So, you need to spend maybe twenty years with a Sufi! Not just any Sufi either. This is all as practical as an Abramelin Ritual, and besides how do you find a Sufi with this knowledge of spirits? There is a tradition in the East that ‘when the student is ready the Master appears’.
Spiritual Development is the Key
What is different about me that brings success in Goetic Invocation? I am not, nor have been, a member of a Lodge or Magical Order such as the Golden Dawn or the O.T.O.. From an early age I had a thirst for spiritual knowledge that took me through Yoga, the Eastern religions and beliefs onto the Western magical systems. That desire to know, to experience was maintained as I devoured spiritual books looking for answers. Twenty years ago that answer came in the form of a Sufi Master. Forget all notions of what a Sufi should look like, and what he would say. This man lived in a world where everything was caused by spirits – animism.
Strange things happened all the time, when I was with him, and when I wasn’t. I was expected to figure it out myself, trying to understand the onslaught of spiritual experiences that would happen at all times of the day and night. It was never discussed with him, but I was under no doubt that they came from the intervention of ‘spirits’. Very often I had ‘spirit problems’, which he would fix. We never talked about the name or nature of these spirits, or the spirit that was affecting me. Over the years I began to find answers to what was happening to me, not in Sufi literature, but in the Golden Dawn books, Enochian, and the writings of Aleister Crowley. Now, I am not saying that Sufism is in any way the same or similar to the Western occult tradition. Far from it. What I can say is that I understood my experiences through the language and symbolism of Western Magic. In other words, I was given the experience, and later, sometimes months or even years later I was able to understand that experience. Within this milieu the occasional Goetic spirit would visit – I suspect there were far more visitations, but I probably knew nothing about Goetic spirits at the time.
Requirement of Power and Energy
Without power, without energy, the magician will never be able to work effectively with spirits. Knowledge is equally important. My studies of the occult have benefited me in so many ways over the years.
While I was writing “The Tarot and the Magus”. This book was intended to be an introduction to the Golden Dawn divination techniques using the Tarot. In the process I spent nearly two months studying the same sequence of cards. Somehow this study created a resonance with a mysterious group of Spirits associated with the Tarot, whom Crowley wrote about in Liber 231. Again, I have had the odd contact with them over the years since reading Kenneth Grant and Linda Falorio, but this time all 22 of them appeared at once.
Knowing that almost nothing was known about these spirits, I did not get too excited, but within a few weeks, some Goetic spirits appeared; they were anxious to tell me that they were related to the Liber 231 spirits and I should not forget them! At the time I was writing this book for beginners on the subject of Tarot and divination, but over the next few months I could not ignore these delightful spirits – they are great fun, and the experience is usually quite blissful, nothing like their sinister reputation. With the guidance of these spirits I began to uncover the magical and spiritual techniques hidden within Golden Dawn teachings and Crowley’s writings – not only that, but my publisher was happy for me to include them in my ‘beginners’ book.
Magic needs Energy
In the past, the focus on Magic was on knowledge – magicians believed that mere knowledge of the names of Spirits gave them power over these spirits. Since knowledge is power, great efforts were made to ensure the general population did not know these names. Similar things happened in religion, where the translation of the Bible from Latin into English and other common languages marked the beginning of the end of the power of organized priesthood. These secrets were jealously guarded.
Today, not only are the names of the spirits easy to find, but we also know the magical rituals and techniques practiced by the Golden Dawn and other occult institutions. The fact is that Eliphas Levi, MacGregor Mathers, Dion Fortune, and Aleister Crowley have not been surpassed. Talented individuals will always do well in Magic, but could they have been better?
While the time taken for contact with one’s Holy Guardian Angel could take longer than the formal period of six months required by the Abramelin Ritual, the modern magician will be working towards this goal simply by going about ordinary life, studying magic. Health and energy levels will be up, psychic defences will be stronger, and magical powers will increase.
We have gone from an outdated method of uncertain value and limited benefit at cost to the health of the magician, to the situation today with crystals where the magician has the choice of two methods: