Michael Osiris Snuffin's Blog

The Baphomet Tarot: Part Four

    Part 4. The Shadow Baphomet

      In the context of Akron’s Baphomet Tarot, Baphomet takes on a different role:

In this book, Baphomet is the symbol of the shadow, the repressed, that which has been “estranged from itself,” something nearer to human beings than all else because it is a part of them and must, therefore, remain “the Devil we don’t know”—at least until human beings recognize it.[1]

          For those unfamiliar with Jungian psychology, the shadow is the darker, hidden side of our personality, the part of the psyche known as the personal unconscious. It is the realm of unresolved conflicts and unexpressed emotions and well as animalistic instincts. The shadow creates problems when these repressed emotions break though into the conscious mind, influencing and interfering with our lives in ways that we don’t understand— “the Devil we don’t know.”

          Manifestations of the shadow include self-destructive behaviors, such as eating disorders and addiction; mental illness, including depression and anxiety; verbal, sexual, or physical abuse of other people; and other immoral behavior, such as stealing and lying. Often people do these things without realizing the cause or motivation for their actions—this is how the shadow works.

          One of the primary goals of Jungian therapy is the integration of the unconscious and the conscious minds, which leads to self-realization. Emotional, mental, and behavioral issues are resolved to the point where they no longer interfere with the enjoyment and fulfillment of life. From a Gnostic perspective, that which obscures the divine spark in humanity is removed, leading to enlightenment, the awareness of our own divine nature. This is what happens when the shadow is brought into the light of consciousness.

          When Akron compares Giger’s Baphomet with Lévi’s original image, he shows us that Giger’s image is a shadow version of Lévi’s:

Lévi’s demon sits on a cube (a symbol of human limitation) which itself rests on a sphere (a symbol of a fertile earth). Giger’s Baphomet, on the other hand, is enthroned upon five skulls, the central one of which is wearing a mighty bishop’s mitre which at the height of the lower abdomen of the figure transforms into a machine gun. In Lévi’s interpretation one can find in the same place a caduceus (a Hermes staff). The lower part of the body represents the mystery of procreation, as becomes clear in the form of the two snakes winding themselves around the staff. By contrast, in Giger’s picture the snakes coil themselves around the gun resting on top of the skulls; an up-to-date metaphor for blocked and deformed emotions which allow instinctive releases only via aggressions. Whilst Lévi’s Baphomet displays female breasts and the belly of a pregnant woman, in Giger’s picture the protruding breasts appear as the heads of two demons each of which is holding a hand grenade in its hand.[2]

          Lévi’s symbols have been replaced with their shadow opposites. As Akron has observed, the life and fertility symbolized by the earth-sphere, breasts, and caduceus-phallus have become symbols of death and aggression in Giger’s image. There are many other shadow elements in the image: the syringe in Baphomet’s left arm, symbolic of addiction and escapism; the bishop’s miter at the base of the gun-phallus, indicating the sexual repression and violence inspired by religion; the metal braces that hold Baphomet’s arms in place, suggesting fears of mechanization and a loss of control. As a whole, Giger’s Baphomet seems like an ideal symbol for the Jungian shadow in the Baphomet Tarot.

          The symbolic key that links the shadow Baphomet to the divine Baphomet is the pentagram. In Lévi’s image, the pentagram is “the sign of the microcosm” and the flame of the torch above it is “an image of divine revelation.”[3] Akron observes that “in Giger’s version an upright pentagram is crossed by an inverted one, in this way expressing the union of the microcosm with the macrocosm.”[4] Like Lévi’s image, Akron’s divine Baphomet unites and integrates both darkness and light, signified by the upright and inverted pentagrams above Giger’s shadow Baphomet, which itself is but a symbolic part of the divine Baphomet.

Summary

Akron redefined Giger’s Baphomet as a representation of the Jungian shadow. He created the Baphomet Tarot from Giger’s paintings to facilitate the process of investigating and integrating the shadow. This integration dispels the darkness that obscures the divine spark within us, allowing us to realize the divinity within us and to achieve personal enlightenment—the fulfillment of the desire of the divine Baphomet to help humanity evolve.

 

Bibliography

Akron and H.R. Giger. Baphomet: Tarot of the Underworld. AGMüller, 1993. Booklet for tarot deck.

