This is a topic I get asked about quite often.  Many people confuse the word “evocation” with the term “invocation”, using the two interchangeably to mean the same thing.  Unfortunately, however, the two terms are names for completely different techniques.  Let me explain.  To “invoke” something means you take it into yourself, whether it be energy, a spirit, or a deity.  To “evoke” something means to call it forth into your presence, so that it’s in the room with you, not inside of you.  Simply put, evocation is the art of summoning spirits. 

One of the most popular grimoires used in evocation is the Goetia, or Legemeton, also known as the Lesser Key of Solomon.  This book presents the reader with a list of 72 spirits, each with its own specialization and personality.  If you are looking into evocation for the first time, or have tried and failed and are looking for a few pointers to help you get the spirit there, I hope this article will help.  Keep in mind that I am assuming you already have a method in mind for the evocation (out of the grimoire or otherwise).

PSYCHE OR SPIRIT?

Now, before going any further, there are essentially two schools of thought on exactly what these spirits (or any spirits) are:

1)      Parts of the magickian’s psyche or

2)      Actual individual autonomous entities 

Personally, I am of the latter group.  Through my own experience, I believe that they are individual, autonomous spirits with distinct likes, dislikes and tastes, and not a part of the human mind.  Whichever school of thought you ascribe to, however, is irrelevant — it won’t affect the results of an evocation per se. 

BY-THE-BOOK METHOD

Near the end of the Goetia, a full system of calling forth these entities is given.  It is here where most people will stop and never attempt the summoning.  Not because of fear, mind you, but because the method outlined is really quite daunting.  And many of the supplies can be difficult to find, such as the lion skin girdle and genuine parchment. 

However, it is possible to obtain these items as prescribed in the book.  It may take some time and quite a bit of money, but it is possible.  And to be completely truthful, it is worthwhile.  Though much of the true meaning and intent behind the Goetia and other similar grimoires are veiled with clever wording and metaphor, successfully working the method listed in each respective book can be very rewarding.

And it is highly recommended that you attempt to work the grimoire’s method before moving on to attempt what I have to say in the next section, if only to give yourself a chance to try the summoning as it was meant to be.

Bear this in mind, too — when reading through the Goetia and other grimoires, it is made distinctly clear (or at least clearly implied) that the author has evoked these beings into physical manifestation, meaning that they were visible with the naked eye.  Most modern magickians will tell you that it is EXTREMELY rare to get a full physical manifestation.  It is far more likely for you to “see” or “hear” them in your mind’s eye than to see them with your physical eye. 

One thought behind this is that the amount of energy it requires for them to manifest physically is enormous, and very difficult for them to muster.  Another is that in our modern age, we are far more concerned with instant gratification, thereby taking short cuts in our preparations.  The short cuts I’m referring to are, for example, buying the ritual blade instead of forging it, purchasing parchment instead of slaughtering your own goat and making it, printing the demon’s seal instead of hand-painting or drawing it on quality fabric, etc.. By taking such short cuts, and therefore not putting the amount of intent, focus, and will into the entire working that the authors intended, the manifestation results are much less spectacular than the grimoire describes.

Nevertheless, as you will agree, I’m sure, results are what really matter; not how well you could physically see the spirit standing before you.  As one of my former teacher’s once put it, “Who cares if you see the Devil sporting Jimmy Hoffa on his back and running naked through your living room if your desires never come to pass?”  Besides, you will have plenty of other “signs,” I am sure.

A MORE “LEFT-HANDED” APPROACH

Those who take a right-handed approach to evocation may not like what I have to say next, but ah well.  I am not a right-hand mage.  Even if you decide to use the methods outlined in the grimoire you are working with, at least the first portion of the following should be of value to you.  

Now, I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”.  Keep that saying in mind as you read the rest of this article.

In the grimoires, the magickian is given a plethora of spirit chains, curses, and bindings, all designed as threats to the spirit as a means of forcing them to obey.  Some magickians labor under the idea that they have a “god-given right” to command these spirits, whom they believe God has placed “under their feet”.  I apologize if you are one of those who feel this way, but one doesn’t treat their dog in such a manner.  Why would you treat a spirit, who is infinitely more powerful than you, in this way, and from whom you are asking favors?  That has never made sense to me. 

I would never willingly grant boons to someone who mistreated, threatened, or cursed me.  I would not even react favorably to them.  Neither would you.  Neither will spirits.  Yes, there are magickians who have had results with those horribly degrading methods, but they are neither necessary nor are they the best way.  No one wants to be thought of as a jack-ass amongst his peers.  Treating spirits that way will result in your gaining that reputation amongst them as well.

Keep in mind, too, that the spirits are often pagan gods that were relegated by the authors of the grimoires to the station of “demon.”  You will also often find that the personality described by the authors is nothing like what you’ll experience.  Many of the spirits that are supposed to be the real nasty bad boys have turned out to be the nicest, sweetest entities I have worked with.  I really do think their reaction to you depends upon how you treat them from the get-go.

