2018: A Magical Year in Review

By Frater S.C.F.V.

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

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

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

Major Life Events in 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magical Achievements in 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Strange Phenomena and Poltergeist Activity in 2018

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

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

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

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

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Balinese spirit offering photographed by Teri Genovese.

Introduction

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

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

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

Offerings to Archangel Michael by Fr. Aaron Leitch.

Offerings to Archangels in Historical and Magical Theoretical Context

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Respecting Preferences and Incorporating Sympathetic Correspondences

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

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

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

A Concrete Example of Offerings in Practice

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

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

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

Photographs and Sharing Spirits’ Accomplishments as Offerings

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

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

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

Actions as Offerings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Four Underlying Principles of Offerings

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

Frater S.C.F.V on the Glitch Bottle Podcast

Glitch Bottle #033 – Solomonic Bells, Wands & Consecrations (Oh My!) with Frater S.C.F.V.

By Frater S.C.F.V

I recently had the great pleasure and honour of appearing on Alexander Eth’s fantastic Glitch Bottle podcast.  We discussed my own multitraditional spiritual background, Solomonic grimoires, Dr. Stephen Skinner’s interesting typology of magic, Mystery, and religion, Wand traditions, Bells and Trumpets of Art, Circles, binding, Consecration by Mass, scrying, cryptoconsecratio, Angelic invocation, and a host of other fascinating topics of magical theory and practice. Please feel free to share any comments or questions you may have. Thank you!

In LVX,
Frater S.C.F.V.

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.

Akephalos: The Staggering Power of the Stele of Jeu or the Rite of the Headless One

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Introduction: Apotheosis, Theo-Identification and Graeco-Egyptian Magic

After a powerful Invocation of Cassiel, Archangel of Saturn and Angel of Saturday from the Heptameron on the Day and Hour of Saturn during Day 6 of a Novena, I recently felt moved to perform a powerful and ancient Rite.

The Stele of Jeu or Rite of the Headless One occurs in the Greek Magical Papyri or Papyri Graecae Magicae V. 96-172. As Dee Rapposelli (2016) points out,

The Greek Magical Papyri are a compilation of highly syncretic texts that date from the 2 century BCE to 5 century CE of Hellenistic Egypt. They are Graeco-Egyptian magical spells and are loaded with Egyptian, Greek, Gnostic, Orphic, and Hebrew [Divine Names]—sometimes all in the same [papyrus.]

The Rite has classically been understood as a powerful ritual of exorcism, for it contains repeated references to subjugating all daimons that may be adversely influencing one’s life (e.g. “deliver me from all restraining daimons and misfortune“).

The manner in which it does this goes far beyond any ordinary exorcism, however. After first identifying with Moses and “the messenger of Pharaoh Osoronnophris,” the Magician completely casts his or her earthly human identity into the great Void of the Eternal and primordial to temporarily abide as no less than the Supreme “One, who created earth and heaven, who created night and day, who created the Light and the Darkness.”

As such, the Stele of Jeu can additionally be seen through another lens, not only as a rite of exorcism, but also as a rite of Theurgy and mystical identification with the Godhead. Indeed, my yogic teachers might describe it as a way of realizing and abiding as Brahman, the ultimate reality that appears both as and beyond all things.

This is no small feat in itself, but the Headless Rite is even more than this. It is a Graeco-Egyptian hybrid of invocation and evocation conducted simultaneously. As Rachel Isabella (2003) explains:

To evoke a spirit is to call it/her/him to one’s immediate vicinity. To invoke a spirit is to call it/her/him into oneself. This Rite does both at once. It’s customary upon completion of the Rite, with the invoked power still humming in you, to state a specific intent or prayer in the voice of the God.

The result of this total identification with the Godhead is intense to say the least. It can feel disorienting, possessing, transformative, and moving beyond explication and articulation. It is nothing short of a mystico-magical Apotheosis, as Leonardo of Voces Magicae (2015) explains:

Invocations such as the Stele of Jeu (PGM V. 96-172) and the Invocation of Typhon from PGM IV. 154-285 reach a magical crescendo when the ritualist self-identifies with the target of the invocation and speaks as that Deity.

This ritual apotheosis heralds the moment at which the practitioner wields the necessary authority to manifest their desire – whether to call forth a spirit to appear or to successfully cast a spell.

This method is, of course, very reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian spells from the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, which involve the priest assuming the identity of a god and speaking and acting magically within the power of the assumed Divinity. It is ancient magic par-excellence with syncretic Hellenistic, Gnostic, and Jewish twists. And it is powerful indeed.

The Experience of the Stele of Jeu

On this particular occasion, I performed thr version of the Stele found in Dr. Maleficarus Strangefellow’s Prayer Book of the Order of Saint Cyprian of Antioch (OSC), Cyprian Orisons (2017).

Standing in the Circle, with Offerings of Candles and Incense burning before me, clad in my robe and Stole and wearing a golden Crown, I held my Wand and began the ritual.