Akron and H.R. Giger. H.R. Giger Tarot. Taschen GmbH, 2000. Booklet for tarot deck. Kindle edition.

Epilepsy. Baphomet. Lyrics by Akron. Kk/AGMüller, 1995. Compact Disc. CD Insert.

H.R. Giger. H.R. Giger’s Necronomicon. Morpheus International, 1991.

Levi, Eliphas. Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual. Translated by A.E. Waite. Samuel Weiser, 1999.

[1] Akron and H.R. Giger, Baphomet: Tarot of the Underworld (Neuhausen, Switzerland: AGMüller, 1993. Booklet for tarot deck.), 9.

[2] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 5.

[3] Levi, Transcendental Magic, xiv-xv.

[4] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 5.

The Baphomet Tarot: Part Three

Part 3: The Divine Baphomet

          Akron’s divine Baphomet is hinted at in the first section of the abridged Baphomet Tarot booklet, which contains quotes by Baphomet taken from communications received by the author, and where Baphomet is frequently referred to as “God.” The divine Baphomet is fully revealed in “The Revelation of Baphomet” presented on the Epilepsy/Akron CD, which begins:

Hark! I am Baphomet, god of the Templars, advocate of the damned and guide of the souls through the underworld.

In the ancient mystery cults the priests worshipped me as Abraxas, Xnobius or goat-buck
who unites aspects of the darkness and light
in one single godly image
but in truth I am in substance imprisoned, the world-creating spirit,
who moves in the realm of the shades.

For between my horns is a torch alight as symbol of the of the spirituality
which allows itself to be perceived as light, for I am the bringer of light
though the darkness belongs to my nature.[1]

          Many elements of this Revelation point to a Gnostic interpretation of Baphomet. Akron associates Baphomet with Abraxas, a word with many associations in Gnostic thought; in some schools Abraxas is identified as the supreme deity. The idea of a divine spark imprisoned in material beings is another important concept of Gnosticism, as is the idea that the knowledge and integration of this divine spark leads to personal enlightenment:

So I am the godly spirit, who has materialized himself in order to show you
how you can form ideas from energies and then, from these, substance.

And now you arise in me out of the force of totality as a spark of God,
projected into space and time.

For it is I who creates you through feeling you
because you are a part of that which is I, for I am everything which is.

Only when I have completely penetrated you, is all the longing of the flesh assuaged.

Then you will become like God and recognize good and evil.[2]

          It is significant that the last line quotes Genesis 3:5, as the Gnostics had a radically different perspective on what happened in the Garden of Eden. They believed that Yahweh was an evil demiurge who imprisoned Adam and Eve by keeping them in a state of ignorance. The first couple was liberated by the messiah in the form of a serpent, who encouraged them to eat from the tree of knowledge and free themselves from ignorance and slavery perpetuated by Yahweh. In this Revelation, Baphomet takes the place of the serpent as the messiah who leads humanity out of ignorance.

          Akron also portrays Baphomet as the divine source of gnosis. Gnosis, the Greek word for “knowledge,” is a Gnostic term that denotes esoteric and intuitive knowledge, knowledge that comes from that divine spark trapped within us rather than from external sources:

And so I bring to mankind the hidden knowledge
when I appear in their minds as a field of energy
and they sense my thoughts and believe they are their own:

For I have no physical form, but I am just a point of light
moving in their brains.[3]

          The end of the Revelation drives home the fact that like Lévi, Akron envisions Baphomet as a pantheistic deity:

For I am nothing because I am all!

For being everything I need not be anything else,
for I am now the all-encompassing, all-penetrating, all-illuminating “I myself!”[4]

          To summarize, Akron’s divine Baphomet is a pantheistic god whose relationship with humanity is inspired by Gnosticism. They are the divine spark within each individual, and they seek to lead humanity from ignorance to enlightenment. To contact and nurture this divine spark, one must delve into the shadow side of Baphomet and confront the darkness that obscures that spark.

[1] Epilepsy, Baphomet, (Lyrics by Akron. Recorded 1995. New York, NY: Kk/AGMüller. CD insert.), 10.

[2] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 10-12.

[3] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 10.

[4] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 12.

