By Herb and Angel: A Folk Christian Working with Archangel Michael for Three Recently Deceased Souls

By Frater S.C.F.V.

A. Spiritual Work for the Dead: Context of the Working

As some of readers may know, I am a Clinical Social Worker in my professional life, and specialize in palliative care, working with older adults with dementia, cancer, and other serious diagnoses, defending vulnerable people from elder mistreatment, and working with younger people with disabilities.

The people with whom I work with are mostly low-income, socially and intersectionally disadvantaged in various ways, and desperate for help. My mundane calling on this Earth embraces working with them, empowering them, equipping them with tools and resources from the government and community organizations, supporting them emotionally through their challenges, and accompanying them, often until the end of their lives.

And yet, it dovetails with my spiritual calling, for as Initiates know, matter and Spirit are but two sides of the same nondual coin, and death is but a phase of the soul between life and afterlife.

V0017612 – Life and death. Oil painting. Credit: Wellcome Library, London.

Indeed, the deeper I go into the study and practice of traditional Rootwork and Conjure with my beloved teacher Aaron Davis, studying the classic texts, and learning from experienced Rootworkers, the more I see that this style of magic is and always was about community, resilience, and survival. The African slaves who developed Hoodoo, Rootwork and Conjure in conversation with Indigenous Peoples, Appalachian white folks, esoteric Jews and others, developed a way of using what they had access to to protect and empower themselves, as well as to strengthen and nurture their families and communities. Furthermore, they did this often in the face of harsh realities, abuse, antagonism, and death. Hoodoo, Conjure and Rootwork, therefore, not only practices of spiritual resilience, resistance, and resurgence, but also practices grounded in family and community.

In the spirit of these traditions’ history, I strive to be mindful of my social location and yet also to honour the great teachers spiritual ancestors and workers of old by applying what I’ve learned in service to both the living and the dead. Chiefly, like the Rootworkers, of old, I’ve been focusing on those in my care–friends, family, loved ones, community members, and clients. As I came to work more and more for others and less for myself, I came to discover that doing magic for the betterment of others has a purity of purpose and spiritual strength that can be both moving and profound.

Just as my magic has become more community and service-focused, quite like my professional life, so has it also extended to accompanying my elderly and palliative clients into the liminal spaces following their deaths. Of course, working with people as they transition from life to death is by no means new; from the Ancient Period onwards, spiritual workers have often played the role of Psychopomps, that is, beings who strive to accompany newly deceased souls as they transition from life through death into the afterlife.

Icon Depicting St. Michael the Archangel as Psychopomp.

Historically, the Psychopomp role was deemed so important that it was cross-culturally enshrined in our mythologies in figures as diverse and yet similar as the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, the deity of Yama in Sanatana Dharma, the Greek ferryman Charon and god Hermes, the Roman god Mercury, the Norse Valkyries, the Aztec Xolotl, the Slavic Morana and the Etruscan Vanth. Ancient Mystery Religions like the Rites of Eleusis often centered on the Mysteries of Life, Death, and the Afterlife. Similarly, in the Christian tradition, Jesus Christ, St. Peter, and the Archangel Michael were all regarded as serving Psychopomp functions, much like the Angel Azrael in the Islamic tradition.

By extension, folk spiritual workers strove to collaborate with these spiritual powers to assist the dead. Indeed, in European folk magic as well as in American Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork, magicians have often helped to offer the dead comfort, rest, light, and spiritual support in their experience beyond this world.

And so it was it was that I found myself drawn to continue to serve my clients after their deaths and helping them as best I could to brave the Great Beyond that gaped before them.

The working to which we now turn was a product of teachings passed on to me from the Conjure and Rootwork traditions in addition to folk Christian traditions, some elements of grimoire magic (e.g. the use of the Bell of Art), and the guidance I received from my own Spirits.

The purpose of this working was to bring cleansing, purification, protection, good fortune, blessings, Light, and peaceful rest to the spirits of three older adults I served in life after they passed away. Within the span of a few weeks, these individuals, each with their own strengths and limitations, had all died in sudden and unexpected circumstances: one after a sudden heart-attack while walking with his caregiver near his home, one after a major stroke in her residence, and one after complications stemming from COVID-19 in the hospital.

Concerned about the suffering and confusion they might feel after passing away so suddenly and hoping to help them in every way I could, I prepared the following ritual.

B. Setting the Lights on the Tablet: Preparations for the Work

To begin, as I work within a chiefly Christian framework, I offered prayers to God for guidance in the work and asked the Holy Spirit to guide me to select the right ingredients to benefit the three souls at the center of the work at hand.

I also opened up to the Archangel Michael as well as to my Ancestors, their Ancestors, and the spirits of the Herbs to guide me in developing the right formula for the work at hand.

I began by gathering the Herbs, consulting their spirits to see who would like to assist me in this work. In the end, the following 7 curios were included:

• Holy Olive Oil (for spiritual anointing and to carry the powers of the Herbs),
• Hyssop (that their souls might be purified and cleansed),
• Rue (that they might be protected and cleanser),
• Oak (that they might have good fortune in the afterlife and be blessed with protection),
• Cinnamon (to fire up Light to help them progress and strengthen their spiritual progression),
• Mugwort (that they may rest in peace and to enable them to communicate with me in dreams if they should like to do so),
• Loosestrife (that they might have calmness of mind and heart and drive away all evil and worries).

I ground the herbs together while praying over them, thanking each for its aid and asking it what I wished it to do.

I then took up a plate consecrated for the purpose of candlework–which Solomonic magician and Conjure worker Balthazar Van Der Merwe called the “Tablet of Lights”–as well as a spiritually-prepared chalk marker. This chalk had been previously exorcised and consecrated following the Key of Solomon’s method.

With these, I drew a “5-spot” of 5 equal-armed crosses in the form of a larger cross. Hearts were used to finish the Holy Cross, signifying the intention to extend love, care, and comfort to the Souls included in the work. I then included the initials of the three Souls under where I would position their candles.

Using a fresh pin, I carved each of their names into their respective candles. I then dressed each candle with Holy Olive Oil before rubbing the Herbal mixture into it, praying continuously at the same time. Finally, I warmed the bottom of each candle to fix each to the Tablet of Lights, while praying over them.

Next, I prepared charcoal, Frankincense, 3 glasses of water, and an additional candle for Archangel Michael, and brought the Tablet with the fixed candles into my Temple space. I left them there while I took a ritual bath, cleansing and purifying myself with Hyssop for the work at hand. Then, the spiritual work began.

C. The Working: Offerings and Transition Assistance for Three Recently Deceased Souls

I placed Archangel Michael’s dedicated spirit table at the center of my Solomonic Circle in the center of my Temple space. On the table, I placed Michael’s Statue, a water glass for him, the Tablet of Lights and candles, a censer containing charcoal and Frankincense, the Bell of Art, a bread offering for Michael, a torch, and three glasses of water for the three spirits.

I began began by praying in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, while ringing the Bell in the formation of a Cross multiple times over the spirit table, to open the work and “wake up” the spirits.

I then prayed extemporaneously for God’s help, the help of my Ancestors and those of the three deceased, and that of Archangel Michael. I did not do a formal Solomonic evocation of Michael, but simply asked him to be present and to assist with the work and greeted him with water, bread, Frankincense, and a candle offered to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on his behalf and which I invited him to enjoy.

I then lit the three candles while praying over them. I greeted each spirit in turn, starting with P.D., proceeding to M.TP. and ending with J.W. I explained to them why I had invited them here and offered their candles, Frankincense, and water glasses to the Most High on their behalf before inviting them to partake in them for refreshment, light, and strengthening.

I then prayed for the three spirits collectively and then explained to them the role of each Herb fixed to their candle and prayed for its benefit to be bestowed unto them.

Next, I spoke to the spirits of the Herbs and invited them to partake of the fire, Frankincense, and water offered as thanks for their assistance in the working.

Then I prayed for each spirit one at a time, starting with P.D., proceeding to M.TP. and ending with J.W. I then spoke to each spirit as if they were sitting before me and alive, citing cherished memories of my time with them, thanking them for their strengths, blessings, and the traits I appreciated about them, and again praying for their cleansing, purification, uplifting, illumination, good fortune, care, and comfort beyond their deaths.

At the end of each series of prayers, I addressed the spirit and invited it to communicate any message he or she wished to share with me.

The messages were brief and yet, so meaningful to me. As each spirit spoke, I seemed to see a hint of it Astrally; I saw them appearing from their waist up, looking much as they had looked when I last saw them, or perhaps a little younger.

Their images seemed to emerge out of darkness and hover in a gentle illumination above their associated candle and its flame.

These were the messages I received from the three dead spirits with whom I had worked in life:

From P.D.: (speaking in French) “Thank you for this gesture and for your help. It’s so nice here (Frater S.C.F.V.’s Note: seeming to me, in the “space” in which he now found himself after death)! So beautiful! Thank you!“

From M.T.P. (speaking in French): “Thank you, A., for helping me. How we laughed! Thank you for all you did.”

From J.W. (speaking in English): He appeared stern as he had in life, then seemed to shift into a half-smile and said, gruffly but sincerely, “Sorry I gave you such a hard time. Thanks for your help.”

After each spirit spoke, I shared some private final words to them, which I shall not share here as they are personal to us.

Their candles were burning so still and the feeling in the room was somehow both heavy and light at the same time. The words I spoke seemed to hang on the air… as if time itself had come to a halt.

Attuning to the spirits of the tree, I could feel that they were dead, but they did not seem scared; instead, they seemed content and comforted to be there.

The space in the room was positively thick with energy and yet so still, so clear and yet so solid…

Indeed, I was so touched when I finished sharing and receiving the above messages, that I had completely forgotten to pay attention to Archangel Michael’s candle.

That’s when I noticed — it was going wild.

My impression was that the Archangel was doing some intense work to help the three spirits.

In a startling visual display, Michael’s candle began to sputter up tall bursts of fire, spitting them upwards at a rapid pace, like dragon fire. This rapid bursting would be followed by the flame dropping into a very tall, clear, still flame, and barely moving at all.

Then the flame’s tip would split into separate “tongues” of flame, as if the Angel was working on individual spirits at that time, 2-3 at a time, before returning to the tall flame bursts and swaying. The bursting seemed to indicate burning through impurities; the still hovering to harmonizing and attuning.

I asked Michael if I could film this candle flame manifestation and share it with others to inspire them to know that Angels are very real and he agreed for me to share the brief footage below:

I cannot overstate the intensity of the emotions I felt as I watched this scene and felt its impact on the three spirits… I felt overcome with awe, complete wonder, utter astonishment, moved almost to tears…

Even just watching the video back a day later, I feel an intimation of those same feelings. The contrast between the wildly active candle offered to Michael and the very still candles of the dead was so striking to me then and remains so today.

Moreover, I was amazed and surprised by the fact that in this humble little ritual to help these three souls, I felt Michael’s presence more powerfully, more palpably, more viscerally than I ever had before… Including in any of the full Solomonic evocations I had done with him. I didn’t know what to make of it…

Suddenly, my eyes fell closed.

Out of the blackness of my closed eyelids, I saw a face of pure light emerge from the darkness.

It was Michael.

He spoke to me in a voice at once deep, calm, loving, and grounded.

He said:

“This is the work I knew you were capable of, that I was waiting to see from you.
Working to help, working not for yourself.
Whenever you work for the good of others, in love and humility,
I’ll never fail to help you.“

Just like that, his image vanished, and my eyes opened once again.

The Archangel’s candle continued to flicker, sputter, wind from side to side like a serpent, and stretch higher than I thought possible above the candle holder…

Image of Michael’s candle rising high above the rim of the candle holder, with the wick being all the way at the bottom of the candle holder, sitting in a shallow pool of wax. Shared with the Angel’s permission.

I felt so moved and touched I couldn’t think of words to say. I could only pray “thank you… thank you… praise God! Thank you…”

My thoughts drifted back to remembering a Solomonic invocation I completed 4 years ago, in which I had found Michael quite difficult to communicate with. I’ve now come to believe that part of why I had such trouble was that, in that ritual, my heart simply wasn’t in the right place. I was thinking too much of myself and fooling myself perhaps, but not the Angel.

Now I was focused on working for the good of others, asking nothing in return, pure and sincere in my intent, nothing could be easier than receiving Michael’s words… That seemed a profound lesson about Angelic work, namely, that an Angelic Operation is most powerful and effective when we not only respect the protocols for fasting, prayer, abstaining, etc. in the days leading up to the Operation, but also approach it with a clear and clean purpose and a heart centered on extending the Good, on blessing.

Such a heart, such a mind-set, is in harmony, not only with the nature of the Angels themselves–thereby making it easier to attune to them–but also with the Divine Will itself.

For the Divine Will is always to extend the Good, through all manners, through all planes and worlds, to all beings, in all ways; as the great Adepti and Scriptures tell us, the eternal extension of the blood–Supreme Cosmic Benediction–is Love itself in action, Grace itself, and even the very Nature of God.

Photo of the Statue of Michael I took in Saint Michael’s Basilica in Sherbrooke.

Indeed, it reminds me of the words of Christ in Matthew 23:12, in which he says that “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

It now seems to me that there is a profound occult secret hidden here, in plain sight. At least for the Christian folk magician, the more we humble ourselves, the more we keep our self-concern out of the work while elevating the Divine and focusing on benefiting others through the work, the more help we will receive and the easier it will be to attune to the Angelic presence in the work.

Conversely, if our Angelic communications break down, it’s worth doing some soul-searching about our real motives, what we’re really aiming at, and whether that really is what we say it is…

This lesson also reminded me of the words of John the Baptist speaking of Christ in John 3:30, in which he proclaimed that “I must decrease; He must increase.” John devoted his life to paving the way for Christ, heralding his arrival, and drawing all to him in repentance, even unto death. Having so faithfully humbled himself, Jesus said about him in Matthew 11, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” And yet, even after this, he added a humbling other part for you and me, “…yet whoever is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.“

At this part of the working, I was so moved, I could barely proceed. But I knew I had to carry on.

I prayed for P.D., M.T.P., and J.W and recited Psalm 132 on their behalf, praying the following (Names of God Bible Translation):

“Psalm 132

A song for going up to worship.

¹ O YHVH, remember David and all the hardships he endured.
² Remember how he swore an oath to YHVH
    and made this vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³         “I will not step inside my house,
⁴ get into my bed, shut my eyes, or close my eyelids
⁵ until I find a place for YHVH,
    a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

⁶ Now, we have heard about the ark of the promise being in Ephrathah.
    We have found it in Jaar.
⁷ Let’s go to his dwelling place.
    Let’s worship at his footstool.
⁸ O YHVH, arise, and come to your resting place
    with the ark of your power.
⁹ Clothe your priests with righteousness.
    Let your godly ones sing with joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David,
    do not reject your anointed one.
¹¹ YHVH swore an oath to David.
    This is a truth he will not take back:
        “I will set one of your own descendants on your throne.
¹² If your sons are faithful to my promise^[a]
    and my written instructions that I will teach them,
        then their descendants will also sit on your throne forever.”

¹³ YHVH has chosen Zion.
    He wants it for his home.
¹⁴ “This will be my resting place forever.
    Here I will sit enthroned because I want Zion.
¹⁵ I will certainly bless all that Zion needs.
    I will satisfy its needy people with food.
¹⁶ I will clothe its priests with salvation.
    Then its godly ones will sing joyfully.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn sprout up for David.
    I will prepare a lamp for my anointed one.
¹⁸ I will clothe his enemies with shame,
    but the crown on my anointed one will shine.”

Ancient Roman fresco of David as Shepherd.

I was going to end the ritual there, but felt nudged to add a final Psalm 23 as well:

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his Name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Having finished praying the Psalm, to close the Temple, I prayed an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, as taught to me by a dear Esperitista friend, while again ringing the Bell of Art.

I gave thanks a final time, said goodbye to the three deceased, thanked Michael, the Ancestors, and the Most High, then declared the Temple duly closed.

I left the candles to burn and checked in on them about 40 minutes later, only to see the following:

My impression was that P.D.’s and M.T.P.’s candles had burned down rather quickly, but with tears of wax running down the sides as they burned, suggesting that pain and other impurities were being processed out of the spirits with help from Michael.

J.W.’s candle on the other hand, burned clean and clear almost to the end, when it suddenly pulled forward in an extension of wax towards where I was standing. How can we interpret the wax from these candles?

C. Practical Carromancy: Wax Remains Readings of the Three Candles

P.D.’s candle wax remains.

The next morning, I took the high-definition pictures of the wax remnants of each candle that you see here and endeavoured to interpret them with some insights from fellow readers with whom I shared the images in order to obtain insights from objective third parties. Much thanks to Cléo and David Domart, my fellow Working the Root students, for their input.

First, as seen above, we have P.D.’s candle. What I saw here was a spirit reposed and relaxed, a face looking to the side, surrounded by comforting and joyful petals. David got an impression of “thank you” from this wax and Cléo got a sense of “petals and playful cherubs.” This seemed very much in harmony with the message I received from P.D., namely, that he was grateful and that he found the space he was in very “nice! So beautiful!” This wax pattern was also very much in harmony with P.D.’s personality; he was a friendly and fabulous man who delighted in fashion and flowing fabrics. I saw his ‘imprint’ in this wax, in this sense, the stamp of the energy he embodied.

The second candle was M.T.P’s and looked as follows:

M.T.P.’s candle wax remains

What I saw here was her face, looking relaxed and content (the wick remains forming two eyes connected to a nose with a mouth below it). Above her, I saw the sweep of her hair, looking flowing and free. There were hints of her ears and perhaps a suggestion of a bosom at the bottom of the wax. Cléo also got a feeling of joy and gratitude from M.TP.’s candle. I was also struck by how much it looked like her; I could almost see her little smile and hear her joyful giggle as if she were laughing in my presence! David, similarly, sensed her free-flowing spirit and noted that he could feel “energy moving fast.” That sounded appropriate to me.

Finally, and most interestingly, we come to J.W.’s candle wax remains:

J.W.’s candle wax remains.

This wax felt entirely different from the others. As it turns out, this was exactly as it should be. P.D. and M.T.P. were both friendly, jovial people. J.W. was cut from a different cloth; he tended to be harsh and suspicious to the point where he refused to answer nearly every question I ever asked him. Part of my work with his spirit in the candle work here involved trying to show him my good will for him and help him relax his walls of suspicion so that he could move on without getting unnecessarily obstructed and encumbered. To hear him say “Sorry I was so hard on you, thank you” was about the nicest thing I could have hoped for from him. I told him all was forgiven and that I was just happy to have had the honour of meeting him and his family.

Looking at his wax remains, I see the wick remnants making up a face once again, a very different kind of face. I see eyes that look suspicious, perhaps a little fearful yet incredulous, but also see the wax sweeping down to the right as an outstretched arm, a kind of “olive branch” to me. I read it this way because the wax is coming towards where I was standing while doing the candlework. The overall message then became something like “yeah, I’m still a little wary of you, but I appreciate what you did for me so here’s an olive branch.”

Seeing this wax pattern, Cléo found it a little hard to read, saying he “seems elusive, like moving on or going through something.” That sounded right to me. J.W. was an elusive person in life, and remained so in death. He was hard to read, evasive as a man, both for people who just met him and for his own family members who had known him the longest. Moreover, he likely was going through confusion because his death came suddenly when we had been preparing for him to go home the very next day from the hospital; we have even put in place a new bed, raised toilet seat, and free homecare services to help receive him more comfortably at home. Appropriately, reading this wax, David saw someone “lost, not quite conscious.” That resonated. I hoped that the Rootwork would help calm, comfort, clear, illuminate, and strengthen his spirit through this transition.

D. Conclusion: Parting Thoughts on Working at the Crossroads of Life and Death

Overall, this was a beautiful working, a working that made me feel at once connected to the roots of the Herbs that powered the work, to Archangel Michael’s profound presence, to my own Ancestors and the Rootworkers who came before me, and to my fondly-appreciated clients at their passing.

I hoped that the working would help them to move on even as the Fire and Herbs helped soothe my own grieving and the bereavement of their surviving loved ones.

At the same time, the ritual cemented for me that magic really can operate at the Crossroads, even of Life and Death itself.

And while moving in that liminal space, a space of terror for many, we as spiritual workers can move in peace, and doing so, help bring that peace to troubled spirits in their moment of transition.

What could that be but an honour and a humbling opportunity for service, to life, death, and the Infinite itself?

Words and Wonder: Mysterious Synchronicities and Covert Solomonic Consecrations by Easter Mass

By Frater S.C.F.V.

A. An Unexpected Trinity: Trifecta of Mysterious Synchronicities

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, the Holy Day on which Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, which enabled him to complete his mission of establishing the New Covenant, liberating humanity through faith from their ancient legacy of erroneous action that missed the mark (hamartia, sin) of the Good Willed by God, and to send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us as a sanctifying, guiding, and empowering Force. My upcoming article Charismata Magica: Gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Solomonic Grimoires will go into into some depth of how the latter event impacted the grimoire authors and how the Fruits, Graces, and Gifts of the Holy Spirit play fascinating roles within the European grimoire tradition.

As I was fading off to sleep, I was contemplating some passages of Scripture that I had recently read and the idea occurred to me that perhaps it would be ceremonially and spiritually fitting for me to commemorate my return to Christianity through a water Baptism. I had already been Baptized by water once within the Catholic Church and completed all of the sacramental initiations up to and including Confirmation, but after my long time away from the faith studying other traditions, a new Baptism might be appropriate. Still, I had never heard the Pastor of my Church speak about water Baptisms for adults in the entire year I had been attending this particular Church and I was not sure how they handled such things.

In the morning, I began to celebrate Easter by reading from the New Testament. My attention was called to 1 Corinthians 15 in the Amplified Bible, which reads:

1 Now brothers and sisters, let me remind you [once again] of the good news [of salvation] which I preached to you, which you welcomed and accepted and on which you stand [by faith].

2 By this faith you are saved [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, and set apart for His purpose], if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain [just superficially and without complete commitment].

3 For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],

4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised [and Reaurrected] on the third day according to [that which] the Scriptures [foretold],

5 and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the Twelve.

6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, the majority of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep [in death].

7 Then He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles,

8 and last of all, as to one [b]untimely (prematurely, traumatically) born, He appeared to me also.

9 For I am the least [worthy] of the Apostles, and not worthy to be called Apostle, because I [at one time] fiercely oppressed, [killed Christians,] and violently persecuted the Church of God.

10 But by the [remarkable] grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not without effect. In fact, I worked harder than all of the Apostles, though it was not I, but the grace of God [His unmerited favor and blessing which was] with me.

11 So whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed and trusted in and relied on with confidence.”

Humbled by this reading, I took a ritual bath to prepare for Church, worshiping the Most High through worship songs and Psalm passages as I do every morning.  Then, I walked to Church with Soror R.A. Along the way, she expressed some doubts about how we could possibly know whether Christ had really been Resurrected and what ancient textual evidence there was that Christ even existed. I told her about the extra-biblical evidence for Jesus we have from Tacitus and Josephus and about how, until recently, many archaeologists had doubted whether Pontius Pilate had even existed until 1961, when the Pilate Stone was unearthed, which bore the inscription, as translated from Latin into English:

“To the Divine Augusti [this] Tiberieum
… Pontius Pilate
… prefect of Judea
… has dedicated [this]“

Further evidence was revealed in 2018 when a ring that had been discovered in Herodium near Jerusalem and which bore the inscription “of Pilates” was deciphered using advanced photographic technology.  To quote the Jerusalem Post,

It reads “of Pilates,” in Greek letters set around a picture of a wine vessel known as a krater, and is said by archaeologists to be only the second artifact from his time ever found with his name. Kraters are a common image in artifacts of that time and place.”

We arrived at Church and joined in the worship. When the Pastor began to deliver his Easter Message, however, I was blown away by not one, not two, but three synchronicities, a veritable trifecta:

(1) For the first time ever, the Pastor described the procedure for Water Baptisms for Adults and explained that an opportunity for Water Baptism would be happening within the next two weeks. He also explained that they were accepting sign-ups for anyone interested. I was amazed given the reflections that had come to me the night before. I wondered if the Holy Spirit had given me a Word of Knowledge through that.

(2) The Pastor described the archaeological and textual evidence for Christ and Pilate, including the very Pilate Stone I had discussed with Soror R.A. Her mouth fell open in awe when he started to discuss this.

(3) The Pastor then went on to analyze 1 Corinthians 15, the very passage I had been nudged to read that very morning! I bowed my head, humbled at this, giving thanks and honouring the mysterious ways of the Holy Spirit, who abides in all of the faithful and guides, teaches and sanctifies them from within as they learn to walk in the Spirit in whom they “live, move and have [their] being” (Acts 17:28).

B. Phylactery, Cauldron, and Daggers: Covert Solomonic Consecrations by Easter Mass

On this auspicious Easter Sunday, Day of the Sun, I performed Cryptoconsecratio by Mass–covert consecration of magical items performed in Church–of the gold disc phylactery depicted above, which features the names and sigils of the 7 Heptameron Archangels and the 7 Olympic Spirits of the Arbatel De Magia Veterum traced over with a consecrated Solomonic Burin of Art.  Since gold is a soft metal, it is fairly easy to engrave; a compass and ruler facilitated the tracing of the circle and straight lines respectively.

By way of context, I have already established relationships with all 7 of these Archangels and with the Olympic Spirits Bethor and Aratron, the latter two relationships of which I began back in 2010 when I first conjured those two spirits to assist with making Pentacles of Jupiter and Saturn respectively. In the coming year, however, I plan to begin work with all 7 of the Arbatel Olympics and wear this phylactery in work with them. I also plan to wear the seal under my shirt in daily life for general protection and to faciliate maintaining my connection with the spirits represented within it.

Out of respect for traditionalism, however, I have to point out here that this seal combining Heptameron and Arbatel spirit names and sigils does not occur in either the Heptameron or the Arbatel, although the sigils of the Archangels and Olympics contained here are exactly rendered as depicted in those two grimoires. As I learned through the kind sharing of knowledge from my friends BJ Swayne, Billy Ashford-Webb, Chijioke Onyeogubalu, and Andy Foster, I was able to learn that this combined seal was designed by the talented Frater Asterion. Through additional research, I traced it back to a 2011 post he made on Solomonic Magic, which is accessible here and in which Asterion refers to it as his Planetary Lamen. 

Frater Asterion explains the structure of his design and the traditional inspiration for it in this way:

“This pentacle was inspired by a figure in the last book of Faust’s Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis, only he used Olympic Spirits alone and I used Archangels too. My blog banner is based on that, if you look closely. I wrote [the Names] in Latin characters for illustrative purposes, for my upcoming book to be published in Romania, Cartea Arhanghelilor (The book of Archangels), and also as a didactic chart for my personal students.”

Through his own diligent research, Billy Ashford-Webb was able to locate the original diagram in Magia Naturalis et Innaturalis from which Asterion derived his inspiration for this combined Arbatel and Heptameron phylactery:

Frater Asterion’s sleek and efficient design, with its inclusion of the Arbatel and Heptameron Sigils of the Olympic Spirits and the Archangels suits my purposes well as defined above and was accepted under the guidance of the Angels and Olympics involved. Please note that although I have received commission requests from several people to craft a version of Asterion’s Planetary Lamen, I will not be doing any of these. Frater Asterion retains the copyright and all credit for his own design work. Anyone who would like their own version of this lamen to be crafted should message him directly. 

In this same Easter Sunday Mass, I also performed Cryptoconsecratio by Mass on my new White-Handled Knife, Black-Handled Knife, and also the Cauldron consecrated to Gabriel that I alluded to in a prior post. All of the above were covertly carried into Church in a backpack, which I prayed over during the Mass. Before the Mass, I exorcised these tools and the phylactery and consecrated them with Solomonic Holy Water and consecrated and exorcised Frankincense, both prepared according to the instructions of the Key of Solomon, before bringing them with me to Church. 

The experience was powerful and moving as always and the trifecta of mysterious synchronicities made it even more so. Glory to you, YHVH, El Eloah, Adonai Rapha, Glory to Yeshua Risen, Glory to the Holy Spirit who lives and works within us! In the name of Yeshua, we give thanks and praise. Amen.

 

Solomonic Invocation of Archangel Gabriel and Cauldron of Art Consecration

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Note: This article and all images contained herein are Offerings of thanks to the great Archangel Gabriel, not unto my glory, but unto the glory of the Most High. May all of the praise and honour be to Him and Him alone. All photos were taken after the Temple was closed. All communications from the Angel are shared here with permission for the extension of the Good for the benefit of all beings and the accomplishing of the Divine Will. May all beings be well, blessed, and free from suffering, amen!

Date: Monday, January 14, 2018
Sun Phase: Set
Moon Phase: Waxing, First Quarter (58% Illumination, as close as possible to the 50% suggested by the Heptameron) in 3 degrees Taurus
Mansion of the Moon: Thurayya
Planetary Day: Day of the Moon
Planetary Hour: Hour of the Moon
Activities: Solomonic Ritual Bathing with Hyssop; Crafting Gabriel’s Sigil; Dressing Candles for Cyprian and Gabriel; Preliminary Prayers; Offerings to the Most High and to Saint Cyprian of Antioch; Heptameron Prayer; Invoking the Angels of the Four Directions as per Heptameron; Psalm 103 Recitation; Conjuration of Gabriel; Exorcism and Consecration of the Cauldron by Cyprian and Gabriel; Scrying with Gabriel; Temple Closing 

For the past few days, I have felt a strong call not only to consecrate my new Cauldron of Art, but to invoke the Archangel Gabriel as well as my Patron St. Cyprian of Antioch for help in the process.  I was receiving a strong nudge, of the kind I often receive from Saint Cyprian or the Holy Spirit, that Gabriel would have a message for me. Therefore, I began a 3-day regime of ritual purity in preparation, culminating in today.

The timing for the Operation was appropriate. The Heptameron requires in “Of the Manner of Working” that if possible, “Let the Moon be increasing and equal, if it may then be done;” at 58% illumination, the ‘equal’ requirement was almost perfectly met  (Peterson, 2008). In addition, the Moon today is in the Lunar Mansion of Thurayya, which is, as Picatrix (12th century) says, proper for “the acquisition of all good [things].” Agrippa (16th century) adds that it is good for “happy fortune and every good thing.” It is especially a good time for new creative ventures and asking for assistance and favours.

After a ritual bath with hyssop, I got into my white robe and stole, put on my Cyprianic rosary, scapular, and Cyprianic bracelet, and covered my hair with a black covering.  Proceeding to the Temple, which had already been arranged prior to the beginning of the Planetary Hour, I sounded the Bell of Art three times before entering the Circle as per the Hygromanteia. Then, I entered the Circle, and began preliminary prayers to the Divine while asperging the Circle, Altar, and all Instruments of the Art with Holy Water.  I then took up my Solomonic Sword and traced over the outer line of the Circle with its point. I put down the Sword and picked up my Wand. 

First, I presented Offerings to the Most High and asked for His Help in sending His servant, Gabriel to be present with me and aid me in this Operation of the Art. Next, I presented Offerings to my Patron, St. Cyprian of Antioch, of Frankincense, a Candle dressed with Chili, Mugwort, and San Cipriano Oil, and bread drizzled with Maple Syrup. I poured his previous week’s offering of Spring Water into the Cauldron on the Altar and sprinkled it with Mugwort. I asked St. Cyprian to assist me in exorcising it, which I proceeded to do, while rubbing it with water from St. Cyprian’s water glass as Conjureman Ali recommends. I then asked if the Saint would bless it for use in all Operations of the Art and empower and charge it with prayers to the Most High and his own skill in the Art.