As I began the ritual, I immediately felt myself hooked into its ancient Graeco-Egyptian current of power. Wearing my Saturn ring, I loudly proclaimed the assertive words of the text’s opening, which, in English translation, read:

Subject to me all daimons, so that every daimon, whether heavenly or aerial or earthly or subterranean or terrestrial or aquatic, might be obedient to me and every enchantment and scourge which is from God.

I summon you, Headless One, who created earth and heaven, who created night and day, you who created the Light and the Darkness; you are Osoronnophris whom none has ever seen; you are Iabas; you are Iapos; you have distinguished the just from the unjust; you have made female and male; you have revealed seed and fruits; you have made men love each other and hate each other.

The evocatory formula within the ritual is perhaps most evident here, but already the power of this potent Being as Source of all begins to be laid clear.

After this point, the Ritualist self-identifies first as Moses then as a Messenger of Osiris, declaring:

I am Moses your prophet to whom you have transmitted your mysteries celebrated by Israel; you have revealed the moist and the dry and all nourishment; hear me.

I am the messenger of Pharaoh Osoronnophris; this is your true name which has been transmitted to the prophets of Israel. Hear me, ARBATHIAŌ REIBET ATHELEBERSĒTH ARA BLATHA ALBEU EBENPHCHI CHITASGOĒ IBAŌTH IA; subject to me all daimons, so that every daimon, whether heavenly or aerial or earthly or subterranean or terrestrial or aquatic, might be obedient to me and every enchantment and scourge which is from God.

Thereafter, the text shifts into an Invocatory mode. As I bellowed these words, I felt the boundaries of my body begin to feel less and less distinct, as a potent and ancient force seemed to wash over me like warm and invigourating water…

I call upon you, awesome and invisible god with an empty spirit, AROGOGOROBRAŌ SOCHOU MODORIŌ PHALARCHAŌ OOO. Holy Headless One, deliver me from all restraining daimons and misfortune, ROUBRIAŌ MARI ŌDAM BAABNABAŌTH ASS ADŌNAI APHNIAŌ ITHŌLETH ABRASAX AĒŌŌY; mighty Headless One, deliver me from all restraining daimons and misfortune. MABARRAIŌ IOĒL KOTHA ATHORĒBALŌ ABRAŌTH, deliver me from all restraining daimons and misfortune, AŌTH ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ.

He is the Lord of the gods; he is the Lord of the Inhabited World; he is the one whom the winds fear; he is the one who made all things by command of his voice.

Lord, King, Master, Helper, I call upon you, IEOU PYR IOU IAŌT IAĒŌ IOOU ABRASAX SABRIAM OO YY EY OO YY ADŌNAIE, immediately, immediately, good messenger of God ANLALA LAI GAIA APA DIACHANNA CHORYN.

Thereafter, the strangest thing began to happen: my voice shifted. It grew deeper, raspier, and sounded both intimate and foreign at once. This shift continued to grow stronger and stronger through the words that followed…

I am the Headless Daimon with sight in my feet; I am the mighty one who possesses the immortal fire; I am the truth who hates the fact that unjust deeds are done in the world; I am the one who makes the lightning flash and the thunder roll; I am the one whose sweat falls upon the earth as rain so that life can begin; I am the one whose mouth burns completely; I am the one who begets and destroys; I am the Favor of the Aion; my name is a Heart Encircled by a Serpent; Come Forth and Follow.

Neither the hosts of demigods nor the great sages know My origin, for, in every respect, I am the source of the demigods and the sages. He who knows Me as the unborn, as the beginningless, as the Supreme Lord of all the worlds-he, undeluded among men, is freed from all sins.

Intelligence, knowledge, freedom from doubt and delusion, forgiveness, truthfulness, self-control and calmness, pleasure and pain, birth, death, fear, fearlessness, nonviolence, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame and infamy are created by Me alone.

As these words were spoken forth, my perspective seemed to become less and less “my” perspective… “I” became That which saw the Magician “Adam” standing in his Temple speaking the words; the sense of being shifted from the relative human stance to the primordial Absolute, back and forth, back and forth…

The seven great sages and before them the four other great sages and the progenitors of mankind are born out of My mind, and all creatures in these planets descend from them.

He who knows in truth this glory and power of Mine engages in unalloyed devotional service; of this there is no doubt.

I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are surrendered to Me, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

To those who are constantly devoted and worship Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.

Out of compassion for them, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.

I am the Self, seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.

More and more, a frenzy of energy began to whirl through the room, and the Ancient Presence began to shake and tremble the body as my raspy, deepened, and strangely transformed voice proclaimed the words of the Rite at an increasingly fast pace, whipping into an ecstatic stream of syllables…

Of all creations I am the beginning and the end and also the middle. Of all sciences I am the spiritual science of the Self, and among logicians I am the conclusive truth.

I am all-devouring death, and I am the generator of all things yet to be. I am also the gambling of cheats, and of the splendid I am the splendor. I am victory, I am adventure, and I am the strength of the strong.

Among punishments I am the rod of chastisement, and of those who seek victory, I am morality. Of secret things I am silence, and of the wise I am wisdom.

Furthermore, I am the generating seed of all existences. There is no being-moving or unmoving-that can exist without Me. Know that all beautiful, glorious, and mighty creations spring from but a spark of My splendor. With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.

Thus completing the Rite, the ritual text fell from my hand. And the strangest things began to happen. A cosmic awareness felt like it encompassed all that it held within it; like it was all that could be experienced. I was the candle, the incense, and the Altar. I was the Circle, the walls, and the Temple. I was the breathing man wielding the Wand. I was the air in the room, the beginning and the end, the order and chaos, the All and the None.

I watched as my human body began to shake in strange ways as the ancient force convalesced and convulsed through it in powerful tremors like the earthquakes Archangel Cassiel had shown me…

Then my body began to sway and sway as if dancing, as the vibrating, humming energy reached a fever pitch. My hands formed strange spiritual gestures or mudras. My body swayed and swayed. My arms drifted this way and that in the graceful movements of a dancer. On and on it went…

My eyes fell shut. I was a cosmic light. I was before the cosmos. I was the universe in its arising, sustaining, and destruction. I was the first and the last, the living and the dead. I stood as Osiris, with green skin and white wrappings. I stood as Christ, nailed to the Cross. I stood as the Godhead, formless and birthing all form. As all of this was inwardly seen and felt, still my body continued to dance its strange and graceful movements, shifting in and out of tremors and shaking…

At once, my eyes burst back open and my awareness drifted back into the confines of the body-mind. Once again, I became local. I was somewhere, somewhen. Here. Now.

And yet, I had not forgotten my Divine nature beyond this humble human form.

I remained That; and That continued to appear as “me.”

Breathing deeply, there I was, fully human, and That which appeared as human without being bound by it.

Thus is the power and the mystery of the Stele of Jeu.

Mystic Rods of Power: Consecration of a Solomonic Wand

By Frater S.C.F.V.

The Lightning Rod of Magical Power: A Brief Introduction to Wand Lore

As Joseph H. Peterson (2005) notes, Plato, in his Alcibiades (1.122), and his Classical Greek contemporaries saw magic (mageia) as referring to “the Magian lore of Zoroaster.” The baresman (Avestan) or barsom (Phl.) was the prototype to the Graeco-Egyptian singular wand, but unlike the one-piece wands found in the PGM, the baresman was composed of a “bundle of twigs,” traditionally made of sticks cut from the tamarisk tree (Peterson, 2005). Indeed, for the Zoroastrian Magi, the baresman was a ritual tool that enabled the channeling of Divine Power, the execution of divination, and the energetic communication between the material (getig) and spiritual (menog) realms (Peterson, 2005).

Zoroastrian Magi holding a baresman.

Peterson (2005) goes on to explain the Ancient origins and later grimoiric manifestations of the ‘wand principle’ in rich detail, revealing that

“the use of the baresman by the Magi was well known to Greek writers and is mentioned by Strabo and Phoenix of Colophon (280 B.C.), cited in Athenaeus. The magic wand was also known among the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Like the Zoroasrian Magi, the Ancient Roman Flamines or fire-priests, also carried such bundles of twigs in their hands (Modi RCC, 1922, p. 280).

Pliny and Apuleius both attest to their use. Homer (in the Odyssey 11.14ff) and Virgil both describe the archetypical sorceress, Circe, as using a magical wand. The relevant passage in Virgil was noted by Agrippa in his Occult Philosophy Book 1, chapter 41. It is also cited by Eliphas Levi in Key of the Mysteries, part 4, chap 1. Betz’s collection of Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri has examples of spells which include the use of a wand or staff. The spell PGM I.42-195, for example, has the Magician “hold a branch of myrtle … shaking it, [and salute] the goddess” (Betz, p. 5). A sinilar example occurs in PGM II.22, II.65 (Betz p. 13, 14).

Iamblichus (c. A.D. 250-325), one of the more important Neoplatonic philosophers, discussed magic in general in his On the Mysteries. In this work, he mentions the prophetess holding a staff or wand, invoking the divinity (Mysteries of the Egyptians, chapter 7.) Agrippa also cites this passage in OP3.48.

Early manuscripts of magic (grimoires) have many references to the use and importance of the wand in Western magic. There are two similar ritual implements commonly described in magical literature: The staff (Latin baculus or bacculus; Italian bastone; French Le baton, bâton) and the wand (Latin Virga or virgulam; Ital. verga; German Stäbchen; French: La verge;). In French manuscripts, the wand is sometimes called viere, baguette, baguette magique, baguete, or bagette, also translated as rod. The staff is more the size of a walking stick; the wand is smaller and tapered.”

