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t in Extension: A Magical Journal

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L I G H T I N E X T E N S I O N : A M A G I C A L J O U R N A L" I NHER ITOR OF A DY ING WORLD, WE CALL THEE TO THE L IV ING BEAUTY . WANDERER IN

THE W ILD DARKNESS , WE CALL THEE TO THE GENTLE L IGHT"

Shawabtis, Servitors, and ArtificialElementals: On The Creation of

Magical Beings

by Philosophadam or Frater S.C.F.V.

SEPTEMBER 2011

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Introduction

In the history of esoteric thought, a powerful idea has cropped up

repeatedly across cultures and societies. This idea is so

universally present in human culture that it might be considered

part of what Aldous Huxley called thephilosophia perennis or

perennial philosophy. In the occult or secret traditions ofhumankind, this recurring idea is the idea ofcreating magical

beings. To get a sense of the variety of ways that human beings

have conceived of the process and purpose of creating magical

beings, let us briefly consider three examples from different

moments in human history: the shawabtis of Ancient Egypt, the

Artificial Elementals of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,

and the Servitors of chaos magic.

Defining Magical Beings

Before we can begin to look into these particular examples of

created magical beings, however, we must first begin by defining

what we mean by magical beings. The term magical

beings refers to artificial entities created by magiciansthat is,

practitioners of the magical arts, not stage illusioniststo carry

out specific tasks. A familiar example of such an entity from pop

culture is the broom that Sorcerer Mickey brings to life in

theSorcerers Apprentice to carry out his Will (though how well

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that particular magical being succeeds in this task is another

story!).

In those cultures that believed themselves to have developed

methods for creating such entities, magicians have often given

magical beings physical representations of some kind, such as a

carved shape, a sculpted figure, or a sign or representative

symbol. Moreover, the created beings are assigned names by the

magician so that they can be called upon at will.

Magicians throughout history have, however, seen these magical

beings as more than mere physical representations; instead, they

believed these beings to have astral or spiritual forms in addition

to their material ones. These magicians believed the physical

form or base to function as a kind of anchor or calling card

for accessing the created entitys more subtle spiritual, astral or

aethyric form.

For example, a modern day magician might create an entity to

bring opportunities for making money into her life; she might use


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a coin built into a clay figure as the physical representation. She

would, however, access a deeper version of the being its

spiritual or astral form - through the physical figure and send it

to carry out her Will. Just as we might access the virtual website

of a pizzeria to send a delivery person to bring a pizza to our

door, so do magicians use the physical bases of their created

beings to call upon them and send them to complete tasks in

their subtler spiritual or astral form.

Where does the spiritual form of a magical being exist? Theories

put forth to answer this question have varied: some have said

that the subtle forms of these beings exist in the spirit realm,

others in the collective unconscious, others in the astral plane

the invisible world that contains prototypes for everything that

comes to be in the physical world. Sometimes the spiritual form

is conceived of as a being of pure energy, pure spirit, or a

constellation of archetypes in the collective unconscious of

humankind.

The creation of magical beings in a sense involved working on the

physical plane and on the astral or spirit plane simultaneously.

The magician shaped a physical representation of the being, but

did not see the material base as sufficient by itself to carry out hisor her intended purpose. Therefore, it was also necessary to

create a spiritual or astral form of the being on this subtler level

or plane of existence, an invisible entity that could shape the

astral plane to cause changes to manifest in the physical world.

The methods that magicians used to create the astral forms of

these beings varied across cultures. In Ancient Egypt and in

Ancient China, they did so through the power of the gods, which


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were invoked to animate the figurine. In the Hermetic Order of

the Golden Dawn, names of God and Archangels would be called

upon to help draw a current of the force of one of the alchemical

elements (fire, water, air, or earth) to create the entity for the

intended purpose. In modern chaos magic, magicians would

draw on their own personal energy to create the astral form of the

being while in an altered state of consciousness.

In short, in the occult traditions of the world, magical beings

were believed to be artificial beings, usually with both a physical

form and an astral/spiritual form, which were created by ritual

magicians to serve their Will.

Shawabtis

The concept of created magical beings is far from a modern one.

Some of the oldest examples of magical beings were

the shawabatis or ushabtis of Ancient Egypt. Shawabtis werefunerary figurines that were placed within the tombs of Pharaohs

from the Middle Kingdom (around 1900 BC) until the end of the

Ptolemaic Period nearly 2000 years later. They were carved out

of various types of stone and often inscribed with passages from

Chapter Six of the EgyptianBook of the Dead,which can be

translated as:

Illumine the Osiris NN, whose word is truth. Hail, Shabti

Figure! If the Osiris Ani be decreed to do any of the work which

is to be done in Khert-Neter, let everything which standeth inthe way be removed from him- whether it be to plough the

fields, or to fill the channels with water, or to carry sand from

the East to the West. Th e Sh aw a b t i F i g u r e r ep l i et h : I w i l l

d o i t , v er i l y I am h er e w h en t h o u c a l lest (Papyrus of Ani,

Egyptian Book of the Dead).


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Shawabtis were magical beings because they were not believed to

be mere decorative miniatures or figurines. The Ancient

Egyptians believed that once the Soul of the Pharaoh reached the

underworld, the gods would magically transform the physical

shawabtis into living beings that would serve him in the netherrealms. They would be required to carry out whatever tasks the

Pharaoh needed to be completed, much like the servants who

served the Pharaohs during their lifetimes.

About such magical beings, the scribe Nebseni, the draughtsman

in the Temple of Ptah, writes: Oh you shawabti figure of the

scribe Nebseni, son of the scribe Thena, and of the lady of the

house Muthrestha, if I be called, or if I be judged to do any work

whatever of the labours which are to be done in the underworld behold, for your opposition will there be set aside by a man

in his turn, let the judgment fall upon you instead of upon me

always, in the matter of sowing the fields, of filling the water-

courses with water, and of bringing the sands of the east to the

west.

Shawabtis provide some of the earliest examples of magical

beings created as servants in the afterlife, but the idea of

posthumous servant beings was not limited to Egypt; the idea

recurs in the tomb of the First Emperor of China, Qin ShiHuangdi. For his necropolis, the Emperor commissioned the

building of hundreds of figures, a Terracotta Army composed of

carved counterparts of the soldiers, generals, and horsemen in his

living army on Earth. Like the shawabtis of Ancient Egypt, which

were created to serve the Pharaoh in the afterlife, the Terracotta

Army was created to help Qin Shi Huangdi rule a second empire

in the afterworld.


