Hands-On Chaos Magic: Reality Manipulation through the Ovayki Current - Andrieh Vitimus 2009

Evocation Level II: I Got the Powerup Mushroom

Your Aura as the Circle

After a few tries with evocation using the circle and empowering it, let's try another technique. First, we have previously done some experimentation with "shifting" the feeling of our psychic shield. We used variations with auric shifting for many different uses. Both the direct work with the aura and banishing has the effect of strengthening your aura. Many magicians on the Internet will claim that a formal circle is not needed in magical operations (particularly Goetic work). However, other paradigms will use a cleansing bath, protection talismans, oils, etc. In each case, these techniques might not be needed. Some magicians will claim that your aura does act as your personal protection. From my experience, there is some validity to that idea.

We have been practicing shifting the aura and flooding the bubble around us with various types of energy. In the shapeshifting exercise, we started to play around with the aura as something we can meld and work with. In many banishing and cleansing rituals, there is a component to strengthen the aura. In our practice examples, we worked on creating a bubble or psychic shield around ourselves. We flooded it with different types of energy. The psychic shield in some ways will mimic the type of energy we project into it.

One way to look at the psychic shield is that each working or exercise we do to strengthen it adds another layer to your personal barrier. Another way to look at the personal shielding in magical work is that it is your ability to reject a state of mind that might be counterproductive. What I mean by this is that your ability to shift states of mind can control your state of mind despite deep trance. If you have a well-developed ability to say no and mean it, which is something we practiced, an entity really cannot attach to you or affect you. The real problem when entities attach to people is not that they will hurt them. (Not all entities will hurt people, and some really do have well-meaning intentions.) The problem is that the open link allows the entities or concepts to influence people's subconscious without their knowledge. During invocations, clearly these individuals know that the entities can and might influence them (which is often the point). The potential is there for an entity to influence someone doing an evocation.

In some ways, containment fields let the subconscious mind know that the entity created cannot latch on and control your behavior outside of the ritual constraints. In some ways it is a sleight of mind and a limiting belief (although in this case it is a good belief). It is a method to train and teach the subconscious mind not to allow the entity to have influence over you outside of the working. The subconscious mind really does not have a sense of where you end and an "external" or evoked concept begins. The illusion of the ego creates that sense of start and end based on your experience.

In practical terms, redoing the "no" exercises, banishing, and redoing the shielding exercises will help to strengthen your will until a formal evocation circle or protective talismans are not needed. In addition, you can visualize and feel the bubble you have created as an extremely intense sphere of blue flames, as is traditional in ceremonial magic. Another technique is to get into a trance state for a good twenty to thirty minutes and just visualize a rock-hard bubble around you that deflects anything coming toward you. Doing this visualization one time might have a small impact. Doing these types of visualizations a hundred or a thousand times will make a huge impact that you will be able to feel when you do a magical working.

Again, I want to stress the lesson we learned with the "no" game. An entity, concept, person, or even situation cannot change or take your energy unless you allow that process to affect you. You can tell yourself NO and mean it, especially when you are reacting in a counterproductive way. The counterproductive state of mind could be debilitating fear in front of something you have evoked, or in front of an attractive female (or male) that you would like to ask out. Ultimately, when you say no to a reaction and maintain control, it is unlikely that an entity would be able to penetrate into your head. Of course, in many cases, we want what we are calling forth to have some link with us, but discretionary use of "NO" will stop it when it gets out of hand.

Without a circle, we do have to make sure to cleanse ourselves after a working. This is almost always achieved with a banishing, but an herbal bath, smudging, etc., could also achieve the result. Not everyone takes this extra step, but even if you personally have a well-developed auric shell, the residue of a working could resonate on the outer edges of the auric shell. As with other techniques, this could be a good idea or a bad idea, depending on what you are trying to do.

