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A collection of ConjureMan Ali's thoughts about magic, the occult, and spirituality.



Sunday, June 5, 2011

Evocation for the Purpose of Evocation

The concept of evoking a spirit into manfestation in all its varied forms is one that has sparked the fantasy of many a young mage. The idea of standing around with magical regalia, intoning exotic words from a mystical language, and having a disincarnate entity repond by showing up in your living room, is as close as some mages think they can get to Hollywood magic.

I know that with the evocations that I have performed that there have been some amazing effects. I've had spirits manifest to appearance beyond doubt in my mind, I've had the entirety of my garage (where I do evocation work) shake as if hit by a truck, I've had multi-color flashes spin around the room, and other wonderous things happen. Yet, I've also had evocations where such phenomenon did not take place and was forced to rely on more subtle senses.

Both of these evocation types were successes. Why? Because I did not measure their success according to fantastic, albeit cool, occurrances that took place during the ritual, but rather the result that manifested after the ritual--the result that I was seeking when I did the evocation.

People who attempt evocation seem entirely focused on what happens during the ritual; as if they were doing evocations solely for the purpose of doing them and seeing magical effects, not for a specific goal. In my opinion that is not the goal of magic, nor evocations.

When we call upon spirits it is to form partnerships for a specific goal. Would you contact a lawyer, or a doctor just to see if you can? Would you call a doctor's office and see if someone picks up? Or do you get in contact with such individuals so they can help you with a court case or to set up consultations about your health? Do you measure your success according to whether a mechanic responds to your telephone call, or according to your car being fixed?

The same logic should be applied to evocation. People have created this silly division between evocation and practical magick that is entirely at odds with the purpose of evocational magics in the first place. Look through the characteristics of the spirits in the grimoires and you'll see that each has a purpose. They can teach you things, help you accomplish objectives, and otherwise help you along towards your goals--tangible goals at that. In fact, it is oft-remarked that there are more spirits whose purpose is to find treasure, or to bring you the love a young lady than any other single goal. This is because the impetus for working with these spirits is one that is tied specifically to acheiving what the magus wants.

Now, I am not saying that all magical work should be about gettting money or find love. I am saying that magical practice, like evocation, should not be pursued as an end to itself, but rather it should be done with a goal in mind.

There is currently a group of mages in the blogsophere who have joined together to perform experiments and work with Jupiteran spirits. Why? For a specific goal of elevation career-wise, financial growth, and other benefits related to Jupiter. In my opinion, this exemplifies the natural impetus of how these spirits are meant to be worked with: a collaborative effort of spirit and man, experimental and experiential, aimed towards acheiving success, both materially, and spiritually.

It is time for evocation magics to take its place as a means of practical magic as it was always was meant to be.  

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