fiery Wall of Protection Oil on pages 48 to 49, which includes “Ginger, White Mustard Seed, Grains of Paradise, and Sandalwood.” This formula is sleek, clean and tight. Grains of Paradise are included for protection, especially of the home, and the interesting addition of White Mustard Seed both helps (1) disrupt the activities of meddling or injurious enemies and (2) offer protection.

11. Eleventh, my wise Rootwork teacher Aaron Davis kindly shared his own Fiery Wall of Protection formula with me, which includes “devil shoe string, bay, pinch sulfur, 5-finger grass, angelica, woodruff, calamus, pinch dragon blood, camphor resin/oil, petition paper ash, write petition on Isaiah 41.” Many of the fascinating staples of the formula are included from Devil’s Shoe String to Bay, Angelica, and Dragon’s Blood. However, Aaron interestingly also tosses in Sulfur; I wonder if he drew this from grimoire work, where Sulfur can be used to ward off demons after they have been conjured! In any case, it is a powerful, although stinky, warding curio. Five-Finger Herb is here for “success in all things that five fingers can do,” which is smart, given all of the hand-based work we do in the Fiery Wall of Protection candle working. Camphor is included for both its powerful cleansing ability and its protection. This idea offers another complement or substitute to the Frankincense, Dragon’s Blood, and Myrrh resins we’ve seen so far. Finally, Aaron is a master of creative uses of ash in his work and his use of it here is no difference; he has us write a petition on Isaiah 41, burn it to ash, and include that. This is a brilliant addition of biblical material for those dauntlessly unoffended by uses of this type.

If we look at all of the formulas above, we find that they have some commonalities: they must include (1) protective herbs or curios (e.g. Angelica, Rue, Sandalwood, Dragon’s Blood, Ginger, Devil’s Shoe Lace, etc.) (2) they often include herbs designed to disrupt crossings or jinxes as they come our way (e.g. Rue, Mint, Mustard, Devil’s Shoe Lace, etc.), (3) they must include hot or fiery Herbs (e.g. Black Pepper, Chili, Cinnamon, Cayenne, Ginger, (4) they often include Salt as a “power booster,” cleanser, and protector, often alongside Pepper, (5) they almost all include at least one Incense (e.g. Dragon’s Blood, Frankincense, Sandalwood, Myrrh, Camphor), and (6) they sometimes include herbs designed to produce control or mastery (e.g. Woodruff, Master Root, etc.).

C. A Fiery Wall of Protection Incense and Sachet Powder Crafted on the Day of Mars

On this Day of Mars, 2022-08-24, I strove to integrate what I learned from analyzing the traditional and contemporary formulas given above in addition to what I had available in my current curio collection to arrive at the following formula:

I. Frater S.C.FV.’s 13-Ingredient Fiery Wall of Protection Formula:

• Ginger (Protection and Heat)

• Chili (Heat, Aggression to Boundary-Crossers, Protection)

• Cinnamon (Protection, Heat, Purification)

• Angelica (Protection, Angelic Power, Healing for the Protected)

• Rue (Protection, Warding the Evil Eye, and helping with diffusing curses and jinxes)

• Black Pepper (Heat, Protection from Evil, Warding Jinxes)

• Himalayan Pink Salt (Cleansing, “Power Boosting,” Mal Ochio and Malefica-Warding Power, and because of its “traces of iron” linked to Mars, inspired by Sam Block)

• John the Conqueror Root (Victory, Control, Luck, Commanding Power)

• Dragon’s Blood (Protection, Luck, Invocation Enhancement),

• Frankincense (Blessed Power, Protection)

• Sandalwood (Protection from Evil)

• Bay Leaf (Victory)

• Mustard Seed (Disrupting Enemies’ Work Against Us, Protection)

Steps for an Oil or Sachet Powder:

• Finely grind all dry ingredients. I tossed them all, in batches, into a coffee grinder and grinded them as finely as possible. We especially want to do this with the larger and coarser ingredients (e.g. Frankincense resin, Dragon’s Blood, Sandalwood, Rue, etc.).
While adding each ingredient, I spoke to its Spirit and asked it for what I wanted it to add to the oil or Sachet Powder (e.g. “Spirit of Ginger, bless this Oil and Powder with your fiery heat and fierce protection”). If you wish to use a similar approach, I included the role of each ingredient that we are asking it to serve in parentheses above.
• Mix all dry ingredients after grinding. You can then divide this herb mix up depending on the applications you want to do (e.g. I put some in an olive oil base and mixed some into a sachet powder base, and kept some additional amount for future uses).
• If making a Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, add the herbal mix to olive oil in a mason jar or bottle with a lid and and mix thoroughly. If you have castor oil, you can follow Sam Block’s lead above and use a mixture of the two. I only used olive oil because that is all I had on-hand. You only need enough herbal mixture total for about 1/10th of the jar, so a little bit goes a long way. For a stronger oil, add more; it’s up to you and your needs. This formula is potent.
• If making a Fiery Wall of Protection Sachet Powder, add a small amount of the herb mixture to a mixture of 2/3rds cornstarch to 1/3rd baking soda (if using Miss Talia Fenix’s method). That’s what I did. Others like to use talcum powder. The choice is yours. Experiment to find the ratio that is best for you.
• In either case, shake the bottle or mason jar thoroughly.
• Allow to rest for at least 7 days (e.g. on an Angelic Altar (e.g. St. Michael) or Ancestor Altar, if you use one). At least once per day, continue to shake the bottle thoroughly as the curios and materia will tend to settle in a layer on the bottom.

Quick Divination Tip to Check on the Spiritual “Readiness” of an Oil: If you aren’t sure if your Oil has rested long enough for your Spirits to set it up for you, try doing a Pendulum reading with a yes-no question (e.g. “Should I leave this Oil to rest for another day before I use it?” If you get a Yes, leave it. If No, you can remove it and put it to use).

D. A Psalmic Arsenal for Protection: Options for Psalm Empowerment of Fiery Wall of Protection Oil

In a traditional Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork context, all we would need to do to “empower” an oil like this spiritually is to simply pray over and recite Psalms over it. Which Psalms should we use? Many options exist.

Psalm 23 is a standard “Swiss Army knife Psalm” that can be used nearly for anything. We can also add on additional Psalms depending on our circumstances.

To provide some examples, here are some ideas of Psalms to use for different contexts of use of the Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, Sachet, Incense, etc.:

• Use Psalm 12, Psalm 74. Psalm 93, Psalm 109 if you are facing severe persecution or oppression,
• Use Psalm 11 to add righteous retribution against enemies, appropriate for Fiery Wall,
• Use Psalm 14, Psalm 36, Psalm 43, or Psalm 31 if you want to use the Fiery Wall to keep our slander and gossip against you,
• Use Psalm 29 if you feel a need to drive out evil and restore peace and tranquility to your home,
• Use Psalm 30, Psalm 105, or Psalm 106 for protection from enemies, good in most Fiery Wall applications, especially if they have thrown curses at you affecting your health (i.e. what Brujeria calls “physical witchcraft”),
• Use Psalm 33 fi you are using Fiery Wall of Protection to protect all members of your family,
• Use Psalm 34, Psalm 70, if you know people are actively throwing malefica at you to destroy and cast back evil as soon as it hits your Fiery Wall of Protection,
• Use Psalm 40, Psalm 101, or Psalm 145 if your magical opponent is conjuring malevolent daimons or Muertos Oscuros (Dark, low-level dead spirits) and sending them to torment you,
• Use Psalm 44 or Psalm 116 if you fear that someone is going to physically try to come and hurt you or your loved ones,
• Use Psalm 47 if you are trying to gain mastery over your enemy,
• Use Psalm 48 if you want your enemies to be hit with terror after they throw at you as part of the “Fire” added to the Fiery Wall,
• Use Psalm 53 to protect against unknown enemies who are working behind your back to try to hurt or ruin you,
• Use Psalm 54, Psalm 55, Psalm 94 to reverse malefica back at its sender amplified by Divine retribution for evil,
• Use Psalm 76 to invoke Divine protection and retribution against enemies who have unjustly wronged you,
• Use Psalm 79 for the most aggressive form of “fire” to be added to the Fiery Wall, in cases of life and death,
• Use Psalm 88 if you want a combination of reversing evil and healing the effects it had on you, your loved ones, or client,
• Use Psalm 91 or Psalm 141 for protection against someone who is abusing you psychologically or emotionally,
• Use Psalm 112 to amplify your power and strength against your enemies,
• Use Psalm 125 if you will be traveling and anointing yourself with Fiery Wall of Protection to protect you while abroad (carry a Comfrey root and St. Christopher medal in a Mojo bag too to help with protection while traveling)
• Use Psalm 130 if you are a soldier or someone living in a war-torn area and need protection while passing by sentries in a warzone.

You can also use combinations of Psalms from different categories to tailor your Fiery Wall of Protection to exactly what you’re up against. This is sufficient to “charge” the Fiery Wall product you are making with its intended purpose from a Rootwork perspective.

E. Mixed-Method Empowerment: A Blended Solomonic and Conjure Approach to Empowering a Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, Herbal Blend, and Sachet Powder

In my case, as I am also a grimoire magician with ongoing relationships with multiple Spirits, I opted to use a mixed approach, combining Solomonic magic with Rootwork approaches.

This worker was completed on Tuesday, August 24, 2022 in the Day and Hour of Mars, to heighten the “fiery” component in the context of attuning this Oil for use in protection from magical attacks being thrown at me. In this case, the fact that I was being thrown at was confirmed by 3 methods of divination by myself as well as by 2 objective third-party readers, since I favour objective replication in such matters.

As timing was of the essence, I was not able to wait for a waxing Moon as would be more traditional in grimoire work. As I know some of my grimoire friends will be triggered by the fact that I did this working on a waning Moon day, I would humbly suggest that 5 important points are worth noting.

First, in Rootwork, urgency overrides perfection; that is, when we need something now, there ways of working around imperfect circumstances. In this case, I simply factored the waning Moon into the formula by design, such that it is the Mal Ochio and Malefica thrown at me by the enemy that wanes when it contacts the Fiery Wall.

Second, this work was done in the context of a larger multi-day working involving a whole series of cleansing baths, reversal works, despojos, suffumigations, uncrossings, etc for which there is precedent in traditional witchcraft to do during waning Moon phases when we need to get rid of something.

Third, it’s worth noting that Moon phases were not historically factored into Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork until later on when grimoire materials (e.g. 6th and 7th Books of Moses, etc.) came into the picture and influenced the way some workers operated; indeed, the American slaves and marginalized and oppressed peoples who created these systems based them on flexibility and urgent needs. If they needed something now, they found a way to make it worse.

The same goes for Planetary Days and Hours; these were completely disregarded in Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork for much of its history with zero impact on results. Therefore, many Rootworkers use them when convenient and disregard or work around them when not while others never mind them at all and still get results.

Fourth, the context of our relationships with spirits can also yield more flexibility with regards to the magical timing of operations. When I first contacted the spirits in question, I respected all of the traditional protocols included timing. However, as Aaron Leitch, myself and others have often pointed out over the years, once we’ve built up a connection with a given spirit, we can be a little more flexible in terms of magical timing because our spirits know us and come when we need them. Moreover, when we are combining Solomonic and Rootwork, we also have more freedom than we do in a strict Solomonic approach, which I’ve also done and recorded elsewhere here at Light in Extension.

The final point that’s worth noting is that what I was doing in this particular working was not a full-blown evocation of 14 Spirits. Rather, it was a call for assistance in the context of long-standing relationships that did not require the extensive back-and-forth communication of the type I would engage in within a full evocation.

In any case, the Moon was in a fitting Lunar Mansion on this Day of the Moon, namely, Al-Tarf (the Glance of the Lion’s Eye). The 11th century Picatrix says Al-Tarf is good for causing infirmities to others who have afflicted us and Agrippa agrees in the 16th century. In that respect, it seems appropriate to a Fiery Wall of Protection. It’s also good for separation work ,which is appropriate to materials designed to create boundaries (i.e. the Fiery Wall).

For the Altar set-up, I used St. Michael the Archangel’s Altar since the associated Fiery Wall of Protection Spell associated with this Oil and Powder call on Michael.

However, I was pulled by my Spirits to include not only Michael, but the full 7 Heptameronic Archangels and Arbatel’s Olympic Spirits that are my long-term Spirit allies, with whom I have been working for years. The statues of the 7 Archangels were arranged in a Circle with an orange ribbon symbolizing the Fiery Wall of Protection to be formed by them tied around them all.

The Sigils of the Olympic Spirits were positioned partly under each of the associated Archangels (e.g. Bethor with Sachiel). In the center of this circle of Angels and Sigils, which was itself located in the center of my Solomonic Circle, I placed a golden Altar Cross. Around the Cross, I placed the 2 bottles of Fiery Wall of Protection Oil, the jar of Herbal Blend with the Incense censer over it, and the jar of Fiery Wall of Protection Sachet Powder I had made with the offered candle over it.

I opened the Temple with the Bell of Art in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, conjured the 7 Archangels and Olympic Spirits with a series of prayers and conjurations, and then offered the Triune God water, a candle offering, and Frankincense in their name, which I then encouraged them to partake of. I also called on my Ancestors to assist. I then asked the Spirits of the Angels, Olympics, Ancestors, and the Spirits of the Herbs themselves to empower the Oil, Powder, and Blend with all of the virtues mentioned above, working in harmonious, exponential, and synergistic manner. At one point during this working, I saw a bright white flash surge past the outside of the Circle on my right, seemingly from a spirit arriving.

I then thanked all of the Spirits for their assistance, closed the Temple, and left the candle and incense to burn out overnight. In the next morning, I confirmed that the candle and incense had burned out cleanly with no adverse drippings or other indications. These items will remain on Michael’s Altar for the next 7 days, then a final 2 days on my Ancestors’ Altar to complete the 9-day period linked to Ancestors.

When I finally do perform the Fiery Wall of Protection candle Operation, each Guardian Candle will feature the name of both one of the 7 Archangels and the associated Olympic Spirit. In this way, the same Spirits who empowered the oil will be called again to drive the candle work. And so, the Fiery Wall will come full-circle.

F. Conclusion: Stepping into a “Burning Ring of Fire”

The Fiery Wall of Protection is a staple of African-American Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork and will continue to remain so because of its versatility, effectiveness, and potency. May we always find ourselves at its Center, in the confines of its secure Heat, and woe betide those who, foolishly taking aim at us, would dare try to cross its Fiery Wall, for, paraphrasing Zechariah 2:4-5, “I, saith the Lord, will be unto you a wall of fire round about, and will be the Glory in the midst of you…”

References

Badessa, H. (2022). “The Fiery Wall of Protection.” The Conjured Saint. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://www.theconjuredsaint.com/product-page/fiery-wall-of-protection-oil-spiritual-protection-removes-negative-forces

Block, S. (2012). “Fiery Wall of Protection Oil.” The Digital Ambler. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://digitalambler.com/materia/fiery-wall-of-protection-oil/

Dr. E. (2022). “Fiery Wall of Protection Hoodoo.” Conjure Doctor. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://conjuredoctor.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=17

Fenix, T. (2010). Conjure Cookbook: Making Magic With Oils, Incense, Powders and Baths. Bolton, On: Amazon.

Gruben, M. (2017). “A Quick and Dirty Fiery Wall of Protection Spell.” Grove and Grotto. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/the-fiery-wall-of-protection

Mama Sarah. (2009). “Fiery Wall of Protection Ritual Oil.” Conjured Cardea. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://conjuredcardea.indiemade.com/product/fiery-wall-protection-ritual-oil-hoodoo-voodoo-witchcraft-highest-protection-removes-unwante

Delano, O. (2011). “Uncrossing Follow-Up: Fiery Wall of Protection.” Turning the Magic Around. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from (https://turningmagicaround.blogspot.com/2011/04/uncrossing-follow-up-fiery-wall-of.html?m=1)

Papa Gee. (2022). Wall of Fire: Hoodoo Wall of Protection Oil.” Aroma G’s Botanica. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://www.aromagregory.com/product/wall-of-fire-hoodoo-protection-oil-fiery-wall-of-protection/

The Art of the Root (2021). Fiery Wall of Protection. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://artoftheroot.com/products/fiery-wall-of-protection-oil-for-hoodoo-conjure-vodoo-pagan-ceremonies?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxveXBhDDARIsAI0Q0x2tfvGbk2uz6N40-fCqjMH5NBV4yqzCB3VzA0ETHQ3VdWU3uIr9Ul4aAszHEALw_wcB

yronwode, cat. (2000). Fiery Wall of Protection Magic. Lucky Mojo. Retrieved 2022-08-23 from https://www.luckymojo.com/fierywall.html

2018: A Magical Year in Review

By Frater S.C.F.V.

View inside a Vigil offered to Archangel Sachiel dressed with Solomonic Holy Oil and Basil.

As we move into 2019, I’d like to take a few moments to reflect on all that has happened in my life in the whirlwind of a year that was 2018.  It has been a tumultuous year in world events to be sure, but in my own little human life, it has been a massively important year.  I share these life and magical achievements and strange tale of bizarre events and poltergeist phenomena not out of arrogance, but in the hopes of inspiring others to work harder to achieve their own goals and to humble myself with the recollection of the giants on whose shoulders I was able to stand this year.

We are all the Divine dancing in the lila (Divine play) of manifested human lives; as this human action figure named Adam, however, I could not have done anything were it not for the amazing friends, family, and colleagues who have so blessed and inspired me with the relationships and time we’ve shared together.  May we have many more years together on this mysterious planet that races on around the Sun! So mote it be with all thanks and glory not unto me, but unto the Most High, amen!

Major Life Events in 2018

• I worked hard to support some truly inspiring students with special needs at McGill University as a Note-Taker, Mentor, and Life Coach. Their own hard work and progress in achieving their goals were so beautiful and inspiring to watch and I feel so lucky to have been able to work with each and every one of them.
• Because of how many blessings came my way this year, I was able to give more to charity than I was ever able to give in the past.  I also gave more offerings to spirits and animals this year than in any other previous year of my life.

• I completed the penultimate year of my clinical social work degree at McGill with a 4.0 GPA and served older adults with mental and physical health issues both in long-term residences and living in the community.  I am now on track to graduate in 2019 and excited to officially begin my clinical social work career.After my prior careers as a certified Chef and high school teacher I am beyond grateful to have finally found my true calling.  Social work offers a vehicle through which I can strive to live out the Rosicrucian ideal “to cure the sick and that gratis,” and where I cannot cure, at least to support individuals and families to empower them with resources, services, and psychosocial support to maximize their well-being.

• I suffered a concussion in July from which I completely recovered in only a few months (thank God!).  More on that below.
• I went to see the Beach Boys live in concert, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

• I also got to attend my first ever professional comedy show, The Nasty Show at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival due to a kind gift from my friend Randy! Robert Kelly, Brad Williams, Ms. Pat, and Mike Britt had us in stitches from laughing so hard.

• I was called back to the mystical Christian faith of my youth with a newly integrative perspective and began to attend a beautiful local Church. The members of my congregation and I managed to put together gift boxes for kids from the ages of 1 to 14 in 9 different countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Senegal, Guinea, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Glory be to God!

• I published a series of articles on Solomonic magic with which I am very happy to have been able to contribute research on lesser-known topics such as Solomonic Bells and Trumpets and Consecration by Mass.  In addition, I was honoured to have my Bells article featured in the 2018 edition of my esteemed colleague Nick Farrell’s Hermetic Tablet – The Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition.

• 2018 was by far the most successful year for Light in Extension for worldwide views, and overwhelmingly so:

• I was also grateful when the article was recommended by a Frater, magician, author, and friend whom I deeply respect, Fr. Aaron Leitch in a recording of a lesson in his fantastic Secrets of Solomon – Grimoire Magick Classes 101 class.
• I had the honour of being interviewed by the kind, inspiring, and eminently professional Alexander Eth on the Glitch Bottle podcast.

• I was blessed to meet and become friends with many amazing occultists, some of whose books I have been reading and cherishing for the past 14 years or so. I have learned so much from my amazing Fratres and Sorores to whom I remain deeply indebted and grateful. I am humbled to have gotten to have some amazing conversations with not only such masterful occultists, but also such beautiful and amazing people as Aaron Leitch, Jake Stratton-Kent, Dr. Stephen Skinner, Frater R.C., Frater YShY, Joseph H. Peterson, Frater Ashen Chassan, Nick Farrell, Jason August Newcomb, Dr. Tony Fuller, Pat Zalewski, Christine Zalewski, and many more. I also learned a great deal from and enjoyed the friendship of many others whose names I won’t share out of interests of their wish to keep their occult involvement concealed under the Sign of Harpocrates. To all of them and to those I have not mentioned, you know who you are and I love and appreciate you very much.
• I was honoured to become a Moderator in Aaron Leitch’s amazing Solomonic – Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires group.
• I participated in multiple McGill University research studies, received EEGs, got paid to receive electric shocks inside of an MRI machine, and marched in the largest strikes for paid student internships in the history of Montreal. I also improved my skills at engraving, drawing, and painting, attended my cousin Julie’s wedding, and joined the wedding party of my sister’s wedding planned for 2019.

Magical Achievements in 2018

• After receiving a concussion in July, which occurred after I slammed my head into a ceiling beam causing it to burst out in blood, I was forced to leave my job working as a cook in an amazing Montreal restaurant on St. Laurent. The concussion resulted in brain damage to my frontal lobe which was associated with distressing symptoms like slurring of speech, forgetting common words in conversation, damage to episodic memory, and mood swings.Within a few months,  despite not receiving any form of medical treatment, however, I recovered all of my impaired cognitive abilities and my head healed almost completely, leaving only a tiny scar.  I attribute this nearly miraculous healing to God Almighty, whom I petitioned for help with healing the devastating effects this concussion had on my psychological functioning.
• I coined the term cryptoconsecratio and developed the method of secretly consecrating magical items by Mass, which I performed countless times in the past year on objects ranging from Jupiter Pentacles to Wands, Burins of Art, my statue of Saint Cyprian of Antioch, my Cyprianic Rosary, and many other tools.

• I manifested my vision for my ideal home and was blessed–glory be to God!–to be able to equip it with everything I had ever hoped it would have in terms of appliances and electronics. I also read many amazing occult books and massively increased my esoteric library.  Divine Provision can be humbling indeed.
• In 2018, aside from the Christian Trinity, and Saint Cyprian of Antioch, I was honoured to work with the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Samael, Anael, Cassiel, Uriel, and Sachiel, as well as the Angels Netoniel, Devachiah, Tzedeqiah, and Parasiel. I learned many interesting things from these spirits, such as about how limitations and discipline can be forms of freedom rather than simply obstacles freedom from Archangel Cassiel, learning about keys to prosperity from Sachiel, and much more.
• I also did some deep work with the Papyri Graecae Magicae or Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri this year, especially the Headless Rite and PGM Lecanomancy.

• I made some serious progress with Pathworking in the past year and met and learned from many other spirits in the course of the resulting astral work.  Qabalistic Paths explored in 2018 included Peh, Tzaddi, Malkut, Resh, Qoph, Shin, and Tav.
• I secured a dedicated and permanent Temple for the Ordo Aurum Lucerna. Our Order also increased its Archives of copies of G.D. manuscripts to be  exponentially larger than it has ever been thanks to the kindness and generosity of some truly amazing Fraters and Sorors from other G.D. Orders to whom we remain deeply grateful.

W.B. Yeats’ drawing of the Hermetic Rose Cross.

• After a series of strange experiences, and encouragement from my dear friend Chijioke, I began magically and devotionally working with Saint Cyprian of Antioch. I formally assumed the great Saint as my Patron after an intensive 9-Day Novena to him in September, 2018.  During my time of working with him, my magic has radically improved and deepened in all of the three traditions with which I work: Solomonic, Cyprianic, and Golden Dawn.  May the credit for that not be unto me, but unto Saint Cyprian, God Almighty, to the Spirits, Angels, and Archangels, and to the kind friends and colleagues who made this possible.

• Our Golden Dawn Order, the Ordo Aurum Lucerna, of which I have been Imperator for the last 9 years, has grown larger, stronger, and more active than ever before.  I am so grateful to my brethren in the Order for the beautiful work we do together, for our democratic power structure, for how much we have all grown in the past year, and for how much we have to look forward to in 2019.  Khabs am Pehkt, Konx Om Pax, Light in Extension!
• I performed a controlled experiment that seemed to find some empirical support for the claim that food offered to Archangels tends to last longer and resist mold longer than the same food not given as an offering.  I tested the claim using muffins prepared from the same batch of batter and kept in the same temperature, moisture, and storage conditions.

• This past year, I have gone deeper into Solomonic magical practice than ever before.  I crafted the Circle from the Lemegeton’s Goetia, as well as consecrated Holy Oil, Holy Water, Incense, and Candles, crafted a new Wand and a Solomonic Bell of Art, several Burins of Art, a new Aspergillum, a consecrated Chest for materia magica, and several other items for use in my Operations. I also wrote a series of articles on Solomonic topics, as previously mentioned.

• This past year saw some fruitful results with Planetary magic, particularly with a consecrated Saturn ring I was kindly gifted by my friend Sarah Wreck and with Jupiter. I crafted the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter from the Key of Solomon after waiting nearly an entire year for a solid election and also consecrated a Ring of Jupiter at the same time.This Pentacle and Ring have produced some amazing results, such as over 8000$ of my student loan being converted into a bursary I do not have to pay back, saving 400$ on a new TV and large amounts of additional money on appliances and a guitar, receiving much favor, and many other astounding results such as Soror C.R. gaining a promotion and me obtaining an amazing job right out of graduation from my Clinical Social Work degree.

• Besides the more spectacular concussion recovery, I also experienced some additional interesting healing results this year.  These included Archangel Raphael healing me completely of a cold within 1.5 days; to place this result in perspective, it normally takes me 7 days or longer to get over a cold.  In addition, I experienced having scars, redness, and dark patches completely healed within days of asking YHVH for this result.
• This year, I performed more professional Tarot readings than ever before and was honoured to have been able to read for clients all around the world. I am so grateful for the trust which people have placed in me by allowing them to do readings for them. What sets my approach to professional readings apart from others is that for the 50$ per reading that I charge, I not only include the reading itself, but also give offerings on behalf of the client and their family, and write a detailed report for them complete with HD photos of all of the cards in the reading so that clients can refer to it in the future.I noticed that most Tarot readers do their readings orally only, so clients do not have a record of the reading and often quickly forget it. In this way, they have a detailed record of the reading, which is incredibly comprehensive; as an example, the last such report I wrote came to a whopping 43 pages! Feel free to contact me on Facebook or by email should you be interested in arranging a reading.

• After Soror C.R. and I independently saw visions of the Archangel Sachiel wearing a red vest after invoking him via the Heptameron conjuration, Soror C.R. had a vision of him giving her a red vest to wear. The next day, while carrying the 2nd Pentacle of Jupiter consecrated by Sachiel, I was directed to a store where I found a red vest exactly like the one she saw in her vision, which I purchased for her. The price tag said only 9$, but I ended up paying only 6$ due to an additional 30% reduction.

• I performed more professional natal charts for clients around this world this year than in any other year of my life. These are also 50$ per chart and yield a similarly detailed and comprehensive written report explaining all of the Aspects to what I produce for my Tarot clients. Please feel free to contact me by email as well should this service be of interest.

• I was honoured to have had the opportunity to spend some time learning from members of the Order of Saint Cyprian of Antioch.  I met some beautiful and amazing people in that Order, to whom I am very grateful, but have since retired from that particular group in order to focus on the Ordo Aurum Lucerna and my other magical projects, writing, and research. I am particularly grateful to Ms. Sfinga (pseudonym) at the OSC from whom I learned a great deal.  It was Sfinga whom I commissioned to sew my scapular of Saint Cyprian and who kindly gifted me a beautiful amethyst and tiger’s eye bracelet.  She is an absolutely amazing human being, kind and genuine through and through as well as an amazing esoteric practitioner and a brilliant scholar. I have nothing but fond things to say about her, as of many other members of that esteemed Order.

• After asking St. Cyprian to guide me to a vessel in which to store my magica materia, he led me to a shop I never visit where I found a fascinating hand-carved antique chest that was exactly what I had been hoping for.

 

• I performed a formal exorcism of a daimon-possessed woman this year.  The spirit in question turned out to be a subservient spirit of Alloces, the 52nd spirit of the Lemegeton’s Goetia.  I am indebted to Sarah Wreck for her help with identifying the entity and advising me on how to proceed with the exorcism.  8 months later,  I’m happy to report that the woman in question remains in very good health and has not been troubled by any other spirit.
• I was guided by Saint Cyprian to a store I had never been to in a part of the city I had never explored which, to my amazement, happened to be the only store in Montreal that sells Oil of San Cipriano.

Strange Phenomena and Poltergeist Activity in 2018

• July 6, 2018 – I experienced the most powerful and unmistakable physical manifestation of an Angel that I have ever seen.
• Saturday, Dec. 8, 2018 – Around 8:35 PM. While standing in the kitchen speaking with Soror R.A. about working with Angels, a small white physical feather appeared seemingly spontaneously in the air.  Both of us saw and were shocked and amazed by this.  The feather drifted slowly and gracefully to the floor, which we both witnessed.  Then when we looked for it on the ground, it had vanished… Weeks later, Soror R.A. was called to work with Archangel Sachiel and developed an intense relationship with him.
• Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018 – In a dream, two daimons, likely Jinn, suddenly appeared in the midst of the dream narrative.  They had pitch-black skin, but extremely white eyes.  I could sense their malevolent intent so I immediately bound them by the Sign of the Cross in the manner of St. Justina of Antioch and they backed off and vanished.

• November 8, 2018 – 9:45 PM – A fellow Magician gave me a consecrated ring of Saturn containing a large piece of led. This ring works very well for its intended purpose, but it seems to spontaneously vanish, be gone for a period of time, and then reappear somewhere I did not put it. It has vanished several times from the bureau near my bed and reappeared in pockets, in my backpack, and in other places. This night, I went to do a Rune reading for Soror R.A. and the Ring fell out of the Rune bag! Neither I nor anyone else had placed it there…
• I experienced some interesting cases of telepathy where I stated something very specific (e.g. referring to Track II of the Monster roller-coaster in Montreal, QC, Canada) that another person had been thinking about before they said it.  Only to be told by the other person that this was precisely what they had had on the mind.. Other cases included messaging people about topics moments before they were going to message me, and other such events such as in some cases publishing articles on topics people had been thinking of asking me about. All of this made me feel “in-flow” and rather “plugged in” with the larger Mind of the One appearing as many body-minds. This even occurred with people who live in very distant countries.
• I experienced multiple moments of minor precognition (e.g. accurately predicting the contents of sealed boxes and envelopes as well as their arrival dates when they had not even been specified).  This happened 4 times in a week period.
• Dec. 9, 2018 – 4:25 AM – My cat was sitting staring at the Temple door. Suddenly, he meowed loudly and ran down the hall. Then a mysterious knock was heard within the Temple room although there was no one in it. This same sequence of events happened again a few weeks later.
• December 8, 2018 – 6:37 PM – A door spontaneously opened before me without anyone touching it. Witnessed by Soror R.A.
• November 8, 2018 – 7:35 PM – TV spontaneously turned on with no one in the room.
• December 1, 2018 – 3:30 AM – While I was sleeping, my cell phone was suddenly knocked off my bureau. Half-asleep, I picked it up and put it back on the bureau. Then my watch was knocked off the bureau. Beginning to be annoyed, I picked it up and put it back on the bureau. Then my cell phone was knocked off the bureau again. Tired of this spirit’s antics, I called out into the silent room “In the Name of YHVH, cut that out!” No further objects fell to the floor that night.
• During the formal exorcism, a heavy stack of paper was violently thrown to the floor with no breeze in the room.
• One evening, the Enochian Tablet of the South spontaneously fell off the wall. Another night, the Tablet of the West fell off the fall. And still another night, the tablet of the North fell off the wall of its own accord. I had expected the tablet of the East to one day follow the same pattern, but it did not.

• As a final point, some interesting manifestations of spirit activity during ritual magic this year included a Crucifix hung around Saint Cyprian’s statue’s neck swaying in response to questions asked of spirits, strange knocks being heard in the room, incense smoke and candle flames being asked to move in response to questions as answers and the results happening immediately, sparks flashing out of an offering candle when Archangel Michael was conjured, and appearances of images and words spoken by spirits in crystal balls, water in lecanomancy bowls, flames scried into, and in the field of the mind.All in all, I believe it is safe to say that this has without a doubt been the most magical year in my life.  Happy New Years, dear friends! May you and your families be blessed with abundance, love, laughter, and growth in the coming year! So mote it be, amen!

Spirit Offerings: Introductory Reflections on Types and Principles of Ritual Offerings in Magical Practice

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Balinese spirit offering photographed by Teri Genovese.

Introduction

One of the most common questions new Magicians who wish to work with spirits in traditional ways often ask is what kinds of offerings to make. This is a fantastic and very respectful and attentive question.  My esteemed colleagues have written a great deal on this important subject — see for example the amazing Ritual Offerings book from 12 practicing occultists including Aaron Leitch, Zadkiel, Frater Ashen Chassan, Brother Moloch, Joshua Gadbois, Denise Alvarado, Jason Miller, Nick Farrell, Sam Webster, Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, and Gilberto Strapazon.

I cannot recommend this amazing book highly enough and what I have to share below are only a few humble footnotes from my own experience to add on to what they have already eloquently said there.  Dr. Stephen Skinner, Joseph H. Peterson, Jake Stratton-Kent and others have offered many helpful pointers on the subject as well.

In this brief prolegomenon to a more rigorously researched and comprehensive future article on the subject, I will aim to unpack why one might want to consider giving offerings as part of working relationships with Archangels.  I will explore some often less discussed forms of offerings such as offerings through action and sharings of spirits’ acconplishments. Finally, I will aim to outline four key principles to govern offerings and share some concrete examples to illustrate the central concepts this article strives to elucidate.

Offerings to Archangel Michael by Fr. Aaron Leitch.

Offerings to Archangels in Historical and Magical Theoretical Context

One common question among new ceremonial magicians is how to proceed with making offerings for Archangels.  The comments below were shared as “notes from the field” based on my own experience in this area grounded in grimoiric tradition. From the outset, it is worth noting, as Dr. Alexander Cummins points out, that early modern literature is fraught with reservations about making offerings to Angels.  These include worries that it might entail idolatry, lead to accidentally feeding demons who might then harm the Magician, or that it is not necessary since the Angels neither require nor can digest physical food or some ethereal substance contained therein.

There are, however, some traditions of offering food to Archangels, as on the Feasts of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on September 29th in the Catholic liturgical calendar. I once read about a similar practice from the Iberian peninsula, in which the sense was seemingly that the gesture of offering the food was meaningful to the Angels, because it was an act in harmony with their own nature of kindness, gratitude, respect, and loving consideration for others, quite analogous to a charitable action. In Agrippan terms, such gestures could be understood as embodying the sympathetic virtue of generosity in the service of the Good and of God, which is also in the nature of the Angels.

When I make offerings to the Angels, this is more or less the way in which I understand what I’m doing from a contemporary perspective, which is “traditional” in the sense of being in keeping with the offering-based philosophy as a way of structuring spirit work that runs through the Western esoteric tradition.  For instance, in Iamblichus’ Theurgia, the great Neo-Platonic philosopher and theurgist comments on how he understands the giving of offerings to celestial beings who would seem not to require them.  There, he writes:

“But,” it is remarked by thee, “the things that are offered are offered as to sensitive and psychic natures.” If, indeed, they consisted of corporeal and composite powers alone, or of such as pertained merely to the service of the physical organism, thou wouldst be correct. But since the offerings partake also of incorporeal ideals, special discourses, and simpler metres, the peculiar affinity of the offerings is to be considered from this point alone.

And if any kindred relationship, near or far away, or any resemblance is present, it is sufficient for the union about which we are now discoursing. For there is not anything which is in the least degree akin to the gods, with which the gods are not immediately present and conjoined. It is not, then, as to “sensitive or psychic,” but actually to divine ideals and to the gods themselves, that the intimate union is effected so far as may be.”

This seems like a sympathetic argument to me, on the basis of certain things being worth offering because they “partake of the nature” of the spirits in question in some form.  Iamblichus’ argument is here made in reference to gods, but we might take a similar approach to Angels, especially if we are working through a Heptameronic or other similar system that ascribes Archangels as ruling over Days and Planets.  Things of the same nature as a spirit are in harmony with them, and therefore, can be helpful to create the kind of sympathetic resonance that facilitates the work with the Angel in ritual. This remains so even if the Angel is not interested in actually ingesting or eating the thing offered.

It is definitely the case that arguments have been made against offerings to Angels as being idolatrous.  We can reply to this objection through the Catholic distinction of veneration versus worship.  The right way to make an offering to an Angel from a Catholic perspective is be to offer it to God in the “name and honour” of the Angel.  In this way, we are worshiping the Divine, but venerating the Angel, showing love, gratitude, and respect.

The Angel Offering The Fruits Of The Garden Of Eden To Adam And Eve by J.B.L. Shaw.

Respecting Preferences and Incorporating Sympathetic Correspondences

As a general rule, I’ve found that it can be helpful to ask the spirits if they have any preferences for offerings and then proceeding accordingly. This applies across all realms from the chthonic and elemental to the Angelic, Archangelic, and Divine.  What spirits sometimes ask for can be surprising; as Jake Stratton-Kent has noted, for instance, it might be something as simple as an egg.

When we don’t yet know a particular spirit’s preferences, however, it can be helpful to look into the grimoires for correspondences that are sympathetic to their nature. This is especially true for herbs, incenses, colours, foods, and other readily-offered things. Often, the spirits will enjoy these offerings, grounded as they often are in hundreds of years of Magicians’ work with them, and I will continue to use them or tweak them over time with the same spirit. Many spirits offer things that involve some sacrifice on our part, even something as small as giving up a glass of wine from a bottle as a libation to them.

A libation being poured as an offering at a symposium – Attica red-figure cup, ca. 480 B.C.E.

A Concrete Example of Offerings in Practice

As a concrete example to illustrate the point of how grimoiric correspondences can be applied to select offerings, yesterday, I lit a Vigil candle for Archangel Sachiel, Archangel of Jupiter and Thursday as per the Heptameron. I also offered him unleavened bread wafers, a classical Tanachic offering that works for many spirits, and which also has correspondences with Church wafers that work with Jupiterian priestly connections.  The latter also works with the sympathetic symbolism of Christ as King of Kings, Kingship being a Jupiter-ruled quality.