Stacking Invocations and Evocations

In many magical operations, invocation is used with evocation. Stacking invocations helps with an evocation in several ways. First, stacking invocations builds deeper and deeper levels of trance state. Second, performing an invocation sidesteps the psychic censor, since it is not the magician doing the summoning, it is the other entity. We covered that point earlier. In addition, invoking a power before the start of an evocation floods the aura with the entity's energy. It gives the magician some sense that another entity will protect him or her. Whether or not there is an entity protecting the magician at that point in time doesn't matter, because the subconscious mind believes it.

In a very practical way, this allows you, as the magician, to temper and control an evoked concept in a different way. When we performed sigil magic, we used an example of evoking a divinatory energy to guide the manifestation of a sigil. Likewise, you can invoke a concept or entity to temper the choices that an evoked entity will make while working on your behalf. This is not a direct tempering, but more happens with the resonances set up by your invocation and then evocation. Of course, you could invoke a state of mind, an emotion, a memory, a divinatory state, or any combination therein without an entity and then perform the evocation. This is very similar to what we were doing when we stacked an invocation with sigil magic. Essentially, we are taking on a state of consciousness (or energy pattern or combination of patterns), and then projecting and imagining a different state of consciousness (or energy pattern) in the evoked space while in a deep enough trance state to not question whether or not it is real. When you come down to it, most evocations can be reduced to that basic concept (with a lot of fun trappings). Of course, some of the success of an evocation will depend on what type of relationship you have with the part of yourself, the concept, or the spirit you are calling forth. It is quite possible that that state of consciousness might object.

Are All of the Protection Aspects Necessary?

The questions of how much protection is necessary and how much equipment is needed are best left for you, the reader, to answer. To spur on the discussion, however, once you have a relationship with a spirit, it may be possible to merely evoke it in a single point without any containment. I have done this type of work with some success. Think about the energy balls: once they were willed together, they stayed together. If you were to do an invocation, project the energy, and then condense the energy into a form conducive for an entity, what would the result be? What if you then proceeded to continue charging the created form with the information and energy of the entity (a.k.a. the sensory data we associated with that entity)? Would that produce results as an evocation? Try it out, and write down what you think.

Different Containment Fields

Although it is beyond the scope of this adventure, almost anything can be used as a focus point (or containment field), from a four-dimensional cube (tesseract) to a transmutation circle from the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. If we think of the "containment" field as a focus point for the ritual, even an altar can be the "field" The important idea is not the particular symbol, but the meaning that the symbol has for you. I find that a triangle is simple and does the job.

At times, the containment field is not bound and truly is only a focus point. This is the method of evocation I usually use when I am calling a friendly spirit in for assistance with a candle spell or herbal spell. In these types of workings, I actually enjoy using a spirit circle that is uncharged, since it is for a friendly spirit.

If we shift our view of the focus point slightly, it will open more possibilities. What if the containment field were a geometric design that could channel multiple evocations into one central location, and that geometric focus point were actually part of the ritual? Buddhist mandalas can act this way. The containment field can act as an amplification and support of a working. Try doing a working with a focus point that is in the pattern of a crop circle, or do a focus point using a more complex pattern. I have done workings in which the focus point was at the center of a Fibonacci spiral, and within the spirit circle I had placed a full Fibonacci curve.

One can merely watch Fullmetal Alchemist to get some ideas on the use of geometric patterns. Does it matter that it's a fictional paradigm?

Practical Containment Field Example: Spirit Trap

This is a technique to make a sorcerer's trap for spirits you don't want bothering you but might want to have serve you for a little while. Of course, for this to work, you have to assume that the spirits are real for the duration of the ritual. Let's say you have a problem, and you have attributed this problem to a spirit bothering you (or you make yourself believe that the problem is due to a spirit bothering you-often that belief is enough to make this ritual work).

At first, this ritual framework is a highly effective tool, but it does play with the idea of what a "containment" field is. In this example, you need a glass bottle with a cap. I have found that the bottles from Pier 1 work well, but a wine bottle will also work if you save the cork. You should paint the bottle with symbols of protection or spirits that you have a relationship with, which will act on your behalf. I will often sigilize an intent such as "Let no force pass through this bottle" Now, you could combine a sigil with an herbal rub that you have found correspondences with (containing protective or blocking herbs) to enhance the containment idea of the bottle.