The Baphomet Tarot: Part Two

 Part 2. The Tarot of the Underworld

          Ridley Scott wasn’t the only person who sought out the artist of the Necronomicon. In 1991, Swiss musician and magician-philosopher Akron (1948-2017) was advised by the deity Baphomet to contact the author of a book with Baphomet on the cover for assistance with his next esoteric project, a “shadow tarot:”

I began thinking of creating a tarot that would penetrate more deeply into the unconscious mechanisms of our behavior patterns. I thought that if a critical book could bring to light the shadows of our lives and souls, it might spark a similar inspiration in the readers so they could recognize their own thought patterns and inner concepts.[1]

Akron found Giger’s Necronomicon in his local bookstore and contacted the artist about creating a new tarot deck; Giger declined, stating that he had neither the time for nor the interest in creating new images for the project. However, recognizing the tarot as a new medium to present his artwork, Giger did agree to collaborate with Akron, and together they selected 22 existing works to create a tarot deck composed of the 22 trump cards.

          Baphomet: The Tarot of the Underworld was published in 1992 in German and English by AG Müller. The boxed set included the cards, a 500-page instruction booklet written by Akron, and a poster of the artwork used in the spreads detailed in the booklet. Later editions included a CD recorded by Akron and the band Epilepsy, a recording designed “to make the unfathomable spirit of Baphomet accessible to the listener.”[2] In 2001, Taschen America released a new edition of the boxed set, called the H.R. Giger Tarot, that included only the cards and a 139-page abridged version of the booklet. Both editions are out of print.

          The Baphomet Tarot is not your standard tarot deck. It is designed to reveal elements of the unconscious to the consciousness mind; it is “a guide for the struggle with the inner demons of one’s own soul.”[3] Akron thought Giger’s art was the perfect vehicle for representing elements of the “shadows of our lives and souls:”

Each picture encapsulated the interconnected nature of human suffering with an absolutely grotesque, tortured perfection. These eruptive, delicately drawn, and closely interlocked visions complemented and overlapped each other in a bizarre panorama of Eros and Thanatos, of dream and reality. But before rejecting Giger as a mere conjurer of demons, I tried to recognize myself in the mirror of his pictures and asked if he had something important to convey with his art. Didn’t these monstrous, corroded, crippled, and mutilated figures conjure up fears that are very real in view of the everyday horrors? These are the fears that we refuse to face, so they fail to fulfill their natural task of confronting us with the effects of our actions.[4]

          The spreads given for the deck are structured using the two interlocking pentagrams surrounding the white-skinned woman found in Spell IV. The cards are not interpreted according to an oracular menu with specific divinatory meanings, but through introspection and meditation. The first edition even gave each card different interpretations based on whether the person receiving the reading identified as male or female.

          Most of Akron’s writings are published in German, which complicates our investigation of his ideas about Baphomet. However, an examination of the English material published to support the Baphomet Tarot (the two booklets and the CD insert) reveals that Akron promoted two related conceptions of Baphomet, the divine Baphomet and the shadow Baphomet.

[1] Akron and H.R. Giger, H.R. Giger Tarot (Köln, Germany: Taschen GmbH, 2000. Booklet for tarot deck. Kindle edition.), 11.

[2] Epilepsy, Baphomet, (Lyrics by Akron. Recorded 1995. New York, NY: Kk/AGMüller. Compact Disc.),

CD Insert, 3.

[3] Epilepsy, Baphomet, CD insert, 14.

[4] Akron & Giger, H.R. Giger Tarot, 11.

The Baphomet Tarot: Part One

[This examination of The Baphomet Tarot by H.R. Giger and Akron was part of the original manuscript submitted to Llewellyn, a chapter in part two of Baphomet: History, Ritual & Magic of the World’s Most Famous Occult Icon. It was removed because I could not obtain permission to quote from Akron’s works. I was unable to do so because both The Baphomet Tarot and the Baphomet album by the band Epilepsy are out of print, and Akron died in 2017 with no clear heir that I can locate from which to seek permission. My editor suggested I paraphrase Akron’s work to get around this, but I disagreed, for unlike the other material analyzed in Part 2 (such as The Book of Baphomet by Nikki Wyrd and Julian Vayne or A Gift of Maggots by Ruth Addams), Akron’s work is out of print and therefore inaccessible to most readers. I also felt that removing most or all of the quotations would make an already short chapter quite anemic and out of place with the other quote-heavy chapters in part two. If I can ever find the person that can grant me the legal rights to quote Akron, I would gladly include this chapter in a revised edition of the book.]

