Michael Osiris Snuffin's Blog, page 2

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.

Anontological writing

I first learned of anontology from Peter Carroll’s PsyberMagick. I decided to perform antispell one and started writing my journals without using any “to be” verbs. I kept up the practice for a couple of months before reverting back to ontological writing. The process of translating and purging ontological statements interfered with my journaling; the magical record took precedence over the magical experiment.

Several years later, Peter Carroll’s Apophenion rekindled my interest in anontology. The section titled “The Metaphysics of Non-Being” made a lot of sense to me, and I started working in v-prime again, removing ontologies from orations in my ritual/spiritual work and eventually returning to anontological writing. I have found that anontological writing, while sometimes difficult to manage, does improve the clarity and accuracy of my work. As an editor, I’ve found anontological translation helpful for everything from restating awkward sentences to fortifying and clarifying theses.

So when Concrescent Press asked me to write a revised version of Conjuring Spirits, I didn’t just add new material—I rewrote the entire book in v-prime. I even edited the descriptions of the seventy-two spirits of the Goetia. I think anontological writing improved the overall quality of The Complete Conjuring Spirits; when the book finally comes out, you can tell me what you think.

The latest on CCS

Concrescent Press plans to release The Complete Conjuring Spirits this summer, date TBD. I wish I had more details to give you, but the publisher does not include me in the production loop. Concrescent missed the first two release dates they gave me for this book without offering an explanation or even acknowledgement of the fact, so don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile, I have other writing projects in the works…

Marking and protecting my territory

Over the last six months, I have done much reading and research on the Ancient Egyptians. I have focused on material written in the last twenty-five years, as some of my initial knowledge came from outdated sources such as Budge as well as occult orders that incorporated his work like the Golden Dawn. I have enjoyed my reeducation!

Last month, I created a simple boundary stele inspired by the Stele of king Peribsen. I learned enough about reading hieroglyphs to figure out how to properly spell my middle name, Osiris, simply by changing the determinative in the name from “god” to “man”. I affixed this piece to the fence outside my new home, marking my territory, and making it easier for visitors (and certain spirits) to locate me.

This week I finished my second piece, a winged disc, the symbol of protection found over the entrances to temples and pylons. I looked at a number of examples in museum catalogues and tomb photographs to determine the design and colors. After giving it a few coats of varnish to protect it from the elements, I installed it over my front door.

I think I’ll paint an offering stela as my next project. I have a number of Kemetic deities to thank! I have most of the offering formula put together in hieroglyphs; I still need to find epithets and titles to identify everyone, including myself.

Welcome to 2013! CCS update

Greetings, and welcome to the new year! I had my hands full last month, moving into a new home and dealing with the holiday madness. I love the serenity of January–always a good time to start new projects. I have a few things planned for 2013, but nothing in the immediate future. Time to read, write, research, and reflect.

The Complete Conjuring Spirits will not hit the shelves until mid-February, possibly in time for release at PantheaCon. (FYI: I have no plans to attend.) A book of this quality takes time to put together! When I know more, I’ll let you know.

Five Years of TC!

November marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of my first book, The Thoth Companion. Five years on the shelf! I’ve had my hands full preparing to move to a new home, but I didn’t want to let this little milestone slip by unnoticed.

This summer I purchased the Kindle edition of The Thoth Companion to check it out. (I tried to get a free copy of my own book, but that required communication between Amazon and my publisher…) I think Amazon did a good job of translating my book into electronic format, but the graphics impressed me the most. You can zoom in on the tarot images and make out most of the details, and these images appear larger on the Kindle than in the print edition—about the size of the actual cards. In essence, it puts a copy of the Thoth Deck on your Kindle. Nice! Now if they could only add some color…

Coming Soon: The Complete Conjuring Spirits

It pleases me to announce that the revised and expanded version of Conjuring Spirits will hit the shelves in December! To me, The Complete Conjuring Spirits feels more like a new book that just a simple revision; I completely rewrote and updated the text. I also added new material to The Complete Conjuring Spirits, including:

–An essay on the theory behind sorcery that examines how the spirit world works and how we interact with it.

–A new section on Archangelic evocation.

–The sigils and descriptions of the seventy-two spirits of the Goetia.

–A transcription of an evocation of RAAGIOSL, the Elemental King of Water.

The Complete Conjuring Spirits gives both practical instructions for evoking Archangelic, Goetic, and Watchtower (Enochian) entities and their corresponding grimoires all in one book! Please stay tuned—I‘ll let you know when I have more details.

The Thelemic Heptad: Local Cosmology

Modern astronomy trumps ancient astrology. The idea that the planets and stars influence or reflect events happening on Earth withers in the light of our current understanding of the Universe. The cosmological correlations of the Thelemic Heptad concern astronomical phenomena that have a direct effect on our lives:

Nuit: The Universe.

Horus: The Sun.

Thoth: The Moon.

Isis: The Living Earth.

Osiris: The Black Sun.

Maat: Order; Gravity.

Set: Chaos; Individuality.

Nuit: According to Nuit Theory, the Universe functions as a self-regulating living organism. Now consider our solar system as a single cell in the body of this infinitely large organism. When our Sun finally goes nova and destroys the solar system, do you think the Universe will notice? Do you notice when individual cells die within your own body? That would require an incredible amount of internal awareness, much more information than the human brain could possibly process. An organism the size of Nuit must therefore have a different form of sensory apparatus or consciousness that allows her to possess and process that level of awareness. In the Thelemic Heptad, the goddess Nuit specifically functions as an anthropomorphic interface for interacting with this Universal consciousness, providing us with a way to work with the unknowable.