At this point, I will charge the bottle with the cap closed, focusing by imagining that I am projecting the energy into the glass and cap itself (not the inside of the bottle). One way I do this is to chant the sigilized mantra while staring at the sigil and pushing energy into the glass itself. I may combine this with rapid breathing and then visualize the glass as "glowing" or feel that the glass itself will become heavier. This feeling may be entirely different for you, but the important aspect is to focus on the bottle and imagine pushing energy (as we have practiced with the flow game) directly into the glass itself. If you are working with spiritual entities, or other protective symbols, the procedure is the same. You have to charge the glass with the entity's or symbol's essence. We practiced doing this in a number of different forms in the invocation chapter.

After I have the protective sigils on the bottle, I will paint the bottle a solid color to cover up the protective seals on it and make it look like a normal bottle. It is possible to use the bottle even when you have an entity bothering you but can't scry out a name because it is resisting being controlled.

The working from here is relatively simple. Clear your mind and relax (but don't banish). After you are relaxed and in a trance state, charge some rum (or another alcoholic beverage that has a high alcohol content) with your energy by sitting and using the energy flow exercise. Pour about a shot of the energy-charged rum into the bottle, and keep the cap off of the bottle. It is very important to stay in a trance state while doing this. Place the bottle in front of you within arm's reach. If you feel uncomfortable with the strength of your aura, draw a circle around yourself with chalk or some other powder (and charge the circle) before placing the bottle in front of you. If you are using a circle, the bottle should be placed outside the circle.

At this point, you should still be in a deep trance state where you are not questioning the validity of the experience. Offer the charged rum as an offering to buy off the spirit. Extol out loud how great the spirit is and how you couldn't possibly defend yourself. Claim you are making a sacrifice to get a moment of peace. You have to let your thoughts reflect a state of mind that is generally submissive and truly make an offering. Sometimes you have to add your personal blood to the rum mixture to really get the desired results. Use your intuition during a meditative state while thinking about making offerings to the spirit involved. Intuitively, you might feel like you have to add a few more herbs to the bottle to make the spirit happier. Remember, the key is the submissive mental state and a willingness to make the spirit happier.

At this point, continue while you are in a trance state to extol the virtues of the spirit you believe is tormenting or bothering you. Keep uttering praise until you can imagine through all your senses that the presence has arrived. Keep extolling the virtues of the spirit while offering the rum (and other ingredients) as an offering for a moment's peace. Try to piece together a clear feeling, form, or even a smell for the spirit. Since before this point you might not have been able to get a clear impression, try to add as many sensory details to the spirit as possible, until you have a clear idea and link to the spirit. Imagine, see, feel, hear, and even smell the spirit going into the bottle to get its offering. Imagine that it is like a fly going into the bottle as you continue to praise the spirit for the fine job it has done tormenting you. As soon as you sense that the spirit is in the bottle, cap the bottle. Repeat the protective elements you did earlier to make the bottle a containment field. Once the cap is on the bottle, you have a focus point to communicate with. I will often seal the bottle with wax while doing my sealing incantations and energy work. I have also used straight brute force and willed spirits into the bottle using the five senses to imagine whipping them into it. This takes a little more practice, but it is possible.

At this point, you are in a much better position to negotiate. Seal the bottle with wax, and if you used an herbal rub for the bottle, re-rub the bottle with the herbs. My experience with this technique is that at first the spirit is rather pissed off, and you can definitely get that vibe. You can tell the spirit that you won't let it out of the bottle until it promises to work for you and gives you a name or sigil that you can use to control it. If you are choosing to go that route, tell the entity that you are going to put the bottle away for a month and then talk to the entity after it has had some time to calm down. After a month, demand a name or sigil to control the entity. Try to negotiate with the spirit, since honey will generally get more results than vinegar. Even if this is a part of yourself, if the spirit believes that you won't destroy it and will feed it, it generally will be willing to negotiate, but the implied threat that you could destroy it has to be there. Of course, if you are completely abusive, it may retaliate. If the spirit is still uncooperative, allow it to stew in the bottle for even longer, repeating the bottle-sealing mantra you recited earlier.