With this done, I proceeded to the Heptameron Prayer prior to Conjurations. I then asked Cyprian to aid me in bringing to the Circle those Spirits I would call and similarly called upon the Holy Spirit to aid me in this way. Then, I took up the Bell of Art and my Wand and then called the appropriate Angels of the First Heaven, ruling on Monday, as per the Heptameron, as follows:

• From the East.
  • Gabriel. Gabrael. Madiel. Deamiel. Janael.
• From the West.
  • Sachiel. Zaniel. Habaiel. Bachanael. Corabael.
• From the North.
  • Mael. Vuael. Valnum. Baliel. Balay. Humastrau.
• From the South.
  • Curaniel. Dabriel. Darquiel. Hanun. Anayl. Vetuel (Peterson, 2015).

Next, I sang Psalm 103 and then, while holding the Wand, proceeded with the Heptameron Conjuration of Gabriel. I performed the Conjuration in song-like vibratory pitch, slow and powerful. When it was done, I suffumigated and sprinkled Gabriel’s Sigil, which I had drawn in the Day and Hour of the Moon during the waxing Moon at its ‘equal’ stage, and stared at while vibrating Gabriel’s name over and over again. I continued in this way until I felt his presence in the room growing stronger. His presence struck me, as always, as powerful, incredible ancient, and yet warm and compassionate. I gave him consent to speak into my mind, or through the incense smoke, or otherwise to guide me how best he would like me to communicate with him on this day.

To begin, I asked him to confirm his presence by moving the three streams of incense smoke visibly to the left, which he promptly did. Then, I welcomed him, knelt before the Altar, and blessed him with great love and respect and offered him gifts of incense, bread drizzled with maple syrup, a blue candle dressed with Saint Cyprian Oil, Mugwort, and White Sesame (sacred to the Moon). I asked him if the Offerings were acceptable to him and a deep, warm voice began to speak in my mind, feeling quite distinct from my own, saying:

“These gifts were not necessary. But the kindness of your heart is appreciated.”

I told him I was glad to hear this and how grateful I felt that he was here. I reminded him that I had always felt a loving connection with him and hoped I could learn much from him as he accompanied me on the journey of life.

I then asked him if he had any wisdom to offer me at this point in time. His message was as profound as it was moving:

“O Son of Humankind, turn your vision to this candle flame you have offered unto me. To we Angels, this is what your human lives are like — a fleeting flame, that burns for the flash of a moment. Just as soon as it came, it is gone. For us, your entire human history, all that has passed, is now, and ever shall be, is but a flame of this same kind. Simply a flash of light in the darkness. The light of your life is not even yours, but a gift from your Lord, a sharing of His Light. And yet, how arrogant are your fellow human beings! How great you exalt yourselves, while fleeting flames!”

I felt so humbled by his words as I knelt before the Altar. I confessed my own shortcomings in this area, the many ways in which I had missed the mark. I then asked the Archangel what we, as individuals can do to help our fellow human beings in this time when we fleeting flames are so exalting ourselves, so out of balance, and seemingly so lost. The great Angel replied:

“First, notice the fragility of human life. How easily blown out is a small and flickering flame. Give thanks for the light bequeathed to you. Then tend to your flame. Having tended to your own flame to strengthen it, tend to the flames of those with whom you share your world. Let your every meeting with another strengthen their flame, not weaken it. And as you strengthen them, so shall you be strengthened.

Then turn to the flames as yet unlit, flames only to be lit hundreds and thousands of years from now, the flames of future beings. Let your actions now, tend to their flames then. Tread lightly on the Earth, lest, in seeking to strengthen your own flame, your actions blow out theirs. Many among you are desperate and hurting. We see you and we help you as best we can as we are Willed to do. You are not alone. Show your fellow beings hope as you have been shown hope. Strengthen them as you have been strengthened. Nurture the Light bestowed on you. For your Father is in you as you are in Him. And all you meet are but Him in disguise.”

I thanked him for his wisdom. Then, out of curiosity, I asked Gabriel something I had long wondered. How did Mary, mother of Yeshua, respond when Gabriel went to see her and told her she would give birth to a son? Asked this question, his presence in the room seemed to brighten as if resonating with a fond and beautiful moment and he said:

“She was surprised, as any would be. But she was humble. She surrendered to God’s Will. She did not elevate herself, but lowered herself, grateful. Her life became an offering, for she knew the blessings bestowed on her would be given to all.”

I asked Gabriel if he would aid me by touching and blessing this Cauldron of Art for work to extend the Good as is the Will of the Most High. I was instructed to place the candle I offered unto him into the Cauldron and place his Sigil over the rim of the Cauldron.

Then Gabriel spoke these words:

“As this candle flame’s light fills this Cauldron, so, too does my Light bless it now. Use it for good or not at all.”

I said I would and then asked Gabriel for another request. Would he bless me with the honour of formally becoming one of my Patrons, to guide me in life and in my service to others, and lead me deeper into the Divine Mysteries? Much to my joy, the Angel replied:

“As you have asked, it shall be. If you humble yourself and nurture the flames in others, then I will nurture the flame in you. Wherever you are, I too, will be. When you worship your Father, I will be there by your side. As God is in you, so be in God, for you and your Father are One. And there is none that do not abide in Him. Some know it, some do not. Nurture those who know and those who do not alike.

The wise know this: to humble yourself infinitely is to realize the Divine infinity in you. If you are willing to lay yourself so low as to be Nothing, then you shall realize the Nothing that is All. If you raise yourself up, you shall be brought down, but if you bring yourself down, you shall be raised up. To those who offer themselves for the good of the All, the All will be offered for the good of them. Receive by giving.”

I asked if there was any final thing that the Archangel would like to show me before we closed.

“Gaze carefully into the Candle flame within the Cauldron.”

I did as instructed. Soon my gaze begun to fade out, distant and yet close. Both of my hands gripped the Altar on either side. I remained there for a few moments. And then a peculiar thing began to happen. My perspective seemed to zoom out, so that I could see my body kneeling before the Altar. Suddenly I became aware that Gabriel was not confined to the candle flame, to the Cauldron, or to the Altar. Instead, he was all around me, everywhere I looked and everywhere I could not see. His massive presence with thousands of wings surrounded the entire Circle…

Gazing within the Cauldron, the perspective shifted out further and further and further. Until I saw the whole Earth in Gabriel’s embrace, his vast white Wings of light wrapped around it, nothing out of his reach…

“Remember the smallness of the candle flame…” He said.

I thanked him for his presence and invited him to enjoy the Offerings as long as he pleased, as I did to Cyprian. I then thanked the Angels and Spirits of the Four Directions for their presence and aid, blessing them with the Bell and with prayers each in turn. I gave the License to Depart to all spirits present and then formally closed the Temple, leaving the candles offered unto Cyprian and Gabriel flickering in the Temple.

A humbled, but joyful loving feeling glowed within me for hours after the Operation. How grateful I feel for even a moment in the presence of Gabriel. How grateful I feel for all of the beautiful candle flames whose light adorns my life, my friends, family, students,  colleagues, Fraters and Sorors, and loved ones. How they bless me with their light. May I always remember my responsibility to each of them and never take them for granted. I close with these all-important words of an Angel far wiser than this humble flame…

“First, notice the fragility of human life. How easily blown out is a small and flickering flame. Give thanks for the light bequeathed to you. Then tend to your flame. Having tended to your own flame to strengthen it, tend to the flames of those with whom you share your world. Let your every meeting with another strengthen their flame, not weaken it. And as you strengthen them, so shall you be strengthened.”

Cryptoconsecratio: Reflections on the Magical Consecration by Mass in the Solomonic Grimoires

By Adam J. Pearson

The Marginalized Method: Introduction to the Magical Consecration by Mass

Consecration is one of the fundamental methods, not only of the traditional priestly art of the exoteric priest, but also of the traditional Medieval and Renaissance Magician. As Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (2000) reveals in his Third Books of Occult Philosophy, priests and Magicians alike have long used a variety of different methods to consecrate magical and sacred objects, methods which range from the use of sacred bells to the casting of exorcised salt and sanctified Holy Water:

“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 or Key of Solomon. Elsewhere, Agrippa (2000) alludes to the use of Fire and Incense in exorcisms, consecrations, and blessings of magical tools, as in the suffumigations we find within the Key (Peterson, 2004).

However, the commensurate power of bells themselves to exorcise and bless sacred spaces within the Solomonic tradition is often neglected; for this reason, I undertook a detailed and comprehensive study of the use of Bells and Trumpets of Art in the Solomonic grimoires. However, both the great Agrippa himself and contemporary magicians like myself who humbly stand on his shoulders have long omitted one additional method of consecration that is employed in the Medieval and Renaissance grimoires. Indeed, this marginalized method remains as oft-neglected, understudied, or dismissed as the consecrational use of Bells.

This mysterious method is none other than the method of consecration by Mass, which I will define for the purposes of this article as:

The process of spiritually empowering or sanctifying either Magicians or magical objects through their presence in the formal performance of liturgical or votive Christian Masses.

In this article, I will analyze a series of key instances of this oft-neglected formula in three Solomonic grimoires, namely, Juratus Honorii or the The Sworne Booke of Honorius, Sloane 3847 – The Clavicle of Solomon Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian, and the Heptameron or Magical Elements. After thus establishing a theoretical and historical grounding for the method, I will then proceed to share some practical suggestions for how contemporary Magicians can apply this magical technique in order to optimally benefit from its powers and most closely follow the protocols outlined by the grimoiric systems.

In History and Manuscripts: Consecration by Mass in the Solomonic Grimoire Tradition

The method of consecration by Mass occurs in multiple grimoires, perhaps because the power of the Mass as a magico-spiritual ceremony was vividly apparent to the clerical authors who penned the Late Medieval and Renaissance texts (Leitch, 2009). In order to illustrate some examples of both how the method was traditionally applied as well as the contexts in which it was used, I will briefly consider three grimoiric examples here, namely, those of Juratus Honorii or the The Sworne Booke of Honorius, Sloane 3847 – The Clavicle of Solomon Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian, and the Heptameron or Magical Elements.

1. Magical Consecration by Mass in The Sworne Booke of Honorius

First, Liber Juratus Honorii or the The Sworne Booke of Honorius has the distinction of being one of the earliest extant Medieval grimoires available to contemporary practitioners and scholars; indeed the most reliable and complete manuscript of the text, Sloane 3854, art. 9, fol 117-144, seems to date to the 14th century (Peterson, 2009). In this fascinating text, the method of consecration by Mass is interestingly employed, not to purify, bless, and empower magical objects, but to enact the same sacred transformation on the Magician. As Joseph H. Peterson’s (2009) edition of the text lays bare, Liber Juratus requires the Magician to enlist the help of a “wary and faithful” priest who is willing to work with and purify him–in keeping with its historical context and Medieval gender biases, the text assumes a male practitioner–for his [sic] Operations with the spirits. As the text explains,

Let [the Magician] have a wary and a faithful priest which may say unto him … a Mass of the Holy Ghost, and in his introit let him say the 13th prayer, and after the offertory the 9th prayer. Then take frankincense and incense and cense the altar saying the first prayer, and because the holy fathers did trust in the saints that were there named, therefore they did so, and if he that shall work have more devotion to any other saints, then be there named, let him change name for name, for faith doth always work, as I said before.

Then let the 2nd prayer be said immediately and after te igiter in the Mass; let be said the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th prayers in consecrating of the Body of Christ, let the priest pray for him that shall work that through the grace of God he may obtain the effect of his petition. And so must the priest do in all his prayers that he shall say for him that shall work, but add nothing else to them. Also after the Communion, the priest shall say the 26th prayer, and after mass he that shall work shall receive the sacrament saying the 19th and 20th prayer.

But let him take heed that he receive not the Body of Christ for an evil purpose, for that were death unto him, wherefore some men have entitled this book calling it The Death of the Soul, and that is true to them that work for an evil intent and purpose, and not to have some science or some good thing; for the Lord sayeth “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall finde,” and in another place he sayeth “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, I am in the midst of them and everything that they shall ask the father in my name and he will fulfill and do it.”

The Magician of Liber Juratus is held to a very high standard of moral purity, a spiritual and ritual state that is here magnified by the priest’s consecration of “he that shall work”–the text’s term for the Magician or Exorcist–by the power of the Mass and Holy Communion (Peterson, 2009).

Two additional things are worth noting about this interesting passage. First, the particular Mass that the grimoire recommends is a special ‘votive’ or devotional mass called the “Mass of the Holy Ghost,” now called the “Mass of the Holy Spirit,” which was used in the 14th century to invoke the Holy Spirit and ask for guidance and wisdom; the invocation of Divine power and wisdom is, of course, very relevant to the work of a Christian Magician.

Second, the Mass is here given in a modified version in which the specific numbered prayers given in the grimoire are inserted into it and the priest prays for the success of the Magician’s operation at the most auspicious of moments, namely, during the “consecration of the Body of Christ,” in which the wafer was believed by Catholics to be transubstantiated from an ordinary wafer into Christ’s body itself. The net effect of making these changes to the standard script of the Mass is to produce a kind of grimoiric Mass that is an explicitly magical ritual in itself through its connection to the Liber Juratus procedures.

Later in the text, the Magician is instructed to conduct a prolonged series of fasts, prayers, and purifications, and once again, is instructed to attend the Mass. Here, however, “he that shall work” is instructed to say specific prayers, which are given in the text, while receiving the Holy Communion or the Body and Blood of Christ in the Church (Peterson, 2009). As Liber Juratus explains:

If therefore anybody wishes to operate with those spirits, we must first warn him strictly that he must be thoroughly purified, as we have said in the preceding, until he comes to the fourteenth day, on which day he must begin his fast. Then when the Mass of the Holy Spirit is being said or celebrated, when the operator is receiving the Body of Christ (eucharist), he should say prayers 19 and 20 (LXXVII-LXXIX), as we have said, when the priest is holding up the Body of Christ (i.e. wafer), to reveal it to the congregation, he should pray on behalf of the Operation.

This passage is noteworthy because it lays bear the notion that for the author of Liber Juratus, the exoteric Mass and the esoteric work of the conjurer were not seen as two separate things, as some contemporary theorists who postulate a rigid divide between the techniques of “magic” and “religion” may suggest. Instead, the work of the Mass was part of the magic and supplied part of its spiritual empowerment; in the Liber Juratus‘s system, the preparatory purifying Rites and the later callings of the spirits are part of a single magico-religious continuum. Indeed, without the consecration by Mass, the Magician was held to be unfit and insufficiently purified to proceed with the Operations with spirits (Peterson, 2009).

2. Magical Consecration by Mass in Sloane 3847 – The Clavicle of Solomon Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian

Second, the same principle that the Christian Mass itself has the power to consecrate both practitioners and tools of the Art is applied in another grimoiric text, namely, Sloane 3847 – The Clavicle of Solomon Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian. This text is one of the earliest available manuscripts of the Key of Solomon and seems to date to 1572, the only earlier one I’m aware of being BNF or Bibliothèque Nationale de France Ital 1524, which dates to 1446 (Peterson, 1999).  In Sloane 3847, the method of consecration by Mass is applied not only in the consecration of the Tools of the Art, but also in the consecration of the Pentacles. As will be seen, the process given for consecrating the Pentacles is considerably more involved and demanding in this manuscript than in later manuscripts of the Clavicula Salomonis, which may suggest that later writers may have abrogated the text to simplify the method.