Now, let me present you with a scenario. 

Let’s say you are standing outside your local shops, window shopping and minding your own business.  Suddenly, a well-dressed stranger walks up to you and said, “Hey, I need to borrow $50 from you, and I expect it by tonight.”  The stranger then says “thank you” and walks away.  What would your reaction be? 

I’m pretty sure your reaction is going to be, “Excuse me?  Hell no, I’m not giving you $50!  I don’t even know you!”  That would be my reaction, I can tell you that.  And I’m certain the same applies to most other people, as well. 

Now consider this — when you evoke a spirit to ask it for assistance, you are putting yourself in the position of the well-dressed stranger.  The demon, daemon, or spirit you are calling is in your place in the above scenario.  Given your reaction to the stranger’s request, why should you expect a spirit, regardless of its type, one that you have never worked with or met, to simply obey your command just because you want it to?

Taking that same scenario again, replace the stranger with a friend who’s asking very politely for the $50.  How much more likely are you to give your friend the money?  I’d be willing to wager you’ll be a lot warmer to the idea than in the original situation.   

The same applies to spirits of all kinds.

If you don’t have a particular spirit in mind yet, look through the grimoire that you’re working out of, and read the description of each spirit listed there.  Do any catch your eye?  If so, choose of one of them to start with.  Chances are, if you feel some sort of connection from the description, you will have a much easier time during the evocation.

Before you actually perform your evocation, take some time to get to know the spirit that you intend to call.  This goes beyond just reading all you can about him or her.  Yes, reading what information you can find will help, but you really want to get acquainted with the spirit.

A good way to do this is to draw or trace (by hand) the sigil onto a piece of white fabric or a clean piece of paper.  DO NOT simply print the seal out on paper from your computer.  The action of drawing the seal by hand and the focus and energy you put into it will help connect you with the spirit.

Once you have the drawn sigil, for the next few nights, before you go to bed, hold it in your hands and ask the spirit to show you in dreams how you can best evoke it.  Ask it to tell you about itself, and let it know you want to get to know it.  Then, place the sigil under your pillow.  Keep close watch on your dreams for answers. 

For example, when I first did this with a spirit I work with very closely now, I dreamed I was sitting at a bar with a handsome dark-haired man.  As we chatted, he would tell me things he liked.  In this case, it was lavender, amethyst, almonds, and sweet grass.  Over the course of a few nights, I had a list of food, drink, scents, and other things that the spirit enjoyed, and was given ideas for adjustments to my ritual set-up that the spirit preferred. 

I would not do this for more than 4 or 5 nights in a row, however.  You may be sleeping, but that connection does slightly interfere with a good night’s rest.  It is not enough of an interference to be noticeable over the course of 5 days or so, but much longer and you will begin to notice a decline in sleep quality.

Another way of forging that connection and getting to know the spirit is to hold the sigil in your hands and meditate on it.  You may receive visions or even hear the spirit speaking to you.  Keeping the sigil on your person, in a pocket, etc., during the day will also help to connect you by getting you acclimated to the spirit’s energies.  In this way, you may get subtle messages during the day.  For example, you could be at the grocery store and suddenly the idea may pop into your head, “I should pick up blueberries.  <Spirit’s name> might like those.”

During the evocation itself, you will want to use what information you’ve gleaned.  If the spirit likes the incense arranged in a particular pattern, for example, try your best to set that up.  If you are using a triangle, you’ll want to place a glass of water, some sort of food and drink offering they like, along with the sigil or black mirror (if you use one).

By making the ritual space more attractive to the spirit, and by offering it things it likes, you’re making it much easier for the spirit to manifest and giving it a reason to show up in the first place.  I know I’m personally more willing to put in a personal appearance at someone’s home if the activities and food are going to include things I like, and I’m sure you’re the same way. 

Above all, please remember to treat the spirit with respect.  Commanding, binding and threatening are not respectful.  They are quite the opposite.  This entity is not only stronger than you, it is also far more intelligent and powerful than you.  They deserve the same amount of respect you would give any one of your friends and that you yourself expect to be treated with. 

CONFLICTS

One factor novice magickians sometimes fail to consider is that not all spirits will mesh with them.  You may get along fabulously with Buer, but you and Orobas just may not mix.  It’s no different in human relationships.  No one gets along with everyone, and there are spirits that are just not going to like you because your energy is distasteful to them.  Don’t take this personally.  It’s an energy thing.  If you find that you can’t get an entity to come no matter what you do or how much time and effort you’ve put into getting to know them, try another spirit.  It may be that you and that entity just wouldn’t get along. 