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Both the shawabtis and the figures of the Terracotta Army

represent, therefore, striking Ancient examples of magical beings

created to serve the Will of their creators, nor during their

lifetimes, but in the afterlife.

The Artificial Elementals of the Hermetic Order of the

Golden Dawn

The male and female magicians of the 19th century secret society

known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn also

sometimes created and deployed magical beings to serve theirtheurgic and thaumaturgic purposes. Indeed, the magicians of

the Inner Order readily employed a method of creating what they

called Artificial Elementals beings which were animated with

the power of a particular classical Element (earth, air, water, or

fire) to carry out the Will of the magicians who created them.

The Orders Guidelines for an Artificial Elementalenjoins those

who would create such magical beings to


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Remember that you are a Microcosm of the Universe, thus you

have the ability to

direct your will to a specific task or mission. The will is then

filtered through the element

and evoked and contained in a specific container. Through Will,

you name the

elemental, send it forth to complete a task or mission, and give

it a time to disperse.

An artificial elemental is not a talisman or a natural elemental

as found in nature.

It is an aspect of your will transformed to a limited, specific and

controlled aura, and

filtered through an element.

The magicians who created such Artificial Elementals chose the

Elements through which they would filter their will according

to the qualities that corresponded to them, or the qualities that

the Elements manifest in the sphere of sensation:

Fire: Sex, lower emotions, energy, success, war, fighting,

building backbone, competition, athletic endeavors, vitality,

terrorism, anger, violence, protection, consecration, and law.

Water: Deep emotions, tranquillity, compassion, faith, higherforms of love, devotion, friendship, healing wounds, restoringgrowth, childbirth, family, calmness, medicine, comfort,

clairvoyance, marriage, partnerships, negotiations, beauty, rest,meditation, fishing, and loyalty.

Air: Thoughts, memory, learning, teaching, tests, divination,writing, organizing, theorizing, addictions, intellectualism, travel,and creation of thoughts.Earth:Jobs, money, farming, fertility, stability, health, foods,ecology, conservation, old age, construction, physical work, dailynecessities such as food, shelter, etc., and grounding.Afterspecifying the Element with which they would be working, theMagicians proceeded to perform the Banishing rituals of the


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Pentagram and Hexagram to purify their ritual environment, andthen, as the Guidelines for an Artificial Elementalspecify, wouldproceed tobecome the element you wish to use. Hold yourhands nine to twelve inchesapart, palms facing each other. Now imagine a bottle or a boxbetween your hands, inthe proper shape of the element. Exhale, visualizing all of theelement you are working

with going out with your breath and being trapped in thecontainer between your hands.Do this until the container is full of the elemental energy.

After creating this container of elemental energy, they

would take [their] hands away and let the container float in

front of [them]and Vibrate the Divine name and the

Archangel that pertain to the element you wish to create.

Then say:

I hereby name thee_________.Go now and do (such

and such). Whenyou have completed this task, disperse and reunite with

(element) everywhere

and harm none on the way. If thou hast not completed

thy task by (date and

time), then disperse nonetheless and reunite with (name

element) everywhere

and harm none on the way. As it is desired, so shall it be.

Be on thy way.


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In this way, the magicians of the Hermetic Order of the Golden

Dawn used a method which was intended to create magical

beings designed to serve them, not in the afterlife as in the case of

shawabtis and the Terracotta Army, but during their lives on

Earth. The Artificial Elementals, therefore, represent a different

kind of magical being than the funerary figures of the Ancient

World, namely, a type of beings linked to the magician, which

were brought into being for a time to serve a purpose, and then

dissolved back into the primordial energy out of which they were

formed.

The Servitors of Chaos Magic

In the late 20th century, a number of iconoclastic magicians

including such influential figures as Peter J. Carroll, Ray Sherwin,

Austin Osman Spare , and later, Phil Hine, moved away from the

strict traditionalism and formalism of ceremonial magic in order

to found a movement which would come to be known as chaos

magic. The fundamental thesis of chaos magic was that the

magician should be free to use belief systems pragmatically, that

is, as tools, in order to bring about change in conformity with

Will. They embraced altered states of consciousness (or states of

gnosis) and paradigm shifting (shifting from one belief system

to another at will, e.g. from Ancient Greek pagan to Orthodox

Christian) in order to achieve their magical goals.

One of the techniques that the radical chaos magicians developed

in this period was the creation of what they called Servitors. In

his essay, Evocation without Sniffles, Phil Hine explains that A

Servitor is an entity consciously created or generated, using

evocatory techniques, to perform a task or service. In the

Western Esoteric Tradition, such entities are sometimes referred

to as Thought-Forms, whilst in Tibetan magic, for example,

they are known as Tulpas. Servitors can be usefully deployed


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to perform a wide range of tasks or functions on your behalf.

Servitors are often compared to computer software precisely

because they are programmed according to the intent of their

creators. Just as a program can be created for generalized or

specific purposes, so did chaos magicians believe that a servitor

can be generated to perform tasks relating to a general area of

expertise (e.g. healing) or more specific ones (e.g. procuring a

specific amount of money by a specific date).

How do chaos magicians create servitors? Phil Hine explains that

to create a servitor, one must begin by defining the servitors

general sphere of expertise or domain and then its specific

function as summarized in a succinct Statement of Intent. For

instance, if a servitors general sphere of expertise is healing, its

Statement of Intent can be To promote rapid recovery and

health in (name)

Once you have determined the appropriate Intent to form the

basis of your Servitor, Hine states, then the Statement can be

rendered into a sigil, or glyph. There is a wealth of magical &

mythic symbols which you can draw upon when creating a

servitor, which can be used to represent different qualities,

abilities and attributes. There is also the symbolism of colour,

smell, sound & other sensory media to draw upon. In order to

refine the program which forms the basis for your servitor

further, you could embellish the sigil by adding other symbols.


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After the general and specific intent of the servitor and its

associated symbols have been specified, the magician can proceed

to give it a Name and to designate a physical base for, or

physical representation of, it. On the subject of Names and

physical bases, Hine writes that:

The Material base is some physical focus for the Servitors

existence. This can help to define the Servitor as an individual

entity, and can be used if you need to recall the Servitor for any

reason. Examples of a material base include bottles, rings,

crystals, small figurines as used in fantasy role-playing or

figures crafted from modelling compounds. Bodily fluids can be

applied to the material base to increase the perceived link

between creator and entity. This is very much a matter of

personal taste. Alternatively, the Servitor can remain freely

mobile as an aetheric entity.