Part 1. A Surreal Icon

In 1977, Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger published his breakthrough art book, H.R. Giger’s Necronomicon. Named after the infamous grimoire from the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, the cover featured a section from the painting The Spell IV (1977), an image that would come to be known as Giger’s Baphomet.

Leave it to Giger to create an image more bizarre than Lévi’s original. Giger’s Baphomet is a half human, half-goat wearing a mechanical mask and a harness around the shoulders and arms. Their breasts have become the heads of two babies sitting upon their lap, each bearing a hand grenade. Baphomet has a rifle for a phallus with snakes entwined around it, a perversion of the caduceus. A syringe hangs from their left arm, and their hairy hooves rest upon five skulls.

The most prominent feature of the painting is the head and wings of Baphomet. The base of the torch emerges from their skull, and it supports or penetrates the genitals of a naked, white-skinned woman. The woman bears a wand in each hand, and she stands in the form of a pentagram. Behind her is a white pentagram, and behind that figure is a black pentagram. The woman appears to be supported by the two horns and the black feathered wings of Baphomet.

For the record, Giger did actually create a separate painting titled Baphomet (after Eliphas Lévi) in 1975. In many ways, the piece looks like a simplified version of the Baphomet image that emerged two years later in Spell IV. Giger acknowledges the tarot connection popularized by Waite by inscribing “XV” at the top of the painting, the number of the Devil trump. On the opposite side of the two-page Baphomet section of the Necronomicon, Giger presents the inspiration for his painting, Lévi’s original Baphomet image and a page from Dogma and Ritual of High Magic that describes and defines the symbolism of that image. It also includes a rough sketch from 1975 of the head of Baphomet conjoined with the woman, the common thread between his two Baphomet paintings, an image immortalized as a medallion cast with the aid of Roland Christoph titled Baphomet 1977.

Giger’s book with Baphomet on the cover brought him even greater fame when it was noticed by director Ridley Scott, who had just signed on to direct the sci-fi horror movie Alien. Scott found the inspiration for the monster in a painting titled Necronom IV and hired Giger as a designer for the movie. Alien became an iconic film that spawned a number of successful sequels, and Giger won an Oscar for his contribution to the film.

Baphomet and the Planet Mercury

The initial connection between Baphomet and the planet Mercury comes from 17th century German Jesuit scholar and Christian Qabalist Athanasius Kircher. In Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1654), Kircher connected the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet with elements of Renaissance cosmology consisting of angels, planets, the elements, and other celestial and terrestrial concepts. In Kircher’s system, Mercury is attributed to the Hebrew letter Samekh,

Oedipus Aegyptiacus was an important book to Eliphas Lévi, who initially adopted Kircher’s attributions when he linked the Qabala to the tarot. In Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic, Lévi linked Kircher’s Hebrew letter attributions with the tarot trumps, connecting Samekh with the Devil trump. This was probably the primary reason for including the caduceus, the wand of Mercury, in the Baphomet image, though the symbolism of the caduceus in the Baphomet image is far more complicated.

The attribution of Mercury also shaped Lévi’s interpretations of the Devil trump: “The heaven of Mercury, occult science, magic, commerce, eloquence, mystery, moral strength.”[1] This is a significantly different interpretation than those presented by Court de Gébelin, Comte de Mellet, and Paul Christian, who thought The Devil trump represented Typhon;[2] declaring the tarot to be of Egyptian origin, each substituted Typhon for the Christian devil found in the Marseille trump, as Typhon was believed to be related to the Egyptian god Set. The implied interpretation was evil, malevolence, temptation, and corruption. Of Lévi’s interpretations, only “moral strength” appears to have any relation to the common malignant interpretations of the Devil trump, but only as a ward to the temptation and corruption commonly indicated by the presence of the Devil.