In addition, I offered Sachiel some Applewood incense, Apple being sacred to Jupiter as per Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy and a blue container-framed white candle inscribed with his Heptameron sigil in white. Blue is one of the colours that is traditionally associated with Jupiter. Moreover, Sachiel’s Vigil candle was dressed with Solomonic Holy Anointing Oil and dry Basil, Basil being associated with Jupiter as per Agrippa.

In addition, the bread and incense as well as additional candles for each spirit were also offered to four additional Jupiterian Spirits who operate under Sachiel, whom I also invoked for help in consecrating two 2nd Pentacles of Jupiter from the Key of Solomon and a Jupiterian Ring, namely Netoniel, Devachia, Tzedeqiah, and Parasiel. I used a framework from Balthazar’s Solomonic candle magic method here. The rationale here involves invoking the Most High, then the Archangel of the Planet, then Angels under that Archangel for help with a particular petition. This is a classically goetic approach of working down through spiritual hierarchies as Jake Stratton-Kent and others have shown. I’ll share a picture of my Altar setup from this ritual as an example to illustrate the point below. This setup was done on my Altar of Saint Cyprian of Antioch and under his watchful eye, which is why the Altar features his enlivened statue as well.

Photographs and Sharing Spirits’ Accomplishments as Offerings

However, offerings can go much deeper than what is offered in ritual. All of my pictures of ritual setups for work with particular spirits that I share on Light in Extension are also offered up to the spirits involved as well as the recognition and exposure they get from these, as are the articles I share about the operations for my own records and the benefit of others to share ideas for their own work.

When a spirit asks me not to photograph something or write about it, I respect the request. Generally, however, I have found that they have appreciated such sharings made in a respectful context as it has often led others to work with them.  It also demonstrates gratitude for their work and the relationships built up with them when offered in their honour and not to our own glory.

A colourful ritual offering at a unique Hindu temple on the outskirts of Madurai photographed by Dr. Allocco.

Actions as Offerings

In addition, we can make offerings of a still other sort, namely of actions. An action that is in harmony with a spirit’s nature, particularly if it is impressive, can be sufficient to motivate them to action even if they do not physically or spiritually require it. To illustrate the principle involved here, let us consider the rather humorous example of some rather inventive ants.

Suppose a group of ants were to gather together in your kitchen one fine morning. They had decided to venerate you, in all your dazzling human wonder, as a powerful Giant and request your aid in procuring food for their queen.  In other words, they wanted to petition you via a spell.

Suppose that in order to attract your attention, these craft ants decided to all click their feet synchronously to sound out something roughly analogous to your name. On top of this, they traced an amazing honey Sigil to you on your floor, reading “HELP US,” followed by your name, which they gave to you as an offering.

Now, you might not need their offering at all; in fact, it might be somewhat of a nuisance, since they had to dirty up your beautiful kitchen floor in order to create it. However, since you are a good-humored individual, you might be rather amused by their gesture and the effort and pains they took to create it. Thus, even if you didn’t remotely need their offering or particularly want to lick honey off of your own kitchen floor, you might accept the offering anyway and say “what the heck, what help do you want, ant friends?” And if all they wanted was a spoon of sugar for the Queen, you might even be willing to oblige them given how trivial such a small gesture of help seems from your own lofty perspective as a mighty Giant to a humble ant. Perhaps the situation with offerings to Archangels is something roughly analogous to this.

Examples abound of actions in harmony with the natures of various spirits that we can perform for them as offerings. For instance, Aaron  Leitch cultivates a garden as an offering to the Archangel Anael.  Martial arts training sessions or military service can be offered up to Martial Spirits, such as Samael, Archangel of Mars and Tuesday. Romantic gestures can be offered to Venusian spirits as can works of art, music, dance, and other works of Beauty. Study sessions and intellectual work can be offered up to Mercurial spirits and Angels of Mercury. Gestures of kindness to make others smile can be offered to Solar spirits. Offerings of advocacy for the vulnerable and wronged can be offered to Archangel Michael. Healing work, herbal medicine, studying contemporary medicine and so on can also be offered to Raphael as well as simple gestures like dropping off soup or medication for a sick friend.

As two other common examples commonly represented among the magical community, for Pagans who work with the Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri (PGM), gestures done in harmony with the nature of a god can also be offered. For Christians, prayers can be offered by ending them in the name of Yeshua / Jesus, or acts of forgiveness or loving gestures can be offered unto him and to God the Father more generally.

More generally speaking, to extract a general principle from these concrete examples, any action done in harmony with the teachings of a deity can be offered as a gesture of love, respect, gratitude for what was learned, and sympathetic harmony with their nature. In this way, the “occult virtue” of the spirits in question, to borrow a term from Agrippa, begins to become instantiated in our lives. In the process, we increase our sympathetic harmony with the spirits and facilitate future work with them.

My experience has been that Archangels particularly love when we do good deeds in harmony with their nature and offer these in gratitude for what they have done for us. Progressively alchemically transmuting more and more of our lives into doing things that benefit not only ourselves, but also our families, friends, communities, and societies has the added benefit of not only enriching our lives, but also meeting the grimoiric requirements (e.g. in the Key of Solomon, Arbatel, etc) for living a good and honourable life as part of the lifestyle of the Magician in the ideal these texts advocate. Any such gesture can also be offered to the Holy Spirit for magicians who work with him. In addition, periods of meditation on the nature of a Spirit or their class (e.g. Angelic, Elemental, Planetary, etc) can also be offered to the spirits. Often they will reciprocate with images, insights, or other manifestations.

A collection of red beverages offered to spirits at a Thai Spirit House.

Four Underlying Principles of Offerings

Indeed, it seems to me that there are a few foundational principles that underlie all offerings.

One of these, which is so central to Archaic Goetia as Jake Stratton-Kent has shown in Geosophia, but also to the more offering-based Christian magical systems, is reciprocality.  Reciprocality means that both we and the spirits benefit from our work together, them through offerings and time with us and us through their teachings, magical help, and how we grow in the process. This principle ensures balance and harmony, key aspects of virtue as Aristotle, Siddhartha Gautama, Kung-fu-tzu and others have pointed out, but also central features of the Adepthood ideal.

Another principle is respect – treating spirits with the same respect we ask of them. In this way, we show them that we care enough about them and what they are doing for and with us to show them we respect them by making meaningful sacrifices on their behalf.

A third is gratitude, not taking them for granted, but appreciating the gifts they offer us. Gratitude is a powerful force in all human relationships; it deepens love, enriches friendships, improves work relationships, and ensures gifts receive the recognition they deserve. The same holds true in spirit work. Just as we love those who are grateful for our actions to help them, spirits seem to delight in the same way in gratitude. Just as we are more likely to want to help the grateful than the ungrateful, those who display haughty attitudes of unappreciative demandingness and entitlement, so are spirits more likely to help Magicians who show them the same courtesy.

And a fourth is sympathy, ensuring that the offerings are in harmony with their nature and preferences. As the examples discussed above have indicated, proper offerings should always be in some way in harmony with the nature of the spirits to whom they are given. Just as an appropriate gift for someone who only listens to metal music is not the latest country album, but a metal album they do not yet own, or a shirt of their favourite band, the appropriate offering for a spirit is not one that is contrary to their nature, such as a sword for a Venusian spirit, but in harmony with it.

Conclusion

Spirit offerings are one of the most ancient forms of human spirituality recorded by anthropologists.  To those of us in the contemporary world who continue to feel the enduring call to work with the spirits, they are an essential technology and technique of inestimable value.  Indeed, ritual offerings hold the power to amplify our magic and deepen our relationships with the spirits with whom we work.

The Cyprianic Call – Or the Strange Story of How I Came to Work With Saint Cyprian of Antioch

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Introduction – Enter Saint Cyprian

2018 has been, without exaggeration, the most magical year in my life thus far. Not only is our G.D. Order happily thriving, but I have also been very grateful to have been able to go further into the Art of traditional Solomonic magic and more deeply into rigorous esoteric scholarship than I have ever gone before.  Perhaps the most unpredictable shift of all to unfold for me in the course of the Earth’s current circumambulation around the Sun, however, has been the commencement of my serious working relationship with Saint Cyprian of Antioch.

This surprising turn of events is rendered all the more shocking by the fact that in the past 30 years, I had never before seen the appeal of working with Saints in the classically Catholic manner, not even at the height of my faith in Catholicism itself.  To me, the practice smacked dangerously of violations of the First and Second Commandments from Exodus 20:2-17 to “have no gods but God” and not worship any “graven images.”  Moreover, later on, whilst studying Buddhism and Hinduism, I preferred to focus on Sutras than to contemplate the invocation of yogic Rishis and Buddhas.  Similarly, while practicing Islam and working the Qabalah, I was too reluctant to risk potential shirk or idolatry to even contemplate the idea of Saint work or veneration.  Indeed, throughout all of this time, I had been committed to working with Divine as directly as possible and the notion of working with Saints seemed like an unnecessary addition of a redundant intermediary.

My strongly Saint-aversive history only makes the recent transformation of my life into an adventure set ablaze with a zealous and heartful passion for full-fledged Saint work all the more astonishing.  After three long decades of avoidance of the practice as well as the theory behind it, I have found myself inexplicably called to work with Saint Cyprian of Antioch, the hieromartyr of the Greek Orthodox Church who was reputed to have departed from his mastery of the Ancient Mysteries and ceremonial and necromantic magic to embrace a heartfelt Christian faith out of love for his fellow martyr, the pious St. Justina, and respect for the power of the Cross to overcome all of his most formidable demonic Operations (Bailey, 2017).

As the tides of history have shown, with his one foot in the Pagan Mysteries, ceremonial magic, and necromancy and his other foot planted squarely in Christian Orthodoxy, Saint Cyprian of Antioch would come to inspire a paradoxical blend of generations of pious Christians and practical Magicians alike.  Indeed, the 4th century C.E. saw the appearance of three principal texts detailing the legend of Cyprian composed by three different authors, namely, The Conversion of Saint Cyprian, The Confession of Saint Cyprian, and The Martyrdom of Saint Cyprian, which collectively came to be known The Acts of Saint Cyprian of Antioch (Bailey, 2017).  The legends contained therein, via their cross-continental transmission through very disparate cultural and geographic milieus, would later spark raging fires of magical creativity and devotional passion.  The result was a completely distinct vein of grimoiric literature that can be distinguished from the parallel and sometimes inter-influencing streams of the Solomonic and Faustian grimoires (Leitão, 2014; Stratton-Kent, 2014).

After departing from the soil of Antioch, the legend and magico-religious influence of Saint Cyprian traveled to Scandinavia, where they inspired the magical “blackbooks” attributed to him; to the Iberian peninsula, where they sparked Portuguese and Spanish “Cyprianic” grimoires in his name; to Haiti, where they shaped the work of select Vodoun Houngans and Mambos; and finally, to North and South America, where they came to influence a staggering array of Brujos, Quimbanderos, Hoodoo practitioners, Rootworkers, Conjure Doctors, Santeros, and  Paleros and Tatas (Ali, 2013; de Mattos Friswold, 2013; Leitão, 2014; Stratton-Kent, 2014; Maggi, 2016).  As Jake Stratton-Kent is wont to point out with his characteristic warm and mischievous fondness, Saint Cyprian’s global magical legacy arguably overshadows that of even the great King Solomon himself, the pseudonymous inspiration of the tremendously influential tradition of Solomonic grimoires (Leitch, 2009; Stratton-Kent, 2014).

Gateways through Dreams and Intuition: My Personal Call to the Mysterious Saint of Magicians

My journey with Saint Cyprian of Antioch was at first astounding only in its utterly uneventful blandness.  I had encountered his name in passing in the works of Jake Stratton-Kent, Jason Miller, Dr. Al Cummins, and a few other authors whom I greatly enjoy and respect, but I did not at first feel any inspiration to pursue the Cyprianic Arcana or the intriguing historical trajectories of Cypriana and soon returned to my well-traveled journeys with the Golden Dawn and Solomonic systems.

Thankfully, however, this odd tale does not come to an anticlimactic culmination there.  To reach the odd zenith of this particular foray into the the mysterious and inexplicable, we must fast-forward to a few months ago, when I abruptly found myself stricken by a deep yearning to swan-dive into the Cyprianic mythos.  Seemingly out of nowhere, an obsession with the mysterious Sorceror-turned-Saint exploded within me like a blazing fire.

Before I knew it, texts about Cyprian were nearly all I was reading.  At a head-spinning and frenetic pace, I read through the three Acts of Saint Cyprian of Antioch texts, Jake’s two volumes of The Testament of Saint Cyprian the Mage, Jason Miller’s Cyprianic posts, Dr. Al’s articles, works by Humberto Maggi and José Leitão, Alexander Eth and Gordon White’s Cyprian-related podcast episodes, and every single article on Cyprian ever posted in Aaron Leitch’s Solomonic group, of which I am a Moderator, as well as in the history of Jake’s Attendants of Adrasteia.  Every time I heard the name “Cyprian,” I felt a mystifying flood of devotional love and awe fill my heart in a totally unprecedented way that was utterly incomparable to any affective response I had ever had towards any other Saint, Angel, or Spirit.  The change was so radical and so rapid that I was absolutely astonished by this rapid turn of events.  How had I, the most Saint-averse person I knew, suddenly become so enraptured by all things Cyprianic?

At first, I skeptically chalked the transformation up to the dawning of mere intellectual curiosity.  After all, the origins of passionate preoccupations were as mysterious to the Ancients as they are to our contemporaries. But then, truly magical events began to unfold, events that would vigorously shake the foundations of my casually blasé skepticism.

A Push from a Dream: Or How Two Lives Collided from a Continent Away

The truly strange events began to unfold when a Facebook friend named Joanne, with whom I had never before had a one-on-one conversation or met in person–as she lives on the opposite side of the continent from me–suddenly appeared to me in a dream.

In this brief, but extremely vivid dream, she did not speak, but instead stood with a mysterious smile, silently gesturing for me to join her, mysteriously beckoning, but to what, I did not know.  I awoke feeling utterly puzzled by the enigmatic dream.  Why Joanne?  And what was her oneiric appearance drawing me towards?

As my interest in Cyprian continued to build, I asked the Saint that if he wished for me to work with him, then he should kindly guide me in acquiring items to build him an Altar for our work. Within a single week, an Altar table was put out by the garbage on the very same street on which I lived, where I would easily find it.  With gratitude to Cyprian, I carried the table home and washed, exorcised, and consecrated it according to Solomonic methods.  Within this same short period of time, I also ordered a Statue of the Saint and inexpensively obtained all of the items I would require for his Altar.  I thanked him for his help and purchased 42 offering candles to gradually give to him over the course of our work together out of gratitude for his help, wisdom, initiatory empowerment, and instruction.

Throughout this process, I spoke regularly with my spiritual brother Chijioke, in Nigeria, who kindly shared various resources on Cyprian with me to help me along on my peculiar new Path.  After I told him about purchasing the supplies for Cyprian’s Altar, Chijioke told me that a friend of his had started working with Cyprian a month beforehand and that Cyprian had “guided the hands of my friend to sculpt an image of him. He spoke with her for over an hour.  He insisted that she must make a Halo over the head of the statue. Cyprian even knocked down a very securely-placed statue, after she told him “I’m not even convinced you are a Saint!” much to her startled surprise!”

I was fascinated by the story and asked if the friend he was talking about was the same one he had told me about previously, but he said:

“No, this is another friend, Joanne.”

My jaw dropped.

Joanne?

I asked for her last name and much to my surprise, Chijioke confirmed that it was indeed the same Joanne that had appeared in my enigmatic dream, the same Joanne that lived on the other side of Canada from me, both of us an ocean away from Chijioke’s home in Nigeria, Africa…

As the weight of this revelation began to truly sink in, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and chills ran through my body.

Oh Cyprian, I thought, and it occurred to me that I could almost see him smile.

Chijioke and I completely blown away by the fact that Joanne and I had independently started working with Cyprian without either of us knowing it only to be fortuitously brought together by an enigmatic dream in which she had silently beckoned me to join her.

Reflecting on this point, I suddenly came to understand the hitherto veiled meaning of my bizarre and cryptic dream — the astral image of Joanne had evidently been inviting me to join her in working with Cyprian and sharing our experiences with one another. Or perhaps, I wondered, the apparent “Joanne” might have really been the inscrutable Spirit himself appearing to me in her form in the dream in order to bring us into conversation for our mutual growth and edification.  As Gordon White once pointed out, “Cyprian’s plan isn’t clear, but he definitely has one.”

Shortly thereafter, I sent Joanne the first message I had ever sent her and told her about this impenetrably curious turn of events.  As I unraveled the events of the narrative thus far, she was as floored as I was since she had had no idea that I had been working with Cyprian at all, as I had not publicly shared this fact, nor had I privately shared it with anyone but Chijioke.  And yet, the more we talked, the more we discovered we had a shocking number of things in common, not only in terms of our mutual love for Runes and Druidic lore, but also in the way our twin journeys with Cyprian unfolded.

Joanne’s own journey had begun enigmatically similarly to my own. As she explained, “He came on very strong right from the beginning: I found myself obsessively thinking and learning about him and that hasn’t stopped.” How similar that was to my own shockingly passionate and obsessive immersion in Cypriana! She also explained that “apart from the Orishas, Saint Cyprian is by far the most powerful Spirit that I have ever worked with.”

My own experience was conspicuously convergent with Joanne’s.  It is clear to both of us that the Spirit that answers to “Saint Cyprian of Antioch,” whoever he is, has a remarkably distinct energy that is unlike any other Spirit we have ever encountered, and that he is a legitimately formidable force to reckon with.  Indeed, he remains as enigmatic and mysterious to Joanne as to me. “I have no idea who Cyprian truly is,” Joanne admitted to me in one of our resulting conversations, “but he has held nothing back in letting us know what he is capable of.  He has never demanded ‘worship’ from me, but I feel that he is a very old and powerful Spirit form.  He’s always with me now but I still retain a sort of spiritual sovereignty:  I can choose to ignore him but most often do not.”  My sense of Cyprian was precisely the same.

Thereafter, Joanne went on to explain that when she was working on her Cyprianic sculpture, even though she had never sculpted before, “for at least 2 months prior to the night I began, I was receiving visual thought forms of how to proceed with the sculpting. When I would be moved to pick up certain supplies, I would, and often without fully understanding why.  And I always got good deals!” How similar her experience with  procuring the necessary materials for work with Cyprian was to my own experience of sourcing and acquiring the items for Cyprian’s Altar!

“After initially receiving some help in the process from a Jinn I later came to believe was a subservient of Cyprian, Cyprian himself became my Muse and guide to lend a sense of proportion to the sculpture…,” Joanne told me. “I would ask him questions and would receive intuitive guidance. All I had to do was listen and follow. Once the basic ‘structure’ of the face was done I became aware of Cyprian’s presence. Whenever I would hit a roadblock, I would ask him “what next?”… Then I would somehow intuitively just start modelling the clay! I worked in trance induced by Shamanic drumming nonstop from Friday night until Saturday morning around 1:30 am… Thereafter, Cyprian was very clear that he wanted me to thank both the Jinn and himself appropriately.  I poured Cyprian a glass of wine and offered my homemade incense as demonstrations of thanks.”