Having defined all of the properties of the Servitor and theinformation relevant to the tasks it is to complete, the magician

proceeds to enter an altered state of consciousness through

meditation, ritual, extreme stress, or psychotropic drugs, and

then to empower the servitor and bring it to life through the

combined force of his or her Will, Imagination, and personal

energy. The magician continues to habitually feed the Servitor

through regular attention, mentions in conversation, attributions

of events to its activity, remembrance, or other means specified

by the magician. In so doing, he or she creates an artificial entityto serve an intended purpose during his or her lifetime, quite like

the Artificial Elementals of the Golden Dawn.

Unlike the Artificial Elementals of the Golden Dawn, however,

servitors do not require a concentration of specifically elemental

energy. They are conceived in a far more versatile way and can

take various forms from fully designed fantasy characters to very

basic entities whose appearance resembles a floating letter X.

Of all of the magical beings that human beings have created

throughout the history of occultism, servitors are perhaps the

most diverse.


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An example of a sigil for a Servitor created by Phil Hine

Conclusion

In conclusion, the creation of magical beings is an ancient and

perennial aspect of the human esoteric tradition. Originally

practiced in Ancient societies, the technique of creating such

beings continues to be practiced today by Golden Dawn and

chaos magicians and even Tibetan monks in the form of theirspecifically designed tulpas. Perhaps all human beings are born

with an instinct towards the creation of magical beings; we have

all played make-believe and conceived of all sorts of beings in

our childhoods. What is distinctive of the worlds magicians is

that they bring to this universal childhood tendency the

sophistication and focus of adulthood and claim that the magical

beings they produce are not mere figments of the imagination,

but real, existing beings with the power to bring about change in

the physical world. What are they really? This is a question that

everyone who studies this fantastical topic must be willing to ask

and answer for him- or herself, a question with no easy answers.

PUBLISHED IN: UNCATEGORIZEDON JUNE 5, 2011 AT 8:03 AM LEAVE A COMMENT

The Occult Logic of Correspondences:Reflections on Liber 777

By Frater S. C. F. V.
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On OccultCorpus, R. Eugene Laughlin raised some interesting

questions about the famous compendium of occult

correspondences, Liber 777. I will say from the outset that I am

by no means an expert on either the composition or the contents

of 777. My response will be based on what I do know of the table

from consulting it for the preparation of ceremonial magical

Planetary talismans for the Ordo Aurum Lucerna and forcompiling exercises for those wishing to learn the Qabalah.

R. Eugene first asked me if I agreed that the value of such a

table to a magician should, reasonably, depend on how well the

groupings presented actually reflect the organization of the

world in which the magician operates, or stated more

technically, how well the items of each grouping actually cohere

as a semantic structure within the magicians emoto-cognitive

system, which we might otherwise call the magicians mind.

I responded that I would I would agree with this statement in a

nuanced or qualified form. In a sense, 777 provides many contact

points for the magician precisely because it synthesize material

from so many divergent traditions, from Ancient Egyptian gods to

plants, Qabalistic orders, etc. That is, it is very likely, given the

sheer volume of paradigms that are interknitted into the table,

that the magician will be able to find some sub-table that

resonates or coheres with their operational worldview. If one can

find such a point of coherence with ones existent worldview,then the table can have value from the outset. This would be a

case of Piagets assimilation, or just incorporating coherent

information into ones existing world-model.


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However, it is possible that one can be a neophyte who

encounters the table without knowing a thing about any of the

paradigms it synthesizes together. For such a person, the tablecould still have value; however, in this case, its value would

consist not in its ability to cohere with ones existing worldview,

but in the building blocks it furnishes for building a new

magical worldview. That is to say, 777 provides a systematically

arranged magical vocabulary that one can use to construct a

worldview that can become operational in magical practice; 777

can give one the words needed to articulate or express what one

does, encounters, and theorizes about ones magical work. In such

a case, ones relation to the table could be an instance ofPiagets accommodation; in this case, one accommodates the

information and adapts to it to shape a new model of the world.

R. Eugene Laughlin further proposed that through experiencing

the world as it is, the mind naturally comes to reflect the

organization of that world. Further, making sense of the world

is largely a matter of how well information about the things we

interact with are grouped together. The take-home message is


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that things that naturally co-occur in the world become

associated in the mind, which essentially means that when one

part of an association comes to mind, everything else in the

association comes with it: one cannot think of cowboys without

a particular kind of hat coming to mind, along with many other

things, like horses and cows, etc. And while branding cattle may

not be a fully conscious thought initially, its very close to

consciousness, so that, in the short term, its much easier totrigger a thought of branding than some unrelated activity, like

playing ping pong.

A great deal of what ceremonial magicians do involves harnessing

the associative powers of the mind to produce intended effects

within its emoto-cognitive structure. This is why we find such

exhaustive lists of correspondences within the tradition in

general and within 777 in particular. Magicians have long known

of the phenomenon which interested the early 19th century

psychologists, namely, the way one stimulus triggers the memory

of another in the mind according to their repeated pairing in

experience. They have exploited this phenomenon to shape

consciousness in desired ways with the goal of effecting change;

this is why we try to maximize the number of associated objects


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to our target Planet or Zodiacal symbol or Element in a

ceremony. It is not only to capitalize on the metaphysical

principle of sympathy, but also on the psychological principle of

association.

R. Laughlins essential question for me was how do you think

the table was most likely constructed? And then given

that, s h ou l d the correspondences reflect the world in which youoperate?

This two-part question is a wonderful one. The how of the

matter is a historical question, which would require us to look

into Crowleys and the Golden Dawns records for how they

conceived of the tables they were compiling. My knowledge of this

historical aspect is shady at best, so I wont endeavour to provide

a definitive answer. What I do know, however, is that some of the

tables of correspondences were drawn from traditional sources

(Qabalistic, grimoiric, some Egyptological, etc.) and some of themwere new creations in the sense that they had no literary

precedents.

I believe that many of them were developed by extending

principles; in Regardies Garden of Pomegranates, for instance,

he discusses some of the tables of correspondences that link

Qabalistic sephiroth to Hindu gods, Egyptian gods, Qabalistic

Intelligences, etc. Understanding the nature of Kether as

undifferentiated unity, for instance, and Brahman as embodying

essentially the same concept allows us to see an affinity between

the two; this is not simply a psychological association, but rather


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a recognition of a shared quality or property. Many of the sub-

tables are directly linked back to the spheres and paths of the

Tree of Life according to the principles traditionally symbolized

by those sephiroth and paths. So, there is this dimension of

shared qualities here, which gives rise to logical correspondences.

We must recall, however, that 777 was not passed down on stone

tablets from heaven above; it was written by human beings and

reflects the knowledge that they had about 19th century

egyptology, for instance, and their limited knowledge of Hebrew

and of the few Qabalistic works to which they had access.