Horus: It makes little sense to characterize the Sun (Horus) as the child of the Earth (Isis and Osiris). The Sun predates the Earth in cosmological history, and therefore represents Horus the Elder, the Horus of the Old Kingdom before the rise of the Heliopolitan myth. Our Sun provides the light and heat necessary for life to exist.

Thoth: Our Moon has no life and no light of its own; it reflects the light of the Sun, and the Earth’s shadow creates the phases of the Moon. The cold, barren rock of the Moon no longer serves as a proper symbol for Earthly fertility goddesses. The Ancient Egyptians connected the Moon with Thoth, recognizing that the regular phases of the Moon provided them with an accurate method of measuring time. The gravitational pull of the Moon gives the earth orbital stability; it creates tides and the four seasons, also methods of measuring time. The Moon’s synchronous rotation with the Earth means that the far side of the moon remains forever hidden from observers on the Earth’s surface, representative of hidden wisdom.

Isis: The deities and their cosmological counterparts in the Thelemic Heptad work together to sustain Isis, the goddess of the life force and the Earthly environment that protects and nourishes it. Humanity creates deities, etheric constructs that possess power in proportion to the number of people that believe in them, so in sustaining humanity, the Thelemic Heptad also protects their own existence. Isis represents nature, and rules over the living parts of the Earth: the crust, mantle, and atmosphere.

Osiris: The outer core of the Earth consists of iron and nickel liquefied by intense pressure and heat. The turbulent motion of the fluid core creates the Earth’s geomagnetic field, which protects our planet from harsh solar winds. The core of the Earth operates like a Black Sun, its hidden rays protecting life on the surface from the external Sun. Osiris rules the Black Sun, retaining his role as a chthonic deity associated with darkness and death as elements of transformation.

Maat: Order within the cosmos provides the stability and structure to keep everything functioning properly. Maat embodies the Anthropic principle; she balances the Sun, Moon, and Earth with laws and forces to maintain the conditions necessary for life to exist. In particular, she manifests as the force of gravity, which relates to her traditional rulership over truth, balance, and judgment.

Set: The ancients often characterized the relationship between Chaos and Order as a great battle, usually with Order as the protagonist. However, Chaos Theory, Complexity, and other modern scientific paradigms have shown that Chaos and Order actually work together to maintain the structure of the universe. Past orthodoxies have emphasized the destructive side of Chaos, often failing to realize its constructive aspects such as individuality, innovation, and evolution. Set represents this chaotic principle and governs the development of Hadit within every individual/star.

My Neopantheistic Adventure: The Thelemic Heptad

The Thelemic Heptad paradigm weaves together three important elements of my personal mythology: Thelema, a pre-Heliopolitan Egyptian pantheon, and modern cosmology. I have practiced Thelemic philosophy and magick for over fifteen years, so I chose to use Crowley’s The Book of the Law as inspiration for a new Thelemic pantheon.

The Thelemic Heptad consists of seven primary Egyptian deities loosely derived from The Book of the Law:

Nuit: Revealed in Chapter One.

Horus (Ra-Hoor-Khuit): Revealed in Chapter Three; the god of the third Aeon.

Set: Hadit manifests not as a god (AL II:23) but as the spark of divine individuality dwelling within each of us. The Temple of Set has reestablished Set as the deity that governs the development of that individual consciousness.

Maat: Identified as the goddess of the fourth Aeon (AL III:34).

Osiris: Mentioned in Chapter One (AL I:49); also the god of the second Aeon.

Isis: Mentioned in Chapter One (AL: I:22, 49); also the goddess of the first Aeon.

Thoth: Chapter Two includes a feast for Tahuti (AL: II:39) as one of the Thelemic feast days.

The Thelemic Heptad: Nuit, Set, Horus, Maat, Osiris, Isis, and Thoth.

In working with each of these deities in the past, I realized that the popular Heliopolitan myth puts them in a context that does not reflect my personal experiences. I prefer to draw from Predynastic and Old Kingdom mythology, which presents more realistic and balanced relationships between the deities. Most importantly, it restores Set and Horus to equal status within the Egyptian pantheon by disregarding the demonized Set and the awkward birth of Horus the Child.

Next: cosmological correlations.

Correcting selective evolution

The cosmologies of the Ordo Templi Orientis and the Temple of Set have their basis in selective evolution, where one deity of a pantheon evolves into a modern manifestation while the other deities retain their ancient identities, often becoming antagonists in the new pantheon. For example, as a symbol of the Thelemic Old Aeon and the Right-Hand Path, Osiris does not evolve; he simply becomes inferior and obsolete. This disingenuous comparison of evolved deities to their ancient relatives begs the question: if Horus and Set can evolve into modern, relevant manifestations, why can’t the other Egyptian deities? I think the Aeon of Maat will restore balance among the Egyptian deities by bringing them all up-to-date. In the last couple of years, I have started developing and working with modern evolutions of Egyptian deities, reinterpreted to reflect contemporary scientific knowledge of cosmology. I plan to share more about my experiences and results with this project in future posts.