The resulting statue was stunning in its piercing power and enigmatic radiance, and I share it here with Joanne’s kind permission:

If I am being completely honest, however, I was not without my reservations about working with Cyprian, and I candidly shared these with both Joanne and Chijioke alike.  For one thing, I was disturbed by the lack of archaeological evidence to support some aspects of St. Cyprian’s legendary story–the detailed records of the lists of Bishops of Antioch from the period conclusively show, as Dr. Ryan Bailey (2017) reveals, that “no Bishop of Antioch ever bore the name of Cyprian” (p. 52).  It was, of course, still possible that a great magician had become a priest of Antioch without ever being consecrated Bishop and that the Bishop detail was later interpolated into Cyprian’s hagiography to increase his Orthodox prestige at a later date. Joanne had found an alternative and very elegant solution to the problem of Cyprianic historicity as an obstacle to practical work with the legendary Magus-cum-Sanctus— she rendered it irrelevant.  In her insightful words,

“To my mind, whether “Cyprian” ever really existed [in the way he is legendarily alleged to have done so] is pretty much irrelevant.  To me, he is an emanation of Spirit that has chosen to enter my conscious awareness at this time in my Spiritual quest for enlightenment and gnosis.  I trust that this is no accident and that the lessons learned will serve the greater Good.”

With these wise words, Joanne deftly and graciously laid my final reservations to rest.  After all, if I have learned anything on the Way of the Mysteries, it’s that “Adam,” “Joanne,” and “Cyprian” are all simply characters in Brahman’s dreaming within the play of consciousness.  All of these seeming individuals are ultimately appearances of the Divine to itself, which it uses to realize itself (gnosis), to awaken to the realization of its fundamental unity (yoga); indeed, the deepest teachings of Advaita Vedanta, the Kabbalah, and Dzogchen Buddhism fundamentally converge on the idea that the appearance of diversity and multiplicity is only relative and apparent, while nothing is separate in the final analysis.

In this grand process of cosmic awakening, we, the Divine,  appear as distinct individuals who have roles to serve in “walking each other Home,” to quote Ram Dass.  In this process, we can speak of distinctive functions being played by the apparently distinct Adam, Joanne, and Cyprian to “serve the greater Good,” as Joanne puts it, even though ultimately, Brahman, Plotinus’s One, the Ein of the Qabalah is at once the served, the serving, and the servant.

To quote the great sage Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973):

Questioner: A message in print may be paper and ink only. It is the text that matters. By analysing the world into elements and qualities we miss the most important – its meaning. Your reduction of everything to dream disregards the difference between the dream of an insect and the dream of a poet. All is dream, granted. But not all are equal.

Nisargadatta: The dreams are not equal, but the dreamer is one. I am the insect. I am the poet – in dream. But in reality I am neither. As the Absolute, I am beyond all dreams. I am the Light in which all dreams appear and disappear. I am both inside and outside the dream. Just as a man having headache knows the ache and also knows that he is not the ache, so do I know the dream, myself dreaming and myself not dreaming – all at the same time. I am what I am before, during and after the dream. But what I see in the dream, l am not.

Questioner: Even as a dream you are a most unusual dream.

Nisargadatta: I am a dream that can wake you up. You will have the proof of it in your very waking up.

Within this great mystical context, I came to suspect that one reason that Cyprian had brought the Joanne and the Adam ‘dream characters’ together, to borrow a phrase from Advaita Vedanta, was to enable me in particular to move beyond an imbalanced preoccupation with clinging to academic issues of strict historicity, which would otherwise likely proven a sticking point to my rigorously scholastic and fact-driven mind.  Indeed, for Cyprian, as for Joanne, such intellectual debates are besides the point when there is concrete practical work to be done.  It was a lesson that was at once humbling and helpful.

Altar to Cyprian of Docteur Caeli d’Anto.

Guidance from the Sorceror Saint: How I Mysteriously Came to Acquire His Oil

The second unusual story that I will share in this brief compendia of strange but true Cyprianic tales is an anecdote that lucidly illustrates one way that Cyprian as a “teaching and guiding Spirit” can operate through intuitive nudges and gut feelings.  This story took place on the very day of this writing.  Early this morning, I was on a bus heading to the agency at which I am doing my clinical social work training when I was shockingly informed by my Supervisor that a gas leak had occurred in our building and the power was out on the entire block.  The surrounding streets were in a state of chaotic pandemonium after the police barricaded the street and traffic was being rerouted. The space was sonically awash with horns honking, people getting out of cars, police sirens and whistles blaring, confused and worried phone calls sounding through cell phones held by trembling hands.  Because we could not access the files of any of our clients as they were all on the computers which we lacked the electricity to turn on, I was told not to come in to work.

As a result of this startling plot twist in my habitual trajectory to work, I found myself an hour and twenty minutes away from my home with a free day ahead of me.  At that moment, I felt an intuitive to do something I had never done before — instead of taking a series of buses and metros to rapidly travel to my university to do my weekly work for that institution, I opted to take a 3-hour peripatetic stroll through three different boroughs of the city to circuitously arrive there instead.

After an hour of walking, I again felt yet another very strong intuitive nudge or “pull.” It later occurred to me that Cyprian often operates through a chain or series of intuitive nudges of this type. This time, however, the cryptic sense was that I needed to walk down a road that was completely perpendicular to the path I would need to take to get to the university, completely out of the way and in a totally different direction.  Why, I did not know.  All I knew is that doing so felt resonantly “right.”  However, I had been studying Cyprian’s history and working with him long enough to know that when such strong intuitive nudges come, it can be worthwhile to follow them and see where they lead.

Thus, I found myself walking down a street on which I had never before laid foot, in a part of the city I had never previously explored.  After ten minutes of walking, I was stunned by what I suddenly came upon: an occult store, and one I had never visited or even heard of before…

Intrigued, I looked into the shop window and was swiftly taken aback by the synchronistic sighting of glittering set of purple amethyst geodes.  This detail surprised me because I had received yet another Cyprianic nudge towards making an amethyst rosary for use in my work with him, such as my planned upcoming novena leading up to his September Feast Day.  Purple, indeed, seems to be his favourite colour, with its rich royal and ecclesiastical implications, as Conjureman Ali (2013) has explained, as well as the colour of the candles and Altar cloth I had purchased for him.  Therefore, I made my way into the store to see what curios it might have on offer.

The Metaphysical Institute’s storefront, showing the striking purple amethyst geodes in the window.  Photograph taken by yours truly.

Once inside, I greeted the owners, who were kind and welcoming.  Again, I felt a persistent gut feeling or intuitive nudge, this time, to gravitate towards the store’s selection of Oils.  Never having been here before, it took me a moment of surveying the different sections of the store before I found the Oils arrayed in a shelving unit behind the counter.

A moment after perusing the Oils, my jaw dropped yet again — have you noticed that this tends to be a rather striking  theme in work with Saint Cyprian? There it was, the very item I had been futilely searching in every other esoteric store in Montreal to find: San Cipriano Oil – the Oil of St. Cyprian of Antioch.

Furthermore, I was delighted to find that the Oil was very affordable and bought the only two vials of Cipriano Oil that the shop had in its inventory.  Amused by the day’s surprising series of events–which had also included being intuitively nudged into a thrift store in which I found a 1,500.00$ blazer in my size, which I purchased for 10$–I shared with one of the shop’s Owners the story of how I had begun to work with Cyprian and had been serendipitously led to discover her store and buy the Oil by a series of strangely fortunate intuitive nudges that I can only attribute to the mysterious Saint.

She was awed by the story–the usual response to Cyprianic doings–and before I left, she took me aside and told me:

“You know, it’s no coincidence that you happened to come here today. We almost never have this Oil in stock.”

Once again, as through a glass darkly, I could almost see Saint Cyprian smile.

References

Bailey, R. (2017). The Acts of Saint Cyprian of Antioch: Critical Editions, Translations, and Commentary. Doctoral Thesis. Montreal: McGill University Library.

de Mattos Friswold, N. (2013). Saint Cyprian and the Sorcerous Transmutation. Brighton: Hadean Press.

Conjureman Ali. (2013). Saint Cyprian: Saint of Necromancers. London: Hadean Press.

Leitão, José (2014). The Book of St. Cyprian – The Sorcerer’s Treasure. London: Hadean press

Leitch, A. (2009). Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires: The Classical Texts of Magick Decyphered. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications.

Maharaj, N. (1973). I Am That. Trans. Maurice Freedman. New  Delhi: Chetana Publications.

Maggi, H. (2016). The Book of Saint Cyprian. Timmonsville: Nephilim Press.

Stratton-Kent, J. (2014). The Testament of Saint Cyprian the Mage: Volumes 1 and 2. Brighton: Scarlet Imprint.

 

 

The Bells and Trumpets of Solomon: Resounding Instruments of the Solomonic Grimoires

By Adam J. Pearson

Introduction: Ancient Origins of Horns, Trumpets, and Bells

The roots of ceremonial bells, horns, and trumpets stretch far into the distant reaches of prehistory.  According to Hyunjong (2009, p.27), the world’s oldest known musical instrument is a bone flute that was found at a Neanderthal habitation site in Slovenia.  This early flute was fashioned between 82,000 and 43,000 years ago from the bone of a cave bear (Hyunjong, 2009).  Like the bone flute, the first blowing horns and ‘trumpets’ were also crafted from parts of hunted animals, such as animal  horns (Warner et al., 2013).  Paralleling the horn and trumpet traditions, the earliest archaeological evidence of bells uncovered thus far dates to the 3rd millennium B.C.E. in the Yangshao culture of Neolithic China; these most ancient of all human bells were fashioned from clay pottery before bronze bells emerged with the advances of the Bronze Age (Reinhart, 2015).

Although contemporary bells and trumpets may seem vastly different from one another in both sound and structure, their earliest forms were strikingly similar.  Not only were they both musical instruments of staggering antiquity, but they were shared structural similarities; both bells and trumpets featured flared-out bottoms that amplified sounds produced either by striking, in the case of bells, or blowing vibrations, for trumpets,  through their resonant cavities.  Scholars of archaeoacoustics and music archaeology have identified independent traditions surrounding the crafting and uses of bells and trumpets in cultures on nearly every continent (Reinhart, 2015).  From the Bronze Age onward, however, these traditions largely developed in parallel, although sometimes intercepting and inter-influencing streams, whose unfoldings were shaped by the cultural contexts of the early artisans who drove their development (Montagu, 2014).

This article explores a fascinating case of dovetailing bell and trumpet traditions in the ritual history of musical instruments, namely, the interwoven traditions of Bells and Trumpets of Art within Western ceremonial magic.  The article’s first foray into the realm of sonorous Solomonic tools begins by describing the materials, crafting procedures, ritual uses, and potential mythic origins of the Trumpet of Art that is employed in the Key of Solomon grimoire (Latin: Clavicula Salomonis).  It then juxtaposes the Claviculan Trumpet of Art with the Bell of Art from the Key of Solomon‘s central source text, the Byzantine Greek Hygromanteia (Greek: Ὑγρομαντεία).  In the process, I will attempt to demonstrate that although the Trumpet of Art is able to perform the functions previously served by the evocatory Bell of the Greek Hygromanteia, it also reflects the influence of a distinct and separate tradition that traces its roots back to the Ancient Hebrew trumpet or ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎) and blowing horn or shofar (שופר‎) used in the Hebrew Tanach.

Thereafter, the article broadens its focus to examine the resonant connections between the Bell or Trumpet of Art and some of the reflections on ritual bells and trumpets that are contained in the writings of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, the pseudo-“Dee” of the Tuba Veneris, and Girardius, the mysterious author of the 18th century grimoire, Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus Naturae Arcanis, 1730.  Finally, I close with a brief discussion of the use and fashioning of my own personal Solomonic Bell of Art, which integrates the Hygromanteian Bell with the characters and Names of the Trumpet of Art and consecration methods from the Key.

A Yemenite Jew blows a Hebrew blowing horn or shofar (שופר‎) near the Old City Western Wall in Jerusalem. Photography by David Silverman.

Convoking the Spirits with Sonorous Blasts: The Key of Solomon’s Trumpet of Art

To begin, the connection between trumpets and the original King Solomon mythos that would exert a striking difference on the much later Key of Solomon grimoire has foundations in the Hebrew Tanach that are as strong as those of the Temple of Solomon itself.  Indeed, verses 31 to 35 in 1 Kings 1 describe how David required a trumpet to be sounded to announce the successorship and ritual crowning of his son, the great Solomon himself.  As the text explains,

³² King David said, “Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada.” When they came before the king, ³³ he said to them: “Take your lord’s servants with you and have Solomon my son mount my own mule and take him down to Gihon. ³⁴ There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ³⁵ Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah” (NIV, 1 Kings 1:31-35)

Thus, the blast of a trumpet was linked, from its earliest days, to the rich mythos that developed around King Solomon from its earliest Tanachic roots and the reverberations of this original trumpet blast would much later be felt throughout text of the Clavicula Salomonis or Key of Solomon the King.  In Chapter VII of the second Book of the Clavicula Salomonis, the Master of the Art is instructed to construct a “Trumpet of Art,” with which to “convoke” spirits to the ceremonial Circle in which the Master stands, and prepare them “to obey” the Operator’s commands (Peterson, 2004).

Fascinatingly, as Joseph H. Peterson (2004) explains, the Key‘s Trumpet was to be fashioned from “new wood.”  The choice of wood as a material for the body of the Trumpet is itself interesting since it deviates from the preferred materials for similar instruments in the period.  Unlike the Key‘s wooden Trumpet, the majority of blowing horns and trumpets from Antiquity through the Medieval and Renaissance periods were fashioned from animal horns (e.g. Ram or Ox), shells (such as conch as in the Maltan bronja), or metals (e.g. the bronze Roman cornu or buccina or the Scandinavian lurer) (Warner et al., 2013).

In addition, the use of “new” seems to suggest that the wood from which the Trumpet is made should be drawn from a “virgin” branch that never bore fruit, berries, or nuts, that is, wood under a single year’s growth, as in the case of the Key‘s instructions for the Wand of Art in Book II, Chapter 8 (Peterson, 2004).  Unlike in the case of the Wand, no instructions are given for astrologically timing the cutting of the wood for the Trumpet. In all likelihood, however, assuming a parallel ritual rationale to that of the Wand, the wood for the Trumpet would likely be “cut from the tree at a single stroke, on the day of Mercury, at sunrise,” with the characters and Names written during the Hour of Mercury, following the method for the construction of the Solomonic Wand (Peterson, 2004).

On one side of the Trumpet, the Key instructs the ceremonial Operator to use the consecrated “Pen and Ink of the Art” to write “these Names of God, ELOHIM GIBOR” (אלהים גבור) and “ELOHIM TZABAOTH” (אלהים צבאות) (Peterson, 2004). On the other side, specific “Characters” are to be inscribed, which Joseph H. Peterson (2004) presents as follows based on folio 120r of the Additional 10862 manuscript:

Happily for contemporary Solomonic practitioners, the Divine Names that the Key requires to be inscribed on the Trumpet are fairly consistent across manuscripts.  As Peterson (2004) notes, Aubrey 24 calls for the Latin “Deus Exercituum” (God of Armies), which approximates the Hebrew “Elohim Tzabaoth” (אלהים צבאות), while the French manuscript Lansdown 1202 requires “ces noms de Dieu Elohim Gibor, Dieu des Armées,” and the Italian Kings 288 manuscript has the Magician write “Elohyn Gibor.”  Interestingly, while most of the manuscripts only designate between a few lines to the construction, use, and significance of the Trumpet, Aubrey 24 devotes an entire chapter to the subject.

In addition, the practical instructions for the ceremonial use of the the Trumpet of Art are clearly delineated in the text.  In Book II, Chapter VII, the Key of Solomon explains that:

“Having entered into the circle to perform the experiment, he should sound his trumpet towards the four quarters of the Universe, first towards the East, then towards the South, then towards the West, and lastly towards the North. Then let him say:—

“Hear ye, O spirit N, I command you. Hear ye, and be ye ready, in whatever part of the Universe ye may be, to obey the voice of God, the Mighty One, and the names of the Creator. We let you know by this signal and sound that ye will be convoked hither, wherefore hold ye yourselves in readiness to obey our commands.”

This being done let the master complete his work, renew the circle, and make the incensements and fumigations” (Peterson, 2004, Bk. II, Chap. 7).

Thus, the purpose of the Key of Solomon‘s Trumpet of Art is at once to prepare the spirits to be convoked and commanded and to ceremonially position the Master of Art within the Solomonic Circle in the center of the four cardinal directions.  This directional centering of the Magician at the symbolic hub of the universe is not only demarcated by the structure of the Circle itself, which is aligned to the four cardinal directions, but also  ritually reinforced by sequentially sounding the Trumpet of Art towards each of these same directions.  In this process, the Operator begins in the East in the direction of the rise of light from the dawning Sun and proceeds clockwise–or, prior to the invention of clocks, deisial (Gaelic) or dexter (Latin) both meaning “towards the right” or “South” from the East–through the other directions from South to West to North.

As researchers and practitioners of the Key of Solomon such as Aaron Leitch (2009) have long noted, many of the Key of Solomon‘s grimoiric methods are modeled after the instructions given to Moses and Aaron in the Tanachic Books of Leviticus, Exodus, and Numbers as well as the Psalms or Tehillim.  For instance, the use of hyssop in the ritual bath in the Key of Solomon has its roots in the Biblical symbolism of hyssop as a purifying and consecrating herb within Hebrews 9:19, Leviticus 14:4-7, and most significantly, Numbers 19:6, where it is used to prepare the “water of purification” itself.

Similarly, the modus operandi of the Key‘s Solomonic Trumpet of Art can also be traced to a very specific passage in the Hebrew Tanach, namely, Numbers 10:1-7.  In these verses, God tells Moses to “make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out” (NIV, Numbers 10:1).  These trumpets or ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎)–which are not to be confused with shofar (שופר‎), another word used in the Tanach, which means ‘horn’ and refers to a distinct instrument–are to be sounded to call and assemble the Hebrew Tribes camped in each of the four cardinal directions of the Israelites’ camp.  As the text explains,

^“5 When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the East are to set out. ⁶ At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the South are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. ⁷ To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out” (Numbers 10:5-7)

Thus, when blowing the Trumpet of Art, the Key of Solomon‘s Operator follows in the footsteps of Moses, by calling to the spirits to attend to his commands in each of the directions proceeding clockwise/deisial/dexter from East to South as Moses did with his silver trumpet.  Similarly, just as Moses was told to use his trumpet to “gather the assembly” or convoke the Hebrew Tribes or prepare them to “set out,” so does the Solomonic Magician use the Trumpet of Art to prepare the spirits to “set out” and then convoke or assemble around the Circle. Thus, the Trumpet of Art has ancient Tanachic roots that long precede the much later date of the composition of the Key of Solomon.

Moreover, the Clavis Salomonis’ Trumpet is contextually grounded in a much broader series of Biblical traditions beyond those already mentioned.  Aside from the aforementioned uses of the ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎) and shofar (שופר‎) to proclaim the crowning of King Solomon (1 Kings 1:31-35), and call, assemble, and mobilize individuals (Numbers 10:5-7), the Biblical texts also describe these tools as instruments used to signal the presence of the Divine as God does to Moses with “a thick cloud over [Sinai], and a very loud trumpet blast” (Exodus 19:16), declare the commencement of festivals (Leviticus 23:23), topple the walls of Jericho when played by “seven priests” in “front of the Ark of the Covenant” (Joshua 6:4-5 and see also Agrippa’s (2000) Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 10), announce different phases of the Apocalypse when Seven Trumpets are sequentially sounded by the “Seven Angels who stand before God” (Revelation 8:2 and also referred to by Agrippa (2000) in Book II, Chapter 10), and praise God within the Temple orchestra itself as described in Psalm 150:3 (“Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet!”).