Therefore, I suspect that there is a subjective dimension to many

of these sub-tables; indeed, with our better knowledge today, we

might question many of the correspondences. We might reshape

the tables according to our more thorough understanding of the

units of meaning to be linked through the extension of principles.

And, in fact, this is what I recommend modern magicians to do

and certainly what I do in my own practice. This brings us back to

your second question; by reshaping the sub-tables according to

our own experience and understanding, we engage and interact

with them to make them more closely reflect our operational

worldview. And this makes them more meaningful to us and our

understanding of our magical practice.

PUBLISHED IN: UNCATEGORIZEDON MAY 29, 2011 AT 8:12 PM LEAVE A COMMENT

Decisions at the Crossroads: How toRespond When Caught Between

Divergent Paths

Decisions at the Crossroads: How to Respond When

Caught Between Divergent Pathsby Frater S.C.F.V. or Philosophadam
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A knowledgeable and experienced poster at Occult Corpus

namedAeternitas recently revealed that he found himself going

through a spiritual Dark Night of the Soul and wondering about

which path he should take. One the one hand, he saw the valueof the Golden Dawn ritual, magical philosophy, and divination

methods with which he had become familiar. On the other, he

felt drawn towards Goetic Evocation with a spirit friendly

attitutude, conjure sorcery, sympathetic magic and magical

practices related to the ancestral spirits. His plight raises a

universal question for practitioners of all spiritual paths: what

does one do when one finds oneself caught between two

apparently opposed paths? How should one respond in these

moments?

There are three possible responses to such moments, which are

embodied in three divergent pieces of advice. When we find

ourselves caught between two apparently divergent paths, we can

either (1) keep pushing on despite the internal resistance, (2)

follow our intuition away from the comfortable road and towards

the one that beckons us on, or (3) attempt to synthesize the two

divergent apparently paths into a coherent whole.


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1. Pushing On Down the Well-Traveled Path

The first possibility is to keep forging on despite the internal

resistance we feel as we stand at the crossroads of paths. Many of

the magicians I have met throughout the years have taken this

path before. I know some really seasoned Golden Dawn and

Grimoiric magicians who have told me of times when they hit

stumbling blocks in their practice and lost their motivation to do

the rituals within their tradition. They sometimes lost faith in

their practices, felt drawn towards alternative paths, felt they had

no time to practice, and many other such things. Yet, they toldme, they pushed on and while their progression was sparse and

strenuous for a time, it grew increasingly rewarding as their

practice accelerated and they had breakthroughs that moved

them forward. These magicians would enjoin us to push on,

despite our momentary resistance to our familiar path.

In my own life, I have sometimes followed this approach.

Sometimes I have found it helpful; at others, I have felt it did not

adequately respond to the intuitive nudges and synchronisticcallings that I experienced. My own experience would therefore

suggest that there are phases of our lives when sticking to the

well-trodden path and pushing on in the same vein is wise and

others when it is not what we feel we truly need to do. We must

look within and see which of these phases we are in. Some

experimentation and introspection can help us to discover where

we stand in this regard.


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2. Straying from the Familiar and Embracing the New

Second, when we are not deeply satisfied with pushing on down

the familiar path, we can take another approach: we can follow

our intuition away from the tried and trusted path. I am a

member of a Golden Dawn Order, but there are times when I feel

drawn away from the Golden Dawn path altogether. Sometimes Ifeel the lantern of wisdom drawing me in other directions so

strongly that I will give up all G..D.. ritual practice for extended

periods of time to work with other practices and traditions.

Sometimes these intuitive callings have lead me to make deeper

inquiries into physical science. Sometimes they have eased me

into Eastern practices such aszazen(seated Zen meditation)

and atma vichara (self-inquiry). Sometimes they have drawn me

to Sufi poetry, or the writings and experiments of Douglas

Harding, or Christian mysticism. Sometimes they have drawn me

back to the Golden Dawn tradition itself. There have been some

phases of my life in which sticking to the familiar G..D.. path

seemed like the wrong course of action for me, like the universe

was calling me elsewhere to teach me new lessons or offer me

fresh perspectives. And I have not yet regretted any of these

journeys or forays into the unknown or untraditional. They have

added richness to my life and have taught me a great deal.

Perhaps it is not forging on, but following your own intuitive call


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into the unknown that we need at this moment.

3. Synthesizing the Divergent Paths into a Coherent

Whole

A third and final possibility is to question whether these

apparently two paths are really as irreconcilable as we maythink.AEternitas, for instance, seemed to see a disjunction

between (1) Golden Dawn ritual, magical philosophy, and

divination methods on the one hand and (2) Goetic Evocation

with a spirit friendly attitutude, conjure sorcery, sympathetic

magic and magical practices related to the ancestral spirits on

the other. To reveal just how we can find space in our tradition

to encompass another that seems very different from it, Ill

takeAEternitas example as a case in point.

My own experience with the Golden Dawn system is that it isremarkably open to synthesizing new material and that its system

is broad enough to encompass nearly any new phenomenon that

we may encounter. The original Golden Dawn adepts themselves

practiced Goetic evocation, for instance, albeit not with a very

spirit friendly attitude. I find myself partial to this spirit-friendly

attitude myself; I see it as the only approach consistent with a

non-anthropocentric philosophy of magic. Since I reject

anthropocentrism in secular ethics, I must also, to be consistent,

reject it in magical ethics, at least for most kinds of spirits. Theremay be some entities for which the old master and control

approach is the only viable one if we are not to come to harm as a

result of dealings with them or produce ineffectual results, but for

the overwhelming majority, I would say that a spirit friendly

approach is more than adequate. Certainly, this is the approach

we generally take to dealing with most kinds of angels and

archangels.


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Conjure sorcery is also not necessarily incompatible with Golden

Dawn practices. Many of the methodologies within conjure

sorcery can be located within one sephiroth or path of the Tree of

Life or another. They continue to work with the realms of the

Tree, even though they do so using practices that may fall outside

of the conventional Judaeo-Christian paradigm. Indeed, there

may be some value in thinking about the Qabalistic dimensions of

the practices to which you feel called or drawn in this regard. TheQabalistic system is remarkably suited to including new material

into its organizational and categorizational system; some Jews

have criticized this facet of the Qabalah as moving Qabalists into

dangerously non-kosher territory. This is one possible

perspective. Another is that shared by people such as Israel

Regardie and myself, namely that this organizational flexibility

and adaptability to new data is a virtue of the system that enables

it to be versatile in the face of new material.