CONCLUSION

Some people find the idea of evocation quite frightening.  However, it really is a very rewarding experience, both for you and the entity involved.  They, for the most part, enjoy interacting with us, and we in turn are able to ask for help in matters we can’t handle alone.  It can be difficult, and even daunting, but with a little work and perseverance, you can successfully summon an entity into your presence.  I hope that this article has given you some ideas for doing so, and I wish you the best of luck. 

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.  I don’t mind answering them.

I am no stranger to magick or paganism, and I practice, and study, full time.  I have been a magickal practitioner for over 15 years.  I started out, as many of us do, with Wicca, and grew from there.  My practice and belief system have undergone so many overhauls that it would take a short novel to describe it all.  Let it suffice to say that I have experience in evocation, the Goetia and various grimoires, Ceremonial magick, Chaos magick, Natural magick, Green magick, Wiccan magick, Divination, Demonology, Necromancy and more, and have been walking the path of a priestess in Palo Mayombe for some time now.

After a lot of thought on what my first blog topic should be, I decided to go with a discussion on a very basic and very common debate amongst the magickal community — does magick have a “color” (ie – black or white)?   

One of the reasons I decided to go with this particular topic is that I have grown weary of such claims as, “I’m a thirteenth generation Wiccan White Witch, who practices only pure white magick”.  My reply to such a claim is simply this, “No, you are not.  Now please, go be silly somewhere else.”   

And since that statement has essentially two claims, I shall address the first claim… well, first.  

Now, before you go all “how dare you” on me, let me state that Wicca is a very honorable religion, and I have nothing against it.  But please keep in mind that Wicca has only really been around since the 1940s, when it was founded by Gerald Gardner after his claimed “initiation” into a group he called the New Forest Coven by one Dorothy Clutterbuck.  To this day, it is uncertain whether Ms. Clutterbuck ever actually influenced his magickal practices, but it is relatively sure that Edith Grimes, a woman he referred to as “Dafo”, did.  After Gardner’s publication of Witchcraft Today in 1949, Wicca became increasingly fashionable in England in the 1950s, until it exploded in popularity, thereby making its way across the globe.  

Yes, Gardner based his “Wica” (spelled with one “c”, not two) on Celtic paganism, but it was only a very small part of his creation.  He freely admitted that what he learned of the rituals were fragmentary in nature, and  so, as a member of the OTO and a Mason, he used his knowledge of ceremonial magick and Eastern philosophies, along with information he garnered on the Golden Dawn from his brief friendship with Aleister Crowley, to fill in the remainder.  

Therefore, with such a short history, it is impossible for anyone to be a sixth generation Wiccan, let alone a thirteenth generation one. 

Does this make Wicca valueless and fake?  Absolutely not.  It simply means that the basis for the belief system lies somewhere else, instead of where you may have originally thought it to be.   The Golden Dawn system, for example, founded in the 1880s, is a very real and viable system, and since Wicca can claim part of its origin from there, Wicca cannot be considered fake or made-up. 

BLACK VS. WHITE MAGICK 

Now, on to the idea of “pure white magick.”  I have to laugh every time I see someone use this phrase, because it really speaks of a lack of experience, or at the very least, a lack of research or real, solid magickal study.  Magick, in and of itself, really has no “color.”  You cannot even genuinely assign magick a color based on “intent.” 

I’ve seen far too many “fluffy bunnies” (ie – white-lighters, brand-spanking-new-out-of-the-box Wiccans, etc.) bandy the term “white magick” about as if it was some ethereal badge of honor.  They look down on anyone who practices any form of magick other than their own, and are appalled when someone does not agree with them.  They often brandish against those who walk a path free of ideals such as the “threefold law” and “karma,” branding them as “evil” or “wrong”, often seeing their own path as the “only way”. 

To give an example, a very close friend of mine, Jane, is a Voodou practitioner.  She in turn has a friend, Judith, who is an initiate in a Gardnerian Wiccan coven. Like myself, Jane has experience in Goetic evocation, and on occasion, will perform such an evocation to achieve whatever end she has in mind.  Judith, being inquisitive and relatively open-minded, has asked questions both on Voodou and evocation, because she is fascinated by the alternate belief system, and is slowly beginning to realize that what she once thought of as wrong was not so “evil” after all.  Upon speaking with her coven leader about the form of magick Jane uses, however, Judith was told to stay away from Jane, because “Jane is evil and uses a form of evil black magick.” 

I was utterly incredulous when I heard this.  Without knowing anything about Jane or what she  really practices, knowing only that she “evokes demons”, this coven leader had the audacity to attempt to break up a long standing friendship based upon her own ignorance and fear.  It is from this ignorance that the separation between white magick and black magick is born.  