It is worth noting that the Thyrsus of the Eleusinian Mystery Initiates may also be seen as a kind of proto-wand as well as an initiatory badge.  Similarly, the valences of authority and phallic masculine power embodied in the regal Scepter of Kings and Emperors are also encapsulated in the Wand symbolism that later occult traditions would adopt and sympathetically apply.  In his article on “The Magic Wand,” Mr. Peterson (2005) goes on to offer a detailed and fine-pointed analysis of the grimoiric wand traditions, citing specific manuscripts, which I will not reproduce here, but highly recommend studying catefully for the rich gems of esoteric insight it contains.

My research and practical experience have convinced me that the Wand is a powerful implement for Magicians of many different esoteric traditions and an indispensable tool in many of the magical systems grounded in the Late Medieval and Renaissance grimoires.  As a result, in this article, I will proceed to lay out my approach to crafting this powerful tool, to share the fruit of my research on the Characters to be inscribed on the Wand, and finally, to offer the script for the integrative ritual that I used to consecrate my own Wand. Grimoire enthusiasts may be interested to see how this multidimensional ritual incorporates the consecratory formulae embedded in the Key of Solomon, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Pseudo-Agrippa’s Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, the Grand Grimoire, the Grimorium Verum, and the Psalmic Corpus.

From Page to Power: Crafting A Solomonic Wand

When it came time to produce my own Wand, I took to a careful study of the grimoiric Wand literature historical manuscripts in order to ensure that my own tool would be as well-grounded in magical theory, original source material, and subtantive practical methodologies as possible.  The hazel wood for my Wand was generously gifted to me by my friend Shariyf, who had kindly ensured that it was cut in a single stroke at sunrise in the proper Planetary Day and Hour.  Why Hazel, we might wonder, when other texts prescribe Wands carved from different woods? As Joseph H. Peterson (2005) explains,

Multiple sources attest to the use of Hazel for the magic wand, including the Key of Solomon, Weyer, Goetia, Grand Grimoire, and Levi.  According to the Sworn Book of Honorius (Chap CXXXII), the Magician’s wand or staff is made of laurel or hazel. Per Agrippa, Hazel is sacred to Mercury, and also to Jupiter (OP1.26 and OP1.29). According to MC, this is a sacred tree associated with the zodiacal sign of Cancer.  According to the Key of Solomon, Hazel has “some quality referring especially unto the spirits” of Mercury. Grimorium Verum specifies wands of hazel and elder should be used in preparing the parchment.  The Grand Grimoire includes a divining method using a Hazel rod or wand.  According to Bardon, “hazelnut or willow are to be used for a wishing-wand. The wishing-wand is a modification of the magic wand.”

It is interesting to note that although the wood for the Solomonic Wand is widely understood to be required to be to be ‘virgin’ in nature, the precise meaning of the term varies from source to  source.  According to BUD 256, “virgin” means “having no twigs branching off of it;” for Aub 24 and Ad. 10862, “virgin” means “aniculus” (one year-old) or never having borne fruit; finally, for other manuscripts, as Peterson (2005) emphasizes, virgin simply means “not having been used for any other purpose.”  The wood used for my Wand was at the very least “virgin” in the latter sense, and perhaps also in the Aub 24 and Ad. 10862 sense, Shariyf believes, although we were not able to ascertain its exact age.

Encouragingly, however, as soon as I picked up the unconsecrated wood and held it over my consecrated Circle, I immediately felt it humming with power and could clairvoyantly see it glowing with a visible etheric glow around its tip.  By the time I later completed the consecration, it had become very clear to me that the wood was effective enough to meet the grimoiric criteria.  Had it not been, I would have ordered new wood and restarted the entire process. Indeed, in magic, concrete results should always trump subjective opinions and I faithfully applied this principle in this case.

Mystical Emblems of Power: Cryptic Characters of the Solomonic Wand

To begin the process of empowering the Wand, in the Hour of Mercury, I painted it with consecrated white paint mixed with a small amount of consecrated Solomonic Holy Water blended with Holy Water taken from a Cathedral.  I placed the Wand to dry in the midst of my consecrated Circle, where it could begin to charge through sympathetic resonance.  It is worth noting that my Circle was designed as a combination of both the Lemegetonic evocation Circle and the Key of Solomon’s Consecration Circle, and thus serves both functions. Those interested in learning more about the design and construction of this Circle can kindly see my article “Crafting a Solomonic Circle” for more detailed information.

It is noteworthy that even the simple the process of painting the Hazel wood white was conducted as a ceremony in its own right.  During this ritual phase, I burned Offerings of Incense to the Most High and the Angels to be invoked to consecrate the Wand during the Hour of Mercurg, prayed and chanted, and attempted to begin to attune myself to the incipient Tool of the Art as it began its process of ceremonial enspiritment.