It wasn’t until the advent of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn at the end of the 19th century that the Devil trump received the more common and logical attribution of the Hebrew letter Ayin and zodiacal sign Capricorn. The fact that Lévi chose to include goat symbolism in the Baphomet image has led some to believe that he knew the correct attributions to the tarot but changed the order of the trumps to conceal this esoteric secret.

[1] Eliphas Lévi, Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic, 399.

[2] Paul Huson, Mystical Origins of the Tarot, 127.

Who is Baphomet?

Baphomet is the name of the idol supposedly worshipped by the Knights Templar, who were tried for heresy by a greedy French king at the beginning of the fourteenth century. “Baphomet” is a French corruption of “Mohammed,” which suggests that their inquisitors may have believed that the Templars were corrupted by Islam during their time in the Holy Land. No idols were ever found, but the name endured.

Baphomet is a magical image published by French occultist Eliphas Levi in the mid-nineteenth century, the frontispiece of the second volume of his magnum opus, Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic. Levi’s drawing represents the astral light, the ubiquitous and universal medium through which all magic is accomplished. An icon inspired by the alchemical androgynes of old, Baphomet also represents Azoth, the stone of the philosophers, formed from the harmonious combination of Salt (cube), Sulphur (goat), and Mercury (caduceus). Levi gave his icon a demonic appearance to conceal the mysteries it contains from those uninitiated in the occult sciences.

Baphomet is the Spirit of the Earth, the egregore of the element of Spirit within the Earth’s biosphere. Crowned with the torch of spirit and sitting on the cube of matter, they are the soul of our planet. A deity that came into being when animistic life first stirred, four billion years wise. Baphomet’s relationship with humanity has weakened as we have evolved, but human-caused climate change has compelled them to reemerge in our collective consciousness.

Baphomet is the Outsider, who operates outside the system of human society and culture to promote necessary change inside the system. Goat-headed, with cloven hooves and black wings, they bear the characteristics of the adversary of the system in Christian mythology. Baphomet favors those who choose to or are forced to live outside the system.

Baphomet is the Transmuter, the force of evolutionary change from which nothing can escape. Crowned with the pentagram of the five elements, over which they have dominion and in which is humanity’s salvation. They manipulate the elements through the powers of solve (dissolution) and coagula (coagulation).

Baphomet is an androgyne, not a he, nor a she, but a they. The caduceus that emerges between their legs is formed from the penis (rod) and the vagina/uterus (snakes). A deity with both male and female parts, they have an affinity for transgender and intersex folks. Baphomet represents the gender spectrum as opposed to the gender binary.

Baphomet is a modern Pagan manifestation of a primordial deity that has come forth to repair our dysfunctional relationship with our planet. An embodiment of transformation and balance, a herald of evolution and enlightenment, Baphomet is a wellspring of strength and wisdom for those who know Them. Hail Baphomet!

Upcoming Lectures: March

The Golden Dawn System of Initiation


Curious about the Golden Dawn?

Interested in the roots of ceremonial magick?

This lecture will examine the seven initiation rituals of the Golden Dawn to offer a general overview of this powerful and influential magical tradition.
Sunday, March 9

3:30-5:00 PM

Edge of the Circle Books

701 East Pike Street in Seattle
Lecture Fee: $10

Upcoming Lectures

Practical Egyptian Theurgy

 

Start off the new year with new gods!

Learn ancient and modern techniques of connecting

and conversing with Ancient Egyptian deities
Sunday, February 23

3:30-5:00 PM

Edge of the Circle Books

701 East Pike Street in Seattle
Lecture Fee: $10

_______________________________________________________________

The Golden Dawn System of Initiation
 

Curious about the Golden Dawn?

Interested in the roots of ceremonial magick?

This lecture will examine the seven initiation rituals of the Golden Dawn to offer a general overview of this powerful and influential magical tradition.
Sunday, March 9

3:30-5:00 PM

Edge of the Circle Books

701 East Pike Street in Seattle
Lecture Fee: $10

Notes on constructing an anontological Thelema

[I decided to end my experiments with anontological writing last fall, when I started working on a biography of Eliphas Lévi. However, I couldn’t let this little tidbit remain unpublished. I hope you enjoy it!]

