Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic - Peter J. Carroll 1987

Invocation
Liber LUX

The ultimate invocation, that of Kia, cannot be performed. The paradox is that as Kia has no dualized qualities, there are no attributes by which to invoke it. To give it one quality is merely to deny it another. As an observant dualistic being once said:

I am that I am not.

Nevertheless, the magician may need to make some rearrangements or additions to what he is. Metamorphosis may be pursued by seeking that which one is not, and transcending both in mutual annihilation. Alternatively, the process of invocation may be seen as adding to the magician's psyche any elements which are missing. It is true that the mind must be finally surrendered as one enters fully into Chaos, but a complete and balanced psychocosm is more easily surrendered.

The magical process of shuffling beliefs and desires attendant upon the process of invocation also demonstrates that one's dominant obsessions or personality are quite arbitrary, and hence more easily banished.

There are many maps of the mind (psychocosms), most of which are inconsistent, contradictory, and based on highly fanciful theories. Many use the symbology of god forms, for all mythology embodies a psychology. A complete mythic pantheon resumes all of man's mental characteristics. Magicians will often use a pagan pantheon of gods as the basis for invoking some particular insight or ability, as these myths provide the most explicit and developed formulation of the particular idea's extant. However it is possible to use almost anything from the archetypes of the collective unconscious to the elemental qualities of alchemy.

If the magician taps a deep enough level of power, these forms may manifest with sufficient force to convince the mind of the objective existence of the god. Yet the aim of invocation is temporary possession by the god, communication from the god, and manifestation of the god's magical powers, rather than the formation of religious cults.

The actual method of invocation may be described as a total immersion in the qualities pertaining to the desired form. One invokes in every conceivable way. The magician first programs himself into identity with the god by arranging all his experiences to coincide with its nature. In the most elaborate form of ritual he may surround himself with the sounds, smells, colors, instruments, memories, numbers, symbols, music, and poetry suggestive of the god or quality. Secondly he unites his life force to the god image with which he has united his mind. This is accomplished with techniques from the gnosis. Figure 5 shows some examples of maps of the mind. Following are some suggestions for practical ritual invocation.

Figure 5. An assortment of psycocosms or mental maps. Magicians may wish to invoke some of the qualities represented by the symbols in each. Here we see A) the seven classical planetary forms; B) the four classical elements; C) the three alchemical elements; D) the Taoist yin-yang; E) the five Vedic tattwas; F) the eleven Kabbalistic sephiroth; G) the eight Taoist trigrams; and H) the twelve astrological qualities.

Example Invocation of the War God

The initiate stands in a pentagonal chamber lit by five red lamps. He is robed in crimson and the skin of a great bear or wolf. He is girded about with weapons of steel, and an iron crown (or helmet) adorns his head. He has prepared his body by fasting, by rigors, by scourging, and by stimulants. He has constantly turned his mind to things of Mars during the preparations.

He casts sulphur, oak, and acris resins into the thurible and anoints his body with tiger balm. He beats a martial air upon a drum to open the temple, or else fires a loud weapon into the air. He has banished all foreign influences from the mind by what means he may (a pentagram ritual being preferred).

Drawing blood from his right shoulder with a dagger, he traces the sigil of Mars on his breast and the Eye of Horus on his brow. With a sharp sword, he draws the symbols of Mars about him in his mind's eye in lines of crimson fire and visualizes himself in the form of the god Horus.

Then he begins his war dance while an assistant, if he has one, continues to beat the rhythm, apply the scourge, or discharge firearms. Martial music may be played by some machine. As he dances wildly to his god he chants:

Io Horus Horus!

Horus to me come!

GEBURAZARPE!

Thou art me Horus!

I am thee Horus!

This he continues until the god taketh him into an ecstacy.

Note that any of these props can be dispersed with by anyone whose Kia flows steadily into the willed artifacts of imagination.

There is no limit to the inconceivable experiences into which the intrepid psychonaut may wish to plunge himself. Here are some ideas for constructing a latter day black mass as a blasphemy against the gods of logic and rationality. The Great Mad Goddess Chaos, a lower aspect of the ultimate ground of existence in anthropomorphic form, can be invoked for Her ecstasy and inspiration.

Drumming, leaping, and whirling in free form movement are accompanied by idiotic incantations. Forced deep breathing is used to provoke hysterical laughter. Mild hallucinogens and disinhibitory agents (such as alcohol) are taken together with sporadic gasps of nitrous oxide gas. Dice are thrown to determine what unusual behavior and sexual irregularities will take place. Discordant music is played and flashing lights splash onto billowing clouds of incense smoke. A whole maelstrom of ingredients is used to overcome the senses. On the altar a great work of philosophy, preferably by Russell, lies open, its pages fiercely burning.

Saturn, the God of Death, might be invoked in the following manner. The initiate first prepares himself by fasting, sleeplessness, and exhaustion. He retires to chamber, which is in near total darkness, being illuminated only by three sticks of a resinous, cloying, musty incense. He weighs his body down by wrapping sheets of lead around his limbs, trunk, and head. Otherwise his body is cold and naked. To a slow, monotonous drumbeat, he conducts a mock burial of himself. With extreme caution he may take small quantities of atropine-like Solanum alkaloids. Then he meditates on himself in the aspect of a corpse or skeleton arising slowly from the tomb in a tattered winding sheet and assuming his scythe of office.

In works of invocation, nothing succeeds like excess.