Very interestingly for the present study, this same Psalm 150, which describes the use of ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎) and shofar (שופר‎) to praise YHVH (יהוה) also describes the use of cymbals to the same end, enjoining Israel to ^“praise Him with the clash of resounding cymbals” (Psalm 150:3-5).  Cymbals, of course, are round metallic instruments that are sounded by striking, and, in these ways, are very closely related to bells (Braun & Braun, 2002).

Furthermore, it is very appropriate for the discussion of bells to come that bell-like cymbals are played alongside trumpets on many different occasions in the Tanach.  We read, for instance, that “David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets” (1 Chronicles 13:8), that both instruments were used to dedicate the Wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:27), that “Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song” (1 Chronicles 16:42), and that “when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David” (Ezra 3:10).

Thus, within the Tanachic lore of the Israelites to which the Key of Solomon would later mythically hearken back and symbolically align itself, bell-like cymbals and trumpets were repeatedly sounded in unison and the traditions that evolved around these ritual tools largely dovetailed together.  How appropriate it is, therefore, that the Greek Byzantine Hygromanteia–which is, as Dr. Stephen Skinner (2013) demonstrated, the primary source text of the Key of Solomon itself–should provide a parallel tradition to that of the Trumpet of Art, in the form of a mysterious evocatory Bell.

Ringing Open the Gateway: The Hygromanteian Bell of Art

Those who approach the Greek Byzantine Hygromanteia after first studying the Key of Solomon and learning to work its system using the Solomonic Trumpet may be surprised to discover that there is no Trumpet of Art in the Clavicula’s older source text.  Indeed, in the entirety of the Hygromanteia, there are only two occurrences of the word “Trumpet.” Moreover, in both cases, the word is used, not to refer to a tool to be made by the Magician, but rather to reference the Angelic Trumpet “that shall be sounded” on the Day of Judgment (Marathakis, 2011, p. 335).

The first of these twin trumpet references occurs in the Conjuration of “Asmodaes,” in which the Magician addresses the spirit by telling it that

“I conjure you by the Trumpet that shall be sounded, calling for the Second Coming” (Marathakis, 2011, p. 335).

In a similar fashion, the second and final trumpet reference in the Hygromanteia occurs in yet another conjuration, in which the Master is instructed to command the spirit

“by the trumpet that the Angel of Resurrection shall sound” (Marathakis. 2011, p. 173).

Therefore, while references to trumpets in the Hygromanteia are purely symbolic in nature and are used to add power to the conjurations,  the Hygromanteian magical arsenal does not include a physical Trumpet of Art in the style of the Clavicula.  Where the absence of one kind of  one kind of sonorous Solomonic tool in the text is glaringly evident, however, the presence of another is equally so. This second resounding tool of Solomon is the Hygromanteian Bell of Art.

Interestingly enough, this author’s first indication that there might be a Solomonic Bell tradition with a historical precedent in the Hygromanteia came, not from the Hygromanteia itself, but from Joseph H. Peterson’s (2004) insightful notes on manuscript variations in the later Key of Solomon. In Chapter IX, “Of the formation of the Circle,” in his edition of the Clavicula’ Salomonis, the Magician is instructed to

“enter within the circle and carefully close the openings left in the same, and let him again warn his disciples, and take the Trumpet¹³ of Art prepared as is said in the chapter concerning the same, and let him incense the Circle towards the four quarters of the Universe.

After this let the magus commence his incantations, having placed the Knife¹⁴ upright in the ground at his feet. Having sounded the Trumpet¹⁵ towards the East as before taught let him invoke the spirits, and if need he conjure them, as is said in the first book, and having attained his desired effect, let him license them to depart.”

In form and content, this section seems reminiscent of the prior passages concerning the Trumpet of Art which have already been discussed.  However, examining Peterson’s (2004) footnotes 13 and 15, reveals a fascinating point.  Although other manuscripts of the Key of Solomon such as Kings 288 and Aubrey 24 read “Trumpet” here, Sloane 3847 does not.  In place of “Trumpet,” and very interestingly for the purposes of this study, the Sloane 3847 version, which is entitled The Worke of Salomon the Wise Called His Clavicle Revealed by King Ptolomeus Ye Grecian reads “Bell” and instructs the Master to “let the Bell be [rung] toward the East” (“Ptolomeus,” 1999).

In addition, the same manuscript later tells the Operator to ring the Bell in the four cardinal directions from within the Circle. As the text reads, the Master shall have a bell, and ring it “4 times toward the 4 partes of the world, with 4 pater nosters” (Peterson, 1999). These instructions clearly place the ringing of the Bell “towards the 4 partes of the world” in harmony with the sounding of the Trumpet of Art to the four cardinal directions in Kings 288 and Aubrey 24, which suggests some parallelism between the Trumpets and Bells of Art within the Solomonic tradition.

This Bell-Trumpet homology is significant because, with its dating to 1572, Sloane 3847 is one of the oldest extant versions of the Key of Solomon, which places it chronologically closer to its Hygromanteian source text than many of the later manuscripts (Peterson, 2004).  In contrast, the British library catalogue describes Mathers’ earliest source, the Additional 10862 manuscript, which includes the Trumpet of Art rather than the Bell, as dating to the 17th century.

Medieval depiction of bells used in worship, suggesting the connection between bells and the sacred in the Medieval mind, a tradition with Ancient roots.

Thus, Sloane 3847 offers an example of a version of the Clavicula Salomonis in which a ritual Bell is used in place of the Trumpet called for in most other manuscripts and in the same manner as the Trumpet, to alert the spirits and prepare them to obey.  While the Trumpet of Art seems to suggest an attempt to integrate the Tanachic lore around the ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎) and shofar (שופר‎) into the Key of Solomon‘s magical system, the presence of the “Bell” in Sloane 3847 may reflect a continuation of the Hygromanteia‘s use of a Bell of Art in much the same way.  Thus, just as bell-like cymbals and trumpets were often used together for similar purposes in the Tanach, the grimoires reveal similar dovetailing traditions of consecrated ritual bells and trumpets being similarly employed by the Solomonic Master.

Moreover, juxtaposing the Key of Solomon‘s instructions for the creation and use of the Trumpet / Bell of Art with the Hygromanteia‘s instructions for the construction of its own Bell reveals some interesting and highly revealing similarities and differences.  On page 352 of Marathakis’ (2014) Hygromanteia, the Apprentice of the Master of Art is commanded to

“ring a Bell inside the Circle. He must have a Bell with the following names written around it in the blood of a Bat. Behold the names:

Peth, Glia, Peres, Mpethiel, Mepithiele, Thsos, Mparous, Mparon, Mpimaon, Mpapirion, Khae, Rhoam.”

Thus, while the Key of Solomon instructs the Magician to write Hebrew Divine Names on the Trumpet/Bell, the Hygromanteia‘s Bell is emblazoned with nomina barbara or barbarous names.  In addition, while the Key specifies sigils or “characters” to be included, the Hygromanteia limits itself to Names of Power and does not include additional sigils (Marathakis, 2011).

Interestingly, however, while either text could have reasonably asked the Operator to engrave the Names and ‘Characters of Art’ into the tools, both texts prescribe the use of magical inks instead.  In both cases, the inks are specially consecrated, as in Book II, Chapter 18 of the Key of Solomon, which provides a specific consecration method for the Ink of Art.  Similarly, as Dr. Stephen Skinner (2013, p. 348) explains in Magical Techniques and Implements Present in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, Byzantine Greek Solomonic Manuscripts and European Grimoires, the ‘Bat Blood’ to be used for the Bell would also be carefully prepared for the purpose, by being extracted from an animal that was “sacrificed in order to drain its blood.”  This sacrifice unto the Divine itself would consecrate the blood for magical use.

Notably, bat blood is also called for in the Key of Solomon. However, in the Clavicula, the Operator is required to perform the “Exorcism of the Bat” given in Book II, Chapter 16 over it after extracting it from the vein in the right wing of the animal as well (Peterson, 2004).  Thereafter, the Master blesses and consecrates the blood for use in the Ink of Art by various Divine Names as described in the text  (Peterson, 2004).

As to the appearance of the Hygromanteian Bell, manuscript Harleianus 5596, f. 34v provides two crude drawings of the Bell of Art in the margins of the Circle diagram, which are highlighted here for clarity.  As Marathakis’s (2011) edition indicates, the topmost image bears the label “Bell” in Greek:

Moreover, the Hygromanteia also specifies the type of bell to be used for the Bell of Art  with terminological precision when it invites the Apprentice to “hold a small Bell that some call kampanon and ring it for a little while before you enter the Circle” (Marathakis 2014, p. 169).  The kampanon or “small bell” referred to in this passage seems to have been a small hand-bell (Marathakis, 2011).  As Alexandra Villing (2002, p. 223) reveals in her fascinating article “For Whom Did the Bell Toll in Ancient Greece? Archaic and Classical Greek Bells at Sparta and Beyond,”

“Ancient Greeks were not familiar with large bells of the kind that ring in our churches today. Smaller, portable bells, usually not much taller than about 10 cm [3.93 inches — My Note] were, however, a very widespread feature of Ancient Greek life.”

Koudounia (Greek: κουδουνια) are bell-like instruments, which produce a ringing sound when struck and were seen by  many Ancient Greeks as having the apotropaic power to ward off evil Spirits.

In addition, in the same article, Villing (2002, p. 225-226) explains that in Ancient Greece,

“Archaeological, iconographical and literary sources attest to [the use of bells] as votive offerings in ritual and funerary contexts, as signalling instruments for town-guards, as amulets for children and women as well as, in South Italy, in a Dionysiac context.

The bells’ origins lie in the Ancient Near East and Caucasus area, from where they found their way especially to Archaic Samos and Cyprus and later to mainland Greece. Here, the largest known find complex of bronze and terracotta bells, mostly of Classical date, comes from the old British excavations in the sanctuary of Athena on the Spartan acropolis and is published here for the first time.

Spartan bells are distinctive in shape yet related particularly to other Lakonian and Boiotian bells as well as earlier bells from Samos. At Sparta, as elsewhere, the connotation of the bells’ bronze sound as magical, protective, purificatory and apotropaic was central to their use, although specific functions varied according to place, time, and occasion.”

The Bell of Art as described in the Hygromanteia is consistent with the Ancient Greek view of bells as “magical, protective, purificatory, and apotropaic,” a view also shared by the Romans who similarly employed tintinnabulum bells, the ancestors of modern wind chimes, to ward off evil spirits  (Villing 2002, p. 226; Eckardt & Williams, 2018).  In like manner, in the Japanese Shinto tradition, bells have long been used both to attract the attention of kindly and holy Spirits and banish evil Spirits from the shrines at which they were rung; for the same reason, bells are still used to this day on Japanese protective charms or omamori (Mendes, 2015).  In short, like the Ancient Greek kampana, which could be both attractive and apotropaic, the Hygromanteian bell also serves the dual function of banishing hostile spirits and attracting cooperative and benefic spirits to the Operator’s call (Villing, 2002; Marathakis, 2011).

An omamori or Japanese amulet with an apotropaic golden bell (Mendes, 2015).

In addition, the Greek ritual bells’ use as signalling instruments further connects them both to the Ancient Hebrew understandings of trumpets described in the aforementioned Tanachic verses and to the Israelites’ own uses of ceremonial bells.  In Exodus 28: 31 to 35, for example, Aaron is told to wear a special robe adorned with “gold bells” to protect him “when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord” so “that he will not die.” God tells him to

^“31 “make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth, ³² with an opening for the head in its center. There shall be a woven edge like a collar^[c]around this opening, so that it will not tear. ³³ Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them. ³⁴ The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe. ³⁵ Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he comes out, so that he will not die.” (NIV, Exodus 28:31-35).

Much like the Trumpet of Art and the Tanachic bells of Aaron, then, the Hygromanteia’s Bell of Art can be seen as both sanctifying and apotropaic, embedded as it is in the contexts of older traditions around the ritual use of bells as spiritually powerful tools in the aforementioned Greek and Tanachic traditions, and Byzantine Christian uses of bells to ‘convoke’ parishioners to Church, to name just a few streams of cultural influences that fed into its conceptualization within the Hygromanteia (Sachs, 2012).

It is worth noting, however, that unlike the Clavicula‘s Trumpet, the Hygromanteian Bell is sounded both before and after entering the Circle to designate it to the spirits as a sacred and protected space.  This is a subtle but important point that is often overlooked, but warrants careful consideration as it bears hidden significance.  As Dr. Stephen Skinner pointed out to this author in his comments on an earlier draft of this article, many cultures use ritual bells to announce the entering of spiritual space.  Hindu temples, for instance, often feature ghanta bells that devotees are expected to ring before entering the Gharbagriha (sanctum sanctorum) to announce their arrival to the Gods and Goddesses and prepare themselves to receive darshan (the sight of Holy Images of Divinity) (Brown, 2013).  In the same way, the Hygromanteian Apprentice rings the Bell of Art to announce the Apprentice and Master’s entrances into the Circle, the sacred meeting place between the spirit world and the human world.  After this preliminary sounding, they proceed to sound the Bell again from within the Circle in order to alert the spirits to be ready to appear and obey in the style of the later Claviculan Trumpet.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa as depicted by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528).

Resonant Grimoiric Connections: Ritual Bells and Trumpets in Agrippa, Dee, pseudo-“Dee,” and Girardius

The precise origins of the Hygromanteian Bell of Art tradition are shrouded in mystery. Although Old Testament style bell-cymbals, Christian Church and altar bells, Ancient Greek kampana and koudounia (Greek: κουδουνια), Ancient Egyptian ritual bells–perhaps through their impact on the development of Ancient Greek music–and Mesopotamian bells all may have influenced the Hygromanteian Bell, another candidate for a historical precedent might be the Chaldaean and Neoplatonic Iynx (Braun & Braun, 2002; Sachs, 2012; Montagu, 2014; Muñoz, 2017).

In Greek literature, the Iynx (Greek: Ιυγξ) was originally a reference to the wryneck bird, which was originally bound to a Sorceror’s wheel and then spun around to attract an unfaithful lover (Majercik, 2013).  The word Iynx then came to be used to mean a kind of love charm, a semantic valence that Plato expanded to express a kind of Erosian ‘binding force’ between humankind and Divinity.  By the time of the Chaldeaen Oracles, which cannot be any younger than the 2nd century C.E. since Iamblichus refers to them, Iynges had come to be understood as magical Names (voces mysticae) that were sent forth as ‘couriers’ from the Divine to communicate with the Theurgist (Majercik, 2013; de Garay, 2017).

The original wryneck bird-bound wheel Iynx gradually evolved into a bell-like metal disc that was inscribed with Divine Names and symbols, much like the Hygromanteian Bell (Johnston, 1990).  This bell-like instrument would, however, be attached to a twisted leather thong, which would be rapidly spun to produce a whirring sound.  Theurgists believed that the sound of the Iynx would attract daimons and inspire them to reveal their Magic Names, through which Magicians aimed to acquire magical powers (Johnston, 1990; Majercik, 2013).  In the iynx tradition, therefore, we find a magical bell-like tool inscribed with Divine Names and characters that may very well have been one of the influences, alongside those of the other aforementioned traditions, that helped  give rise to the Hygromanteian Bell of Art.

What is certain, however, is that the Hygromanteia is not the only text from the later grimoiric period that employs consecrated ritual bells in its repertoire of recommended magical tools.  Indeed, in his Third Book of Occult Philosophy, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (2000) writes that:

“there are also sacred rites and holy observations, which are made for the reverencing of the Gods, and religion, viz. devout gestures, genuflections, uncoverings of the head, washings, sprinklings of Holy water, perfumes, exterior expiations, humble processions, and exterior Ornaments for divine praises, as musical Harmony, burning of wax candles and lights, ringing of bells, the adorning of Temples, Altars and Images, in all which there is required a supreme and special reverence and comeliness; wherefore there are used for these things, the most excellent, most beautiful and precious things, as gold, silver, precious stores, and such like.”

In this list, many classically Solomonic practices that are familiar to any practitioner of the Clavicula Salomonis system can be discerned.  These practices range from sprinkling “sprinklings of Holy Water” to the suffumigations of “perfumes”and “washings” or ritual baths (Agrippa, 2000).  Trumpets are notably absent from this list, although “the ringings of bells” are mentioned.

While the Hygromanteia does not specify the material from which its Bell was to be created, Agrippa offers practitioners some guidance in regards to selecting materials from which to construct magical Bells.  To this end, Agrippa (2000) suggests that such bells are best made from “beautiful and precious things, as gold, silver, precious stones and such like.”  He grounds his suggestion in his conception of beautiful objects as more sympathetically resonant with the Divine’s intimate participation in the Form of hte Beautiful; on this point, Agrippa follows a Neoplatonic line of philosophico-magical theory that is traceable back to Iamblichus, Porphyry, Plotinus and earlier still, to Plato (de Garay 2017).  Of course, in order to emit a resonant ringing sound, a Bell of Art must be made from an appropriate material with the acoustic ability to produce such a sound when struck.  Gold, brass, bronze, or silver are all appropriate choices that are consistent with Agrippa’s notes in this passage; fittingly Ancient Greek bells were often fashioned from bronze (Villing 2002).

It is not sufficient for ceremonial magical practice to simply make a bell in an appropriate metal, however.  The Bell of Art must also be consecrated in order to en-spirit it and empower it, as Aaron Leitch (2009) suggests in his Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires.  To this point, in his Third Book of Occult Philosophy, Agrippa (2000) adds that such consecrations can have potent protective and apotropaic results when he explains that

“Bells by consecration and benediction receive virtue that they drive away and restrain lightnings, and tempests, that they hurt not in those places where their sounds are heard; in like manner Salt and Water, by their benedictions and exorcisms, receive power to chase and drive away evil spirits” (Agrippa, 2000).

The exorcisms and benedictions by consecrated Water and Salt of Art to which Agrippa alludes here are well-known to Solomonic Magicians; indeed instructions for both are presented in Chapters 5 and 11 of Book II of Peterson’s (2004) Clavicula Salomonis.  However, the commensurate power of bells themselves to exorcise and bless sacred spaces within the Solomonic tradition is often neglected.  It is no accident that Agrippa lists bells, water, and salt together; for him, as for many other writers in his own time and long before, these ritual items were often considered together and used in complementary ways (Agrippa, 2000).

Similarly, this key passage of the Third Book reinforces the protective power of consecrated bells to ensure that “they hurt not in those places where their sounds are heard,” a potential carryover from the Ancient traditions that may lie in the background of the Hygromanteian Bell (Agrippa, 2000).  For Agrippa, in short, as perhaps for the Hygromanteian Master of Art, the ringing of a consecrated Bell can be as protective to the Magician as it is evocative to the spirit.

Moreover, the connections between bells, the Divine, and directionality that have been described in relation to the Trumpet of Art and the Tanachic use of trumpets in Numbers 10:1-7 are also echoed in John Dee’s (2003) True and Faithful Relation of What Passed For Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits, in which the Elizabethan Magician reports that the Angel Madini prayed before Kelly and Dee that:

“Miraculous is thy care, O God, upon those that are Thy chosen, and wonderful are the ways that Thou hast prepared for them. Thou shalt take them from the fields, and harbour them at Home. Thou art merciful unto thy faithful and hard to the heavy-hearted. Thou shalt cover their legs with Boots, and brambles shall not prick them: their hands shall be covered with the skins of Beasts that they may break their way through the hedges. Thy Bell shall go before them as a watch and sure Direction: The Moon shall be clear that they may go on boldly. Peace be amongst you!”

