For a number of years, I used NAP as it was laid out in the book. Did the rituals precisely the way you’re supposed to and frankly the Central Pillar Rite was no big deal since I’d worked with the Middle Pillar Exercise by Regardie for a number years on my own. I found the CPR to be acceptable and worthwhile to perform as laid out in NAP calling on the various energy personalities.
How I got to summoning more than one Spirit for a project came as a result of my Candle Magic days. I was always a big fan of the involved candle workings as outline by practitioners like Henri Gamache, Buckland and even ol’ Anna Riva. Those rituals, if you study them, are based on using different colored candles with various anointed oils for different aspects of your ritual. Sometimes you want darkness to go away or an astral candle for you and an astral candle for each person involved in your problem.
Upon reflection, one day I realized that very few problems are really all that simplistic. The idea was not to make sorcerous matters complex and it’s foolish to try and attack a problem that has multiple variables to it with old fashioned thinking that a simple dart will hit the target. This is a reason why I think old time candle spells such as those using a single colored candle often fail for people. Their desire is such that there are a lot of factors to overcome.
In the older grimoires, Spirits are often listed with something like one to five specialties. That’s not to say that a Spirit that has one thing attributed to it, such as Marchosias who is a ‘strong fighter’ but that being a strong fighter is Marchosias’ strong point. He can do many other things than simply fight but when it comes to whooping ass, that is His specialty.
Some of the NAP spirits seem to be pigeonholed as well such as Nitika’s specialty is wealth; Elubatel’s is success; and so on. Thus when I was out of work, between apartments and just about broke, I decided an injection of old fashioned sorcery was in store here. Staying at my buddy’s house put me in a bind because I could not set up an altar, burn candles and such. Why? Well for one his wife was an “Attitude Born Again” (meaning she never went to church nor practiced her faith but perish forbid if anyone else had a differing opinion because her attitude changed and she was a ‘Born Again Xian’!) Another problem was my buddy and his family had pets that roamed the house and leaving unattended candles burning was a definite fire hazard.
I opted for using NAP since it did not require any sort of altar, candles, oils or anything other a clear goal and the time to practice. I needed a job fast and this job couldn't simply be one where I was just earning a check but rather it had to be one where I was getting benefits along with commissions, bonuses and the like. I wanted to be completely out of the financial hole so I decided on calling Elubatel first since I needed SUCCESS at getting employed again.
Thus on a Thursday evening after an intense hot shower, I performed the NAP relaxation ritual to get my mind and body relaxed. (Being tense only stymies your magical abilities) Then I performed the Central Pillar Rite, the Circulation ritual and then the Fountain ritual as laid out in the book and in that order. The relaxation ritual took me about seven minutes to do and the rituals after took me less than five minutes to complete.
Then slowly, clearly I read the incantation for Success which summoned Elubatel. In fact I read it three times in all. Then using my pendulum, I checked to see if the Spirit arrived. Once I was certain Elubatel was there, I spent a few minutes telling Him about my plight, how I got to where I was and my game plan to bring myself out of the depths of despair. I said I needed a job with X, Y & Z which needed to be local, obtainable and who wanted me. I also told Elubatel I may need some help with the hiring process since most likely the place would have tests to pass.
I dismissed Elubatel after I thanked Him for His visit. I promised that once I had my own place, I’d burn a candle in His honor and tell others about Him. Then I decided to summon Nitika (the same way as I did Elubatel) to help me with keeping me financially afloat while I was going through the job search and hiring process. Nitika was also informed that I would need help negotiating my new salary requirements so as to not leave money on the table. I too promised Nitika the same as I did for Elubatel. Then I shut myself down.
Within three weeks, after many tests, interviews and the like I was employed, on my way to a training center where I was going to be taught the equivalent of a university level course in advertising crammed into just a few short weeks of training. Though the Spirits were there helping me along the way. Mind you this was eight weeks of paid training, full benefits package, some perks and a generous commission structure. The spirits really came through for me!
[One of the reasons many practitioners fail at summoning Spirits is that they’re confused believing they need to do all sorts of shenanigans like memorize everything (though some key parts such as the Incantations to be used are helpful.) Also, a lot of practitioners desire to physically SEE the Spirits to confirm that they’re not playing make believe. What I usually tell Novices is to suspend belief for a moment then act as if the Spirits actually arrived, standing there (which They actually are even if you cannot see nor feel Them) then simply talk to the Spirits. Tell Them what troubles you and be humble enough in asking for help.]
The first week while job hunting, I was getting all sorts of road blocks from employers with crap like “We prefer people with a bachelor’s degree” and other such nonsense (for a typical, commissioned sales position!) So by adding the General Purpose Invocation the second week, I began to notice these stumbling blocks were being removed.
During the second week of my NAP experiment, I continued to finish with the General Purpose Invocation after the Success and Money Incantations asking the Spirits IAO Petahyah and Opiel for their assistance. This turned out to be an opportunity to have them help me weed through the unfortunate circumstances that often barred me from becoming employed with a desirable company. Such things could be an interviewer doesn't like your hair color, your weight, the style of your clothes, you don’t have a bachelor’s degree or some such thing.
By the third week, I finally got a solid lead with a company selling advertising that paid in the range I desired, was close to home, had paid training, salary plus commission, bonuses, perks and company paid half the benefits. (Impressive. Now to get hired!)
So I summoned Elubatel and told Him of the position, who I would interview with and the like. Later that night, I got a dream from Elubatel telling me to send out thank you cards. Well, in business you don’t send thank you cards for an interview BUT you CAN send a thank you letter. So I typed one up and took it with me. Upon leaving the interview, I asked the manager for one of his business cards and addressed the letter to him, typed up the envelope then mailed it that night at the post office. Needless to say he was impressed and later told me that I was the ONLY ONE out of the one-hundred and three who interviewed for the eight positions to be filled, to send a thank you letter! (Again the Spirits came through for me.)
In the meantime, Nitika saw to it that I was getting money from all sorts of weird and uncanny occurrences such as in one of my books, I found a book that I had used a $50 bill as a bookmark and totally forgot about it begin there. In a couple of other odd instances, one of my relative's friend's needed some skip tracing work done on some of his bad debt receivables; another acquaintance of his paid me to teach him how to better sell for his business. Money was coming steadily to me but nothing like I really wanted. Still Nitika was working overtime helping me stay afloat.
The spirits were really kicking ass for me! I had a great job, was making great money, out of debt, the future looked brighter than ever all thanks to working with Elubatel, Nitika, IAO Petahyah and Opiel.
What did this teach me? That summoning spirits does NOT have to be overly complex and complicated. Yes there are things you must do however with talent you can get spirits to do a lot for you especially spirits like this. I would hazard a guess that the spirits from books like this one, Mannings and Malak's have probably had more exposure to the public than classical grimoires.
I say this because Medieval grimoires were aimed at a certain audience which did not have a large group and even in subsequent years, can we really say that there’s been millions or even thousands of karcists who have summoned these NPE’s?
However Malak's, Manning's and Grey-Cobb's books were aimed at a mainstream, more general metaphysical, new age audience with thousands of copies of these books sold. Plus, some people who worked with these modern grimoire Spirits first eventually went on to study the older Medieval texts.
Eye of the Sorcerer: Meanderings of a modern Sorcerer