The key verses in The Book of the Law that define the Law of Thelema contain many ontological verbs:

1.     Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. (AL I:40)

2.     There is no law beyond do what thou wilt. (AL III:60)

3.     Love is the Law, love under Will. (AL I:57)

4.     …thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.” (AL I:42-44)

5.     Every man and every woman is a star. (AL I:3)

How do we remove the ontologies and still keep the essential meaning? We translate these verses into v-prime by changing the “being” verbs to “doing” verbs.

We can shorten the first verse to simply Do what thou wilt. We first come across this statement in Rablais’ Gargantua as simply “Do what thou wilt”. Some Wiccan traditions already use an anontological version of this statement: “Do what thou wilt, lest ye harm none.”

The second statement, There is no law beyond do what thou wilt, essentially tells us nothing, using a distance metaphor to express the absolute nature of the Law stated in the first statement.

The rest of the verses easily lend themselves to anontological conversion:

1.     Do what thou wilt.

2.     Live the Law of Love under Will.

3.     …thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, achieves perfection in every way.

4.     Every man and every woman consists of a star.

One more transformation:

There is no god but man

becomes

I know no god but man.

The Mechanics of Sorcery

[An excerpt from my upcoming book, The Complete Conjuring Spirits.]

A General Theory of Sorcery

Two planes of existence make up the Universe, the Material plane and the Etheric plane. On the Material plane, the Universe manifests primarily as matter, the world perceived by the five senses, described as natural, solid, and objective. On the Etheric plane, the Universe manifests primarily as energy, usually beyond the normal perception of the five senses and described as supernatural, fluid, and subjective. These two planes coexist, with matter on the Material plane linked to energy on the Etheric plane.

Because of this link, changes in one plane of existence lead to changes in the other plane. However, sometimes you can change the fluid and subjective energy of the Etheric plane easier than you can change the solid and objective matter of the Material plane. Magick causes changes on the Material plane by manipulating and reshaping energy on the Etheric plane in conformity with your will. Ritual magick on the Material plane transforms your will into energy and launches it into the Etheric plane to do its work. Sorcery involves contacting spirits that live on the Etheric plane and asking them to do work for you in exchange for energy. Both ritual magick and sorcery require a transaction of energy; you give energy to get what you desire.

The Spiritual Continuum

An infinite number of spiritual entities live on the Etheric plane, but we don’t work with all of them. To understand why, we must examine the fundamental differences between spirits on the Etheric plane. Our Judeo-Christian culture conditions us to look at the Universe in terms of dualities such as black/white, light/dark, and good/evil, and this bias also colors the way we think about the spirit world. We may more accurately express the differences between spiritual entities inhabiting the Etheric plane within a continuum based on their complexity:

ComplexSimple

(Deities)                      (Sentient spirits)                      (Animist spirits)

The most complex spirits manifest as deities, goddesses and gods of myth with divine powers. For example, the god Poseidon has many myths that define him and describe his great power over water on both planes of existence. Animism gives all Material parts a corresponding spirit. The smallest bits of matter such as grains of sand and drops of water also have spirits attached to them, entities called animist spirits. The spirit of a drop of water has no real identity, its actions primarily determined by forces on the Material plane. Sentient spirits inhabit the vast realm between the two extremes, and include elementals, angels, planetary spirits, demonic spirits, and many others.

Active Belief Passive Belief

Another characteristic to consider concerns the nature of belief in the spirits, for belief provides them with energy. Deities receive power from the active belief of people on the Material plane and the lesser spirits of the Etheric plane. Animist spirits get their power primarily from passive belief in their Material characteristics. We actively believe in Poseidon by building temples, performing rituals, and offering prayers in his name. We passively believe in water, its properties and uses, and in its vital ability to sustain life.

The sentient spirits that sorcerers work with reside in the middle of these continuums, but special rules apply to the spirits near each end, so we’ll talk about them first.

Deities inhabit the complex end of the continuum. They have well-developed, multifaceted personalities and possess extraordinary abilities. We have complex myths and legends that describe how they interact with the rest of the world. Deities have a great deal of control over the energies and entities on the Etheric plane, and have the potential to cause large changes on the Material plane by orchestrating them on the Etheric plane.

As mentioned before, deities receive much of their power from their believers and servants, corporeal or otherwise. Belief equals energy, so the more people that believe in a deity, the more power it has at its disposal. Because of their powerful nature, we cannot evoke deities using the methods of sorcery; interaction with deities requires some form of theurgy.