If you don't really want to work with the spirit, throw the bottle (make sure it is a strong bottle, and well bound and sealed with wax) into a moving river or salt water (both have associations with cleans ing negativity) away from your house. If the spirit gets out, it is still in areas associated with cleansing. Merely toss the spirit into the water and walk away without looking back. Understand that whatever problem you had is now completely gone.

You can convince yourself that any psychological issue is caused by a spirit. Most of the time, the only way we know a spirit is involved is generally through our perceptions. By extolling the spirit, even if it is a part of ourselves, we are giving the issue the power to take form (and thus allowing our subconscious mind to give the problem form). If it is a "real" spirit, we can trap it, and if it wasn't a real spirit but we stayed in trance throughout the exercise, it is a "real" spirit to us, so we can trap it. We allow our minds to give it form and then work with the construct.

Generally, after a long enough time, I have found that most spirits are willing to negotiate. Sometimes I have thought initially that the issue was completely internal, but I shifted my belief about a situation so I could move the issue into this model and work with it externally. Likewise, on other occasions, I have had something that I thought was an external issue and changed my belief about the situation so that it was just an internal issue that I could work on using some of earlier exercises. Remember, the goal is results and using whatever achieves those results.

After you have done this a few times, you can try to do this by merely visualizing a bottle and then throwing that visualized bottle into a river with the entrapped "spirit" inside.

Practical Example: Elemental Working

In many sources, the pentagram is the symbol that is used to convey the connection of the elemental forces of the world. However, an alternate way to display this is as a wheel (pictured in the following illustration).

Now, if you notice the figure above, each element has a part in the mandala. The symbols for each of the elements correspond to the sides with the graphical representations of those elements. The top of the circle is earth. The right side of the circle is air. The bottom of the circle is fire, and the left side of the circle is water. The bars that connect the elements contain different symbolic representations from different systems for each element. Through our exercises, you may have made personal symbols for each element that you could use.

I prefer this representation of the elements, since it allows me to do more interesting ritual designs with those elemental forces. First, I will trace out the lines, adding energy and empowering the "circle" lines and straight lines. My goal is to create a containment system while pushing the energy into the diagram. The containment system is not to bind the energies, but to have a place so all the energies can congeal into a solid spell. So in a way, this is a very complicated focus point I am working with (however, you will see why symbolically it works well for me). In a pinch, I have found that only the outer circle and inner "beams" to the inner circle are needed to work with the symbol, but drawing out the entire circle is often very meditative and beautiful.

When I draw out the full elemental cross, I will leave the inner circle with eight parts off the wheel and replace this with a sigil inside the inner circle that incorporates my desire (as we did in the sigil chapter). I will create a mantra to represent that desire as well. When I have experimented with this, I will sometimes replace the elemental symbols with the symbols I created for the elemental kings, also listed in The Magician's Companion (Whitcomb 1993). You can substitute whatever elemental powers will work for you (from demonic prince to angelic prince to god forms). Keep in mind that different substitutions will have very different feelings in the ritual itself.

At each part of the circle, I will perform a full evocation of each elemental king, requesting that he carry out my desire encapsulated into the sigil. I have used this method to charge talismans as well (telling the entities to empower my talisman). The way I like to think of this style of working is that the "desired result" is supported by the pillar of each of the elements. For the purposes of the ritual, the circle represents the universe. To congeal the energies, I will finish off by staring at the central sigil and chanting my mantra, pushing energy at my sigil until I feel that the energies congeal and birth my spell. When I feel the spell is done, I will ask the elemental powers to carry out my will, thank them, and give them license to depart. I will then banish.