As for sympathetic magic, the whole Golden Dawn system is

grounded in sympathetic magical theory. When one vibrates the

Name of an archangel it is because one believes that the Name is

itself in sympathy with the larger force on which one intends to

draw; by using the one, we hope to harness the power of the other

by virtue of sympathy. The same is true for the symbols we draw

on talismans in talismanic magic, for the items with Planetary

and Elemental correspondences that we integrate into our

magical ceremonies, and even for the colours of the candles in the

Hall of the Neophytes. Sympathetic magic is far from foreign tothe Golden Dawn approach; if you seek to explore it in new

directions, this would, in my eyes, be in keeping with the overall

rationale that undergirds the Orders magical philosophy.

The one teaching that may be somewhat different from, though

not necessarily out of keeping with, the Golden Dawns approach

is the practice of ritually working with dead ancestors. And yet,

even here, we find evidence that Golden Dawn magicians have

done work of this type as well; Arthur Waites bookThe Book of

Ceremonial Magic, for instance, was notably titledIncluding

Sorcery and Necromancy. And there is a Qabalistic theory that

suggests that the souls of the dead remain active in the various

realms of being, sometimes even transmigrating throughout

them, which would, when coupled with the principle of sympathy,

justifiably allow one, from a ceremonial magical perspective, to

work with them. Therefore, even this practice might not be as

foreign to the Golden Dawn system as we might initially believe it


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to be.

Conclusion: Finding Our Way at the Moment of Truth

In short, when we find ourselves caught between two apparently

divergent paths we can take one of three approaches: (1) stick to

the path we have been treading for so long, (2) forsake it

completely to dive headlong into the new paths that calls to us, or

(3) attempt to synthesize the two. I have used all three of these

approaches at different periods of my life. My final piece of advice

to anyone finding themselves at a crossroads of spiritual paths is

to think about which of these options is best-suited to their

present situation. This is a question that each individual must ask

and answer for themselves.

PUBLISHED IN: UNCATEGORIZEDON MAY 14, 2011 AT 5:45 AM LEAVE A COMMENT

10 Tips for Preparing for the NeophyteGrade Initiation
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TheNeophyte Grade Ceremony can be a daunting task indeed,

but despite the disfavor and bashing it has received in recent

years, my own experience in being Initiated through it and

serving as Hierophant within it during the Initiation of others has

taught me about its magical potency and spiritual power, its

moving emotional depth, its rich symbolism, its philosophical

wealth, and its great value for Practitioners on the Golden Dawn

path.

I recently received an email from Jes on OccultCorpus that

expressed his way of preparing for the ritual, namely, through a

gradual learning process and an in-depth approach to study. I

took the same approach myself. The more we understand about

the rituals, the more meaningful they become for us.

Im still learning new things about even the most basic rituals.

For instance, when I was reading Book 6 of VirgilsAeneid, I read

how the Sibyl, a prophet of Apollo and Hecate (Roman god of

magic), declared, upon entering the underworld, Away, away,

all those unblest/profane! This is the Latin equivalent of none

other than the H eka s , heka s este bebel o i ! of the opening for

the Grade Rituals. The G..D.. system draws on ancient roots

indeed

In his email, Jes also asked if I could offer him any tips or advice

for preparing for the ceremony. Since these tips might prove

helpful for others as well, Ive decided to post them as an articlehere. The ten tips I recommend are as follows:

1. Practice visualization. The visualization component of the

ceremony is extensive and intense. The better you get at it, the

more successful the ritual will be.

2. Make and procure the necessary physical implements.

They are powerful visual symbols, but also useful tools that can

be used outside of the grade ceremony. They also reinforce the


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Hermetic symbolism of the ritual, which involves not only astral

work, but corresponding physical work, and the physical tools

(like the wands of the Hegemon, Hierophant, and Keryx) are the

physical counterparts to the forces evoked on the higher planes.

Both are essential parts of the two-fold initiation on the above

and the below. For ideas for how to make these tools in ways

far simpler than the difficult carpenter methods suggested by

Chic Cicero, see my blogs in which I have posted my implements.Feel free to ask me any questions about how I made the tools and

I will be happy to answer them.

3. Practice the Rite of Bringing Down the Light given by

the Ciceros in their book, Sel f - I n i t i a t i o n i n t o t h e Gol d en

D a w n T r a d i t i on . The invocation and circulation of the Light is

an important aspect of the ritual.

4. Color in the images of the godforms given in same

book according to the descriptions given. Reflect on thesymbolism of the colors and implements. Reflect on their

functions within the G..D.. temple. Practice visualizing them at

will as living, breathing, full-color beings. Meditate on them.

Dialogue with them; for instance, ask them to show you

something you really need to learn at this stage of your

life/journey. Write down what they show you in your magical

journal.

5. Practice the Adoration of the Lord of the Universe.When this part arrives in the Neophyte ceremony, you will feel a

great welling up of emotion if you practice it in advance. Use it to

tune into the ultimate reality and center yourself. After the Sign

of Silence, stand in silent meditation, calming the mind, not

thinking of anything, detaching yourself from everything within

and without. Abide in that free meditative state for some time

and when you are ready, open your eyes and continue with what

you were doing.

6. Plan how you will arrange the room in which you planto perform the ceremony to most closely correspond to

the Temple Diagram given in the teachings. I went to a

thrift store and bought numerous large black pieces of material to

drape over bookshelves, my bed, my computer, etc. while

performing the ritual. This has the effect of the darkness within

formal Golden Dawn temples, which focuses your mind on the

work at hand and minimizes distractions.


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7. Practice delivering small speeches out loud. Experiment

with different loudnesses, different voice inflections, and

different ways of saying the lines. Aim for the most powerful and

deeply meaningful and impacting way of speaking you can

manage. The way you speak these lines should be a ritual way of

speaking, a ceremonial, solemn, powerful way of speaking that is

different from the way you speak in ordinary life. Treat every

word in the ritual as a Word of Power and Mystery.

8. Practice the Qabalistic Cross by itself and the Lesser

Ritual of the Pentagram. You will be performing the LRP at

the opening and close of the Grade Ceremony. The more deeply

you are acquainted with it, the better. The LRP is really an

initiation in miniature. The Qabalistic Cross is a powerful prayer

and balancing ritual in its own right.

9. Take your time preparing. Do not rush. A title of 0=0 is

meaningless if there is no depth of understanding and experiencebehind it. The more you put into it, the more you will get out of

it.