In Sloane 3847, the Magician is required to have not one, but multiple Masses said over the Planetary Pentacle to consecrate and empower it, as the text explains:

The Pentacles be made upon

day, and in the hour of Mercury,(…). Have a house or secret chamber clean and goodly wherein shall none inhabit, but the cheefe coniurer and his fellowes, and make a fumigation there and sprinckle it with y^ewater, as it is said (…) and have your paper or better, virgin paper and begin that hour to write the foresayde pentacle of noble collour as is emabrium or celestem coniured and exorsized as it is sayd.

For the Pen and the Inke, let them be writt and other thinges to be exorsized, and when they be written perfectly, that hour if they be not completed, doe not cease untill they be fullfilled when ye may. Then take some noble cloth of silke wherin ye may hold the foresayd pentacles, and have there an earthen pot great, and full of coales, and let there be of ligno mastico masculo & ligno aloe, coniured, and let y^e coniurer be cleare [24v] as it is meete, and have there prepared Arthanum nupatum [the Quill knife] in the juice of pimpernell and the blood of a goose made and completed upon Mercuries day in the augementinge [waxing] of the moone where upon let 3 Masses be songe with gospells and fumigate it with fumigations of y^e knife, that ye must cut and make maicum Isopi [hyssop], with your whole minde and humble deuotion, sayinge these Psalmes with y^eoration followinge…

Nor is that all. The Magician is then required to complete a series of prayers over the next three days, and “cause” an additional series of Masses to be said over the Pentacle to activate it and en-spirit it with magical force:

Say this 3 dayes continuall upon the foresayed pentacles and cause 3 Masses to be sayed of y^e Holy Ghost, and one of Our Lady, and afterward put the foresaid signes, in a silke cloth with goodly sauours, and put them up in a cleane place.

And when it is neede, ye may worke as it is said of the artes magicall, of thy cloth were decked with gold it were of more efficacye, and when they be put in a cleane place, fumigate them and sprincle them with water and Isope [hyssop] and soe let them alone. They have immumerable vertues as it is contained heareafter.

Nor is the formula of consecration by Mass only applied for Pentacles. The Clavicle also requires it for the consecration of “the Conjurer’s” tools, such as the Knife, Wand, and Needle:

With such a knife as the circles should be made with, if it be greevous for you to make such a knife, finde some knife of the foresaid fashion, with a haft all white or all blacke, and write upon manicumor haft the foresaid wordes, after the mañer aforesaid of that knife, and upon the plate begiñinge from the poynt, write with encausto conjured, Alpha et omega, agla, Ja, el, ou, premeumaton, syrnel, afrnel, and cause to be sayd over this knife 3 masses, one of the holy ghost and 2 of our Lady and fumigate him, with the fumigations followinge, and blesse him with water as followeth, conjuring sayinge, in nomine patris filii et S. Sancti Amen, and put him in a silke cloth, of such as followeth, until ye will worke, and of that knife let the circles of artes be made, and with that knife, let things necessary to the artes or experiments be cut, likewise let Artanus be made, but they neede not to be put in any operation. Let other Instruments of Iron, or staves, or rodds excersised in artes or experiments be consecrated, on that mañer, if they be Instrum^ts Let them be made on

dayes and his Hour as it is said of y^e knife, and Arthano [the quill knife], and let these that followeth be written upon them…

This passage is fascinating for a number of reasons. First, it seems to suggest that a single knife can be used, not both a black-handled knife and a white-handled knife as in later manuscripts, but a knife “with a haft [handle] all white or all black” (Peterson, 1999). This small, but significant difference places this manuscript more closely in line with the Hygromanteia, which only features a single knife (Marathakis, 2011). As Dr. Stephen Skinner explains in his detailed analysis within the same edition of the text, in the Hygromanteia,

The blade of the knife must be from an older sword or knife that has brought death, but the handle must be made from the horn of a black he-goat. P has she-goat instead and G does not refer to the handle at all. According to A, B, G and B3 certain nomina barbara have to be written on the knife, and it must be constructed on the day and the hour of Mars.

Except for this section and the subsequent mentions of the black handled knife in the making of the pen, the parchment and the circle, the manuscripts mention the knife in relation to a number of independent divinatory operations that will be treated of below. The oldest reference to the black-handled knife, brought to my attention by David Rankine, comes from Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki), the famous 11th century commentator of the Talmud. Rashi, commenting on a Talmudic passage, says:

“He who is particular about the vessel (by means of which he divines), that he cannot do anything without the vessel that is required for that thing, as, for instance, the “princes of the thumb”, for which they require a knife, the handle of which is black, or the “princes of the cup”, that they require a cup of glass.” (…)

Another early reference to the black handled knife can be found in the Recension C of the Testament of Solomon, which, according to McCown may belong to the 12th or 13th century. In this text, Beelzeboul says:

“Take fifty one in number black unborn kids, bring me a new knife with a handle made from black horn and attached by three rivets, and skin the kids [baby goats].”

It is additionally worth noting the explicit Christianity of this passage from the Clavicle, which not only requires “3 Masses, one of the Holy Ghost and 2 of our Lady [the Virgin Mary]” to be said over the Knife of Art, but also conjures the Knife by means of the Trinity, “in nomine patris filii et S. Sancti Amen” (Peterson, 1999). This stands in contrast to later manuscripts of the Key of Solomon, which eliminate all Christian references in an attempt to make the text appear entirely Jewish, and thus, more in line with the religion of its pseudepigraphic author, King Solomon.

In the interests of brevity, I will not quote all of the passages concerning consecrations by Mass in the Clavicle, for there are many, but it may suffice to say in summary that Masses are also required to be recited over the “Virgin Wax or Earth” (“three Masses”), the Needle of Art (“three Masses”), the Virgin Parchment (“three Masses”), and the Silk Cloth for wrapping implements of the Art (a staggering “9 Masses!) (Peterson, 1999).

As these passages reveal, consecration by Mass was considered by the author of the Clavicle, that is, Pseudo-Ptolemy the Grecian in Sloane 3847, to be a fundamental and essential magical technique for consecrating all of the Tools of the Art as well as the Pentacles produced using the Clavicular method (Peterson, 1999).  As such, the absence of consecration by Mass in later manuscripts of the Key, arguably a product of attempts to streamline and facilitate the Solomonic method, is remarkably conspicuous.

3. Magical Consecration by Mass in The Heptameron or Magical Elements Pseudepigraphically attributed to Peter de Abano

Third, consecration by Mass also figures strongly in the Heptameron or Magical Elements, in two key respects, namely, the consecrations of the Pentacle and Garment and the Sword of Art. As the text, in Peterson’s (2018) edition, explains:

The Operator ought to be clean and purified by the space of nine daies before the beginning of the work, and to be confessed, and receive the holy Communion. Let him have ready the perfume appropriated to the day wherein he would perform the work. He ought also to have holy water from a Priest, and a new earthen vessel with fire, a Vesture and a Pentacle; and let all these things be rightly and duly consecrated and prepared. Let one of the servants carry the earthen vessel full of fire, and the perfumes, and let another bear the book, another the Garment and Pentacle, and let the master carry the Sword; over which there must be said one mass of the Holy Ghost.”

Similarly, a later passage clarifies that the consecration by Mass must not only be performed for the Sword, but also for the Pentacle:

Let it be a Priest’s Garment, if it can be had, let it be of linen, and clean. Then take this Pentacle made in the day and hour of Mercury, the Moon increasing, written in parchment made of a kids skin [goat skin]. But first let there be said over it the Mass of the holy Ghost, and let it be sprinkled with water of baptism

As these passages reveal, the Pseudo-Peter de Abano of the Heptameron also saw the consecration by Mass to be a crucially important method for imbuing the Sword and Pentacle with their magical power.

To bring these three analyses together, the magical theoretic logic at play behind both Juratus’ consecration of the Magician by Mass and the Clavicle and Heptameron’s consecrations of the Tools and Pentacles by Mass seems to be largely the same. In both cases, proximity to or immersion in the Holy Mass brings the Magician and the Tools into sympathetic resonance with the holy forces that they are intended to help conjure and direct to magical ends.

To the Catholic Magicians who penned these three grimoires, it was only natural to draw upon the most powerful ceremony of which they were aware, in which the Body and Blood of their Saviour were symbolically ingested in the Mystery of Eucharist, to empower their instruments, a logic Agrippa explains in his analyses of sympathetic “occult vertue” (Agrippa, 2000). Indeed, the fact that the method of consecration by Mass recurs in so many influential and early texts only makes its glaring omission by most modern Magicians all the more striking. By omitting it, contemporary practitioners risk leaving out a key component of the magical method and theory enshrined in these pivotal texts.

Resurrecting the Consecration by Mass: Practical Suggestions for the Contemporary Practitioner

In light of the method’s powerful historical legacy in the grimoires and in the interests of faithfulness to the source texts, what are contemporary practitioners to do if they wish to implement the consecration by Mass into their own 21st-century work?

Three main options remain open to contemporary Magicians:

1) They can follow Liber Juratus and try to find a “faithful and wary” ordained priest who is willing to help in performing Masses over them or their magical implements. This is possible in some cases, but priests willing to cooperate in occult enterprises can be few and far between. This unfortunate state of affairs is predominantly due to the continued stigmatization of esotericism as necessarily and intrinsically demonic that reigns within the contemporary Church. With that said, Reverend Aaron Leitch does offer a service of consecration by Mass for those who would like to enlist his services.

2) They can become ordained as priests and perform the Masses over their own implements ourselves. To aid and support those who are interested in doing this, I have included a full Latin text of the “Mass of the Holy Ghost” called for in the aforementioned grimoires in Appendix I of this article. The journey to authentic ordination is a long one requiring great devotion and commitment, but this second option is often still easier than the first, and indeed, I know several individuals who have taken this approach.

3) The third and final method is the approach I affectionately refer to as cryptoconsecratio, that is, the clandestine consecration of objects performed in public. In this case, cryptoconsecratio entails bringing magical items to Church and praying over and consecrating them secretly during the Mass itself.

One challenge posed by this latter approach, however, is that, as we have already seen, the “Mass of the Holy Spirit” prescribed above is not the standard Sunday liturgical Mass, but rather a votive or devotional Mass that is rarely performed by most Churches today at all if not once or a few times per year (Rex, 2014). Thankfully, practical experimentation has revealed that the standard Mass, while not as optimally aligned with the grimoiric specifications as the Mass of the Holy Spirit, works nearly as well for our purposes.

Practical Tips for Cryptoconsecrating Magical Objects by Mass

Those who would like to attempt the cryptoconsecratio method of consecration by Mass, can facilitate their task by placing magical items in an unsuspicious bag such as a backpack, purse or satchel, which they bring with them into the Church. Ideally, the objects to be consecrated would be placed as close to the Altar as possible; indeed, the grimoires’ authors envisioned the items being placed on the Altar itself. However, as per Agrippan occult philosophical logic, the items can remain in the pews if necessary; since the Mass technically unfolds throughout the entire Church, its “occult vertue” and sympathetic empowerment can still be transferred to any location within the Church during the Mass provided appropriate and effective prayers are used to direct the process (Agrippa, 2000).

The closer to the Altar, the better, however. The boldest Magicians can sit in the front row and thereby be as close to the Altar as they can possibly be without being the officiating priests themselves. If practitioners are performing the clandestine cryptoconsecratio from their pews with the items in a bag beside them, then during the Mass, they can simply and discretely place a hand over the items to be consecrated and pray over them to complete the consecration.

Praying over the items multiple times throughout the Mass seems to be most effective approach, as practical experimentation has revealed. However, the most crucial moment to perform such clandestine prayers is when the priest is initiating the transubstantiation or the mystic transformation of the bread and wine into the Blood and Body of Christ (Peterson, 2009). Liber Juratus makes the esoteric potency of this moment abundantly clear in the aforementioned passage regarding the prayers to be recited by “he that shall work” (Peterson, 2009). Following Agrippa once again, the magical rationale is clear; since the priest is performing a sacred transformation, the moment is pregnant with the ‘occult vertue’ of that sacred transformative power–quite like an auspicious and benefic astrological election–thus facilitating the consecration of the targeted magical objects by the Mass (Agrippa, 2000).

At this point, I anticipate that my intelligent and practically-minded readers will likely pose a very understandable question: what about the Sword — surely it’s not so easy to cryptoconsecrate as small objects?

Admittedly, the Sword of Art’s size does seem to pose a problem. Thankfully, however, it is one easily solved. Since the Sword does not fit in most bags, it can instead be placed in the case of a musical instrument — a guitar case, for instance, works remarkably well. Once again, as in the case of the bags, clandestine practitioners need only place a hand over the Sword as it lies hidden in its case and pray over it to consecrate it during the Mass. Exorcisms of the items to be consecrated can be done in the Magician’s private Temple prior to going to Church for the Mass and final suffumigations and Holy Water sprinklings of the items can be done upon returning home.

In short, whether through a priestly ally, through becoming priests, or through discrete cryptoconsecratio performed during Masses officiated by others, the method of consecration by Mass remains accessible to this day.

A Mystic Legacy with Enduring Value: Concluding Words on an Ongoing Practice

In conclusion, the method of consecration by Mass has a respectable grimoiric pedigree and remains accessible today through methods such as the three approaches suggested in this article. Grimoiric traditionalists and Christian Magicians may find particular value in the method. Non-Christian practitioners with an open-mind and a curiosity about magical methods from other cultures, however, may still find that the method offers a fertile magical technology under-girded by hundreds of years of esoteric history as well as a fascinating avenue for exploration.

Appendix I – The Latin text of the ‘Mass of the Holy Ghost/Spirit,’ shared here from the Public Domain (for the English text, see this List of Resources from BJ Swayne):

Missa de Spiritu Sancto

Introitus. Sap. l, 7.

Spíritus Dómini replévit orbem terrárum: et hoc, quod cóntinet ómnia, sciéntiam habet vocis.

(T.P. Allelúja, allelúja.)

Ps. 67,2.

Exsúrgat Deus, et dissipéntur inimíci ejus: et fúgiant, qui odérunt eum, a fácie ejus.

℣. Glória Patri.

Oratio.

Deus, qui corda fidélium Sancti Spíritus illustratióne docuísti: da nobis in eódem Spíritu recta sápere; et de ejus semper consolatióne gaudére. Per Dóminum . . . in unitáte ejúsdem Spíritus Sancti.

Léctio Actuum Apostólorum.

Act. 8, 14-17.

In diébus illis: Cum audíssent Apóstoli, qui erant Jerosólymis, quod recepísset Samaría verbum Dei, misérunt ad eos Petrum et Joánnem. Qui cum veníssent, oravérunt pro ipsis, ut accíperent Spíritum Sanctum: nondum enim in quemquam illórum vénerat, sed baptizáti tantum erant in nómine Dómini Jesu. Tunc imponébant manus super illos, et accipiébant Spíritum Sanctum

Graduale.

Ps. 32, 12 et 6.

Beáta gens, cujus est Dóminus Deus eórum: pópulus, quem elégit Dóminus in hereditátem sibi.

℣. Verbo Dómini coeli firmáti sunt: et Spíritu oris ejus omnis virtus eórum.

Allelúja, allelúja. (Hic genuflectitur)

℣. Veni, Sancte Spíritus, reple tuórum corda fidélium: et tui amóris in eis ignem accénde. Allelúja.

Post Septuagesimam, omissis Allelúja et
Versu sequenti, dicitur:

Tractus. Ps. 103, 30.

Emítte Spíritum tuum, et creabúntur: et renovábis fáciem terræ.

℣. O quam bonus et suávis est, Dómine, Spíritus tuus in nobis! (Hic genuflectitur)

℣. Veni, Sancte Spíritus, reple tuórum corda fidélium: et tui amóris in eis ignem accénde.