The next stage was to inscribe the Wand with the appropriate Characters on the Day and Hour of Mercury while the Moon was waxing.  This step naturally raises the question of precisely which Characters we are to inscribe.  As I had learned while researching my Circle and consulting other manuscripts, the Mathers editions of the Solomonic texts are notoriously filled with distortions and errors.  As a result, I opted to consult my erudite friend Andy Foster about his own manuscript research on the Wand in order to obtain a richer picture of the material.  In our discussion, Andy kindly shared the following comparative chart, which he has graciously given me permission to share here:

After carefully comparing each Character in sequence, I arrived at my own final set of Sigils, which is a kind of abstraction across the best manuscript sources we have within the Key of Solomon tradition.  In this process, I also factored in the Characters from the Hazel Wand of the Grimorium Verum of Joseph H. Peterson (2007), which are nearly identical to the Clavicula Salomonis’ Hazel Wand Sigils.  The resulting final Character set that emerged from my research is as follows:

In the Day and Hour of Mercury during a Waxing Moon, I used consecrated gold ink to draw the Characters onto the Wand and then proceeded to suffumigate the Wand with consecrated Frankincense, move it through the smoke of consecrated Fire, Sprinkle it with consecrated Holy Water via a Solomonic Aspergillum of Art, and finally, anoint it with consecrated Holy Oil.

In the process, I used an integrative ritual script drawn from a number of sources, namely, the Key of Solomon itself, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Pseudo-Agrippa’s Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, the Wand consecration formula given in the Grand Grimoire, the Grimorium Verum‘s Hazel Wand formula, and a series of Psalms, which I sung over the Wand to complete the process.  I further consecrated the Wand by means of a vibratory auditory formula by ringing my Solomonic Bell of Art over it in each of the Four Directions while doing invocations of the Divine, following Agrippa’s instructions on using a golden Bell as a consecration tool — kindly see my article on the “Bells and Trumpets of Solomon” for more detailed information on this theory and practice.

After completing the ritual, I wrapped the Wand in consecrated Solomonic linen inscribed with the proper Sigils and Names according to Book II of the Key of Solomon.  The result of all of this meticulous research and ritual work seems to me to be an incredibly powerful Tool of Art.  The consecrated Wand seems to positively glow and hum with spiritual force — simply holding it in the hand places the mind’s cognitive and affective states into a calming and elevating frame of being.  Indeed, for several hours after finishing the consecration ritual, I felt incredibly elevated, peaceful, joyous, and as if my heart were overflowing with spiritual love in a kind of Agrippan “frensie of Venus.” To close this article, I will share the ceremonial script for my Solomonic Wand consecration ritual in case my fellow practitioners might find it helpful.

Solomonic Consecration of the Wand of Art: Ritual Script Integrating the Consecrational Formulae of Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, the Key of Solomon, the Grimoirium Verum, and the Grand Grimoire

To begin, if you wish to do so, paint the Wand with consecrated white Ink mixed with a few drops of consecrated Holy Water in the Hour of Mercury; otherwise, skip this step and proceed to the next.

In the Day and Hour of Mercury, when the Moon is Waxing, sound the Solomonic Bell of Art three times outside the Circle.  Then enter the Circle, and ring the Bell or Trumpet three times in the East, three times in the South, three times in the West, and three final times in the North. If you do not use a Bell or Trumpet of Art, simply proceed to the next step.

Standing in the center of the Circle, inscribe on the Wand the following Characters in consecrated Ink — I used a consecrated gold Paint Marker:

Exorcise the Wand by holding your hand over it and reciting the following Exorcism inspired by the formulae predented in the Key of Solomon and Agrippa’s Third Book of Occult Philosophy:

I exorcise thee, O creature of Woods and Wands, by Him who hath created thee and grown thee from the Earth like the Trees of Life and of Knowledge — Etz ha-daʿat tov wa-ra — that didst grow in the greenery of Eden, like the Wood on which was crucified Christ Yeshua, even like unto the Cedars of Lebanon that fed the fires of Sacrifice and fueled the mighty Solomon in the Building of the Temple, that thou uncover all the deceits of the enemy, and that thou cast out from thee all the impurities and uncleannesses of the hostile spirits of the World of Phantasm, so that they may harm me not, through the virtue of God Almighty who liveth and reigneth unto the Ages of the Ages. Amen.

**

Then recite the following Psalmic Prayer invoking the purifying formula from Psalm 51:

Purge this Wand, O Lord, and it shall be Clean;
Wash it, and it shall be white as snow. Amen.

Sprinkle the Wand with Holy water three times using the Aspergillum of Art and pray the following prayer from the Key of Solomon and the Grimoirium Verum over it:

ADONAI, most Holy, EL, most Strong, deign to bless and to consecrate this Wand that it may obtain the necessary virtue, through thee, O most Holy ADONAI, whose kingdom endureth unto the Ages of the Ages. Amen.