Thus, in much the same way as in Madini’s prayer, the ringing of the Bell of Art “goes before” the entrance of the Magician into the Circle in the Hygromanteia, as a “watch and sure direction” (Dee, 2003).

Interestingly, while this passage suggests some of the spiritual ideas surrounding Bells that have already been explored, Dee is also connected to the trumpet strand of the sonorous Solomonic tool traditions.  Indeed, John Dee is purported to be the author of a fascinating work entitled the Libellus Veneri Nigro Sacer or The Consecrated Little Book of Black Venus (1580), which centers on a magical Trumpet entitled the Tuba Veneris or Trumpet of Venus, which is shown here as rendered in Teresa Burns and Nancy Turner’s 2007 translation of the Libellus:

It is worth noting, however, that Michael Putnam (2010), a translator of an excellent edition of this underappreciated grimoire, has cast doubt on Dee’s authorship of the text for a number of reasons.  These include, for instance, that the script reveals authorship on the Continent, not in London as the text claims; that Dee’s autograph in the earliest surviving Warburg manuscript (MS. FBH 510) is not recognizably his; that there are no references to the “Tuba Veneris” in any of Dee’s journals or other books; that the text gives “June 4, 1580” as its date of composition when Dee’s journal entries reveal he was in Mortlake between June 3 and 7 and not in London; and that the text uses a forcible and binding-based necromantic approach that is very different from the supplicatory prayer-based Angelic work that Dee was doing in the 1580s (Putnam, 2010).

Whatever its origins, the Tuba Veneris is remarkable as one of the few Trumpets of Art in the Solomonic tradition, and it has four interesting differences that distinguish it from its Key of Solomon counterpart.  First, while the Clavicula‘s Trumpet of Art is fashioned from “new wood,” the Trumpet of Venus is made from an animal horn, much like the shofar (שופר‎) (Peterson, 2004).  In addition, as the text explains, the horn for the Tuba Veneris is to be removed from a living bull.  More precisely, in order to craft this Venusian Trumpet,

“one takes the Horn of a living Bull, then one takes Vitriol dissolved in vinegar, with which one should wash and purify the Horn, after which one carves the Characters as they are represented in the following sketch, into either side of the horn with the aforementioned Steel Instruments. One must make sure that the entire preparation of the Horn, including the time it is torn off from the bull, must also be in the times, days and hours of , just as was done in preparing the Seal. Afterwards, one envelops it in smoke, wraps it in linen, and buries it together with the Seal of , then unburies it again and preserves it for later use” (“Dee,” 2010).

Second, while the Tuba Veneris’ characters are carved into its surface during the Day and Hour of Venus, the Clavicula‘s characters are painted onto it in the consecrated Ink of Art, presumably in the Day and Hour of Mercury as in the case of the Key of Solomon‘s Wand (Peterson, 2004).

Third, the Tuba Veneris and Trumpet of Art are consecrated in very different ways.  The Trumpet of Venus’ mode of consecration via burial is very consistent with the consecration methods for Ancient necromantic and Goetic tools, which were to be buried in the ground so that the spirits could operate upon and bond with them in a chthonic environment, a precedent found in the Papyri Graecae Magicae (Stratton-Kent, 2010).  Importantly, the Tuba Veneris is used in conjunction with a Liber Spirituum, which is also buried underground as part of its consecration process, like the Liber Spiritua used in necromantic operations in other texts such as the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy (Stratton-Kent, 2010).  In contrast, the Key‘s Trumpet of Art is not buried, but rather consecrated entirely above-ground.

Finally, while the Clavicula‘s Trumpet of Art is sounded to the four directions, the Trumpet of Venus is used in a very different manner to amplify the Operator’s voice; instead of sounding the Trumpet, the Magician speaks the Calls to the spirits through it.  As “Dee” explains, the Master should “speak the entire Call through the Horn of Venus, and he should summon the Spirit by naming it once at the beginning and again at the end, but always with distinct pauses” (“Dee,” 2010).

A final resounding instrument is worth considering in this overview of the grimoiric literature, and that is the Necromantic Bell of Girardius, which appears in the 18th century grimoire, Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus Naturae Arcanis, 1730.  This intriguing text can be found in l’Arsenal manuscripts 2350 and 3009 in the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris (Girardius, 1730).  The consecration method of the Bell of Girardius and its necromantic associations beautifully parallel the Trumpet of Venus in a way that suggests another meeting point between the Solomonic bell and trumpet traditions that this article has been considering.

The Bell of Girardius features the name Tetragrammaton on its bottom followed by the astrological symbols of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and the Moon, the Name Adonai, and finally, the name Jesus on the ringed handle.  Girardius’ Bell is cast from what Jake Stratton-Kent (2010) calls a kind of “magical electrum,” which consists of alloyed gold, copper, fixed mercury, iron, tin and silver, and lead, although some manuscripts omit the lead (Girardius, 1730; Masello, 1996).  In terms of astrological timing, the Bell is to be made either “at the day and hour of birth of the person who wishes to be in confluence and harmony with the mysterious Bell” or, in other manuscripts, at a time when the Planetary aspects favour the Operator by progression or transit to the natal chart (Masello, 1996; Stratton-Kent, 2010).

According to the text, the Necromancer must then engrave the date of his or her birthday or otherwise the date of the casting of the Bell directly into the Bell itself–a practice nearly unique among all of the grimoires–as well as the names of the Seven Olympic spirits, that is, Aratron for Saturn, Bethor for Jupiter, Phaleg for Mars, Och for the Sun, Hagith for Venus, and Phul for the Moon (Girardius, 1730).

Thereafter, the Bell must be wrapped in green consecrated cloth, which different authors interpret as linen or taffeta, and buried under cover of darkness in a grave for 7 days, which correspond to the 7 Ancient Planets (Girardius, 1730; Masello, 1996; Stratton-Kent, 2010).  This goetic consecration process is notably similar to that used for the Trumpet of Venus and places the Necromantic Bell, like the Tuba Veneris, in the aforementioned tradition of grave-based chthonic consecrations with roots in the Papyri Graecae Magicae (Stratton-Kent, 2010).  Naturally, this is a method grounded, pun intended, in classical sympathetic theoria; indeed, the grimoire makes this point clear when it states that during its time in the grave, the Bell absorbs from the neighbouring corpse or the Underworld-like environment “emanations and confluent vibrations” which “give it the perpetual quality and efficacy requisite when you shall ring it for your ends” (Girardius, 1730).

When the Bell is used to summon the spirits of the dead, the Master is required to don sandals and a toga-like vestment clasped at the shoulder as well as a tunic, and hold the Bell in his or her left hand and a parchment scroll bearing the sigils of the Planets in the right (Stratton-Kent, 2010).  Thus, the Bell of Girardius is engraved rather than drawn on with its Names of Power like the Trumpet of Venus and is consecrated in a similar manner, but is used for entirely different purposes, namely to evoke the spirits of the dead.  Surprisingly, however, neither text mentions sounding their instruments to the four cardinal directions, a notable point of departure from the Clavicula’s Trumpet of Art and the Hygromanteia‘s Bell.

The Necromantic Bell of Girardius from the 18th century grimoire, Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus Naturae Arcanis, 1730.

Integrating Theory and Practice: My Solomonic Bell of Art

How does a contemporary practitioner make sense of the sometimes diverging, sometimes converging Bell and Trumpet traditions found in the grimoires? How does one put such a labyrinth of instructions into concrete practice?

There are at least three ways to tackle this challenge.  First, one can make the tools specific to the grimoires with which one is working and as exactly as described in the texts.  This approach is likely the best for grimoire purists and for those who wish to experiment using the precise constraints and instructions of a particular system.  This method is reasonable and ideal in most cases, particular in the case of highly idiosyncratic texts like the Tuba Veneris or the Necromantic Horn of Girardius.

Second, one can combine methods from different texts to create a tool that is adapted to one’s particular way of working by synthesizing what seem the wisest and most applicable instructions from different grimoires.  This method is sure to alarm traditionalists, but may be applicable when working in a tradition with internal continuity between the two texts to be synthesized, such as within an integrative Hygromanteia-Key of Solomon practice, for example.

Third, one can use a combination of the previous two methods, using synthesized tools in some cases and classical tools made to the letter of the grimoiric instructions when appropriate.

My overall approach is the third one given here, which seems to be the one that most contemporary practitioners take.  For most tools, I closely follow the grimoire instructions in the style of Frater Ashen Chassan, Dr. Stephen Skinner and Mr. Aaron Leitch in much of his work.

In other cases, when it is more appropriate to the work at hand, however, I apply a synergistic or integrative methodology to integrate instructions from texts in continuous traditions.  Aaron Leitch took a similar approach and brilliantly resolved the dilemma of whether to side with the Bell or Trumpet traditions in his own Solomonic work by using a Trumpet of Art made to the exact specifications of the Key of Solomon to which he attached 7 bells by 7 ribbons in the seven Planetary colours.  In this way, he was able to fashion a Trumpet that benefits from the magical and physical properties laid out by both the Bell and Trumpet traditions.

In my own case, for Hygromanteia-Key of Solomon work, I opted to follow the Hygromanteia and Sloane 3847 of the Key of Solomon and simply use of Bell of Art. However, I chose to integrate the Divine Names and Sigils given for the Trumpet/Bell in the Clavicula Salomonis manuscripts with the Hygromanteia‘s Bell format and consecration and creation methods leaning more towards the Key tradition.  Therefore, drawing on Agrippa’s (2000) recommendation to fashion ritual bells out of “beautiful and precious things, as gold, silver, precious stores, and such like,” I opted to use a beautiful antique golden bell for the purpose.  This is a small bell as described in the Hygromanteia (Marathakis, 2011).

Following the usual Key of Solomon methods, I exorcised the metal and performed benedictions and Psalm readings over the Bell during the Hour and Day of Mercury under a waxing Moon.  This process included sprinkling Holy Water over the Bell with a consecrated Aspergillum of Art, anointing it with Solomonic Holy Oil, and suffumigating it with Solomonic “odoriferous spices” (Peterson, 2004).  All of these procedures were completed within a consecrated Solomonic Circle of Art.

Also during the Day and Hour of Mercury beneath a waxing Moon, I wrote the Divine Names and drew the characters given below on the Bell as recommended by Joseph H. Peterson’s (2004) edition of the Clavicula for the Trumpet/Bell of Art.  This work was completed with a consecrated Pen and Ink of the Art, which were also prepared to the letter of the Key of Solomon instructions.

Finally, to protect the consecrated Ink from fading during use, I varnished the Bell with a consecrated lacquer that was blended with consecrated Solomonic Holy Oil and prayed additional Psalms over it to complete the consecration.  The completed Bell of Art, which I store in a properly prepared Solomonic linen as shown below the Bell in the image below, appears as follows:

In my own humble experience, the resulting tool is both beautiful and powerful. Following the Hygromanteia, I ring the Bell before stepping into the Circle, to announce my entrance into consecrated sacred space.  Then, following the Key, at the commencement of each Operation of Art, I ring the Bell in the four cardinal directions, starting in the East and moving clockwise around the Circle back to the East.

In my experience, all of the classical functions of the Bell or Trumpet of Art are well-accomplished by this Bell, from protection to apotropaia, formation of a sacred space, excitation of what Dr. Stephen Skinner calls “magical tension,” and “exciting the senses” as suggested by the Papyri Graecae Magicae into what Agrippa would later call a productive “phrenzy” (Betz, 1996).

“Lion” by Formisano Francisco.

Resonating Through History: Concluding Reflections on the Bells and Trumpets of Solomon

In conclusion, this article has attempted to trace the winding twin threads of the Solomonic Bells and Trumpets of Art and demonstrate that, although the Clavicula Salomonis’ Trumpet of Art is able to perform the functions previously served by the evocatory Bell of the Greek Hygromanteia, it also reflects the influence of a distinct and separate tradition that traces its roots back to the Tanchic trumpet or ḥatzotzrah (חצוצרה‎) and winding horn or shofar (שופר‎). This article has also striven to illuminate the natures, ritual functions, and physical materials of the Claviculan Trumpet and Hygromanteian Bell by placing them in the larger grimoiric contexts of the writings of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, John Dee, the pseudo-“Dee” of the Tuba Veneris, and Girardius, the author of the 18th century grimoire, Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus Naturae Arcanis, 1730. 

Before the Trumpet blasts and Bell ringings of this article fade into silence, however, an etymological point about the English word “bell” is worth mentioning for the light it sheds on the Bell/Trumpet connection.  According to the Online Etymology Dictionary (2018), the modern English word “bell” derives from roots that signify

“a hollow metallic instrument which rings when struck,” from the Old English belle, which has cognates in Middle Dutch belle and Middle Low German belle, but is not found elsewhere in Germanic except as a borrowing; apparently from PIE root *bhel- (4) “to sound, roar” (compare Old English bellan “to roar,” and the later English word “bellow”).”

Thus, both bells and trumpets are linked to a sense of “roaring” that symbolically and sympathetically connects them to metaphors of kingship, dominion, and authority in the roaring of lions.  Just as the roaring of a lion can strike fear into a human heart, the roaring of the Trumpet or a Bell of Art is intended to strike fear into the hearts of evil spirits and thus ward them off apotropaically; indeed, this is likely the reason why the Sloane 3847 manuscript of the Key of Solomon states that

“by the vertue of these names [written on the Bell], the voice of the Bell shall enter into their hearts, to cause them to feare and obay” (“Ptolomeus,” 1999).

The “voice” of a Bell is its ‘roar’ and the magical association between the two is profoundly ancient, as is the apotropaic power of loud droning sounds like the booming of a horn, the roaring of a lion, and, just as significantly, the bellowing of the human voice.  In Papyri Graecae Magicae IV: 475- 829, for instance, the Magician is instructed to “look intently, and make a long bellowing sound, like a horn, releasing all your breath and straining your sides; and kiss the phylacteries and say, first toward the right: “Protect me, prosymeri!” (Betz, 1996).  Thereafter, the Master is told to “make a long bellowing sound, straining your belly, that you may excite the five senses; bellow long until out of breath, and again kiss the phylacteries” (Betz, 1996, 705).

This latter verse offers some additional insight into the magical value of bellowing noises like those produced by the human body or trumpet; such resounding sounds hold the power to “excite the senses” and make the Magician alertly attentive in a way that can facilitate spirit communication.  This enlivening quality of bellowing, droning, and ringing sounds is entirely consistent with the use of the Hygromanteian Bell of Art or Claviculan Trumpet to “alert” the spirits to be prepared to come to the call of the Master (Peterson, 2004; Marathakis, 2011).

Finally and in closing, it is this author’s contention that the droning sound of vibrating Divine Names that was employed by 19th and early 20th century Victorian lodge magicians may very well be a later Hermetic application of the old Papyri Graecae Magicae bellowing formula.  Just like the primal method of the PGM, the Hermetic vibratory formula at once calls the desired powers, banishes the undesired ones, and “excites the senses” of the Magician to an enlivened state of sensitivity (Betz, 1996).

In this way, the ancient power of droning vibratory sounds that echoed from the Neolithic horns, clay bells, and bone flutes through the bellies of bellowing Greek papyri magicians and the grimoiric Bells and Trumpets of Art continued to resonate within the 19th century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Temples in much the same way.  Whatever the exact historical lineages may be that trace these ancient practices and tools from the shrouded mists of prehistory to the living experiences of 21st century Mages, however, their reverberating power and enduring value remain with us to this day.  And if we continue to vibrate Divine Names, sound Trumpets, boom Horns, and ring Bells of Art, to paraphrase the great physicist and alchemist Sir Isaac Newton, we do so while standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before us (Lines, 2017).

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Mr. Joseph H. Peterson for his insightful notes on the manuscripts and his tireless work for the grimoire community, to Dr. Stephen Skinner and Mr. Aaron Leitch, whose helpful comments on the first draft of this text inspired the section on the shofar and led to a more nuanced central thesis, to Mr. Jake Stratton-Kent for his valuable insights into the Bell of Girardius and necromantic consecration methods within the Papyri Graecae Magicae, to Mr. João Pedro Feliciano for his interesting information on the Chaldeaen and Neoplatonic Iynx traditions, which inspired the section on the topic, to Mr. Andy Foster for his helpful reflections on the original manuscripts, to Magister Omega for his insights into the practical points of the Tuba Veneris system, to Frater Abd Al-Wali for sharing photographs of his own Bell of Art, and to Mr. Nick Farrell, for his kind patience during my writing and revisions and for helping inspire this much-expanded version of the original draft.  This article would not have been possible in its current form without all of your helpful and supportive feedback and useful ideas for which I remain sincerely thankful.

References

Agrippa, H. C. (2000). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Ed. Joseph H. Peterson. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Based on a transcription from Moule: London, 1651. Available at http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa1.htm [Accessed 03 June2018].

Betz, H. D. (1996). The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation Including the Demotic Spells. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Braun, J. & Braun, Y., (2002). Music in Ancient Israel/Palestine: Archaeological, Written, and Comparative sources. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Brown, P. (2013). Indian Architecture of the Buddhist and Hindu Period. London, UK: Read Books Ltd.

Dee, J. (2003). A True and Faithful Relation of What Passed For Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits. Ed. Joseph H. Peterson. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/dee/tfr/tfr1.htm [Accessed 4 June 2018].

“Dee, J.” (2010). Tuba Veneris or The Consecrated Little Book of Black Venus. Translated from Latin by Teresa Burns and Nancy Turner. In Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition 12(2). Available at: http://www.jwmt.org/v2n12/venus.html [Accessed 4 June 2018].

de Garay, J. (2017). The reception of Proclus: From Byzantium to the West. Byzantine Perspectives on Neoplatonism. Ed. Sergei Mariev. Berlin, DE: De Gruyter Press.

Eckardt, H. & Williams, S. (2018). The sound of magic? Bells in Roman Britain. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Gigot, F. (2017). Hyssop. [online] The Catholic Encyclopedia, originally published in 1910. Available at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07612a.htm [Accessed 25 May 2018].

Girardius. (1730). Parvi Lucii Libellus de Mirabilibus Naturae Arcanis, 1730. In the Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal manuscripts 2350 and 3009. Paris, France.

Hyunjong, C.. (2009). The musical instruments of prehistoric Korea. The International Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology, 3(1), pp. 26-48.

Johnston, S. (1990). Hekate soteira: A study of Hekate’s roles in the Chaldean oracles and related literature. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press.

Leitch, A. (2009). Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires: The Classical Texts of Magick Decyphered. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications.

Lines, M.E., 2017. On the Shoulders of Giants. New York: Routledge.

Majercik, R. (2013). The Chaldaean Oracles: Text, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford, UK: Prometheus Trust.

Marathakis, I. (2011). The Magical Treatise of Solomon or Hygromanteia. Singapore: Goldon Hoard Press.

Masello, R. (1996). Raising Hell: A Concise History of the Black Arts and Those Who Dared to Practice Them. London, UK: Penguin Putnam.

Mendes, E. (2015). Ancient magic and modern accessories: A re-examination of the omamori phenomenon. The Hilltop Review, 7(2), pp. 152-167.

Montagu, J. (2014). Horns and Trumpets of the World: An Illustrated Guide. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Muñoz, D. S. (2017). The south face of the Helicon: Ancient Egyptian musical elements in Ancient Greek music. Current Research in Egyptology 17(1). Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books.