10. On the big day, take a ritual bath, prepare the

temple, close the blinds, light the candles, and dedicate

yourself to completing the ritual. Once you begin the ritual,

resolve to finish it. This can take between 2.5 to 3 hours of

straight, intense magical work; be ready for this. Work up to it

through increasingly long sessions of magical work. You should

be able to easily do 1 to 2 straight hours of ritual work without

difficulty before even attempting the Grade Ritual.

What can you do in this 1-2 hours of practice work? I recommend

including any of the following elements in a logical sequence: the

LRP (invoking or banishing form), the QC by itself, the Adoration

of the Lord of the Universe, the Rite of Bringing Down the Light,

the THME, THEMIS, and MAAT meditations, the Tarot

contemplation ritual, zazen (seated meditation, calming the mind

and resting attention on the breath without clinging to anythingthat arises in the mind), yoga or the Five Tibetan Rites, or the

Middle Pillar Ritual. Free-form, spontaneous prayer or

meditation with a godform, asking them for a vision or lesson

and fully exploring it can also be good practices. Any of these

practices will give you experience with (1) visualization, (2)

energy invocation and direction, (3) the ritual voice, (4) moving

ceremonially, and (5) coordinating physical movements with

work in the imagination. All of these will help you to prepare for


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the Initiation.

Do you have any feedback on these tips or any additional tips to

suggest?

Adam (Frater S.C.F.V.)

PUBLISHED IN: UNCATEGORIZEDON MARCH 25, 2011 AT 3:14 PM COMMENTS (2)

12 Key Skills and Traits for theBeginning Magician

A poster named Neptune on Occult Corpus asked the very good

question of what skills and qualities the beginner in magicandmagicians in generalshould strive to develop. Here is a list of 12

such abilities and characteristics that I have found incredibly

important in my own practice:

1. Meditation the specifically the ability to concentrate,

silencing all unrelated thoughts, on a single thing for an extended

period of time (starting with a few minutes and working up to a

few hoursthe required time for long ceremonial magical

operations, if you intend to pursue that path). One can sit

comfortably on a chair with hands on ones thighs and the spine

straight, or on a cushion in a meditative pose (asana). One can

either meditate on a single object or image for an extended
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period of time, or simply observe the breath coming in and going

out and allow the mind to settle down. This latter approach,

called Zazen in the Zen Buddhist tradition, is my preferred

meditation technique.

2.Visualization the ability to call up images in your mind

and hold them there, beginning with simple things (e.g. a yellow

X) and leading up to full-color figures (e.g. a godform).

3. Creativity the ability to come up with original and creative

solutions, ideas for rituals, etc. One way to develop creativity is to

take a given object and try to come up with as many possible uses

for that object as you can. For instance, a paperclip. At first, you

may only be able to come up with 10, but gradually this will

increase to 50 and higher. Then youll learn to think outside the

box why not make the paperclip 50 feet tall? Why not give it

neon lights? etc.

4.Willpower - the ability to direct your will towards something

and intensify it. Cultivate this by doing exercises that heighten

your will, e.g. willing not to use a certain word for a whole week,

willing to give up something you frequently do or enjoy for a

week, willing yourself to take up a practice for a week, etc.

5. Critical reason - the occult is replete with great wisdom, but

also with a great deal of utter nonsense and crap. Learn to

discriminate. Study some basic logic and logical fallacies. Learn

to be skeptical and to think carefully.

6. Energy manipulation by whatever means you wish:

psionics, visualization and willpower (e.g. in the Qabalistic

Cross), Qi Gong or Tai Chi, Wiccan-style raising energy, etc. Any

way to raise energy within your sphere of sensation and direct it

as you will.

7. Ritual practice the ability to carry out a ritual with a

formal beginning, middle, and end. Learn a Wiccan ritual or a

Golden Dawn ritual or a Thelemic ritual and practice it until you

master it. Learn to enter an altered state of consciousness while

in the ritual state.

8. Breath control or pranayama the ability to deepen the

breath and thereby calm the whole body and mind. Start with the

fourfold breath, 4 second breathe in, 4 second hold, 4 second

breathe out, 4 second leave lungs empty. Gradually work up to 4

movements of 8 seconds instead of 4. Then you can try bringing


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it up to 10 or so seconds so you are breathing 1 or 2 times per

minute. This is a very deep state of consciousness. I use this kind

of breathing especially for the Middle Pillar Exercise.

9. Self-hypnotism - I only recently began to study this area of

occult practice after a suggestion from Poke Runyon. However, I

believe it can be helpful for any form of magic, to hypnotize

oneself and then enter ritual thereafter, coming out of the

hypnotic state with the competion of the ritual. In the hypnotic

state, the conscious mind and unconscious are working together.

This is a fertile and potent state of mind.

10. Basic artistic skills in magic, especially in chaos and

ceremonial magic, we often make and use tools. It can be helpful

to learn how to draw sigils, how to paint wands, etc. Learn how to

use acrylic paint, acrylic varnish (overlay it over the dried acrylic

to give it a shiny sheen and brighten the colors), as well as paint

pens and markers. You can also cut complicated shapes out offoamboard with an exact knife, cover them with electrical tape so

they dont flake apart, and paint over them. This was how I

constructed the Keryxs Wand within the Golden Dawn system.

11. Mindfulness this is the ability to be very aware of your

body, the flow of your thoughts, the movements of your feelings,

and the content of your senses. Learn to witness the movements

of your mind without getting involved with them learn to see

when your mind is clinging to something (attachment), pushing

something away (aversion), to pretending it knows something it

doesnt (ignorance). Your mindfulness will weaken the pull of

these things over time and needless suffering will subside. You

will get more peaceful as well. Mindfulness is essential for magic

both because it cultivates a calm, fulfilling life and because it

allows you to be aware when the results of your magic manifest

in your own body-mind and in the world around you. Without

mindfulness, your ritual may yield its effect while you do not

even notice that it has done so!

12. Compassion and awareness of interdependence -

compassion is the ability to care for others and feel for them on a

level of equality, realizing that their concerns matter as much as

your own and that they suffer just like you do. Developing

compassion will make you a deeper human being and positively

enhance all of your relationships and interactions with others.

Try to meet people on a level of care and respect. Awareness of

interdependence is the ability to recognize the connections


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between yourself, others, and the world around you. See how the

apple you eat depends on the whole water cycle, on oxygen and

carbon dioxide in the whole atmosphere, and on the sun

thousands of miles away. See how you depend on the apple for

food and hence on all of these things as well. Trace the lines that

connect all things. Cultivating compassion and awareness of

interdependence will save you from the trap of egotism into

which far too many magicians fall.

