I’ve noticed that there are a growing number of people who are interested in summoning spirits who have their backs against the wall with a serious problem. It seems the occult community and specialists in the spirit field like yours truly have been doing a good job of getting people educated on the subject yet these poor souls have yet to summon their first non-physical entity. What to do?
When the proverbial poo hits the fan is not the time to go summoning the spirit from a grimoire for your first time. Why? Well there are several reasons for this and the first is that you should try your first summoning when your mind is not distracted by the turmoil of whatever it is you need.
Necessity can cause anxiety and worry which can result in all sorts of problems with spirits especially ones that are mischievous and yes there are plenty who can be tagged with that one. It was often said to me by occult teachers over the years, “Always summon spirits while in a state of grace” which implies never in anger nor when you’re needy.
The next thing to consider is that spirits can read you just as easily as reading a book. When you are edgy, nervous or high strung due to being focused on problems in your life, spirits will know about this and can use this against you. Some of the more ornery spirits will use whatever advantage they can to screw with you for their entertainment and amusement.
It’s best to simply wait until the issue has been resolved OR begin your quest now, before things get out of hand, to summon a spirit and learn how this is done. Unfortunately most folks wait until the last moment and thus they’re over a barrel and the spirit knows they are. If you can, hold off or as I suggested, begin in earnest now.
The grimoires themselves paint a bleak picture of both the spirits and the magic they represent. The biggest reason for this is due to the fact that these grimoires were penned by hyper religious clergy men who were cloistered into monasteries during the medieval times. Obviously not all grimoires were written by clergy since some are considered forgeries but of those that were legitimate, have a very ecclesiastical leaning to them.
What you want may not be what you get from them but it will be what you asked for. Thus it is highly suggested you write down all that you desire and seek and read it aloud word for word so that you listen for any ambiguity or wiggle room that a nasty spirit may take and try to screw you with.
In fact, most of what you will ask for will probably be explained how for you to obtain using old fashioned sorcery and magic. Spirits don’t like to think they are our bitches and screaming Hebrew names of Yahweh at them will only serve to honk them off even more.
Your First Summoning
Instead of giving you lots of how-to-do material, I prefer to give you suggestions on who to summon for your first time. This is because all too often would be practitioners go ahead, choose a name at random and go at it willy nilly with nary a thought about it.
These are spiritual beings with a personality and their personality is an egotistical one like the one you have thus if you do not wish to honk them off, learn how to be polite and courteous yet ‘pleasantly persistent’ as they say.
Who should you summon? Well normally I suggest one of the elementals who reside in the elements as they tend to be easier to get in contact with and often their powers are fantastic in that they can do just about anything that a grimoire spirit can do.
My suggestion to Novices is to find out which element you harbor most in your Natal Astrology chart and then summon the ruler of that element. For instance, if you have a lot of earth, then I suggest you summon the ruler of the Gnomes, Queen Ghob. If you have more water in your chart, then Queen Nicksa; if fire, then King Djinn; if air, then King Paralda. These rules are more often than not very congenial to the sincere practitioner but they do not like the ones who simply summon just to settle their idle curiosities.
I started off with Ghob then did Nicksa, then Paralda then Djinn as I did them in order of the element’s density. *shrugs* It’s an old CM thing. I obtained familiars from all of the elemental rulers and was taught a great deal about each element and how to incorporate the element into every day life, not just magic and sorcery.
Now for grimoire spirits, it is hard to go wrong with Orobas of the 72 from the first book known as Goetia from the Lemegeton compilation. Orobas is known for his easy going nature and he will not allow other spirits to harass the karcist (re: magician/summoner). I would NOT go summoning any of the other 72 at this time until you’ve managed to find your sea legs in summoning. Orobas is a great start.
Another easy spirit to work with from the Goetia is Buer as he is a good healer and when the chips are down, who else do you want to work on you? I’ve worked with Buer on many cases and I can vouch for his efficacy and professionalism. He is class, all the way.
Finally, I had great luck summoning some of the spirits from 360 degree zones of the Earth ala Franz Bardon. You are going to find a slew of CM’s who are going to ridicule your decision to summon anything from the Bardon system. Resist the urge to pay attention to these slap-happy shit-for-brains. These spirits work and they will come when you summon them. No threats are necessary and the spirits handle a wide variety yet deeply individual sort of help. Well worth your time to delve into. Trust me on this.