NIV – New International Version Bible. (2018). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Online Etymology Dictionary. (2018). [online encyclopedia entry]. Bell. Available at: https://www.etymonline.com/word/bell [Accessed 25 May 2018].

Peterson, J. H. (2004). Key of Solomon, Book 2. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 25 May 2018].

“Ptolomeus.” (1999). Sloane 3847 – The Worke of Salomon the Wise Called His Clavicle Revealed by King Ptolomeus Ye Grecian, 1572. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/sl3847.htm [Accessed 25 May 2018].

Putnam, M. (2010). Preface from the translator. John Dee’s Tuba Veneris. Translated from the Latin by Michael Putnam. Seattle, WA: Trident Books.

Reinhart, K. (2015). Religion, violence, and emotion: Modes of religiosity in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of northern China. Journal of World Prehistory, 28(2), pp. 113-177.

Sachs, C. (2012). The history of Musical Instruments. New York: Dover Publications Incorporated.

Skinner, S. (2013). Magical Techniques and Implements Present in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, Byzantine Greek Solomonic Manuscripts and European Grimoires:
Transmission, Continuity and Commonality (The Technology of Solomonic Magic). Newcastle, Australia: University of Newcastle.

Stratton-Kent, J. (2010). Geosophia – The Argo of Magic. Brighton, UK: Scarlet Imprint.

Villing, A. (2002). For whom did the bell toll in ancient Greece? Archaic and classical Greek bells at Sparta and beyond. Annual of the British School at Athens, 97(1), pp. 223-295.

Warner, R.A., Enrico, E.J., Borders, J.M., Etheredge, L., Gorlinski, V., Kuiper, K., Lotha, G., & Parrott-Sheffer, C. (2013). The history of Western wind instruments. [online] Encyclopædia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/horn-musical-instrument-group [Accessed 25 May 2018]

Consecration Ritual for a Solomonic Lighter of the Art

By Frater S.C.F.V.

One idea I had on this past waxing-Mooned Day of Mercury was to make a Solomonic Lighter of the Art.

To go about it, I painted a barbecue lighter white during the Hour of Mercury on the Day of Mercury when the Moon was waxing.

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HELPFUL TIP: Should  you choose to craft your own Lighter of the Art, I recommend leaving a little space unpainted around the switches that activate the fire in the lighter. If you paint too closely to the switches, paint can slip into the grooves and render the switches unmovable and the lighter, unusable. I learned this lesson the hard way; paint got into the grooves, the switches ceased to function, and I had to start over with a second lighter. How often our magical wisdom grows from foolish mistakes…

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For this method, having painted the handle of a barbecue lighter white or eggshell white acrylic paint, you will need:

• Consecrated Solomonic Holy Water
• Consecrated Pen/Marker of the Art (see this post for my method for consecrating it)
• Consecrated Solomonic Holy Oil (see this link for my method for making it),
• Consecrated Solomonic Odoriferous Spices (Incense),
• Consecrated Solomonic Linen or Silk in which to wrap the finished tool
• An Altar, Holy Table, or Table of Practice on which to work as well as a Seat, Chair, or Stool on which to sit (recommended, but not required)
• A Solomonic Circle like the one in the Key of Solomon, a temporary chalk-traced Solomonic Circle, or a Circle traced in the Earth with a Black-Handled Dagger if you have one (my Circle, shown in an unfinished state in this picture is a combination of the Key of Solomon’s Consecration Circle and the Goetia of the Lemegeton‘s Circle, and contains all of the Divine Names in both)

Having prepared all of these things on a prior date, place all of your tools in the Circle and begin the operation in the Hour of Mercury on the Day of Mercury (Wednesday) when the Moon is waxing.

HELPFUL TIP: To determine the current Moon phase, see this site. To determine the Planetary Hours for a given day, calculate them yourself or use this site.

EXORCISM AND CONSECRATION OF THE SOLOMONIC LIGHTER OF THE ART

Sprinkle the Lighter with Holy Water, suffumigate with consecrated Incense, and anoint it with consecrated Holy Oil and say:

I exorcise thee, O Creature of Fire, by Him through Whom all things have been made, so that every kind of Phantasm may retire from thee, and be unable to harm or deceive in any way, through the Invocation of the Most High Creator of all. Amen.

After this thou shalt add:–

I exorcise thee, O Creature of the Lighter, by Him Who alone hath created all things by His Word, and by the virtue of Him Who is pure truth, that thou cast out from thee every Phantasm, Perversion, and Deceit of the Enemy, and may the Virtue and Power of God enter into thee, so that thou mayest give us light, and chase far from us all fear or terror. Amen.

Draw these characters with the Pen of the Art:

Bless the Lighter of the Art:

Bless, O Lord All Powerful, and All Merciful, this Creature of Fire, so that being blessed by Thee, it may be for the honour and glory of Thy Most Holy Name, so that it may work no hindrance or evil unto those who use it. Through Thee, O Eternal and Almighty Lord, and through Thy Most Holy Name. Amen.

This being done, suffumigate the Lighter of the Art with the Spices of the Art once more, sprinkle it with the Holy Water, and anoint with the Holy Oil.

After this thou shalt repeat over the Lighter of Art, the following Psalms:

Psalm 150

¹ Hallelujah!

Praise El in his holy place.
Praise him in his mighty heavens.
² Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him for his immense greatness.
³ Praise him with sounds from horns. Praise him with harps and lyres.
⁴ Praise him with tambourines and dancing.Praise him with stringed instruments and flutes.
⁵ Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with crashing cymbals.

⁶ Let everything that breathes praise Yah!

Hallelujah!

Psalm 117

¹ Praise YHVH, all you nations! Praise him, all you people of the world!
² His mercy toward us is powerful.
YHVH’s faithfulness endures forever.

Then pray over the Lighter of the Art:

O Lord God, Who governest all things by Thine Almighty Power, give unto me, a poor sinner, understanding and knowledge to do only that which is agreeable unto Thee; grant unto me to fear, adore, love, praise, and give thanks unto Thee with true and sincere faith and perfect charity. Grant, O Lord, before I die, and descend into the realms beneath, and before the fiery flame shall devour me, that Thy Grace may not leave me, O Lord of my Soul. Amen.

After this thou shalt sprinkle it with the Water of the Art, and incense them with the usual perfumes, and anoint with the Oil a final time. Then wrap the Lighter of the Art in a consecrated Silk or Linen of the Art.

***

And each time thou shalt wish to kindle this Lighter of the Art thou shalt say:–

I exorcise thee, O Creature of Fire, in the Name of the Sovereign and Eternal Lord, by His Ineffable Name, which is YOD, HE, VAU, HE; by the Name IAH; and by the Name of Power EL; that thou mayest enlighten the heart of all the Spirits which we shall call unto this Circle, so that they may appear before us without fraud and deceit through Him Who hath created all things.

A Final Note on the Sigils Used in the Method

As a final note, when I shared this method with my esteemed Solomonic colleagues, it was very well-received by all but the most hyper-traditionalists who preferred to fumble over flint rather than to benefit from a more efficient way to spark the same “Creature of Fire” used to light the Candles and Incense of the Art.

Personally, having tested both the traditional flint and the consecrated Lighter of the Art, I haven’t found any magical difference in efficacy or potency from using the former rather than the latter. On the contrary, since the Lighter of the Art has an added layer of consecrations and Sigil-based empowerment to it, it seems to have proven even more effective than the flint in my experience.

For a sampling of some of the interesting feedback I received, the learned Mr. Christopher Hartleigh Low said the rationale of method made sense to him as he had already turned a Zippo into a Solar talisman. The equally learned Mr. Aaron Leitch asked if the Sigils used were the Sigils on the Candle in the Key of Solomon were of Wax Angels or Fire Angels. My response was that although I had consulted multiple manuscripts and secondary sources, I was unable to find a definitive answer as to the derivational origins of these sigils in my research. In terms of reputable secondary sources, Joseph H. Peterson’s edition sadly didn’t have any footnotes clarifying the sigils given here.

It’s worth noting that the Sigils used in this method are identical to those used on the Solomonic Candle of the Art in the Key of Solomon Book II, Chapter 12, which is what prompted Mr. Leitch’s very fair question. Although I’m open to evidence to the contrary, it seems to me that these sigils are a mixture of sigils for Angels governing both Wax and Fire since they appear in the Grimoire in a context that provides exorcisms and blessings of both “Creatures of Wax” and “Creatures of Fire.”

If so, then the Fire Angels can watch over the lighting of the Candles and Incense and the Wax Angels can add their power and influence to the lighting of the Candles by virtue of the Wax that melts during the lighting. If, as it turns out, the sigils entirely pertain to Wax Spirits, then they can still exercise the latter virtue. In any case, following the grimoire, I re-exorcise the Fire each time I light a candle or incense anyway.

 

Non-Qabalistic Pathworking Systems

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Qabalistic and non-Qabalistic Pathworking

When most contemporary occultists here the term “Pathworking,” their first thought is of an approach of astrally travelling through visionary journeys on the 32 Paths of the Qabalistic Tree of Life, that is, along the 22 Paths of the Hebrew Letters and the 10 Sephirot themselves, which represent Paths in their own right. The Qabalistic Pathworking system, particularly as practiced by the Adepti of the Golden Dawn, is a very powerful system and I have had some amazing and transformatively initiatory experiences by working it.

However, the Qabalistic system is by no means the only Pathworking or system of visionary journeying out there. In this article, I will briefly introduce some non-Qabalistic Pathworking systems. For the purposes of this discussion, I will define a Pathworking system as a collection of methods for skrying-based or astral travel-based visionary journeys through a set of associated specific realms, regions, symbols, or inner planes.

Tarot, Tattwa, and Enochian Tablet Pyramid Pathworking

Naturally, as the Golden Dawn pointed out, each of the 78 cards of the Tarot can be astrally projected into and each yields its own unique experiences to the magician.

This Tarot Pathworking system is often integrated with the Qabalistic Tree of Life Pathworking system, but it need not be. Indeed, the cards reveal distinct and unique meanings when worked alone without the astral influence of the Qabalistic symbols and energies shaping the vision. For example, the Trumps can be Pathworked in sequence from 0 to 21, a method called the astral Fool’s Journey.

Other Golden Dawn Pathworking systems include projecting through the Tattwas or each of the Pyramids of the Enochian Tablets. In this case, one enters an altered state and projects one’s consciousness ‘through’ a square/pyramid on one of the Enochian Tablets then examines the visions that follow.

For a great source on G.D.-style Pathworking approaches, see my friend Nick Farrell’s excellent Magical Pathworking: Techniques of Active Imagination. His Osiris Scroll lays out his own neo-Egyptiana version of an initiatory Pathworking system designed to lead through the reader through a series of visionary ordeals culminating in the realization of the Higher Self.

Ancient Roots of Scrying-Based Work

Certainly, the use of pools of water, crystals, and so on as scrying aids to visionary work is ancient indeed, so I do not credit the 19th century occult revival or Golden Dawn with inventing the notion of ‘pathworking’ or visionary journeying; the practice often mediated by scrying tools, seems to have ancient roots. We’ve already mentioned some of them above. To add onto the above discussion, in a well-known passage in the Old Testament, which would have been as familiar to the Grimoiric priestly-clerical magicians as the stories of Enoch, and Jacob’s ladder, the silver chalice that is placed in Benjamin’s sack when he leaves Egypt is described as being used by Joseph for divination.

In ancient Egypt, scrying and spirit communication seem to have been practiced with the aid of ink or water and there are myths about Hathor that present her as bearing a reflective shield in which visions could be seen, a kind of proto-scrying mirror. Aztec tlatoani read the reflections in obsidian. For the Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks water and bodies of water were from the earliest times associated with conduits to the realm of the gods and of the dead; indeed, the Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM) have detailed instructions on communicating with spirits via bowls filled with water and an offering of oil (see PGM IV, 154-285). And, indeed, as we know, and as Dr. Stephen Skinner showed in his own work, many of the PGM practices and much of its theory were integrated into the Solomonic Grimoires.

Indeed, compare “…name of Typhon, at whom the ground, the depths of the sea, Hades, heaven, the sun, the moon, the visible chorus of stars, the whole universe all tremble…” (PGM IV. 223- 243) to “…this ineffable name Tetragrammaton Jehovah , which being heard, the elements are overthrown; the air is shaken, the sea runneth back, the fire is quenched, the earth trembles and all hosts of Celestials, Terrestrials & Infernals do tremble…” (Heptameron and Key of Solomon). And this is a passage directly taken from the same Papyrus that explains how to work with spirits through a bowl filled with water, or lecanomancy.

The earliest written evidence of lecanomancy or bowl-based scrying and divination are from the Babylonian Ritual Tablets dating to the 7th Century BCE, so these roots run way back into our magical history. To me, it is not inconceivable that these ancient scryers may have used their scrying media not just for divination, but also to generate immersive visions of the type generated in what we today call ‘pathworking’ in its various systems and manifestations.

Merkavah Pathworking

In Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, Aaaron Leitch notes that “a form of Jewish shamanic magick known as Mahaseh Merkavah, or the “Work of the Chariot,” which he describes as a “practice of astral travel through the seven palaces of heaven (i.e., the planetary spheres), where the ultimate goal was the vision of the throne of God.”

It’s worth noting, however, that some authors contend that while the Seven Heavens may be equivalent with the Seven Planetary Spheres, other authors suggest that the Seven Palaces of the Merkavah system are distinct from the Heavens exist either in or beyond the Seventh Heaven. Regardless, however, as a visionary travel system, the Merkavah system is a Pathworking system, which greatly influenced and indeed, served as a precursor to, the historically later Qabalistic Tree of Life-based Pathworking system which followed it.

For anyone interested in the Merkavah system, my friend David Benton wrote a fantastic book on it entitled The Work of the Chariot. His book contains detailed instructions for performing merkavah mysticism, adapted from Medieval Hekhalot sources, along with the names and functions of the entities you will encounter, all in an easy to use and clearly-written format.

The Shahnameh System and Islamic Pathworking

The Shahnameh, a 10th-century epic work narrating historical and mythological past of Persia, gives a description of what was called the Cup of Jamshid (Jaam-e Jam), which was used by the ancient mythological Persian kings for observing all of the seven layers of the universe. As mentioned by Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda, it was believed that all seven heavens of the universe could be observed by looking into it (از هفت فلک در او مشاهده و معاینه کردی), a view that suggests the Merkavah tradition described above.

It was believed to have been discovered in Persepolis in ancient times. Most notably to our beloved Solomonic tradition, in the Islamic world, the name and legend of Jamshid was often linked to legends and lore about Sulayman (Solomon) himself. Indeed, it’s well worth diving into the Sufi traditions around Sulayman, which draw on the same source as the Western Grimoires, namely, the Testament of Solomon as filtered through the interpretations in the Qur’an and Hadith!

Indeed, astral or visionary journeying is built into the Orthodox framework of Islam, so it certainly long-predates the Victorians. Sufi magical traditions have ways of working with it. Indeed, according to standard Islamic theology, the Prophet Muhammad took a “Night Journey” in which he traveled from Mecca, now in Saudia Arabia, to a location in Jerusalem now identified as the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque. He was said to have ridden a white, winged Pegasus-like being called ‘Buraq’ on this very distant journey.

According to the legend, Muhammad alighted, tethered Buraq to the Temple Mount and performed prayer, where on God’s command he was tested by Gabriel. According to a hadith or oral tradition narrated by Anas ibn Malik, Muhammad said: “Jibra’il (Gabriel) brought me a vessel of wine, a vessel of water and a vessel of milk as a test, and I chose the milk. Jibra’il said: ‘You have chosen the Fitrah (natural instinct).'”

In the second part of the journey, the Mi’raj (an Arabic word that literally means “ladder”)–an intentional allusion to the Jacob’s Ladder tradition–Jibra’il took him to the heavens, where he toured the Seven Heavens, and spoke with the earlier prophets such as Abraham (ʾIbrāhīm), Moses (Musa), John the Baptist (Yaḥyā ibn Zakarīyā), and Jesus (Isa). Muhammad was then taken to Sidrat al-Muntaha – a holy tree in the seventh heaven that Gabriel was not allowed to pass.

Ibn ‘Abbas’ Primitive Version narrates all that Muhammad encounters throughout his journey through heaven. This includes seeing other angels, and seas of light, darkness, and fire. With Gabriel as his companion, Muhammad meets four key angels as he travels through the heavens. These angels are the Rooster angel (whose call influences all earthly roosters), Half-Fire Half-Snow angel (who provides an example of God’s power to bring fire and ice in harmony), the Angel of Death (who describes the process of death and the sorting of souls), and the Guardian of Hellfire (who shows Muhammad what hell looks like).

These four angels are met in the beginning of Ibn ‘Abbas’ narrative. They are mentioned in other accounts of Muhammad’s ascension, but they are not talked about with as much detail as Ibn ‘Abbas provides. As the narrative continues, Ibn Abbas focuses mostly on the angels that Muhammad meets rather than the prophets. There are rows of angels that Muhammad encounters throughout heaven, and he even meets certain deeply devoted angels called cherubim. The idea of traveling through subtle planes while ascending spiritually and communing with entities there is the essence of what we now call ‘pathworking,’ and here we find the Prophet Muhammad doing it 621 CE

This tradition speaks to the point of visionary journeying far predating the Victorian and methodologies of the Golden Dawn’s tradition of occultism–certainly the shamanic traditions in many Indigenous traditions of visionary journeying date all the way back into prehistory. It also shows how the Merkavah material seems to have influenced the development of early Islamic mysticism and mythology along parallel lines to the influences of the same material on the Grimoires around one thousand years later.

Tibetan and Ancient Egyptian Pathworking Systems

The Tibetan Bardo Thodol or Book of the Dead and Egyptian Book of Coming Forth by Day both lay out something akin to pathworking systems, but these texts and their attendant systems were mainly intended for guiding the soul after its passing from this mortal coil. Thus, they may be seen in a sense, post-embodiment or post-death Pathworking systems. Both systems are generally understood as presenting maps of the geography of the underworld, deities encountered there, trials undertaken, although there are advanced esoteric ways of doing this work while still alive. Indeed, Delog: Journey to Realms Beyond Death records the “vivid personal account of a journey through the “bardos” and “pure realms” was recorded by 16-year-old Dawa Drolma of Eastern Tibet, a renowned female lama” who became a “delog”-one who crosses the threshold of death and returns to tell about it.”

Moreover, some authors, such as Jeremy Naydler in Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: the Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt, argue that The Book of Going Forth By Day was used by Egyptian priest-magicians to train them in what some call “practical eschatology,” that is, the afterlife experience while still alive. Indeed, Chapters 125, 17 and 151 can be worked in an initiatory framework. David Nez has suggested to me that the Orphic golden tablets may have been used in similar fashion by Hellenistic Initiates. I have little experience with these systems, however, and so I must defer to my more-knowledgeable peers.

In this connection, in his in his fantastic Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, my esteemed friend Aaron Leitch writes that “the Chaldean or Babylonian priests of later times made this after-death journey while still alive-creating a kind of controlled near-death experience.” This Chaldean system represented their own version of this kind of post-death-stage Pathworking system.