The smallest animist spirits amass on the simple end of the continuum, the spirits of grains, whispers, drops, sparks, rays, and thoughts that form the building blocks of every spirit. Individually, they have little power; but when collected and combined into more cognizant, cohesive entities, they develop into sentient spirits, the spirits of elements, the spirits of everything. Many smaller spirits can also combine to form a larger spirit, much like millions of individual cells combine to form our bodies. Animist spirits may even combine to form deities; modern examples include James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis and Peter Carroll’s conception of Baphomet.[1]

Beyond a certain scale, spirits lack the cohesion and coherency required to interact with them. Thus the Ancient Greeks didn’t invent spirits for drops of water, but when water collected in pools, springs, and streams, they discovered Nereids, Naiads, and Undines.

Objective Identity

Everything on the Etheric plane has a Material counterpart, and sentient spirits all have a Material basis. Sentient spirits have an objective identity based on their manifestation on the Material plane in books, myths, and other common resources and experiences we share. The objective identity of a sentient spirit determines the general nature of the spirit; the subjective identity develops with personal experience.

A practically infinite number of sentient spirits inhabit the Etheric plane. However, three particular types of spirits have received the most attention in Western Esotericism: angelic spirits, demonic spirits, and Enochian entities. The basis of our relationship with these spirits depends on the strength of their objective identity.

Angelic spirits have a strong objective identity. They have played a prominent role in Judeo-Christian culture as messengers, protectors, punishers, and healers. Most people in Western culture know what angels look like, even those who do not believe in them, as we find angels not only in Biblical and apocryphal texts, but also in art and literature.

Archangels administrate the rest of the angelic spirits. Of all angels, only the Archangels possess names, well-defined characteristics, and specific abilities. Hermetic Qabalists assigned the most popular Archangels to the sephiroth of the Tree of Life and also gave them Elemental, Planetary and Zodiacal attributions.

Our extensive knowledge and lore concerning Archangels gives them a very strong objective identity. They generally appear as beautiful, fair-skinned, androgynous people who radiate divine light. They possess great wisdom and kindness, and have an innate desire to help humanity heal and perfect itself. You know what to expect when working with Archangels.

Goetic and other so called demonic spirits have a weaker objective identity than the Archangels.[2] The Goetia describes what the spirits look like and then lists the services they perform. However, experience shows that the actual appearance of Goetic spirits varies considerably from the descriptions, and the spirits have many abilities beyond those described in the Goetia.

Furthermore, sorcerers have very different experiences and relationships with the same Goetic spirit as they discover its subjective identity. One sorcerer may find a spirit friendly, while another may struggle to get the same spirit to do anything more than make condescending remarks. Not all will find Orobas agreeable, and Bael does not always act like the nasty demon of Christian mythology.

The challenge of working with Enochian spirits comes from the fact that they have almost no objective identity. They have an elemental nature, but no well-defined abilities or powers. As a result, sorcerers’ accounts of their subjective experiences with Enochian spirits often have little in common.

Enochian entities may appear and act in a strange or even alien manner. They often have difficulty understanding how the Material plane works, especially when you talk to entities further down in the Enochian hierarchy. It appears that their lack of objective identity also limits their understanding of concepts on the Material plane.

The Power of Names and Sigils

Naming something gives you power over it. The names of spirits form the basis of their objective identity; by identifying a spirit, you can interact with it.

Sometimes you may need to use additional names and titles to fully define the spirit you want to evoke. Run around a crowded public place yelling “Michael! Michael!” and more than a couple of heads will likely turn your way; yet none of them will answer to my full name. Likewise, when a sorcerer I once seered for called out, “I do invoke thee, Michael! Come forth and speak with me!” the Archangel Michael did not show up. The entity that appeared looked like an angel taken from the cover art of a 60′s psychedelic rock album. The conjurer quickly banished “Michael”—who didn’t have much to say anyway—and then specifically called forth the desired Archangel Michael.

The name of a spirit serves as a tool to verify its identity. Vibrating the name of a spirit strengthens and empowers it. If you demand that spirits state and sign their true names, they usually comply.