Suffumigate the wand three times with consecrated Holy Incense (e.g. Frankincense), anoint the Wand with crosses traced by your finger in Solomonic Holy Oil, then recite this modified conjuration from the Key of Solomon over it:

I conjure thee, O wand, by these names, ABRAHACH, ABRACH, ABRACADABRA, YOD HE VAU HE, that thou might serve me for a strength and defence in all magical operations, against all mine enemies, visible and invisible, and an olive branch of lovingkindness unto all mine friends.

I conjure thee anew by the holy and indivisible name of EL strong and wonderful, by the name SHADDAI Almighty; and by these Names QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, ADONAI, ELOHIM TZABAOTH, EMANUEL, YESHUA, YOD HE VAU HE, the First and the Last, Wisdom and Way, Life and Truth, Chief and Speech, Word and Splendour, Light and Sun, Fountain and Glory, the Stone of the Wise, Virtue and Shepherd, Priest and Messiach Immortal; by these Names then, and by the other Names, I conjure thee, O Wand, that thou servest me for a protection in all adversities and servant in the accomplishing of all Works in accordance with Will, Shem Yeshuah, Amen.

Again, pass the Wand through the suffumigating Incense Smoke and recite this expanded prayer from the Key of Solomon:

I Invoke thee, O Holy Spirits and Angels and Names of the Most High, that thee investeth this Wand with Holy and Magical Virtue, that it may prove a faithful Friend, Aid, and Succor in all Operations of the Art in which it is used and inspire the friendship and obedience of Spirits in whose Presence it is Used.

To this end, in great love and respect, and with this Offering of Holy Incense to the Honour of thy Names, I invoke the Aid and blessings of MORBALIA, MUSALIA, DAPHALIA, ONOMALIA, LITARISIA, GOLDAFARIA, DEDULSARIA, GEHUCULARIA, GEMINARIA, GEGROFARIA, CEDACH, GITACH, GODICH, ROGIL, MUSIL, GRASSIL, TANCRI, PUERI, GODU, AUGNOT, ASCHAROT, TZABAOTH, ADONAI, AGLA, ON, EL, TETRAGRAMMATON, SEDIM, ANESERON, EL, ANAPHAXETON, SIGILATON, PRIMEUMATON. Amen.

Anoint the Wand with Holy Water and Oil once more and pray this prayer from the Grand Grimoire over it:

I beseech you, O great ADONAY, ELOHIM, and YEHOVA to be favorable and to give this rod the strength of Jacob and the virtue of Moses and that of the great Joshua; and I beseech you, O great ADONAY, ELOHIM, and YEHOVA to enclose in this rod all the power of Samson, the righteous rage of Emmanuel and the Thunderbolt of ZARIATNATMICK who will avenge man’s affronts on the day of Judgement. Amen!

Holding one hand over the Wand, proceed to pray over it the following Psalms:

• [Ps3=KJV3] Domine quid multiplicati sunt (Lord, how are they increased that trouble me)

Psalm 3

A psalm by David when he fled from his son Absalom.

• ¹ O Yahweh, look how my enemies have increased!
  Many are attacking me.
  ² Many are saying about me,
  “Even with Elohim on his side,
  he won’t be victorious.” Selah
• ³ But you, O Yahweh, are a Magenthat surrounds me.
  You are my glory.
  You hold my head high.
• ⁴ I call aloud to Yahweh,
  and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah
  ⁵ I lie down and sleep.
  I wake up again because Yahweh continues to support me.
  ⁶ I am not afraid of the tens of thousands
  who have taken positions against me on all sides.
• ⁷ Arise, O Yahweh!
  Save me, O my Elohim!
  You have slapped all my enemies in the face.
  You have smashed the teeth of wicked people.
  ⁸         Victory belongs to Yahweh!
  May your blessing rest on your people. Selah

• [Ps7=KJV7] Domine Deus meus in te speravi (O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust)⁴

Psalm 7

A shiggaion by David; he sang it to Yahweh about the slanderous words of Cush, a descendant of Benjamin.

¹ O Yahweh my Elohim, I have taken refuge in you.
Save me, and rescue me from all who are pursuing me.
²         Like a lion they will tear me to pieces
and drag me off with no one to rescue me.

³ O Yahweh my Elohim,
if I have done this—
if my hands are stained with injustice,
⁴         if I have paid back my friend with evil
or rescued someone who has no reason to attack me—

⁵ then let the enemy chase me and catch me.
Let him trample my life into the ground.
Let him lay my honor in the dust. Selah

⁶ Arise in anger, O Yahweh.
Stand up against the fury of my attackers.
Wake up, my God.
You have already pronounced judgment.
⁷         Let an assembly of people gather around you.
Take your seat high above them.
⁸ Yahweh judges the people of the world.
Judge me, O Yahweh,
according to my righteousness,
according to my integrity.

⁹ Let the evil within wicked people come to an end,
but make the righteous person secure,
O righteous Elohim who examines thoughts and emotions.
¹⁰ My Magen is Elohim above,
who saves those whose motives are decent.