Runic Pathworking

Although this is not a traditional method of Norse spirituality, I have also found that the Runic systems can be Pathworked, whether one is using the 24 Runes of the Elder Futhark, the 29 or 33 Runes of the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc, or the 16 Runes of the Younger Futhark. In this system, one simply applies the G.D. “Travel in the Spirit Vision” method and projects through the Rune symbol in an altered / trance state (e.g. theta-gamma synchronized state) and then notes the visions that ensue. For more on the Golden Dawn’s method, see Flying Roll XXXVI – Of Skrying & Traveling in the Spirit Vision and Flying Roll XXV – On Clairvoyance & Travelling in the Spirit.

John Dee’s Enochian Aethyric Pathworking System

John Dee’s Enochian system lays out a Pathworking system through the 30 Aethyrs, which are conceived as forming a map of the entire subtle universe in the form of concentric rings that expand outward from the innermost to the outermost Aethyr. These Aethyrs are entered using Enochian Calls, which function as Keys for entering the Aethyrs in visionary journeys. Dee’s Enochian map of the universe consisted of the Great Table of Four Watchtowers and the Tablet of Union surrounded by 30 concentric circles, the Aethyrs. These 30 Aethyrs are numbered from 30, namely TEX, the lowest and consequently the closest to the Watchtowers to 1 LIL, the highest, representing the Supreme Attainment.

In Aethyric Pathworking, Magicians working the Enochian system record their impressions and visions within each of the successive Enochian Aethyrs from TEX to LIL. Each of the 30 Aethyrs is populated by “Governors” — 3 for each Aethyr, except TEX which has four, for a total of 91 Governors. Each of the governors has a Sigil which can be traced onto the Great Tablet of Earth. In practical work with the Aethyrs, the Nineteenth Key of the 30 Aethyrs is the only call necessary for working with the Aethyrs.
It is only necessary to vary appropriately the name of the Aethyr itself near the beginning of the call. Once the Call is recited, the names of the Governors are vibrated one at a time and a record of the visions is kept. In this system, one can gaze into the Crystal Ball / Skrying Crystal after doing the Call and see what images form there or do a full-blown astral projection into the Aethyr after entering it with the appropriate Key. Aaron Leitch’s The Essential Enochian Grimoire: An Introduction to Angel Magick from Dr. John Dee to the Golden Dawn is a great help for working with this system.

Astrally Working the Stations of the Cross as a Pathworking System

Among Christian mystics, particularly Catholic mystics, there was a kind of experiential, initiatory tradition of working through the Stations of the Cross in a systematic, progressive initiatory framework that is reminiscent, in some of its more visionary workings, of a Pathworking tradition.

That particular visionary legacy lies in the background of many of the Renaissance Grimoires; indeed, some of the Catholic clerical grimoiric writers may have learned the working of the 12 stations during their standard clerical training. It began to be widespread in Europe in the 15th-16th centuries and was well-established as a common practice by the 17th century. Indeed, the Stations of the Cross system of ‘contemplative pilgrimage working’ was well-established by the time Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum in his De praestigiis daemonum (1577) was written. The system was even more in vogue by the time of the Lesser Key of Solomon’s composition in the mid-17th century.

To quote one author on the subject, the “Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as Way of Sorrows or Via Crucis, refers to a series of images depicting Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion and accompanying prayers. The stations grew out of imitations of Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem which is believed to be the actual path Jesus walked to Mount Calvary. The object of the stations is to help the Christians faithful to make a spiritual pilgrimage through contemplation of the Passion of Christ. It has become one of the most popular devotions and the stations can be found in many Western Christian churches, including Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, and Roman Catholic ones.

Commonly, a series of 14 or 15 images will be arranged in numbered order along a path and the faithful travel from image to image, in order, stopping at each station to say the selected prayers and reflections. This will be done individually or in a procession most commonly during Lent, especially on Good Friday, in a spirit of reparation for the sufferings and insults that Jesus endured during his passion.”

I have read Medieval and Renaissance accounts of Christian mystics from the 15th and 16th centuries, contemporaneous with some of our late-Medieval, early-Modern grimoires, in which they describe meditating on each image at each Station while reciting the associated prayers until they enter a kind of trance-state where they describe feeling like they are seeing the picture come to life or feel like they are transported within it and are experiencing the scene as if they were there with Christ in that moment. Worked astrally and systematically, this exoteric system could be adapted into an esoteric Pathworking system in the magical sense.

The Armadel of Magic

The the Armadel of Magic (not to be confused with the Arbatel or Almadel) could also be regarded as presenting a kind of evocational pathworking system. It has unfortunately taken a lot of criticism from some Grimoiric scholars, but in essence it is highly shamanic system, which works with the perennially shamanic Terrestrial/Infernal/Celestial world division. As Aaron points out in Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, “the focus of the work seems to be upon visionary quests or spiritual encounters facilitated by the magickal characters, as well as gaining some magickal powers such as healing, alchemy, agriculture, etc.” The emphasis on shamanic visionary quests seems very reminiscent of other Pathworking systems although the framework is here one of a simple evocational system centered around Spirit sigils.

 The Zoroastrian Arda Viraf Pathworking System

Within the Zoroastrian tradition, there is a shamanic tradition around visionary ascensions recorded in the Book of Arda Viraf. In this system, the Magician performs some preparation rituals such as a ritual bath, suffumigations, prayers, and so on, and then drinks wine and comes a psychoactive brew. Thereafter, he or she travels through a system of hells and heavens. Of the method of the Magician’s travels, the text says:

21. And then Viraf joined his hands on his breast before the Mazdayasnians, and said to them (22) thus: ‘It is the custom that I should pray to the departed souls, and eat food, and make a will; afterward, you will give me the wine and narcotic.’ (23) The Dasturs directed thus: ‘Act accordingly.’

24. And afterward, those Dasturs of the religion selected, in the dwelling of the spirit, a place which was thirty footsteps from the good. (25) And Viraf washed his head and body, and put on new clothes; (26) he fumigated himself with sweet scent and spread a carpet, new and clean, on a prepared couch. (27) He sat down on the clean carpet of the couch, (28) and consecrated the Dron, and remembered the departed souls, and ate food. (29) And then those Dasturs of the religion filled three golden cups with wine and narcotic of Vishtasp; (30) and they gave one cup over to Viraf with the word ‘well-thought,’ and the second cup with the word ‘well-said,’ and the third cup with the word ‘well-done’; (31) and he swallowed the wine and narcotic, and said grace whilst conscious, and slept upon the carpet.

The “narcotic” is labeled here as Vishtasp; this was a hemp or marijuana extract or, according to some sources, a variant of hashish. In this text, some of the Pathworking locations are described as “the Star Track,” “the Moon track,” “the Sun track,” in addition to various other locations in the “Heavens” and “Hells,” in which the Magician undergoes visionary experiences and discourses with spirits and deities. Chris Bennett describes this system and other similar shamanic systems extensively in his Cannabis and the Soma Solution.

The Arda Viraf has been argued as an influence on the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey and on the much later Purgatorio, Inferno, and Paradiso of Dante Alighieri, in which Dante the Pilgrim undertakes his own journeys through purgary, hell realms, and heavenly realms respectively.

It’s worth noting that in this text, as in many others, a “magic carpet” is used to facilitate astral travel in the spirit vision. My friend A. Wretch wrote a very fascinating compilation of texts that use carpets as aids to Pathworking and visionary travel entitled Magic Carpets, Sensory Deprivation, and Entheogenic Ceremonial Magick, which I would highly recommend.

In our discussion of the Arda Viraf, he pointed out that “the Book of Arda Viraf is extremely important! While there seems to be some question as to its original dating, it could well be the origin of magick carpets. It also seems like Merkabah precursor. Keep in mind that in the book of Kings it describes Solomon’s chariot, which is also called a bed, but this is in reality a palanquin.

This likely comes from the Zoroastrian influences in Judaism as with Arda Viraf, which puts the magick carpet over the “couch” which is a term that is also sometimes used for a palanquin. You mentioned the cup of Jamshid, but the Shahnameh also explains palanquin Merkabah like experiences among the kings like Kay Kavus and Nimrod… you will find a reference to a great article in the start of my Magick carpets anthology.”

Conclusion

While the Qabalistic Pathworking system is remarkably rich and can be very powerful and transformative, it is not the only Pathworking system. My hope is that in this article, you have found some interesting pathways–no pun intended–for further research and experimentation. See you down the astral Rabbit hole…

Discussion Questions

1. Have you had any notable experiences with any of these systems that you’d like to share in the comments?
2. Are there any other key non-Qabalistic pathworking systems that this article has left out? What can you tell us about them?

 

 

 

 

Pathworking on the 31st Path of Shin (ש)

Date: March 2nd, 2018
Time: 7:37 – 8:00 A.M.
Sun Phase: Rising
Moon Phase:  Full Moon, in 17 degrees Virgo, Simak Mansion of the Moon
Planetary Day: Day of Venus
Planetary Hour: Hour of Mercury
Activities: LIRP, Godform Assumption, Pathworking of the 31st Path of Shin (ש) , LBRP

I astral-projected into the inner Temple, which took a red form with fiery and tooth-like motifs. A large white Hebrew letter Shin (ש) was emblazoned over a door leading outwards beyond the Temple to the Archway of the Path.

I formulated the Godform of Osiris vibrating OUSIRI (ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ) and greeted him with love and respect. He appeared dressed entirely in white, with a green face and wearing his elongated white Crown. In one hand, he held a Crux Ansata or Ankh. In the other, the Hierophant’s Wand.

I asked him to assist me to explore the 31st Path of Shin (ש) and he replied in a deeply affirmative, but calming voice, “we shall go as One.” I assumed the Godform and felt its illuminated, fearless, comfortably ruling energy flow over me.

Once in the assumed Godform, I performed the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram with the Hierophant’s Wand. After the final Qabalistic Cross, I walked towards the massive doors of Shin(ש) , which opened before me.

Exiting the Temple, I stood before a vast arch with a Shin (ש) on its keystone. I performed the Sign of the Enterer three times and projected through the door, flying through an expanse of Space and into the 31st Path that joins the Sphere of Malkut (מלכות) to Hod (הוד).

As I enter the Path, my field of astral vision fadea to red and I immediately feel an intense heat. As the red fades, I find I stand on red, rocky, sandy terrain that reminds me of the physical surface of the planet Mars. In my hand is no longer the Hierophant’s Wand, a white Shin (ש)-headed Wand. I stand on the edge of a cliff. In the plummeting gorge beneath me, a river of molten lava flows, glowing golden and emanating powerful heat.

I soon realize I am not alone. Above me tower several giant humanoid figures. They have muscular forms and are naked apart from a loin cloth draped over their waists. They stand silently watching over the whole of the land of the Path of Shin (ש) with yellow eyes. They do not speak. They stand in Silence, these Grigori or Egregoroi (ἐγρήγορο), the silent Watchers of the Path.

I test the vision by vibrating the name of Shin (ש) , multiple times tracing the letter in white flame, and vibrating ELOHIM (אלוהים), the Divine Name of the Path. The vision becomes clearer and crisper. I light the flame of an offering of incense to the King of the Salamanders, Djinn, and ask him to send me a Fire Elemental to guide me through the Path of Shin (ש).

I hear a deep voice coming from a strong-looking figure seated on a throne with his face and form veiled and unseen. He says “Your offering is accepted and your wish granted.” Soon after, a fiery lizard-looking figure appears on the cliff beside me.

When he comes near me, however, he shifts his fiery form from a lizard into a red-robed figure with a face of pure flame. He does not speak, but communicates through gestures. He does a gesture with his hand and the message to me is simple. To continue on, I must go on alone. Not even the Godform can come with me. I must be purely exposed in my own astral form as Frater S.C.F.V. Understanding the message, I step out of the Godform of Osiris, appearing in my own form in a red robe with a red and green striped-nemyss. I thank Ousiri and salute him with the LVX Signs, which he returns. “Go in peace,” he says, before vanishing in a flash of white light.

My red-robed Elemental Guide now points a single flaming finger down into the abyss of molten lava before the cliff. The message is clear: “You must jump alone.” So much for my idea of a Guided journey through the Path of Shin (ש). My Guide has only just arrived and it is already time to bid him adieu. I thank him for his guidance and gather my courage.

I leap from the cliff. Down I plummet, down, down, and see the white-hot lava racing towards me. When I hit the lava, I feel a rush of red light flaming through my Sphere of Sensation and pass down into the depths of the magma. I feel my astral form begin to lick up with flames that begin to envelop me. Through the thickness of the lava and the tongues of the flame, I can barely see. Then I feel them. Fiery gnashing teeth (Shin (ש) is Hebrew for ‘tooth’), that begin to tear into my astral form. What are they attached to? At first, it’s hard to tell. Then it becomes clear– they are fiery serpents with large fangs. They chew at me.

At first I am afraid, but the fear dissipate when what is happening becomes clear. The fiery teeth are eating away the impurities and impediments to further progression and Higher Initiation. I soon realize that these destructive flames are flames of purgation, of purification, of the death of the old to make way for the dawning flame of the new. I surrender to the process. A massive snake of fire, far larger than all the others, races towards me. He swallows me whole. Hot suffering, fiery agony, and red light flood my consciousness followed by release. The red fades into black.

I find myself in a confined space. I reach out my hands and touch a hard surface near my face. I hear a stirring from beyond the walls of my enclosure. A loud horn-like blast sounds and vibrates the walls of my prison. At last, the wall above me begins to open and I find I was lying within a coffin. I emerge, reborn and stand within my coffin. In the sky above me is a titanic Angelic figure with flaming hair. I realize that I am in the midst of the scene from the card of Judgment, the Tarot Trump attributed to the Path of Shin (ש) .

Instead of Gabriel, however the figure in the Clouds is Israfel, the Archangel who sounds the Trumpet of Judgment in the Islamic mythological story.

Instead of a white headdress, however, the Archangel has hair of fire and eyes of flame as well. The Angel greets me and says:

“To reach the Splendor of the Divine,
You must first give up the thirst for personal glory,
To rise in the Light,
The self must fall,
Self-centeredness must be burned away
To clear a path for a vaster Life,
To live as your Self, you must die
As the superficial self you take yourself to be,
To grasp what you are, you must let go of what you’re not,
To find the Light of Victory,  you must surrender and seem to lose,
But what you will lose was never of value,
And what you will gain is all you ever sought,
This the Way of the sacred fire of the Path of Shin (ש) .”

Below the Angel, a new figure emerges. It is a towering dragon with scales of black and red. It stands before me, opens its mouth and begins to breathe fire within me. I feel the fires reconfiguring my Sphere of Sensation, flooding it with cleansing flame, purifying, recalibrating, and equilibrating with the Fire of Spirit.

“Without the Badge of Shin (ש) , you cannot enter the Temple of Hod (הוד),” speaks Israfel. “Receive it now.”

A lamen on a red ribbon with a white triangle containing the black Hebrew letter of Shin (ש) descends from the sky and drapes itself around my neck. It looks like this:

“You have received the Gifts that can only be gained by losing the Baggage you took to be the gifts until now. Go on, renewed and Initiated in the Mysteries of the Path of Shin. Climb upon the back of the One before you and he will fly you on to where you aim to go.”

The black and red Dragon turns around and I climb upon his back. I thank the Mighty Israfel and greet him with love and respect. “Save the love and respect for the One Who Sent Me,” he says.

The Dragon races up into the sky and begins to soar towards an Orange-hued temple in the distance. On its domed surface, I see a large astrological symbol of the Planet Mercury. As we fly towards it, I look down and see countless fiery beings moving on the ground far below us. Lizard-like fiery Elementals go about their work. Some move alone, others in groups. They shift in patterns of light along the red sand of the Path. Up we fly, higher and higher. For the Temple of Hod lies higher up, upon a higher cliff from the one from whence I came.

We land on the ground before its might Gates. I thank the Dragon who ferried me here and he nods his head and flies off back towards the cliff on the other side of the gorge from here.  I hold up the Admission Badge of the Path of Shin (ש) . The doors are vast indeed and surrounded on either side by stately Greek Classical Columns. The Gates open up and I take a few steps into the organized, illuminated interior. The vision fades to orange.

I find myself back in my inner Temple. I perform the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and close the Temple. Thus ends my Pathworking on the Path of Shin (ש) .

After the Pathworking, I cast a Rune, and the result was all-too appropriate to the fiery energy of the Path of Shin. This Rune is Thurisaz, which represents both a Giant, like the Giants fought by Thor, and Mjolnir, the Hammer of Thor, by which the Giants were defeated. The connections to my experience on the Path of Shin are very evident here. There were literally Giants on the Path as I traversed it, the Grigori or Egregoroi (ἐγρήγορο), the silent Watchers of the Path.

At the same time, the energy of this Path was very fiery and energetic, forceful, aggressive in many ways, and these qualities are captured in the meaning of Thurisaz as well. Its divinatory meanings include reactive force, directed force of destruction and defense, conflict, instinctual Will, vital eroticism, regenerative catalyst, a tendency toward change, catharsis, purging, cleansing fire, aggressive, and dominant male sexuality.

One of the lessons of the Thurisaz Rune, as Dr. Vickram Aaditya points out, is

‘to learn you must suffer’, meaning not only literal suffering, but also in the biblical sense of ‘allowing’ – allowing one’s destiny to unfold as it should, and allowing one’s self to experience all that life offers us.  What may at first appear to be a negative, destructive event, may well turn out to contain an important lesson.  The Giants may seem to be evil and destructive to the Aesir, but they bring about change, and eventually clear the way for a new age. “

All of these meanings were thematically represented in this Pathworking. It seemed that the fiery Serpents that ripped me apart were destroying me, at first glance. However, it soon became clear that they were in fact consecrating, purifying, and reconstituting me. The wise Mr. Aaron Leitch, Golden Dawn Adept, Abramelin Alumnus, and Master Grimoiric magician, pointed out to me that the primordial and universal shamanic initiation experience often involves the Neophyte shaman being dragged into fiery depths by daemonic forces that rip them apart, only to reconstitute them in a more resilient and purified form capable to survive repeated descents and ascents from the Underworld.

He only told me this after I had done both the Path of Tav Pathworking, which had a descent to the underworld theme, and this Path of Shin Pathworking, which had this fiery motif of being ripped apart by these daemonic fiery Salamanderian surpents. As a result, I wasn’t directly influenced by the idea in a way that would have affected these visionary experiences and it was very interesting to see how closely my own experiences had paralleled those archetypally universal shamanic ones that Aaron had indicated.

***

Update I: In the aftermath of the ritual, I felt very energetic and energized.

Update II: 10 hours later, I felt my Sphere of Sensation filled with fiery sensations. My Will felt more forceful and assertive. I felt an aggressive-erotic energy within me that felt very primal and powerful. My girlfriend, who is very empathic, picked up on this same energy and it began to manifest through her. The energy felt like a snarling dog and a passionate lover fused into one. We argued intensely and then made very aggressive and passionate love.

Update III: When I worke up this morning next to my beloved, I felt like the forceful fiery energy had kindled down into a more equilibrated state of balance. The assertiveness was once again balanced with lovingkindness and gentleness. Nonetheless, the sense that these Pathworkings can indeed be entire Initiations unto themselves that can shift our psychophysiological experience was really clear, as I reflected on what happened yesterday. The Golden Dawn system is ostensibly built on a series of 6 Outer Order Initiations (Neophyte through Portal), and 1-3 Inner Order Initiations (5=6 through 7=4 Grades in most Orders). However, many more Initiations are possible through Pathworking work and Traveling in the Spirit Vision.

The fact that Pathworkings are not mere ‘astral tourism,’ as some have cynically called them, but rather, Initiations into very specific energies, here represented by the Paths, is an important arcanum worth thinking deeply about.