You might correctly point out that you do not need to summon spirits and command or request them to carry out the intent inscribed in the center of the diagram. You practiced producing energy of each elemental type and could project that energy for each direction instead of performing an evocation. Additionally, you could do this ritual with a group of participants. This is symbolically very close to the idea of casting a circle, but instead the constrained universe is much smaller. I personally find it easier to see and work with.

This is not a traditional method of working with the elements; however, it has worked for me in the past and does give you, the reader, some ideas to expand your magical techniques. The idea of presenting this is not so that you will copy my ritual exactly, but to open the door to possibilities. In this ritual, my logic was that the elemental energies would rush in and support the center intent with multiple linked evocations. Of course, this logic could be applied to many different systems. A planetary working might use each of the planetary energies or entities drawn in a star to support an intent. Really, if you can conceive of a diagram that channels the working in the way you want the working to go, and you get results from that diagram, it is correct for you. Any metaphor you can come up with to describe how a magical operation might work is a valid subject to test. Results again trump all (if you can repeat the results, it is right for you).

Sympathetic Magic and Evocation

In the sympathetic magic and link chapters of our adventure, we projected different energies through a link to see what the impact would be. Additionally, we used sympathetic links to cast sigil magic or to influence another individual. We can also use a sympathetic link with evocation.

While the sympathetic link does act like a two-way communication stream, once the link is established through the methods we practiced earlier, we can limit the stream of the link to basically one direction. In a way, the methods are similar to what we were doing with evocation. In evocation, we had a link to a spirit, but via the protections set up in ritual space, we projected out that energy without having energy "seep" back to us. Likewise, if the link was enclosed within a containment field with protections (even if it was just an aura hardening), we could project energy into the link without that energy seeping back to us. Even with healing work, this provides for a much more efficient use of energy.

Carrying the idea a step further, if we already have the needed focus points and area to contain the energy, we could just perform a full evocation over a sympathetic link and instruct the spirit to carry out the desired intent, using the link as the target to the situation, person, place, or idea. Once the link is established, we are essentially surrounding the end target of the link with the information and energy of an intelligence that doesn't seep back to us due to the containment setup. I will often do this style of working with a circle as my containment field. At the end of the ritual, I will usually visualize and imagine my energy forcefully pushing the entity and energy down into the link (as we did with the flow games, but this time more directed). When I am actually touching the circle, I will see, feel, and imagine that the link is completely severed by seeing, feeling, and imagining my energy spread across the circle like a thick disk, in the same way that we practiced strengthening our aura (as well as making the various statues). I have pushed the entity down through the link and have effectively banished the spirit circle. At this point, I will close off with a banishing by laughter or by some other means.

In a way, this idea is very similar to what we have already done with the added steps of placing the ritual in a containment field. Of course, we don't necessarily have to use an entity. Any projected energy will work once you have the link established and empowered. "Shotgunning" the energy down the sympathetic link just helps to finish off the ritual and adds a good, final spike to it. As another aside, we could do multiple evocations and then push the mixture of evoked spirits in a containment field down the sympathetic link. You could use the techniques to work sympathetically on yourself or on a part of yourself that you have mapped out and wish to work on. I leave how to do that as an exercise for you to figure out (of course, remembering the "Shards of the Self" chapter will help you). Remember, you can have a sympathetic link to a situation, to yourself, to a person, or even to an idea. I encourage you to experiment and play.

Push/Pull, Invoke/Evoke Group Work

The idea is relatively simple. One person invokes a spirit while all other members evoke the spirit into the same space as the person invoking the spirit. This technique is a very common way to do invocation rites.

Neither component of this technique is very different from other parts of our adventure. However, this technique does put together the components in a slightly different way. Essentially, instead of a bottle, triangle, or complex diagram, the person doing the invocation is essentially binding the spirit inside, so that the spirit can talk or work through him or her. Now, in paradigms such as Vodou, there is a culture that supports and promotes the idea of possession. Aspiring groups of magicians can use this technique to help cause someone to have a deep invocation with any spirit or concept, even if that concept may be relatively foreign to the individual.