Tempore autem Paschali omittitur Graduale,
et ejus loco dicitur:

Allelúja, allelúja.

℣. Ps. 103, 30.

Emítte Spíritum tuum, et creabúntur: et renovábis fáciem terræ. Allelúja. (Hic genuflectitur)

℣. Veni, Sancte Spíritus, reple tuórum corda fidélium: et tui amóris in eis ignem accénde. Allelúja.

✠ Sequéntia sancti Evangélii secúndum Joánnem.

Joann. 14, 23-31.

In illo témpore: Dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Si quis diligit me, sermónem meum servábit, et Pater meus díliget eum, et ad eum veniémus, et mansiónem apud eum faciémus: qui non díligit me, sermónes meos non servat Et sermónem quem audístis, non est meus: sed ejus, qui misit me, Patris. Hæc locútus sum vobis, apud vos manens. Paráclitus autem Spíritus Sanctus, quem mittet Pater in nómine meo, ille vos docébit ómnia et súggeret vobis ómnia, quæcúmque díxero vobis.

Pacem relínquo vobis, pacem meam do vobis: non quómodo mundus dat, ego do vobis. Non turbátur cor vestrum neque fórmidet. Audístis, quia ego dixi vobis: Vado et vénio ad vos. Si diligerétis me, gauderétis útique, quia vado ad Patrem; quia Pater major me est. Et nunc dixi vobis, priúsquam fiat: ut, cum factum fúerit, credátis. Jam non multa loquar vobíscum. Venit enim princeps mundi hujus, et in me non habet quidquam. Sed ut cognóscat mundus, quia díligo Patrem, et sicut mandátum dedit mihi Pater, sic fácio.

Offertorium. Ps. 67, 29-30.

Confírma hoc, Deus, quod operátus es in nobis: a templo tuo, quod est in Jerúsalem, tibi ófferent reges múnera. (T.P. Allelúja.)

Secreta.

Múnera, quǽsumus, Dómine, obláta sanctífica: et corda nostra Sancti Spíritus illustratióne emúnda. Per Dóminum . . in unitáte ejusdem Spíritus Sancti.

Præfatio de Spiritu Sancto.

Communio. Act. 2, 2 et 4.

Factus est repénte de cælo sonus tamquam adveniéntis spíritus veheméntis, ubi erant sedéntes: et repléti sunt omnes Spíritu Sancto, loquéntes magnália Dei.
(T.P.Allelúja.)

Postcommunio.

Sancti Spíritus, Dómine, corda nostra mundet infúsio: et sui roris íntima aspersióne fecúndet. Per Dóminum . . . in unitáte ejúsdem Spíritus Sancti (Zardetti, 1888).

References

Agrippa, H. C. (2000). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Ed. Joseph H. Peterson. [online eBook]. Esoteric Archives. Based on a transcription from Moule: London, 1651. Available at http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa1.htm[Accessed 01 October 2018].

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

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

Peterson, J. H. (2004). Clavicula Salomonis or The Key of Solomon. [online eBook]. Esoteric Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Peterson, J. H. (2018). Heptameron or Magical Elements. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Peterson, J. H. (2009). Liber Juratus Honorii or the The Sworne Booke of Honorius. [online eBook]. Esoteric Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Peterson, J. H. (1999). Sloane 3847 – The Clavicle of Solomon, Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian. [online eBook]. Esoteric Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm [Accessed 01 October 2018].

Rex, R. (2014). The Religion of Henry VIII. The Historical Journal, 57(1), 1-32.

Zardetti, O. (1888). Special Devotion to the Holy Ghost. New York: General Books.

The Rite of the Crook of Saint Cyprian: A Powerful Ritual Revealed Through PGM Lecanomancy

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Altar set-up for Novena of Saint Cyprian of Antioch Day 9 and PGM lecanomancy: large bowl filled with spring water, Holy Water, and Saint Cyprian Oil (bottom center). Brass cauldron with offerings of Church wafer and incense (bottom right). Key of Solomon Aspergillum and Water Glass Offering to Cyprian (bottom left). Offering of wine (center). Two lavender candles fixed with Saint Cyprian Oil, cinnamon, all-spice, and sage offered to Saint Cyprian (middle left and right). Statues of Saint Cyprian and Justina (back center), Vial of Saint Cyprian Oil (back right), and Novena Candle (back left).

A Sudden Change of Plans

On Day 9 of my 2018 Novena of Saint Cyprian of Antioch, I woke up and performed a ritual bath and morning worship. I then traveled to the city to do social work community service with older adults in the community as a form of Offering to Cyprian. At the end of the day, I meditated  on the Mystical Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite on the journey home, and having arrived, prepared for ritual.

I performed a second ritual bath of the day and session of prayers and put on my robe, stole, and golden crown. I then fixed two candles as Offerings to Saint Cyprian, both lavender candles, fixed with San Cipriano Oil, allspice, cinnamon, and sage. I had originally planned a completely different series of rituals for tonight, but after receiving a strong intuitive nudge of the kind that Cyprian usually produces when he is giving guidance, I scrapped the initial plan and opted instead to focus entirely on the Papyri Graecae Magicae (PGM) or Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri. Indeed,I felt a strong sense that the focus of the night should be on classical Graeco-Egyptian lecanomancy. As the night unfolded, it became clear that I was in not just for a powerful experience with Cyprian, but for learning an entirely new ritual directly from him…

The Oracle of Delphi presented as performing lecanomancy or evocationary scrying via a bowl of water and olive oil painted by a Kodros painter and dating to 430 BC, roughly 100 years before Dr. Ryan Bailey (2017) estimates the Acts of Saint Cyprian of Antioch was written.

The Lecanomantic Origins of the Rite of the Crook of Saint Cyprian

I entered the Temple, and began, as usual, with offerings and preliminary prayers to the Divine. I then picked up my Solomonic Bell, sounded it three times before entering the Circle as per the Hygromanteia and then, from within it, sounded it thrice to each of the Quarters, greeting the Spirits of the East, South, West, and North with great love, respect, and  blessings. Next, I used my Key of Solomon Aspergillum of Art to sprinkle Holy Water all around the Circle and on the tools and Altar to purify the area for the workings to come. I then proceeded to give additional Offerings to the Divine and to Saint Cyprian and prepared myself for the intensive work to begin.

I lit both of Saint Cyprian’s twin candles and offered him a glass of red wine as well as consecrated incense. Then, I breathed deeply until I entered a quasi-trance state and standing and brandishing my Wand, I began to powerfully recite the Rite of the Headless One from the Stele of Jeu or Papyri Graecae Magicae V. 96-172.

The Rite came on strongly and powerfully as it always does. Before I knew it, I had been transported into a kind of ecstatic frenzy as the primal force of the “awesome and invisible god” began to overwhelm my mundane consciousness.  As I strained to not fall into the state of momentary transcendental dissolution in the Absolute that the Rite is known to produce, and still immersed in the frenzied, ecstatic state of the “Holy Headless One,” I shifted into a modified Cyprianic form of the lecanomantic spell of “evocationary scrying,” to borrow a term from Dr. Stephen Skinner, from PGM IV. 154 to 285.

Inquiry of bowl divination and necromancy. Whenever you want to inquire about matters, take a bronze vessel, either a bowl or a saucer, whatever kind you wish. Pour water: rainwater if you are calling upon heavenly gods, seawater if gods of the earth, river water if Osiris or Sarapis, spring water if the dead.

Holding the vessel on your knees, pour out green olive oil, bend over the vessel and speak the prescribed spell. And address whatever god you want ask about whatever you wish, and he will reply to you and tell you about anything. And if he has spoken dismiss him with the spell of dismissal, and you who have used this spell will be amazed.

– PGM IV. 223- 243

In keeping with Saint Cyprian’s necromantic theme, I had filled a large bowl with spring water prior to beginning the Headless Rite. It was into this bowl that I now turned to begin my necromantic lecanomancy guided by Cyprian. I poured a libation of Saint Cyprian Holy Olive Oil into the bowl of water, into which I had also poured a small amount of Spring Water mixed with Holy Water used in a prior magical ceremony. I then began to recite the conjuration from PGM IV 223-243, modified to include Saint Cyprian in place of a Graeco-Egyptian gods:

The spell spoken over the vessel is: “AMOUN AUANTAU LAIMOUTAU RIPTOU MANTAUI IMANTOU LANTOU LAPTOUMI ANCHÔMACH ARAPTOUMI, hither to me, O Saint Cyprian; appear to me this very hour and do not frighten my eyes. Hither to me, O Saint Cyprian, be attentive to me because he wishes and commands this ACHCHÔR ACHCHÔR ACHACHACH PTOUMI CHACHCHÔ CHARACHÔCH CHAPTOUMÊ CHÔRACHARACHÔCH APTOUMI MÊCHÔCHAPTOU CHARACHPTOU CHACHCHÔ CHARACHÔ PTENACHÔCHEU” (a hundred letters).

But you are not unaware, mighty king and leader of magicians, that this is the chief 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, the name which, when it is uttered, forcibly brings gods and daemons to it. This is the name that consists of 100 letters.

– PGM IV. 223- 243

Immediately after finishing this powerful conjuration, I sat before the Altar with the lecanomantic bowl on my knees as described in the spell text. I began to scry into the olive oil swirling in the water and invited Saint Cyprian to guide me with a vision of whatever he felt would be helpful for the development of magical wisdom. I gazed and gaze into the swirling Cyprianic oil within the bowl until my eyes grew heavier and heavier before falling shut completely…

Suddenly, I saw him. Saint Cyprian, carrying his iconic Crook stepped out of the darkness of my closed eyelids and stood before me, exuding great power and mystery.  I greeted him with love, respect, and the blessings of the Divine, which he returned.  Then I asked him what he guidance he would like to offer for the next phase of my magical development and he said:

“Follow my example. Find connecting lines where others see gaps. Integrate the wisdom to which differing traditions cling into a broader vision of magic. Do not fixate on the outer forms of things. Instead, peer behind the techniques, at the principles that underlie them, and behind the symbols and language at the fundamental forces on which they draw. Having realized the concealed and foundational mechanics that power the techniques and rites of magic beneath their surface forms, you will be best equipped to enlist them in your work. Let undeniable results rule over the rigid opinions of the ignorant.”

I thanked Saint Cyprian for this wise message and promised to do my utmost to put it into practice.  I then asked him if he was pleased by my efforts and Offerings thus far in the 9 preceding Novena days of intensive magical work conducted in his honour and if so, whether he would do me the great honour of granting me his patronage as a result.  Smiling, he spoke into my mind in his deep calm voice, saying:

“It is with pleasure that I bestow on you my Patronage. Wherever you go, my Crook will follow you there.  Whatever work you embark upon, my hand will be in it to strengthen it as well.” 

I felt very moved and grateful for these inspiring words and asked the great Saint if he would be willing to kindly bless me with a new magical technique that I could both use myself and pass on to other esteemed Magicians to empower their own work. Nodding in assent, Cyprian instructed me to open my eyes and begin to write.  As I did so, I was startled by the automatic rapidity with which the words of the rite that follows flowed, fully-formed onto the page as a potent gift from Saint Cyprian himself. I pray that you, dear Reader, will find it as useful as I have, that it will release blessings and power over you, your house, and your work, and that Saint Cyprian will pray for your success in all things, in the name of the Most High, Amen!

The Invocatory Rite of the Crook of Saint Cyprian

Perform a ritual bath and stand to perform the ritual, ideally in the center of a ceremonial Circle of your choosing. Breathe deeply multiple times until relaxed and ready.

Hold a Wand, Dagger or extended finger straight up into the air and call out:

RAI ATAH IA YAH YAH
(Ray-Ah-Tah Ee-ah Yah-Yah)

Begin to trace a Spiral symbolizing Cyprian’s Crook out from the center of your forehead. Continue spiralling faster and faster while declaring:

I draw out the Eternal
GA RAHP TA GAKAIOL
(Gah-rahpt-tah-gah-ka-ee-ol),
Beyond all, at the Source of All,
Beyond the First, after the Last,
Nowhere and Yet everywhere,
Here and Now And evermore,
ONTA GA SHALEIO KA
(OH-N-Tah-Hah-Shah-Lay-Yo-Ka)
RAMATA GAH RAH KAA!
(Rah-Mah-Tah Gah-Rah Ka-Ah)

Thee I Invoke, The Ancient One,
As You, as I, Without A Second
GOKAHRAI TAH AGAI
(Goh-Kah-Ray-Tah-Ah-Gah-Ee)
OVAYOTOGAIOL
(Oh-vah Yoh-toh Gah-ee-ool)
RAHGAH PEII RAH TAI!
(Rah-gah Pay-Ee Rah Tah-Ee)

Pull the potent force evoked down towards the ground to complete the Staff portion of Cyprian’s Crook, tracing your wand, dagger or finger down from the forehead over the throat, heart, and solar plexus.

Finish with your hand over your genitals and your finger, Wand, or Dagger pointing to the floor. Exclaim:

Planted am I, the Eternal Root,
Fiery Source, Birth and Destruction,
Mighty am I, Force Beyond Force,
None do breathe except through Me —
GAH RAH TEII AIOL!
(Gah-Rah Tei-ee Ah-Eee-Ol)
Life and Death are naught but coils
In my Ancient Serpent’s Form,
Beyond the Hidden and Revealed
OTA GOH KARAIOL!
(Oh-tah Goh-kah Rah-Ee-Ol)
GOGEI AN PA-AH-IOL!
(Goh-gay An-pah Ah-Ee-Ol)
As That Alone which Is declares,
So must yet it be:
__________________ (Call out petition / desired magical outcome)!
KAH GEI RATEI GAIOL,
(Kah-Gay Rah-tay Gah-Ee-Ol)
OMEI GATEI ALEI PHA,
(Oh-may Gah-tay Al-Ay-Pha)
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!”

Cross the arms over the chest like the resurrected Osiris and abide in that position for some time, monitoring the sensations that result, certain that what has been declared will come to pass.

Novena of Saint Cyprian 2018 Day 6: Invocation of Archangel Cassiel

By Frater S.C.F.V.

On this Sixth Day of my 2018 Novena to Saint Cyprian of Antioch, September 22, 2018, I arose and performed a ritual bath and ecstatic worship. I went to the store to purchase wine and spring water to serve as Offerings to Saint Cyprian. My stomach ached slightly from my fast for all of the day until the Ritual, which was interrupted only by the drinking of water and the eating of a single apple.

In the Day and Hour of Saturn, after a ritual bath and worship, I entered the Temple. I took up my Solomonic bell, sounded it three times before entering the Circle as per the Hygromanteia and then again thrice to each of the Quarters, greeting the Spirits of the East, South, West, and North with great love, respect, and  blessings of Adonai. I proceeded to give Offerings to God and to Saint Cyprian and began to pray and recite Psalms while holding my Solomonic Wand of Art. On this Saturday, Cyprian’s Day, I gave Cyprian Offerings of fresh Spring Water, Sage Incense, and Wafers consecrated in the Neophyte Ceremony of the Golden Dawn as last performed by our G.D. Order.

I dressed two candles as Offerings, one with Cyprian Oil, sage, cinnamon, and all-spice for Cyprian and one with sage, cumin, and Solomonic Holy Oil for Cassiel. I prayed over them to exorcise and consecrate them with their intended Powers. I then put on my Ring of Saturn, which contains lead and a strong black stone, given to me as a gift by my friend Sarah Wreck, making a prayer as I did so. I used the prayer from the Heptameron to ask for God’s help in calling Spirits and proceeded to a formal Invocation of Archangel Cassiel, Angel of the Day of  Saturn and of Saturn.