¹¹ Elohim is a fair Shophet,
an El who is angered by injustice every day.
¹² If a person does not change, Elohim sharpens his sword.
By bending his bow, he makes it ready to shoot.
¹³ He prepares his deadly weapons
and turns them into flaming arrows.
¹⁴ See how that person conceives evil,
is pregnant with harm,
and gives birth to lies.
¹⁵ He digs a pit and shovels it out.
Then he falls into the hole that he made for others.
¹⁶ His mischief lands back on his own head.
His violence comes down on top of him.

¹⁷ I will give thanks to Yahweh for his righteousness.
I will make music to praise the name of Yahweh Elyon.

• [Ps9=KJV9+KJV10] Confitebor tibi Domine in toto corde meo (I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart)⁵

Psalm 9

For the choir director; according to muth labben; a Psalm by David.

¹ I will give you thanks, O Yahweh, with all my heart.
I will tell about all the miracles you have done.
² I will find joy and be glad about you.
I will make music to praise your name, O Elyon.

³ When my enemies retreat, they will stumble and die in your presence.
⁴ You have defended my just cause:
You sat down on your throne as a fair judge.
⁵         You condemned nations.
You destroyed wicked people.
You wiped out their names forever and ever.
⁶ The enemy is finished—in ruins forever.
You have uprooted their cities.
Even the memory of them has faded.

⁷ Yet, Yahweh is enthroned forever.
He has set up his throne for judgment.
⁸ He alone judges the world with righteousness.
He judges its people fairly.
⁹ Yahweh is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ Those who know your name trust you, O Yahweh,
because you have never deserted those who seek your help.

¹¹ Make music to praise Yahweh, who is enthroned in Zion.
Announce to the nations what he has done.
¹² The one who avenges murder has remembered oppressed people.
He has never forgotten their cries.
¹³ Have pity on me, O Yahweh.
Look at what I suffer because of those who hate me.
You take me away from the gates of death
¹⁴ so that I may recite your praises one by one
in the gates of Zion
and find joy in your salvation.

¹⁵ The nations have sunk into the pit they have made.
Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden to trap others.
¹⁶ Yahweh is known by the judgment he has carried out.
The wicked person is trapped
by the work of his own hands. Higgaion Selah
¹⁷ Wicked people, all the nations who forget Elohim,
will return to the grave.
¹⁸ Needy people will not always be forgotten.
Nor will the hope of oppressed people be lost forever.
¹⁹ Arise, O Yahweh.
Do not let mortals gain any power.
Let the nations be judged in your presence.
²⁰ Strike them with terror, O Yahweh.
Let the nations know that they are only mortal. Selah

• [Ps41=KJV42] Quemadmodum desiderat Cervus ad (As the hart panteth after the water brooks)

Psalm 42

For the choir director; a maskil by Korah’s descendants.

¹ As a deer longs for flowing streams,
so my soul longs for you, O Elohim.
² My soul thirsts for Elohim, for El Chay.
When may I come to see Elohim’s face?
³ My tears are my food day and night.
People ask me all day long, “Where is your Elohim?”
⁴ I will remember these things as I pour out my soul:
how I used to walk with the crowd
and lead it in a procession to Elohim’s house.
I sang songs of joy and thanksgiving
while crowds of people celebrated a festival.

⁵ Why are you discouraged, my soul?
Why are you so restless?
Put your hope in Elohim,
because I will still praise him.
He is my savior and my Elohim.

⁶ My soul is discouraged.
That is why I will remember you
in the land of Jordan, on the peaks of Hermon, on Mount Mizar.
⁷ One deep sea calls to another at the roar of your waterspouts.
All the whitecaps on your waves have swept over me.
⁸ Yahweh commands his mercy during the day,
and at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the El of my life.
⁹             I will ask Elohim, my rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk around in mourning
while the enemy oppresses me?”
¹⁰ With a shattering blow to my bones,
my enemies taunt me.
They ask me all day long, “Where is your Elohim?”

¹¹ Why are you discouraged, my soul?
Why are you so restless?
Put your hope in Elohim,
because I will still praise him.
He is my savior and my Elohim.

• [Ps59=KJV60] Deus reppulisti nos et destruxisti nos (O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us)

Psalm 60

For the choir director; according to shushan eduth; a miktam by David; for teaching. When David fought Aram Naharaim and Aram Zobah, and when Joab came back and killed 12,000 men from Edom in the Dead Sea region.

¹ O Elohim, you have rejected us.
You have broken down our defenses.
You have been angry.
Restore us!
² You made the land quake.
You split it wide open.
Heal the cracks in it
because it is falling apart.
³ You have made your people experience hardships.
You have given us wine that makes us stagger.
⁴ Yet, you have raised a flag for those who fear you
so that they can rally to it
when attacked by bows and arrows. Selah
⁵ Save us with your powerful hand, and answer us
so that those who are dear to you may be rescued.