You can also use names to establish authority over a spirit. In the Enochian and Qabalistic hierarchies, naming spiritual superiors in the conjuration compels the spirit to appear and obey. The Judeo-Christian paradigm demonized many of the spirits of ancient cultures, so many grimoires often use names of Jehovah and his minions to compel spirits. If the names of Jehovah do not move you, do not use these pre-packaged conjurations. I suggest you write your own script instead, as conjurations energized by the power of personal beliefs have much more power.

Sigils create patterns of force on the Etheric plane that constrain and harness specific energies. Sigils represent a non-verbal Material link to Etheric inhabitants. However, simply drawing a sigil does not make it work; otherwise just even opening a book like the Goetia to the wrong page could have disastrous results. Activating a sigil on the Etheric plane through formal consecration or use in evocation makes the sigil function. Consecration involves performing a short ritual to magically link the spirit with its sigil. Using the sigil in a successful evocation also links the spirit with its sigil.

Others who gaze upon your activated sigils may accidentally and unconsciously form a link with the spirits they belong to, so you must keep your sigils away from prying eyes. The risk of accidental linkage increases with the sigils of demonic entities, which seem to enjoy finding new avenues of exploration and experience, often to the detriment of those who cannot readily perceive or control them.

Names and sigils form the core of practical grimoires, which function as phone books for inhabitants of the Etheric plane. If you can’t find a sigil to copy out of a book, you can always make your own. I use Word method given in Peter Carroll’s Liber Null to sigilize spirit names.[3] You can also create your own spirits (servitors) if so desired. This involves creating a name and sigil on the Material plane and then charging it with Etheric energy, launching the servitor into the Etheric plane to do its work.

Names have more power when spoken and written in their original languages; thus sigils will have more power when created from the letters or characters of their native languages. With this idea in mind, we can address a curious omission in the Enochian system, where only the Elemental Kings possess sigils. Using the Word method in conjunction with the Enochian alphabet, we can create strange but effective sigils for the rest of the entities in the Enochian system.

Motives for Evocation

Most sorcerers work with spirits to get assistance with personal and spiritual development. Archangels and Angelic spirits devote themselves to helping people develop and evolve. Enochian entities and other elemental spirits show interest in helping magicians achieve elemental balance. Working with demonic spirits often involves taking control of disruptive spirits working against you and convincing them to work with you for mutual benefit instead.

Spirits also benefit from sorcerous relationships. When we work with spirits, it strengthens their objective identities, helping them to grow and evolve. Many demonic spirits seem to have an objective identity crisis, which explains why they often demand so much attention and usually crave material rewards.

Other magicians get involved in sorcery to satisfy an innate curiosity, a desire for exploration, and a thirst for knowledge. Humanity has always possessed a keen interest in the Etheric plane and its inhabitants. Sorcery allows us to experience and interact with the normally hidden Etheric world that we live in. It also helps us understand how the Etheric plane functions and affects our lives.

This instinct for Etheric exploration has led many people to work with the Enochian system. In the twentieth century, the published rituals of the Golden Dawn revealed the great power of Enochian entities to a much broader audience. Experiences with the most accessible rituals (like the Opening by Watchtower) compelled many magicians to investigate the Enochian system in greater depth. The fact that they have almost no objective identity only seems to increase our interest in them.

Magicians also have practical reasons for using evocation instead of other forms of magick. The primary benefit comes from the fact that we can engage in complex interactions with spirits. Spirits can follow detailed instructions and complete complicated tasks that prove more difficult to accomplish using other methods of ceremonial magick. Spirits adapt better than spells to the unpredictable and chaotic situations encountered in modern urban life.

Sorcery also gives you a greater deal of control over your magical operations. If you change your mind about an operation and wish to end it, call up the spirit, tell it to stop, and give it something else to do. If an operation fails, call up the spirit to find out what went wrong and determine what needs to change to get things right. You may then instruct the spirit to work on its task until completed, or summon up another spirit to do the job.

[1] James Lovelock, The Ages of Gaia. rev.ed (New York: W.W. Norton, 1995); Peter J. Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut. (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1987), 156-161.

[2] Note that in the Judeo-Christian paradigm, “demonic” often means “not Christian.” Not all spirits labeled demons appear and act like mythical demons.

[3] Carroll, Liber Null & Psychonaut, 20-22.