Now, that being said, I myself am guilty of using those terms to quickly categorize a spell or ritual that I need to perform.  I have even, at one point or another, called myself a “black magickian” for the sake of explaining to someone what it is that I do, in order to get them to understand the difference between someone who believes all magick should be done for the greater good – without attempting harm, or even influencing someone else’s will – and someone like me, who believes magick should also benefit the practitioner or his/her client.   

Perhaps I take far too anthropological a view when it comes to black vs. white magick.  For example, I firmly believe that one cannot label a society who practices human sacrifice as “evil” because morals and rules are only valid within the society that creates them.  For such a culture, human sacrifice may be considered an honor; the most precious gift one can give to the gods.  As outsiders to such a society, we can disagree with it, we can simply not understand it, but we cannot designate that culture as “evil” because their practices and beliefs differ from our own culturally created moral values.  And the key term here is “culturally created”.   

Many practitioners who consider themselves on the “Right Hand Path” automatically label traditions such as Voodoo, Santeria, Palo, Demonology, and even certain forms of Ceremonial magick as “black magick” — something to be avoided at all costs.  But once again, this categorization is false.  Just because a tradition includes and does not forbid hexing or laying tricks does not make that tradition “evil.”  A person who does not believe in the “threefold law” is not automatically wrong — and indeed, the “threefold law” is NOT a universal principle, contrary to popular belief.  Many traditions do not include or ascribe to such an ideal. 

Many ceremonial magickians practice demonology — demonology here meaning the evocation and summoning of “daemons” listed in medieval grimoires such as the Goetia and the Grimorium Verum.  Such evocation is considered by some to be “black magick.” However, it is well known that many of the entities listed in those books are not “demons,” but are in reality old pagan gods!  Wiccans and other pagans will worship and acknowledge the fertility goddess Astarte, never once stopping to consider that the “evil” ceremonial magickian who calls on the demon Astaroth is working with the exact same entity.      

INTENT 

The same principle applies to the “intent” of magick and using that to determine whether it falls under the black or white category. Intent also is not a valid way of measuring “good” or “bad.”  Let me give you two scenarios here to explain what I mean. 

Scenario 1: 

Lily is looking for a new job.  She does the research, finds three employment prospects, and applies for them all, even though she is not quite qualified for all of them.  The following week, she’s called in for an interview for one of the positions that she didn’t have all the qualifications for.  Afterwards, she returns home, enthusiastic and hopeful, but thinking that a little magick might be good to help her chances of being hired.  Therefore, to help her land the job, she performs a 7-day employment spell designed to make her interview and application more attractive to the employer than any of the other candidates.  A few days later, she gets the happy news — she’s hired! 

Scenario 2: 

John’s ex-girlfriend has just broken up with him.  She’s not seeing anyone else at the moment, but she’s made it pretty clear it wasn’t working out between the two of them, and she was through.  John decides he’s going to use a love and lust spell to bring her back to him.  He performs the two spells simultaneously for 9 days.  Near the end of the 9 days, his ex-girlfriend returns, declares her love for him, and they begin dating again.  John is once again a happy man! 

Now, how would you categorize these two scenarios? 

Most people would say Scenario 1 was an example of white magick.  Lily’s intention was simply to get the job.  Her magick hurt no one, right?  She wasn’t trying to coerce anyone like John, who performed a black magick spell to get his ex-girlfriend.  Right?   

Perhaps.  Let’s look at that again, though.  Lily’s spell was (as are all employment spells) designed with a form of coercive intent.  Lily may not have realized it – most people don’t -  but she was performing a form of domination spell whose purpose was to influence her prospective boss’s decision.  How is that any different from John’s purpose?  

And was no one really hurt by Lily’s spell?  What about the other applicants who were more qualified but were overlooked due to Lily’s spell?  What if they were in dire need of employment because they were facing foreclosure on their home, and it was only Lily’s spell, not her personality or job experience, that knocked them out of the running?   

As you can see, intent is in no way relevant to the “color” of magick either.   

Superficially speaking, yes, coercive spells, hexes, necromantic or demonic ritual, etc., can be generically categorized as “black magick”, while healing spells, luck spells, love spells (that don’t target a specific person), etc., can be placed under the title “white magick”.  But these categories are generic.  They in no way are truly indicative of “good”, “evil”, “right” or “wrong” outside of personal opinion.  

Now the argument may turn to the fact that what if John now experiences repercussions of his magick?  What if he finds himself miserable with the return of his ex, and because of his magick, he can’t seem to get rid of her again?  Well, this is true, it can happen.  But what of Lily?  What if she finds herself in a position where her lack of qualifications leads her to being fired or having to quit because she cannot do the job?   

CONCLUSION 

In the end, magick is indeed truly colorless.  “Black magick” and “white magick” are nothing more than highly subjective terms that are only meaningful to the one using them.  Magick is not black, white or grey.  The intent of the magickian is also irrelevant, as intent is also substantially relative to opinion and belief system.