⁶ Elohim has promised the following through his holiness:
“I will triumph!
I will divide Shechem.
I will measure the valley of Succoth.
⁷         Gilead is mine.
Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim is the helmet on my head.
Judah is my scepter.
⁸         Moab is my washtub.
I will throw my shoe over Edom.
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”

⁹ Who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰ Isn’t it you, O Elohim, who rejected us?
Isn’t it you, O Elohim, who refused to accompany our armies?

¹¹ Give us help against the enemy
because human assistance is worthless.
¹² With Elohim we will display great strength.
He will trample our enemies.

• [Ps50=KJV51] Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam (Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness)

Psalm 51

For the choir director; a psalm by David when the prophet Nathan came to him after David’s adultery with Bathsheba.

¹ Have mercy on me, O Elohim, in keeping with your lovingkindness.
In keeping with your unlimited compassion, wipe out my rebellious acts.
² Wash me thoroughly from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
³         I admit that I am rebellious.
My sin is always in front of me.
⁴ I have sinned against you, especially you.
I have done what you consider evil.
So you hand down justice when you speak,
and you are blameless when you judge.

⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty.
I was a sinner when my mother conceived me.
⁶ Yet, you desire truth and sincerity.^[a]
Deep down inside me you teach me wisdom.
⁷ Purify me from sin with hyssop, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness.
Let the bones that you have broken dance.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
and wipe out all that I have done wrong.

¹⁰ Create a clean heart in me, O Elohim,
and renew a faithful spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not force me away from your presence,
and do not take Ruach Qodesh from me.
¹² Restore the joy of your salvation to me,
and provide me with a spirit of willing obedience.

¹³ Then I will teach your ways to those who are rebellious,
and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Rescue me from the guilt of murder,
O Elohim, my savior.
Let my tongue sing joyfully about your righteousness!
¹⁵ O Adonay, open my lips,
and my mouth will tell about your praise.
¹⁶ You are not happy with any sacrifice.
Otherwise, I would offer one to you.
You are not pleased with burnt offerings.
¹⁷ The sacrifice pleasing to Elohim is a broken spirit.
O Elohim, you do not despise a broken and sorrowful heart.
¹⁸ Favor Zion with your goodness.
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit—
with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings.
Young bulls will be offered on your altar.

• [Ps129=KJV130] De profundis clamavi ad te Domine (Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord)

Psalm 130

A song for going up to worship.

¹ O Yahweh, out of the depths I call to you.
² O Adonay, hear my voice.
Let your ears be open to my pleas for mercy.
³ O Yahweh, who would be able to stand
if you kept a record of sins?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness
so that you can be feared.
⁵ I wait for Yahweh, my soul waits,
and with hope I wait for his word.
⁶ My soul waits for Adonay
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, put your hope in Yahweh,
because with Yahweh there is mercy
and with him there is unlimited forgiveness.
⁸             He will rescue Israel from all its sins.

Having again perfumed with consecrated incense, anointing with Holy Oil, and sprinkling Holy Water, 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 as guards unto this instrument. Amen.

Sound the Solomonic Bell over the covered Wand a final three times and say:

Tetelestai! It is finished. 

Wrap the Wand in consecrated linen or silk and place it in safe place until it is needed for the Operations of the Art.

Finally, close the Circle by sounding the Bell of Art three times in the East, three times in the North, three times in the West, and three times in the South.

Knock three times on the Altar and say:

I now declare this Temple duly closed. 

References

Foster, Andy. (2018). Comparative Table of Wand Characters From Grimoiric Manuscripts. Shared privately.

Peterson, J. H. (2018). The Key of Solomon the King. Esoteric Archives. Accessed August 15, 2018 from http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol2.htm

Peterson, J. H. (2007). The Grimorium Verum. La Vergne: Lightning Source Inc.

Peterson, J. H. (2005). The Magic Wand. Esoteric Archives. Accessed August 15, 2018 from http://esotericarchives.com/wands/index.html

Plato. Alcibiades. (1997). Plato: Complete Works. Ed. by John M. Cooper. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Inc.

The Grand Grimoire (1821). Grimoire Encyclopaedia. Accessed August 15, 2018 from https://www.grimoire.org/grimoire/grand-grimoire/

 

 

Non-Qabalistic Pathworking Systems

By Frater S.C.F.V.

Qabalistic and non-Qabalistic Pathworking

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

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

Tarot, Tattwa, and Enochian Tablet Pyramid Pathworking

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

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

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

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

Ancient Roots of Scrying-Based Work

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

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

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

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

Merkavah Pathworking

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

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

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

The Shahnameh System and Islamic Pathworking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tibetan and Ancient Egyptian Pathworking Systems

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

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

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

Runic Pathworking

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

John Dee’s Enochian Aethyric Pathworking System

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

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

Astrally Working the Stations of the Cross as a Pathworking System

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

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

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

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

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

The Armadel of Magic

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

 The Zoroastrian Arda Viraf Pathworking System

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

Discussion Questions

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