After prolonged additional conjurations and vibrating of Cassiel’s name while gazing into the crystal with Cassiel’s candle burning behind it–pyrocrystallomancy, as shown to me by Archangel Raphael–I felt the Angel’s presence as his fixed candle, Offered unto him, flared up behind the Crystal. Feeling his presence, which was stern, heavy, grim, and no-nonsense, I offered him Frankincense, noted by Agrippa as sacred to Saturn as an additional offering.

Cassiel remains the most stern, severe, and no-nonsense Archangel with whom I have ever worked, even more so than Samael in my experience. He is direct, cuts right to the chase, and when he speaks, his replies come fast and immediate. At least in his communications with me, he also tends to speak in a more formal, antiquated style, which I also use to sympathetically connect with him. Upon appearing in the Circle, he immediately spoke unto my mind:

“Wherefore hast thou called me?”

I respectfully explained my intent, to offer him gifts of love, devotion, and friendship in this consecrated and blessed Candle and Incense of Art and to learn from him whatever wisdom he would impart to me concerning his role, Office, and the things under his power.

When asked what was his role and Office, Cassiel spoke these words into my mind as I gazed entranced into the Crystal, while Cassiel’s flame flickered behind it and dark, Saturnian ritual music played in the background:

“Mine is the Office of binding and the imposition of barriers and limits without which, no structure can emerge and there can be no order. Mine is the overseeing of Time and temporality, of arising, abiding, and subsiding. Mine is the constriction of pure force into bounded form, that all things may be accomplished in apparent finitude and time.”

When asked for the wisdom behind his powers of binding and constricting, Cassiel replied:

“Binding and barriers need not be but forms of imprisonment and holding back of freedom, as thou humans assume. Binding and barriers are freedom in action. Without limits on the shape of a thing, there can be no shape. Without shape, there can be no action taken by that shape. All of the multitudes of forms in nature depend on binding and barriers for their operations. Finitude is but apparent; everything apparently finite is simply the Divine Infinite constrained by its own Power to enable the freedom of its manifestation.

Nor do binding, barriers, and constrictions imply separation. All is the Divine appearing in, as, and to itself. No apparent form is separate in reality from any other, only in relative functioning in time and in appearance. Whosoever realizes this knows the Face of God is everywhere, within and without, not merely beyond apparent form, but in, as, and within it.”

When asked what attitude this wisdom should give rise to in us, Cassiel replied:

“Right discernment. Discern one type of apparent form from the next; note their discrete qualities, which could not arise if not for the Powers of binding and barriers, of constrictions of form upon which all structure and Order depends. At the same time, discern the Ultimate; nothing apparent, nothing formed, nothing shaped, nothing seemingly cut-off is so in its Absolute nature. All of the relative forms are none other than the Absolute. God hides in plain sight.

Those who know this will understand, and understanding, live in the light of that wisdom. In this way, they will not fall for the delusions of the world, that death is the end or shape limits the infinite. Only the unlimited can appear to be limited, and only so that anything can appear at all. Creation depends on constriction, not Ultimately, but in relative appearance. This is the Mystery of Divine creation itself.”

I was amazed by the rapidity, clarity, and immediacy with which Cassiel communicated, perhaps unsurprising for the Archangelic Master of Time, but surprising for me, who had was so accustomed to the slower, gentler ways of speaking of other Spirits.

I asked Cassiel if he could give me a vision to explain further how “creation depends on constriction.” Immediately, as with his prior replies, Cassiel spoke into my mind as I gazed into the Crystal, “close thy eyes and it is done.”

My eyes fell heavily closed, slowly and smoothly as my spine straightened up, erect. Before I knew it, I no longer looked at the black space of closed eyelids. Instead, I saw a great Angel clothed in black, darkly powerful, flying over a landscape that was tremoring and shaking, a land of rock and desert. His face shone so bright over his black robed figure that it could not be seen, blinding golden light…

“Behold how formation requires constriction. As the Earth shakes, form tenses, collapses, and falls apart. Heat agitates the structures of form and they shake apart. In this potentiality and chaos, binding and barriers can constrain new forms into being.”

As he said this, an earthquake shook the land, which split open. Bright lava could be seen below. As tectonic plates smashed together, a mountain began to take form.

“Smashing together, seems apparent violence… but is in truth creative force. Constrained and pressured, the mountain takes form as stone is bound not to flow some ways and permitted only to flow others. So it is that binding produces order through constellating chaos. So it is for all creation, for all arising of all phenomena. Imposed limitation enables the freedom of form appearing and functioning. This is the foundation of the World.”

The scene shifted to a plant growing from a sprout into a beautiful mature form.

“For leaves to appear, for stems and cells, there must be boundaries and forces constraining the tissues. The limitation enables the freedom. So it is with thou human beings, which are the Divine Infinite constrained through binding and Time into relative discrete appearance.”

The vision abruptly cut off and I felt my Astral form slammed back into my body with great severity. My eyes opened and I was back in my Temple.

After asking Cassiel to let his power move through me, correcting any apparent limitations that did not serve or were dysfunctional, he did immediately. Holding the Solomonic Holy Oil-anointed Crook of Saint Cyprian and pressing it to my forehead, I felt a flood of heavy, constraining energy flood through my Sphere of Sensation. My eyes fell closed again and I behind my closed eyelids, I saw images of forms breaking apart and new ones taking their place, of subtle shifts and felt changes unfolding that I did not understand…

When it ended, my eyes opened and returned to the Crystal ball. My head felt like it was spinning from the rapid flow of all of this information that Cassiel had shared and thus, I thought it perhaps best to move the Invocation to its conclusion. Thanking Cassiel with great sincerity for being so forthcoming and helpful, I asked if he had any final wisdom to reveal before bringing our time together to a close.

“See not forms as separate; they are not. The Infinite can but take form through apparent boundaries and constriction. See not discipline as blocking freedom; it does not. Discipline is freedom in action and the enabler of freedom. The lack of discipline is not freedom, it is chaos. Image the Ordering Power of the Creator; live in discipline that thou mayst be freer still.

Whatever thou lookest upon, know it as Thy Divine Self hiding in finitude, the unlimited appearing through limitation, the unbound appearing through seeming binding, the unarisen disciplining itself into arising, the Eternal appearing as Time. In this way, all dualities will be cut off, and both poles negated, nonduality itself will collapse. What remains is the Ultimate as it is, and thou art That. There is nothing else. Indeed, all that apparently is, is but the Unformed playing itself into form.”

With great humility and gratitude, I thanked the great Archangel for these potent revelations and invited him to take his leave if he wished or stay and pray with me. I thanked him and asked him I could share what he had shared with me with others to correct misconceptions and for the greater Good of freedom for all through discipline. I asked that he move the stream of smoke from his incense to the left if he agreed, and so it moved, immediately. I then asked him if he would kindly return again to work with and teach me if it pleased him and God, and received an affirmative answer as well.

I then said a final battery of prayers, and asked for Saint Cyprian’s help in one final task: creating Cyprianic Holy Oil. I did this by taking a base of olive oil and adding to it cinnamon essential oil, the herbs, soil, spices, and other curio from the Lucky Mojo Curio Company’s Saint Cyprian Oil, some of this same oil, and some of another San Cipriano Holy Oil imported via a local botanica to which I had been led by Saint Cyprian at an earlier date. I prayed for the good Saint to charge it and shortly thereafter, the Crucifix hanging from the rosary wrapped around his statue began to slowly wave from side to side.

Moved by a flood of inspiration, before I ended the ritual and closed the Temple with prayers, I felt moved to perform a powerful and ancient ritual… the Stele of Jeu or Rite of the Headless One from Greek Magical Papyri V. 96-172. What followed was one of the most powerful magical experiences of my life.

But that, shall is a matter for another post.

The Hidden Key of Reverential Awe: Unlocking the Secrets of the “Fear of God” in the Grimoires

By Frater S.C.F.V.

The Key of Solomon opens with these striking words in Book I, Chapter I:

“SOLOMON, the Son of David, King of Israel, hath said that the beginning of our Key is to fear God, to adore Him, to honour Him with contrition of heart, to invoke Him 1 in all matters which we wish to undertake, and to operate with very great devotion, for thus God will lead us in the right way.

When, therefore, thou shalt wish to acquire the knowledge of Magical Arts and Sciences, it is necessary to have prepared the order of hours and of days, and of the position of the Moon, without the operation of which thou canst effect nothing; but if thou observest them with diligence thou mayest easily and thoroughly arrive at the effect and end which thou desirest to attain” (Peterson, 2004).

When contemporary Magicians hear the phrase “fear of God,” they tend to immediately assume that the Key is praising something like a state of terror, or what the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard called the state of “fear and trembling.”

Naturally, since fear is often considered to be an unpleasant, painful, or negative state, students of the Hidden Knowledge may be dissuaded by this phrase in the grimoires and may want to skip over it, disregard it as ‘outmoded’ or ‘negative,’ and intentionally decide not to put this instruction into practice.

Lest we mistake a nugget of gold for a piece of coal, however, it is worth carefully considering whether the grimoires actually are encouraging us to cultivate a disempowering state of terror here, which certainly would be negative if it were the case. What, if, on the contrary, the grimoiric writers have something very different in mind?

Thankfully, the state of debilitating fear does not seem to be what the grimoire writers mean by the phrase “fear of God.” Instead, they are using the word “fear” in an archaic sense that is different from how we use the word today. Properly-translated, the “fear of God” of the grimoire writers is a state far more profound than mere terror, a state that the ever-erudite Aaron Leitch aptly describes as a state of “reverential awe.” And, as we will attempt to show in this article, it is a state which holds the key to unlocking ever deeper regions of our magic, our life, and our psychological and spiritual experience.

When we are in a state of terror, we may indeed feel reverential awe for the power of whatever we are afraid of to overwhelm or harm us. True terror implicitly carries respect within it, for who among us fears what we do not respect enough to take seriously?

However, there are other states of reverential awe that do not involve terror as such. A prime and powerful example of such an alternative state is love. When a lover he holds and is enraptured by the vision of their beloved, they experience a state of ‘reverential awe,’ or loving wonder, which is undeniably pleasant, even blissful.

Thus, both fear and love can be states of reverential awe, and each implies a state of humility towards the beloved or the sublimely respected. This humility in the face of something vast and powerful is central to the grimoiric understanding of reverential awe.

The stark reality is that if we overlook, dismiss, or disregard the process of cultivating a state of reverential awe in our magical practice, then we deprive ourselves of one of the most powerful keys to unlocking the mysteries of Renaissance and classical magic. Conversely, by cultivating this state, we plug our magical workings deep into a root reservoir of magical power that stems all the way back to the shamanic roots of grimoiric magic, as Aaron Leitch (2009) lucidly describes in his Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, and which Agrippa (2000) similarly describes in his section on “phrensies” or ecstatic states.

Indeed, reverential awe–the ‘fear of God’ of the grimoires–is a kind of ecstatic state, that elevates the Magician into a charged condition of fully-present, fully-alert consciousness and open receptivity to the wondrous influence of higher powers.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

Reverential awe is no small thing, no mere state among other human states and equal to all others. As the great German writer Goethe points out, of all of the emotional and phenomenological states of which we are capable,

“the highest a man can attain is wonder, and when the primordial phenomenon makes him wonder he should be content; it can give him nothing higher, and he should not look for anything beyond it — here is the boundary” (Eckermann, 2011).

Indeed, beyond the Christian mystical experience, reverential awe is central to the experience of both profound Zen meditation and also in bhakti yogic samadhi states. In both experiences, one finds oneself ‘falling open’ into silent absorption that transcends the subjective experience of finite selfhood.

What’s more, as alluded to above, Agrippa’s (2000) “phrenzy of Venus” is also a state of “reverential awe,” while being a state of intimate immersion of an ecstasy of love that is far removed from ‘terror’ and more akin to a deeply-charged, blissful trust or surrender. Furthermore, even Kirkegaard’s aforementioned “fear and trembling” state of reverential awe can itself be seen as simply another modality of the Sufi and Mystical Christian’s loving absorption form of reverential awe.

Strikingly, the magical significance of reverential awe does not stop here. According to the Renaissance angelological lore that underlies the historical background of the grimoires, the Angelic beings with whom Magicians aims to perform Operations exist in a state of perpetual reverential awe of the Divine. As a result, when we enter this mode of consciousness, we find ourselves in an emotional and spiritual condition that is magically sympathetic with the ordinary state of the Angels (Agrippa, 2000).

Guitar strings vibrating in harmony, a metaphor for the sympathetic resonance that exists between the Magician and higher entities such as Angels when we cultivate the state of reverential awe, which the grimoires call the ‘fear of God.’

Thus, while immersed in reverential awe, we are, in effect, phenomenologically and spiritually harmonized or “vibrating in harmony” with the Angels themselves, like mutually-tuned strings on a guitar (Agrippa, 2000). As a result, when we are in such a state, it can be easier to communicate with Angels according to the Agrippan sympathetic theory. This holds true in my own practical experience as well.

Not is this an abstract or far-fetched idea. On the contrary, the logic at play in this grimoiric understanding of the ‘fear of god’ as a magical technology that enables two beings in the same state to better connect with one another also makes intuitive sense based on our everyday mundane experience.

For example, and to continue the musical metaphor, two metalheads often find it easier to connect than a country fan and a metalhead who loathes country from the black recesses of his iron heart.

Similarly, two people who are both experiencing sadness tend to find it easier to ‘sympathize’ with one another. In contrast, someone who is ecstatically joyful may find it difficult to connect with someone who is experiencing a deeply depressed mood and “meet them where they are at.”

Entering a state of reverential awe is much like this; in this state, we endeavour to meet the Divine and Angelic and celestial beings as much as possible “where they are at.” In so doing, it is easier for them as well to manifest and appear to us in a way we can detect.

What’s more, this point can be understood as a special case of a more general philosophical or natural law within the grimoiric worldview. Just as Magicians aim to bring their state of being into a harmonic resonance with that of the Angels through the cultivation of reverential awe, so do they do the same with other grimoiric techniques.

More concretely, if Angels exist in a state of purity, always giving offerings of loving reverential awe and service to God, then if we Magicians purify ourselves, give offerings, and cultivate a state of reverential awe, then we can more easily ‘sympathize with’ them. As a result, in such a state, we can more readily connect and communicate with these Spirits.

This is precisely why, in his Operations, John Dee spent hours working himself into a blissfully loving date through ecstatic prayer before approaching the Table and Crystal with Edward Kelley.

The back of the Shemhamphoras Diagram from the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.

In other grimoiric texts, we find that this point not only recurs, but is applied in different magical contexts with illuminating implications. For example, there is a passage in Joseph H. Peterson’s (2006) edition of the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, which describes the exact same elevation through reverential awe into a state of sympathetic resonance with higher spiritual powers to which we alluded above (Peterson, 2006). The passage in question is located in the text of the “Semiphoras” section of the Books and reads as follows:

“He who desires the influence of the Sun, must not only direct his eyes toward it, but he must elevate his soul-power [italics mine] to the soul-power of the Sun, which is God himself, having previously made himself equal to (that is, in harmony with the nature of God) by fasting, purification and good works, but he must also pray in the name of the intermediary, with fervent love to God, and his fellow-man that he may come to the sun-spirit, so that he may be filled with its light and luster, which he may draw to himself from heaven, and that he may become gifted with heavenly gifts and obtain all the desires of his heart.

As soon as he grasps the higher light and arrives at a state of perfection, being gifted with supernatural intelligence, he will also obtain supernatural might and power. For this reason, without godliness, man will deny his faith in Christ, and will become unacceptable to God, therewith often falling prey to the evil spirits against whom there is no better protection than the fear of the Lord and fervent love to God and man” (Peterson, 2006).

Reverential awe – the ecstasy of the Mystic and the Magician.

A few points are worth noting in this profound passage. First of all, we find that the grimoire recommends Magicians to undertake certain practices that result in elevating their “soul power” to the “soul-power of the Sun, which is God himself.” “Elevating one’s soul power” is another way of saying placing ourselves into a state of sympathetic resonance with the object of one’s devotions or work, in this case the Sun.

Indeed, the Hebrew word “Qadosh” means both “elevated” and “holy.” A holy state in the grimoires, then, is a state of sympathetic resonance achieved through shared qualities. Just as a sad person can sympathize with a sad person or an angry person can sympathize with a wrathful and malevolent spirit, a person in an elevated or holy state can better sympathize with a Spirit in an elevated or holy state, such as an Angel.

Interestingly, this notion is also well-known to Esperitistas, which is why they invest so much time in prayer, purification, and putting themselves in harmony with the “Developed Sporits” from which they aim to learn.

Second, and in this way, the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses suggest that by fasting, praying, doing good works, purifying ourselves with ritual bathing, and cultivating “fear of the Lord and love of God and man” that is, reverential awe, can make us “equal to God.” By “equal to God,” the text doesn’t mean that we miraculously develop omnipotence and omniscience; instead, it means that we enter into “a state that is sympathetically in harmony with the Nature of God” (Peterson, 2006).

This is the optimal state for doing magic with the help of Angels and via the invocation of Divine Names, which is the case for Enochian magic, Key of Solomon work, Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses work, the Abramelin Operation and many other grimoiric texts and approaches.

Similarly, there’s an interesting passage in the 18th century astrologer Ebenezer Sibly’s A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Book 4 which, in a like manner, suggests that the state of reverential awe or “fear of God” is central to the work of the Magician who aims to work with Angels. Sibly (2000) writes:

“All who in this world lived uprightly; and preserved a good conscience, walking in the fear of God, and in the love of divine truths, applying the same to practical use, seem to themselves as men awakened out of sleep, and as having passed from darkness to light, when they first enter upon their second or interior state; for when they think from the light of pure wisdom, and they do all things from the love of goodness; heaven influences their thoughts and affections, and they are in communication with angels” (Sibly, 2000).

This is the same essential idea we find expressed in the Renaissance sources and late Medieval grimoires and the underlying rationale for many of the grimoiric practices. As such, it is worth contemplating deeply, and not being too hastily discarded.

Indeed, reverential awe is not simply invaluable to the work of Magicians who aim to commune with Angels. In many texts, it is also the very same state in which the Exorcist or Conjurer conjures Spirits. In the Heptameron‘s Conjuration of Wednesday, for instance, we read:

“I conjure and call upon you, ye strong and holy angels, good and powerful, in a strong name of fear and praise, Ja, Adonay, Elohim, Saday, Saday, Saday; Eie, Eie, Eie; Asamie, Asamie; and in the name of Adonay, the God of Israel, who hath made the two great lights, and distinguished day from night for the benefit of his creatures; and by the names of all the discerning angels, governing openly in the second house [*Second Heaven] before the great angel, <Tetra> [*Tegra], strong and powerful; and by the name of his star which is Mercury; and by the name of his seal, which is that of a powerful and honoured God; and I call upon thee, Raphael, and by the names above mentioned, thou great angel who presidest over the fourth day: and by the holy name which is written in the front of Aaron, created the most high priest, and by the names of all the angels who are constant in the grace of Christ, and by the name and place of Ammaluim, that you assist me in my labours, &c” (Peterson, 2018).

Correspondingly, this same use of reverential awe in a combined blend of “fear and love” is included in the “Orations to be Said While You Conjure” in the Key of Knowledge transcribed from British Library, Additional Manuscript 36674 by Joseph H. Peterson (1999):

Lord Jesus Christ, the loving Son of God, which dost illuminate the hearts of all men in the world, lighten the darkness of my heart, and kindle the fire of thy most holy love in me. Give me true faith, perfect charity, and virtue, whereby I may learn to fear and love thee and keep thy commandments in all things; that when the Last Day shall come, the Angel of God may peaceably take me, and deliver me from the power of the Devil, that I may enjoy everlasting rest amidst the company of the holy Saints, and sit on thy right hand. Grant this, thou Son of the living God for thy holy name’s sake. Amen” (Peterson, 1999).

Nor is the cultivation of reverential awe only called upon for use in evocation or as a general way of life of sanctity and spiritual uprightness.

Indeed, in his Third Book of Occult Philosophy, Agrippa (2000) recommends cultivating reverential awe as a prerequisite for all forms of divination. He writes:

“Every one therefore that works by lots, must go about it with a mind well disposed, not troubled, nor distracted, and with a strong desire, firm deliberation, and constant intention of knowing that which shall be desired.
Moreover he must, being qualified with purity, chastity, and holiness towards God, and the celestials, with an undoubted hope, firm faith, and sacred orations, invocate them, that he may be made worthy of receiving the divine spirits, and knowing the divine pleasure; for if thou shalt be qualified, they will discover to thee most great secrets by vertue of lots, and thou shalt become a true Prophet, and able to speak truth concerning things past, present, and to come, of which thou shalt be demanded.

Now what we have spoken here concerning lots, is also to be observed in the auguries of all discemings, viz. when with fear, yet with a firm expectation we prefix to our souls for the sake of prophecying some certain works, or require a sign, as Eleasar, Abrahams countryman, & Gideon Judge in Israel are read to have done.”

In short, Agrippa (2000) points us to the importance of cultivating a state of purity, holiness and reverential awe married to “firm faith” so that our nature can be made sympathetically resonant with the “celestials” and “divine spirits” who can help us to conduct the divination of things unknown and hidden (i.e. occult). This, in effect, is an act of placing ourselves into the sympathetic magic equation in the same way that we place corresponding stones, metals, or incenses into a ceremonial ritual with the aim of amplifying the sympathetic power of the Rite.

Therefore, although many of us modern Magicians seem to have forgotten it, Magician are not only a conductor of sympathetic ingredients; we ourselves are such ingredients. And therefore, we must ensure that we work ourselves into the appropriate state of sympathetic harmony–such as reverential awe–that will enable us to maximize the effectiveness of our rituals.

Nor do we only find the grimoires and Early Modern sources enjoining us to cultivate reverential awe through the mouths of human writers; instead, the Spirits also offer similar instructions. For example, in John Dee’s True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits (2003), we find the Archangel Gabriel telling Dee and Kelley that:

“Blessed are those who dwell in charity. Persevere to the end: not negligently, but with good will, which good will, is called fear, which fear is the beginning of wisdom, the first step into rest.”

This is a very interesting passage for several reasons. First, Gabriel links the “fear” or reverential awe of which he speaks to “good will,” or sincerity or being goodhearted and well-intentioned.

Second, the Archangel also links this state to the “beginning of wisdom,” which sincerely Dee sought as the legendary King Solomon had done before him. Reverential awe is the beginning of wisdom, because in this state, we cease to rely on our flawed human opinions and open ourselves to spiritual inspiration. In Dee’s case, this was from the Angels themselves. Agrippa (2000) had a similar idea in mind in the passage quoted above.

Third, it’s also worth noting that Gabriel here links this reverential awe state not only to wisdom, but also to rest; indeed, in its pleasurable form of a loving ecstatic absorption, one can happily rest in abiding well-being.

This was precisely the state that the Advaita Vedanta sage Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973) had in mind when he recommended his devotees to “rest in the pure sense of Being, not being this or that, but simply being.” Resting in the pure sense of being is the same as communing with the Divine, which proclaims Eheieh (I Am). This sublimely subtle form of reverential awe is a peaceful state, as well as a pleasurable one, in which the heart is exalted (made ‘holy’) in Divine Presence and worshipful abiding.

Similarly, the Angels tell Dee and Kelley (2003) that:

“God is He whose wisdom unto the world is foolishness, but unto them that fear Him, an everlasting joy, mixed with gladness, and a comfort of life hereafter, partaking infallible joys, with him that is all comeliness and beauty.”

In this way, this reverential awe before the Divine, this opening of oneself to a surrendered, intensely alive, awe-filled state of openness and humility not only empowers our magic and enriches our life here on Earth, but also affords Paradisiacal benefits in the life hereafter.

Whether one believes in such an afterlife or not, it is certainly the case that this state is indeed conducive to the development of wisdom, rest, and empowered magical work in this life, a claim which is demonstrable through practical testing.

Indeed, if one can attain this state of reverential awe and bring it into daily life, mundane life itself takes on an enchanted feeling of spiritual depth, holy/exalted (qadosh) presence, and gratitude which constitute a kind of “Heaven in the Now” in this life” in their own right.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600).

Indeed, one of the easiest ways to excite this reverential wonder and awe is the contemplation of Beauty, a fact which was well-known to Plato and the Neoplatonists who followed him, such as Plotinus, Porphyry, and Iamblichus.

It was also a familiar insight to the Renaissance Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, occultist, and cosmological theorist Giordano Bruno, who, in his De Gli Eroici Furori or On The Heroic Frenzies (1582), writes:

“He who arrives at some most excellent and most beautifully adorned edifice and considers it in each detail, is pleased, contented, and filled with a noble wonder; but then should it happen that he also see the Lord of these images in his incomparably greater beauty, he would abandon every concern and thought of such images, turn and become completely intent upon the contemplation of that Lord.

Such is the difference between the state in which he see the Divine Beauty in its intelligible aspects which are drawn from the Divine Beauty’s effects, operations, designs, shadows, and similitudes, and that other state in which we might be permitted to see it in its own unique being” (Bruno, 2013).

The Reverence that Reveals: Conclusion

As Bruno (2013) knew well, and in conclusion, the entry into Divine reverence via the contemplation of the Beautiful offers another layer of meaning that lies within the “fear of God” that unlocks the potent inner currents of grimoiric magic. This reverential awe is, at its heart, a noble wonder, a state of Divine communion with Beauty itself. And while, as every adolescent male knows all too well, the sight of profound beauty can excite fear, it can also excite wonder and loving absorption.

In this blissful ecstasy, the longings of the human heart and the noblest human capacities for contemplative wonder and spiritual exaltation are mobilized for the completion of the Magician’s aims. By harnessing the most potent of human powers, in the state of reverential awe, therefore, our grimoiric Magic can itself become the most potent it can be.

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].

Bruno, G. (2013). De Gli Eroici Furori or On the Heroic Frenzies (1582). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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].

Eckermann, J. P. (2011). Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret (Vol. 1). Cambridge University Press.

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

Nisargadatta, S. (1973). I Am That: Conversations with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 2 Vols.(M. Friedman, Trans.). Bombay: Chetana.

Peterson, J. H. (1999). The Key of Knowledge from Additional Manuscript 36674. [online eBook] Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ad36674.htm [Accessed 25 May 2018].

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

Peterson, J. (2018). The Magical Elements or the Heptameron. [online eBook]. Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/heptamer.htm

Peterson, J. (2006). The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. [online eBook]. Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses.htm

Sibly, E. (2000). Ed. by Joseph H. Peterson. A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences. [online eBook]. Esoterica Archives. Available at: http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses.htm

Consecrations of Solomonic Holy Water, Holy Oil, Pens of the Art, and a Lighter of the Art

Date: April 18, 2018

Time:  7:33 – 8:04 A.M.

Sun Phase: The First and Second Hours of Mercury on the Day of Mercury

Moon Phase: Waxing

Planetary Day: Day of Mercury

Planetary Hour: Hour of Jupiter into Hour of Mars

Activities: Consecration of Solomonic Holy Water, Consecration of the Bottle of Art, Consecration of Solomonic Holy Oil, Consecration of Solomonic Pens of the Art, and Consecration of a Solomonic Light of the Art, all following Key of Solomon methodologies

I woke up, did a ritual bathing according to the Sufi ghusl formula, and then exorcised and consecrated Solomonic Holy Water in the first Hour of Mercury on the Day of Mercury before placing it in a consecrated bottle wrapped in consecrated linen, all prepared according to the Key of Solomon’s instructions.

I then finished the Hebrew lettering and Medieval calligraphy on my Solomonic Circle:

In the second Hour of Mercury, in the afternoon, I consecrated Solomonic Holy Oil. My method here is a combination of Frater Asterion’s, Key of Solomon formulae, and ideas from the Heptameron and Book of Raziel:

CONSECRATION OF THE BOTTLE OF THE ART IN WHICH THOU WILT PLACE THE OIL

First, have handy the consecrated Holy Water and Odoriferous Spices (Incense). Take the Bottle of Art to be used and suffumigate it and sprinkle it with Holy Water.

Then say:

I exorcise thee, O Spirit impure and unclean, thou who art a hostile Phantom, in the Name of God, that thou quit this Bottle, thou and all thy deceits, that they may be consecrated and sanctified in the name of God Almighty. May the Holy Spirit of God grant protection and virtue unto those who use this Bottle of Art; and may the hostile and evil Spirit and Phantom never be able to enter therein, through the Ineffable Name of God Almighty. Instead, may the Holy Spirit of Adonai use this Creatures of Bottles to add Divine Potency and Holiness to all that all Creatures of Oil, Water, or other Holy Substances Placed Therein. Amen.

Bless and sprinkle with Water, Oil, and Suffumigate with Incense saying the following conjuration three times:

Hamiel, hel, miel, ciel, joviel, Nasnia, magde Tetragrammaton. O powerful God, grant the prayers of those who invoke you, and bless these small vials prepared in your honor, through all your works. Amen.

***

CONSECRATION OF SOLOMONIC HOLY OIL

Have on hand the consecrated Bottle, Holy Water, and Odoriferous Spices (Incense) as well as a consecrated Silk or Linen in which to wrap the Bottle of consecrated Oil.

Suffumigate the oil, sprinkle holy water on it and say:

I exorcise thee, O Creature of Oil, by Him Who hath created the plants by which thou wast made, that thou doth empower and infuse with the Blessing of the Most High and render Holy and Hallowed all that thou annointeth, and that thou uncover all the deceits of the Enemy, and that thou cast out from thee all the impurities and uncleannesses of the Spirits of the World of Phantasm, so they may harm me not, through the virtue of God Almighty Who liveth and reigneth unto the Ages of the Ages. Amen.

Say the 7 Penitential Psalms: 6, 31, 37, 50, 101, 129, 142:

Psalm 6

O YHVH, do not punish me in your anger     or discipline me in your rage. ² Have pity on me, O YHVH, because I am weak.     Heal me, O YHVH, because my bones shake with terror. ³ My soul has been deeply shaken with terror.     But you, O YHVH, how long . . . ?

⁴ Come back, O YHVH.     Rescue me.     Save me because of your mercy! ⁵ In death, no one remembers you.     In the grave, who praises you?

⁶ I am worn out from my groaning.     My eyes flood my bed every night.     I soak my couch with tears. ⁷ My eyes blur from grief.     They fail because of my enemies.

⁸ Get away from me, all you troublemakers,     because YHVH has heard the sound of my crying. ⁹         YHVH has heard my plea for mercy.         YHVH accepts my prayer. ¹⁰ All my enemies will be put to shame and deeply shaken with terror.     In a moment they will retreat and be put to shame.

Psalm 31

I have taken refuge in you, O YHVH.     Never let me be put to shame.         Save me because of your righteousness. ²         Turn your ear toward me.         Rescue me quickly.         Be a rock of refuge for me,             a strong Metsuda to save me. ³ Indeed, you are my rock and my Metsuda.     For the sake of your name, lead me and guide me. ⁴         You are my refuge,             so pull me out of the net that they have secretly laid for me. ⁵ Into your hands I entrust my spirit.     You have rescued me, O YHVH, El of truth.

⁶ I hate those who cling to false gods, but I trust YHVH. ⁷ I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy.     You have seen my misery.     You have known the troubles in my soul. ⁸ You have not handed me over to the enemy.     You have set my feet in a place where I can move freely.