This type of pushing-and-pulling exercise makes perfect sense from an energy point of view. As a person is taking an internal mental state in line with the pattern of the energies, the other participants are trying to force this pattern down into the person at a rate much higher than that individual might be able to pull the force into himself or herself. If the person invoking the spirit can completely relax and go into a trance state, that person can resonate with a particular entity. For most workings, this would just boil down to a group of magicians doing an evocation using the principles discussed so far in our adventure, with one person doing an invocation. Of course, the line between these two is blurry, so creative ritual designers are free to experiment.

A creative group of magicians can use this idea to empower spells for a group in a similar way to the way we were discussing with the diagrams. An idea I have tried several times when I was working with a group of five or more was to have each party summon a different elemental king, with the fifth person acting as the conduit of the spell work. The fifth person chants a mantra while staring at a sigil for the group intent. This person acts like the triangle or diagram of focus for the ritual and redirects the energy out to the "universe" The four other people evoke an elemental king over the person (we have done this with elemental angels, elemental dragons, infernal powers, and even with just the elemental forces themselves). Any remaining people should direct general energy toward the person acting as the containment field. Of course, you can combine this idea into a multitude of workings and different techniques.

After the Fact: Deconditioning Unwanted Connections

As an aside, it should be very clearly noted that some methods of evocation could create a connection (and part of the evocation is creating a connection for communication). Usually banishing is enough to break a connection, but in some cases banishing may have to be followed up with some fast deconditioning techniques (which we covered earlier) if a person gets obsessed with a particular ritual. Remember, the memory of a working might be enough to vibrate that energy (and thus form a mental connection with a spirit). In some cases, this would be a good thing, but in some cases this could be disastrous. Keep this in mind. Dull the scene, mute the feelings, and make the voices speak in monotone. Essentially, make the memory of the ritual contain less sensory information.

In this, the spirit is technically gone and banished per se; however, the mind of the magician reaches back out in an inappropriate and sometimes uncontrolled manner. Another way to think of this is that once you have done a magical working, the forces called up are part of you from that point forward. This is similar to the Tiamat example we discussed in chapter 26. A connection is a connection.

A Final Word

My rituals may not work for you. They are only examples to give you ideas on how to create your own rituals and your own techniques. Ultimately, things you think up yourself will work better and more effectively for you, since they have a greater connection to how you think and how you work.

As I keep saying, honey draws more flies than vinegar. If you have relationships with the spirits you work with, they will often be up for experimentation because you have that relationship with a spirit, and it realizes you are trying to learn "magic" in a very nondogmatic way. In this case, it is like you and a friend are experimenting together. Additionally, evoking a spirit and brutally forcing it to capitulate might get results, but if the spirit is an external agent ... well, would you like to be treated like a slave? Hell, even if it's a construct, would you like to be treated that way? Even if the spirit is an internal component, slaves have a tendency to rebel at the worst and most personally vulnerable time. For comparison, well-treated business partners usually can work out their differences. This includes subcontractors (such as the so-called "lesser" spirits). Treating a spirit with respect, when possible, only establishes a better working relationship. Of course, the flip side of that is that even in the business world, showing weakness will sometimes lead to counterproductive results.

Some spirits might tell you no, they want no part of these types of experimentation. More often than not, when you communicate with entities, they will be okay with the experimentation. However, if you mention this to other people, they will try to interject elements of fear, dogma, and strict controls, which may make you question your intuition.

At first, I did a type of working regarding quantum possibilities, and I involved fictional characters from What the BLEEP Do We Know? I wrote about this in an article called "Quantum Selves" for the Magic on the Edge anthology (Vitimus 2007). One day, Papa Legba asked me if he could join in, because it looked like fun. It's possible that had I tried to do this with no pre-established relationship, the ritual with this spirit might not have worked the way I wanted it to work. A relationship can go both ways in experimentation and exploration. Maybe the spirits themselves would like to evolve, both in what they experience and in the methods they use to have those experiences.