Developing these skills and qualities will be of great benefit to the

Neophyte and Adept alike, regardless of ones magical path.

Take care,

Adam

PUBLISHED IN: OCCULT PHILOSOPHYTHE GOLDEN DAWN SYSTEMTHE MAGICAL LIFESTYLEON JANUARY 14, 2011

AT 8:46 PM LEAVE A COMMENT

On the Ciceros Neophyte Grade Ritual

On OccultCorpus,Morrigan shared some concerns about the

length of the Neophyte ritual and its unwieldiness within a small

physical space for a solitary practitioner. He asked if he might
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shorten the ritual or condense it. My position on the issue was

perhaps not what he wanted to hear, namely, that he should

make all of the requisite implements and perform the ritual in its

entirety. However, I have strong reasons for holding the

viewpoint that I do. Here is what I told Morrigan:

First of all, Id like to say that I can sympathize with your

concerns. Space was an issue in my personal temple as well.

However, I have performed the Neophyte ritual as written by the

Ciceros in its entirety several times, both for myself and as a

group ritual for other Neophytes, and can attest to its power. Its

performance does not really require much space at all. If you can

fit a small altar in the center of your room and have some small

stations for the elemental candles in the quarters, etc. you can

perform it without difficulty. If you have enough space to

perform the LBRP, you have enough space to perform the

Neophyte ritual.

I would also like to emphasize the value and importance of

making the required ceremonial implements for the ritual. These

include the officer lamens, Hierophants wand, Hegemons wand,

Keryxs wand, pillars (at least spray-painted all white and all

black if you do not wish to paint on all of the hieroglyphics), a

sword or knife for the Hiereus, a cross and triangle for the altar,

and a lantern for the Keryx. These visual symbols make all of the

difference and really enhance the power of the ritual on the

psychological level, as well as, arguably, on the astral level. Theseitems do not take up all of that space. My room is quite tiny and

I can fit all of them, including the pillars and wands, within less

than a square foot of space.

Now onto the ritual and the issue of trimming it down. The ritual

follows the original G..D.. Neophyte initiation quite closely, only

differing in the addition of personal astral work (via the godform

visualizations) and in collapsing all of the information that was

previously revealed in a fast-paced interrogation of one officer by

another into shorter speeches. Once you get more deeply intothe Z documents and the commentaries on the Neophyte ritual by

G..D.. adepts such as Regardie, Zalewski, and others, youll see

that every little detail in the ritual has significance on multiple

levels from the microcosmic to the macrocosmic; Qabalistically

and astrally, every movement and every word has a specific

function within the larger scheme of the ritual.

If you opt to chop up the ritual, you not only deviate from the


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initiatory formulae of the Golden Dawn, but lose a great deal in

the overall impact of the ceremony and in the subtler effects

thereof. Moreover, one might argue that one who has not

properly undergone the Neophyte Initiation in its original or

adapted Ciceronian form cannot justifiably claim the Grade of

Neophyte within the G..D.. system precisely because they have

not gone through the requisite Initiatory experience as defined by

the G..D.. system. I have performed the ceremony with anotherInitiate in a truly tiny space and we had no difficulty performing

the ritual in its entirety. I would highly recommend that you do

so.

The Neophyte Grade Ritual is a majestic, beautiful, and if

performed correctly, very powerful ritual. It is deeply moving and

along with the Adeptus Minor Initiation considered to be one of

the most powerful and important rituals in the whole Golden

Dawn system. All of the formulae of the entire G..D.. system are

prefigured within the Neophyte ceremony and it is the ceremony

that connects one to the currents of archetypal force embodied by

the Godforms of which the officer forms of the outer Order are

representatives.

As for holding off initiation, I say, as soon as you feel your

visualization abilities are sufficiently adequate to allow you to

manage the complex godform visualizations, as soon as you have

some experience with bringing down the Light and directing

energy, and as soon as you have constructed all of the necessaryimplements (we have a thread in the CM forum about ceremonial

implements that features pictures of all of the required tools as I

interpreted themfeel free to ask me if you would like any tips for

making any of them), then feel free to perform the ceremony. It

is not the size of the space that matters, but the readiness of the

magician to receive Initiation. Ill say it again: if you have

enough space to do the LBRP, you have enough space to perform

the Neophyte ritual.

In closing, it is a beautiful ritual of purification, consecration,being brought into the Light, and the wisdom of balance.

Beautiful poetic verses are contained within it as well as

profound philosophical and mystic truths. It is also also a true

test, for it requires extraordinary, sustained focus and energy

over a period of nearly 3 hours to perform properly. It is a test as

every initiation should be, an opening onto a new way of living, a

true investiture of the 0=0 grade, and a beautiful ritual of

dramatized transformation. Far from not being worthwhile on


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any level, as some have dubbed it, for the student of the Golden

Dawn system of magic, it is worthwhile on [I]every[/I] level.

PUBLISHED IN: MEDITATIONOCCULT PHILOSOPHYRITE OF BRINGING DOWN THE LIGHTTHE GOLDEN DAWN

SYSTEMON JANUARY 12, 2011 AT 2:09 AM COMMENTS (1)

Charging of a Venus Talisman RitualWork for Friday, December 17, 2010

Date: Friday, December 17, 2010

Time: 6:40 8:00 p.m.

Sun Phase: Set

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous 89% Full

Mood: Originally despondent and somewhat apathetic

by the end, clear, refreshed, and lovingly joyful

Activities: From 6:40-8:00 p.m.: Rite of Purification by Water, Fourfold

Breath, Adoration of the Lord of the Universe, Opening Prayer of Intent,

Qabalistic Cross, Ritual of the Hexagram Invoking Venus, Projection of LVX and

Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Invocation of Anael/Haniel,

Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Invocation of

Hagiel, Invocation of Haggith, Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into

Talisman (Charging), Invocation of the Three Venusian Forces, Projection of

LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging) x6, Prayer of thanks, Ending

Prayer, Adoration of the Lord of the Universe, Lesser Banishing Ritual of the

Pentagram, Annointing by Thyme and Mystic Cerum, License to Depart

This talisman charging ceremony proceeded much like the previous one, except

that the ceremony was done from memory and somewhat abbreviated. This
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talisman was prepared for Laneys adopted mother, an artist in need of a creative

boost and an influx of loving feelings. The intent this time was:

To empower this talisman with the Energies and Powers of Venus, that it

might activate and enhance creative inspiration, support all forms of creativity

and all arts, and attract and evoke limitless love for the Divine, for other

human beings, for all living beings, for the Earth, and for the larger universe.