Summoning Methods
I’m not going to go into HOW to summon since that subject is covered in detail by scads of authors most of whom are wannabe karcists. The bulk of the methods known today are post-modern magical methods that are post-1800 and found throughout the western world. There is a growing current of practitioners who seek to study the truly ancient ways of summoning and crafting items the way things were done prior to the 1800's going all the way back to ancient Thrace and it’s exciting.
The latter has more to do with funerary rites than one first understands. When reading the “Geosophia: The Argo of Magic” by Jake Stratton-Kent, one gets the idea that ancient man was not stupid when it came to harnessing the power of the Underworld for a few men knew just how to bring up the dead and then later how to summon forth more powerful beings and make them tow the line.
If you decide to step onto this path, then I highly suggest you obtain a copy of Aaron Leitch’s “Secrets of the Magical Grimoires” as it is a primer on the grimoires and gives you history and plenty of ideas as well as how to. This will be your baptism. Read this text not once, not twice but several times and take copious notes as well as use several highlighter pens.
The next books you’ll want to get are two, first by Dr. Stephen Skinner called “Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic” and then “The Greek Magical Papyri” by Hans Dieter Betz. These two books must be studied hand in hand, side by side to gain the most out of them. Dr. Skinner’s book will help you to decipher and understand Betz’s PGM manual which has tons of folklore, spells, incantations, rituals, formulas and so on, all of which is like candy to the sorcerer.
From the afore mentioned five books, (JSK’s Geosophia is a 2 volume set), you will find plenty to help you flesh out a worthwhile system that will give you everything you need to summon spirits effectively.
Modern methods are varied and range from lodge style systems which rely on pseudo-Masonic style ornate as well as dry oratory to memorize. Essentially it is “ritual drama” aka ritual plays and acting or as I like to call it L.A.R.P.ing for CM’s. (And yet many claim they get results with it).
Other modern methods include thEe KaOs MaGicK types who like to believe all they have to do is chant the spirit’s name and it comes. Well if they’re duly initiated in a valid tradition, perhaps but not from some psychological believing “kaos” paradigm. Now I have known a few Chaotes who were the real deal but they did not buy into the whole psychology = magic nonsense either. Rather they knew that spirits were real and they had to propitiate spirits on Their own terms not just give a spirit what they themselves believed worked like some stupid cum from masturbating onto the spirit’s seal.
Did I ever tell you about the Norwegian Chaote that contacted me some years ago and made claim that he had summoned the ancient Frost Giant god, Ymir by creating a sigil of Ymir’s name and then masturbating on it? Well he’s dead now.
Modern Grimoires?
There are a couple of ways for a Novice to get their feet wet and TRY summoning to see if this is really something they want to do or if it’s something they just want to give up and move on with their lives.
The first book is Frater Malak’s “Mystic Grimoire of Mighty Spells and Rituals” and it uses 12 seals of spirits and images of the four elements for use on an altar. Yes it is cheesy but the system does indeed work as I have used it myself in the past.
The second book is “The Miracle of the New Avatar Power” by Geoff Gray-Cobb and it does not use any spirit seals but rather by putting oneself into an altered state of consciousness and then using incantations to summon the desired beings from within the book. It also uses the Middle Pillar Ritual (called the Central Pillar Rite) as a position of power and it gives suggestions on using it magically.
Mind you, these modern grimoires are NOT accepted by the CM community so do NOT bring them up. Rather just investigate and experiment with them for yourself. You may find you like them. But even so they’re just go help you get your feet wet with summoning and that’s the name of the game.
In Summary
Who you choose to summon is far more important than how you summon them. In fact, how you talk to them is most important of all. You cannot summon a spirit with a personality and expect them to fall all over you as if you’re the prodigal son returning home, can you? No.
Employ some common sense and if you choose to use a system, even if it’s one of the ancient methods, be smart and follow the scholars who are also practitioners like Aaron Leitch and Jake Stratton-Kent instead of just buying how-to occult books from sheeple publishers who have nothing to offer you. If you go the modern route, I highly suggest you give the two books I mentioned a try first then try other methods.
References:
“Secrets of the Magical Grimoires” by Aaron Leitch (Llewellyn Publications; 2005)
“Geosophia: The Argo of Magic, Vols:1&2” by Jake Stratton-Kent (Scarlet Imprint; 2010)
“Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic” by Dr. Stephen Skinner (Llewellyn Publications; 2014)
‘The Mystic Grimoire of Mighty Spells and Rituals” by Frater Malak (Parker Publishing; 1978)
“The Miracle of the New Avatar Power” by Geoff Gray-Cobb (Parker Publishing; 1974)
Eye of the Sorcerer: Meanderings of a modern Sorcerer