⁹ Have pity on me, O YHVH, because I am in distress.     My eyes, my soul, and my body waste away from grief. ¹⁰ My life is exhausted from sorrow,     my years from groaning.     My strength staggers under the weight of my guilt,         and my bones waste away. ¹¹ I have become a disgrace because of all my opponents.     I have become someone dreaded by my friends,         even by my neighbors.             Those who see me on the street run away from me. ¹² I have faded from memory as if I were dead     and have become like a piece of broken pottery. ¹³ I have heard the whispering of many people—     terror on every side—         while they made plans together against me.             They were plotting to take my life.

¹⁴ I trust you, O YHVH.     I said, “You are my Elohim.”

¹⁵ My future is in your hands.     Rescue me from my enemies, from those who persecute me. ¹⁶ Smile on me.     Save me with your mercy. ¹⁷ O YHVH, I have called on you, so do not let me be put to shame.     Let wicked people be put to shame.     Let them be silent in the grave. ¹⁸ Let their lying lips be speechless,     since they speak against righteous people with arrogance and contempt.

¹⁹ Your kindness is so great!     You reserve it for those who fear you.         Adam’s descendants watch             as you show it to those who take refuge in you. ²⁰ You hide them in the secret place of your presence     from those who scheme against them.     You keep them in a shelter,         safe from quarrelsome tongues. ²¹ Thank YHVH!     He has shown me the miracle of his mercy         in a city under attack. ²² When I was panic-stricken, I said,     “I have been cut off from your sight.”     But you heard my pleas for mercy when I cried out to you for help. ²³ Love YHVH, all you godly ones!     YHVH protects faithful people,         but he pays back in full those who act arrogantly. ²⁴ Be strong, all who wait with hope for YHVH,     and let your heart be courageous.

Psalm 37

¹ Do not be preoccupied with evildoers.     Do not envy those who do wicked things. ² They will quickly dry up like grass     and wither away like green plants. ³ Trust YHVH, and do good things.     Live in the land, and practice being faithful. ⁴ Be happy with YHVH,     and he will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Entrust your ways to YHVH.     Trust him, and he will act on your behalf. ⁶ He will make your righteousness shine like a light,     your just cause like the noonday sun. ⁷ Surrender yourself to YHVH, and wait patiently for him.     Do not be preoccupied with an evildoer who succeeds in his way         when he carries out his schemes. ⁸ Let go of anger, and leave rage behind.     Do not be preoccupied.         It only leads to evil. ⁹ Evildoers will be cut off from their inheritance,     but those who wait with hope for YHVH will inherit the land.

¹⁰ In a little while a wicked person will vanish.     Then you can carefully examine where he was,         but there will be no trace of him. ¹¹ Oppressed people will inherit the land     and will enjoy unlimited peace. ¹² The wicked person plots against a righteous one     and grits his teeth at him. ¹³ Adonay laughs at him     because he has seen that his time is coming. ¹⁴ Wicked people pull out their swords and bend their bows     to kill oppressed and needy people,     to slaughter those who are decent. ¹⁵ But their own swords will pierce their hearts,     and their bows will be broken. ¹⁶ The little that the righteous person has is better     than the wealth of many wicked people. ¹⁷ The arms of wicked people will be broken,     but YHVH continues to support righteous people. ¹⁸ YHVH knows the daily struggles of innocent people.     Their inheritance will last forever. ¹⁹ They will not be put to shame in trying times.     Even in times of famine they will be satisfied. ²⁰ But wicked people will disappear.     YHVH’s enemies will vanish like the best part of a meadow.     They will vanish like smoke. ²¹ A wicked person borrows, but he does not repay.     A righteous person is generous and giving. ²² Those who are blessed by him will inherit the land.     Those who are cursed by him will be cut off.

²³ A person’s steps are directed by YHVH,     and YHVH delights in his way. ²⁴ When he falls, he will not be thrown down headfirst     because YHVH holds on to his hand. ²⁵ I have been young, and now I am old,     but I have never seen a righteous person abandoned         or his descendants begging for food. ²⁶ He is always generous and lends freely.     His descendants are a blessing. ²⁷ Avoid evil, do good, and live forever. ²⁸ YHVH loves justice,     and he will not abandon his godly ones.     They will be kept safe forever,     but the descendants of wicked people will be cut off. ²⁹ Righteous people will inherit the land     and live there permanently. ³⁰ The mouth of the righteous person reflects on wisdom.     His tongue speaks what is fair. ³¹ The teachings of his Elohim are in his heart.     His feet do not slip. ³² The wicked person watches the righteous person     and seeks to kill him. ³³ But YHVH will not abandon him to the wicked person’s power     or condemn him when he is brought to trial. ³⁴ Wait with hope for YHVH, and follow his path,     and he will honor you by giving you the land.         When wicked people are cut off, you will see it.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked person acting like a tyrant,     spreading himself out like a large cedar tree. ³⁶ But he moved on, and now there is no trace of him.     I searched for him, but he could not be found. ³⁷ Notice the innocent person,     and look at the decent person,         because the peacemaker has a future. ³⁸ But rebels will be completely destroyed.     The future of wicked people will be cut off. ³⁹ The victory for righteous people comes from YHVH.     He is their fortress in times of trouble. ⁴⁰ YHVH helps them and rescues them.     He rescues them from wicked people.     He saves them because they have taken refuge in him.

Psalm 50

YHVH, the only true El, has spoken.     He has summoned the earth         from where the sun rises to where it sets. ² Elohim shines from Zion,     the perfection of beauty. ³ Our Elohim will come and will not remain silent.     A devouring fire is in front of him         and a raging storm around him. ⁴ He summons heaven and earth to judge his people: ⁵ “Gather around me, my godly people     who have made a pledge to me through sacrifices.”

⁶ The heavens announce his righteousness     because Elohim is the Shophet. Selah

⁷ “Listen, my people, and I will speak.     Listen, Israel, and I will testify against you:     I am Elohim, your Elohim! ⁸ I am not criticizing you for your sacrifices or burnt offerings,     which are always in front of me. ⁹ But I will not accept another young bull from your household     or a single male goat from your pens. ¹⁰ Every creature in the forest,     even the cattle on a thousand hills, is mine. ¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains.     Everything that moves in the fields is mine. ¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you,     because the world and all that it contains are mine. ¹³ Do I eat the meat of bulls or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴ Bring your thanks to Elohim as a sacrifice,     and keep your vows to Elyon. ¹⁵ Call on me in times of trouble.     I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”

¹⁶ But Elohim says to wicked people,     “How dare you quote my decrees         and mouth my promises!¹⁷ You hate discipline.     You toss my words behind you. ¹⁸ When you see a thief, you want to make friends with him.     You keep company with people who commit adultery. ¹⁹ You let your mouth say anything evil.     Your tongue plans deceit. ²⁰ You sit and talk against your own brother.     You slander your own mother’s son. ²¹ When you did these things, I remained silent.     That made you think I was like you.         I will argue my point with you             and lay it all out for you to see. ²² Consider this, you people who forget Eloah.     Otherwise, I will tear you to pieces,         and there will be no one left to rescue you. ²³ Whoever offers thanks as a sacrifice honors me.     I will let everyone who continues in my way         see the salvation that comes from Elohim.”

Psalm 101

¹ I will sing about mercy and justice.     O YHVH, I will make music to praise you. ² I want to understand the path to integrity.     When will you come to me?

I will live in my own home with integrity. ³ I will not put anything wicked in front of my eyes.     I hate what unfaithful people do.     I want no part of it. ⁴ I will keep far away from devious minds.     I will have nothing to do with evil. ⁵ I will destroy anyone who secretly slanders his neighbor.     I will not tolerate anyone with a conceited look or arrogant heart. ⁶ My eyes will be watching the faithful people in the land     so that they may live with me.         The person who lives with integrity will serve me.

⁷ The one who does deceitful things will not stay in my home.     The one who tells lies will not remain in my presence.

⁸ Every morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land     to rid YHVH’s city of all troublemakers.

Psalm 129

“From the time I was young, people have attacked me . . .”    (Israel should repeat this.)² “From the time I was young, people have attacked me,     but they have never overpowered me. ³         They have plowed my back like farmers plow fields.         They made long slashes like furrows.” ⁴ YHVH is righteous.     He has cut me loose         from the ropes that wicked people tied around me. ⁵ Put to shame all those who hate Zion.     Force them to retreat. ⁶ Make them be like grass on a roof,     like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk. ⁷         It will never fill the barns of those who harvest             or the arms of those who gather bundles. ⁸ Those who pass by will never say to them,     “May you be blessed by YHVH”     or “We bless you in the name of YHVH.”

Psalm 142

Loudly, I cry to YHVH.     Loudly, I plead with YHVH for mercy. ² I pour out my complaints in his presence     and tell him my troubles. ³         When I begin to lose hope,             you already know what I am experiencing.

My enemies have hidden a trap for me on the path where I walk. ⁴ Look to my right and see that no one notices me.     Escape is impossible for me.         No one cares about me.

⁵ I call out to you, O YHVH.     I say, “You are my Machseh,     my own inheritance in this world of the living.” ⁶ Pay attention to my cry for help     because I am very weak.     Rescue me from those who pursue me     because they are too strong for me. ⁷ Release my soul from prison     so that I may give thanks to your name.         Righteous people will surround me             because you are good to me.

Kindle the coal or light some consecrated Frankincense. Take the Book, or printed text, in the left hand and the vessel or bottle of Oil in the right, and hold it in the smoke of the Incense, saying the following conjuration 3 times:

O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, put thy blessing upon this creature of oil, that it may fill up the power and virtue of its substance, so that neither the enemy, nor any false imagination may be able to enter it, and grant it the power of seeing the spirits of heaven, earth and hell once I anoint mine eyes with it and to hear and understand them once I anoint mine temples with it, in thy great name Adonai Tetragrammaton and through the power of our Lord! May whatsoever it anoints be made Holy and empowered with Thy Blessing! Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Amen.

It is done.

***

Thereafter, I consecrated the Pens of the Art (permanent markers and chalk markers in this case), which I will use for drawing sigils and characters according to the following take on the Key of Solomon’s instructions for the Ink:

CONSECRATION OF THE PENS OR MARKERS OF THE ART

Light Incense of Art. Sprinkle the markers with Holy Water, anoint with Holy Oil, suffumigate with the Incense and say:

I exorcise thee, O Creature of Ink, by ANAIRETON, by SIMULATOR, and by the Name ADONAI, and by the Name of Him through Whom all things were made, that thou be unto me an aid and succor in all things which I wish to perform by thine aid.

Pray the following 3 times:

ADRAI, HAHLII, TAMAII, TILONAS, ATHAMAS, ZIANOR, ADONAI, banish from these pens all deceit and error, so that it may be of virtue and efficacy to write all that I desire. Amen.

Cense with the Incense and say:

ASOPHIEL, ASOPHIEL, ASOPHIEL, PENTAGRAMMATON, ATHANATOS, EHEIEH ASHER EHEIEH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH; O God Eternal, and my Father, bless this Instrument prepared in Thine honour, so that it may only serve for a good use and end, for Thy Glory. Through thy power, let whatever operations in which it is used come to fruition and great success, for the Power and Glory are yours alone, now and forever. Amen.

***

I also consecrated my own invention, the Lighter of the Art. As this post is getting rather long, I will save that method for a future post.

Continue to the Consecration Ritual for a Solomonic Lighter of the Art for that post.

Consecration of Solomonic Bottles and Burins

Date: April 13, 2018
Time:  3:58 – 4:28 P.M.
Sun Phase: Setting
Moon Phase: Moon in 25 degrees Pisces in the Lunar Mansion of Batn al-Hut, appropriately enough, the Fish
Planetary Day: Day of Venus
Planetary Hour: Hour of Mercury
Activities: Solomonic Exorcisms and Consecrations of Bottles for Holy Water and Holy Oil and Solomonic Burins of Art

For my Burin consecration approach, I drew on both the Key of Solomon and British Library, Lansdowne Manuscript 1203. 74 folios. 4 of the Veritable Clavicles of Solomon.

In the Hour of Mercury, I set up the Altar in the Solomonic Consecration Circle with candles, consecrated Myrrh incense, a container of Salt and Quartz, two Burins, consecrated candles, Solomonic Holy Water, and a consecrated Marker of Art.

For my Bottle consecration methodology, I drew on both the Key of Solomon and British Library, Lansdowne Manuscript 1203. 74 folios. 4 of the Veritable Clavicles of Solomon.  Accordingly, I exorcised and blessed the Bottles for Holy Oil and Holy Water with suffumigations and sprinklings, saying:

I exorcise thee, O Spirit impure and unclean, thou who art a hostile Phantom, in the Name of God, that thou quit these Bottles, thou and all thy deceits, that they may be consecrated and sanctified in the name of God Almighty.

May the Holy Spirit of God grant protection and virtue unto those who use these Bottles; and may the hostile and evil Spirit and Phantom never be able to enter therein, through the Ineffable Name of God Almighty.

Instead, may the Holy Spirit of Adonai use these Creatures of Bottles to add Divine Potency and Holiness to all that all Creatures of Oil, Water, or other Holy Substances Placed Therein. Amen.

I then blessed and sprinkled with Water, Oil, and Suffumigated with Holy Incense saying:

Hamiel, hel, miel, ciel, joviel, Nasnia, magde Tetragrammaton.

O powerful God, grant the prayers of those who invoke you, and bless these small vials prepared in your honor, through all your works. Amen.

Then I crafted the Solomonic Burins, for use in engraving Pentacles as per the Key of Solomon. Different manuscripts differ in when the symbols on the Solomonic Burin are to be inscribed. As Joseph H. Peterson points out, Key of Solomon Manuscripts Ad. 10862, but Aub24, Mich276, L1202, K288, and Ad. 36674 all say to do it in the Day and Hour of Venus. Key of Solomon Manuscript Sl3091 says to do it in the Hour of Mercury. To integrate the two, I did it in the Hour of Mercury on the Day of Venus.

As the Key of Solomon text says, “the Burin is useful for engraving or incising characters.” In the Day and Hour either of Mars or of Venus thou shalt engrave thereon the characters shown,

and having sprinkled [with Holy Water] and censed it [with consecrated Incense] thou shalt repeat over it the following Prayer three times:–

PRAYER.

ASOPHIEL, ASOPHIEL, ASOPHIEL, PENTAGRAMMATON, ATHANATOS, EHEIEH ASHER EHEIEH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH; O God Eternal, and my Father, bless this Instrument prepared in Thine honour, so that it may only serve for a good use and end, for Thy Glory. Amen.

Then pray:

I conjure thee, O Creature of Burin, by God the Father almighty, by the virtue of the heavens, of the stars, and of the angels who preside over them; by the virtue of stones, herbs, and animals; by the virtue of hail, snow, and wind; that thou receivest such virtue that thou mayest obtain without deceit the end which I desire in all things where I shall use thee; through God the creator of the ages, and emperor of the angels. Amen.

Having again perfumed with consecrated incense, oil, and Holy Water, thou shalt wrap it in cloth, and pray:

DANI, LUMECH, AGALMATUROD, GEDIEL, PANI, CANELOAS, MEROD, LAMIDOC, BALDOC, ANERETON, METRATON, TUANCIA, COMPENDON, LAMEDON, CEDRION, ON, MYTRION, ANTON, SYON, SPISSON, LUPRATON, GION, GIMON, GERSON, AGLA, AGLAY, AGLAOD, AGLADIAMERON, Angels most holy, be present for a guard unto this instrument. Amen.

Having completed these Rites, I wrapped the consecrated implements in white Silk and closed the Temple. I felt very peaceful and light by the end of the work. It is beautiful to see all of these preparations slowly coming together for my more involved Solomonic work to come. The Solomonic approach is very attentive, thorough, and prolonged. Every step is to be taken in a spirit of faith and sincerity. Done in this way, each of these Rites becomes its own meditation and the result is a very contemplative and fulfilling experience.