By the end of the ceremony, I felt a great sense of beauty,

lightness, clarity, peacefulness, and inner warmth/loving joy. This

was very pleasant and a notable shift from the despondency and

apathy that I felt prior to the ceremony. I feel an inner loving

warmth in my Tiphareth center that continues to glow within me

and reach out beyond me into all that surrounds me, beings living

and inanimate alike. I see that nothing is separate in the world; it

is only dualistic thought and language that create the illusion of

separation.

In awareness, the great inner Kether, all appears in total

interconnectedness and correspondence. I am all I experience

and encounter and all that I do not experience and encounter.

The little magician, S.C.F.V., is but a wave in the ocean of Being

that is my true nature. While all formations are impermanent,

conditional, co-dependently arising, and contingent, this Being is

seamlessly one, a perfect unity that encompasses all and excludes

nothing. Its Mystery is this that it is seamlessly One, and yet,

that all of the beautiful and diverse forms of daily life are noneother than this One Without a Second, Brahman.

PUBLISHED IN: UNCATEGORIZEDON DECEMBER 18, 2010 AT 1:30 AM LEAVE A COMMENT

Ritual Work for December 10, 2010 Dreamwork, Divination, and Venus

Talisman Consecration

Date: Friday, December 10, 2010

Time:Dream: 9:30-10:30 A.M. (Day of the Venus Hours of Saturn and

Jupiter), 5:40 6:00 P.M. (Day of Venus Hour of the Sun), 6:40-8:00 p.m.

(Day of Venus, Hours of Venus and Mercury)

Sun Phase: Rising
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Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent, 7% Full

Mood: Morning: Calm and in control, Tarot Divination: Relaxed, but mildly

excited, Before Talisman Consecration Ritual: Relaxed, After Ritual: Excited,

Aroused with Intense Energy

Activities:

1. Record of Dream (morning: (9:30-10:30), Rite of Purification by Water

2. Tarot Divination (Split Hexagram Spread) (5:40-6:oo p.m.)

3. From 6:40-8:00 p.m.: Rite of Purification by Water, Fourfold Breath,

Adoration of the Lord of the Universe, Opening Prayer of Intent, Qabalistic

Cross, Middle Pillar Ritual, Ritual of the Hexagram Invoking Venus, Projection

of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Invocation of

Anael/Haniel, Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging),

Invocation of Hagiel, Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman

(Charging), Invocation of Haggith, Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into

Talisman (Charging), Invocation of the Three Venusian Forces, Projection of

LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Prayer of thanks, Projection

of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Closing Prayer,

Projection of LVX and Powers of Venus into Talisman (Charging), Ending Prayer,

Adoration of the Lord of the Universe, Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram,

Analysis of the Keyword, Qabalistic Cross, License to Depart, Consecration by

the Mystic Serum


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9:30-10:30 A.M.: Dream interpretation This morning, I had a dream that

included archetypal symbolism from the Tarot cards. I was assigned to a special

position within the administrative hierarchy of a college of university (it seemed

to be Champlain college, where I obtained my Liberal Arts degree). This position

was Emperor of the Institution.

The role of the Emperor was to arbitrate and make final decisions based on

points of disagreement among faculty, teachers, students, unions, and other

school-based groups. I sat upon a throne in my arbitration room. Two groups of

people ran into my room, greeted me, and argued over which code of school

policies and laws to accept. One was a very thick and old volume that contained

extensive older laws. The other was a sleeker an substantially shorter new volume

with much fewer laws that encompassed several points, which were dealt with

individually in the old code. They argued over which should be accepted.


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After considering the case, I gave my formal ruling, which was

that a position of moderation be taken; a new code should be

redacted that integrated the most relevant, important, and

beneficial laws and policies from the two codes.

To the Emperor card is attributed the Hebrew letter of Heh and

the Sign of Aries, which is ruled by Mars. It is the Emperor card

that channels the energies of Venus (the Emperess and Daleth)through Understanding (Binah) and Wisdom (Chochmah) to

balance them with the energies of Mars on the way to Tiphareth

(the point of Balance on the Tree of Life). I am an Aries and last

night, had been preparing a ceremonial ritual for the creation and

consecration of a Venus talisman; Aries drawing down and

balancing the Powers of Venus. This is precisely what the

archetype of the Emperor does on the Tree of Life. The ruling I

gave as the Emperor was one of Balance (characteristic of

Tiphareth) and Wisdom (Chochmah) between two extremes

based on Understanding (Binah). Therefore, the dream was

particularly apt in its archetypal Tarot and Qabalistic meanings.


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6:40-8:00 p.m. Creation and Consecration of a Venus Talisman

Before the Hour of Venus began, I prepared my ceremonial script

and prepared the Altar with the Seal and Sigil of Venus, the letter

Daleth, the Tarot card of the Empress, the Sigil of Anael, the Sigil

of Hagiel, the Sigil of Haggith, a green cap of Thyme, the Cross

and Triangle, and three green candles. I performed the Rite of

Purification by Water and a brief relaxation ritual. I prepared thedisc and the green marker. I got into my robe, sash, and nemyss,

took up my wand, and lit the candles as the Hour of Venus began.

I then focused my intent on the talisman and the intent with

which I was creating, consecrating, and charging it while

constructing it. The front side bore an outer circle in which was

drawn two Invoking Hexagrams of Venus, and in which was

inscribed the words Place me as a signet upon thine heart, as a


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signet upon thine arm, for love is strong as death (Canticles viii

6), according to the instructions given for the Second Pentacle of

Venus in the Greater Key of Solomon. Within the outer circle was

an equal-armed cross. In the upper left quadrant was the

Planetary Seal of Venus and the Sigil of the Olympic Spirit of

Venus, Haggith. In the upper right quadrant was placed the

Divine Name associated with Venus, YHVH TZABAOTH in

Hebrew characters. In the bottom left quadrant was placed theSeal of Anael/Haniel from the Consecrated Little Book of Black

Venus. Finally, in the bottom right quadrant was placed the Sigil

of Hagiel, Intelligence of Venus.

On the reverse side of the Pentacle, in the Outer Circle, four

Invoking Hexagrams of Venus were drawn. Between each, the

name ARARITA was written in Hebrew characters. In the center

circle, the Numerical Planetary Square of Venus was drawn, with

175 above it and 1225 below it. On the right of the Square, the

Sigil of Venus was drawn. On the left, a Yoni and Phallus were

drawn.

When it was finished, I placed the Talisman on the Triangle in

the center of the Altar, took up the wand, and performed the

Adoration of the Lord of the Universe. I then kneeled and made

an opening prayer of intent, declaring the purpose of the talisman

and its intended effects and asking for

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