Developing Psychic Abilities

The development of spiritual abilities is probably some of the most sought after techniques in magical practice. Learning how to see, hear, and speak to spirits gives the magician an edge in their efforts. Some people of course are naturally gifted, but others have to work at it to become proficient. 

Since my childhood I was unfortunate enough to be able to see spirits. Along with also being hag ridden as a child, which also caused horrible night terrors, I oftentimes had visions while praying. I assumed this was the case for everyone, until others informed me that when they prayed they just saw the insides of the their eyelids. 

When I became a teen and started dabbling in magic, I started to get visited by spirits in my dreams. It wasn't until I was about twenty three when I finally started to focus on developing these skills. Most of my spiritual development took place during this time in my life, and these are some of the techniques that I believe aided in my development:

Zener Cards

I had a fascination with psychism in my late teens and I learned about Zener Cards as a tool for psychic training and testing. Although largely "debunked" by the scientific community in their application, the focus on the simple symbols off the cards can greatly aide in building the imagination. 

As for my own experimentation I would shuffle the deck, draw a card, without looking and place it face down in front of me. Then I would close my eyes and try to imagine what was on the card. If no image came to me I would place the card back in the deck without looking and shuffle the deck again. When I felt that I had a card that I could imagine, I would say allowed what I believed the image was then turn the card over. Eventually I was guessing 5 out of 7 draws correctly. 

Tarot Scanning

Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magic was problem one the best practical magic sources that was readily available at the local bookstore 20 years ago. He had a lot of techniques that were largely based on the magic of the Golden Dawn, but there was one exercise that was an absolute gem: the scanning of the trump cards.

The exercise was simple: draw a tarot trump and scan the card slowly from left to right from top to bottom. With each scanned line you would briefly close your eyes and imagine the image you just scanned. The goal is to be able to imagine the whole card in your mind's eye. 

First, I'd like to point out that this technique works best with a Rider Wait deck because the imagery and color scheme is rather bold and easier to visualize. Second, this practice will help you better connect to the tarot deck and will strengthen your intuition when performing divinations. Finally, give each card a few days of practice with this technique, focus on seeing the image clearly before moving on.

Once you have scanned the twenty two trumps you should try the technique offered above with the Zener cards. If you are a bit of scientist, you should try the technique a few times before scanning the cards, then compare your results when you attempt again after you complete the scanning exercise.

Scrying

The act of gazing into an object to gain occult information from the object is an invaluable technique. Some people will take to this practice quite intuitively while others may struggle to get it. This becomes confusing for many as there is a litany of preferred materials for this technique that include: black mirrors, oxidized silver, a drop of ink, crystals, and more. 

A simple way to start working without investing in materials is to start with a crystal or gemstone. Quartz is generally inexpensive and you will only need a small piece. The clarity of the quartz crystal is up to you, but inclusions do not prohibit the ability to scry, in fact, inclusions can enhance the stone. 

Once you have selected your small piece of quartz crystal your first act will be to talk to the crystal. Tell the crystal that you want it to aide you in your ability to scry. Carry the crystal in your pocket day and night, and be sure to sleep with it under your pillow. 

After a couple of weeks of "bonding" with the crystal sit down quietly in a dark room. Light candle and hold the crystal in your hand. Try to let the candle catch some candle light. Softly gaze into the crystal, it's okay to blink, and allow your mind to empty into the crystal. Pay attention to images that may appear in your mind and be sure to record them. As you improve you will be able to direct your visions to the subjects that interest you.

These are just a handful of techniques to help you get started in your psychic development. It's not a fast process and at times can be disheartening and boring. However, persistence at it can opens worlds of possibilities that may not have been previously available to you. The power of a trained imagination is something all magicians should strive for.

Spirits I've Summoned: Prince Seere

"Seere (or Sear, or Seir) is the Seventieth Spirit. He is a Mighty Prince and powerful under AMAYMON, King of the East. He appears at first in the form of a beautiful man riding a winged horse. His office is to go and come, and to bring abundance of things to pass on a sudden, and to carry or re-carry anything wherever you would have it to go, or where you would have it from. He can pass over the whole Earth in the twinkling of an Eye. He gives a true relation of a theft, and of hidden treasure, and of many other things. He is of an indifferent good nature, and is wiling to do anything which the Exorcist desires. He governs 26 Legions of Spirits."

I had read the description of Seere countless times in a day while hemming and hawing over whether or not I should attempt to conjure him. At that time in my life, I was struggling to pay bills as work had suddenly slowed down and I desperately needed new opportunities. I needed a real solution to my problems and I felt like turning to the spiritual world was the best solution. 

My magical practice at the time largely centered around spagyric alchemy, as I was trying to build a relationship with the planets and elements through plant medicine. I was working in the sphere of Jupiter and working on a plant stone for lemon balm. Because work was so slow, I had lots of free time to read and pray, while trying to get a grip on a life that was slowly spinning out of control. My anxiety was through the roof and I knew in my heart that I needed to make a bigger move to change my situation. 

I had been studying and attempting different techniques of evocation taking notes from Franz Bardon and the Key of Solomon. I had somewhat successful attempts at creating pentacles from the Key of Solomon. My Jupiter pentacle had undoubtedly saved my job, but money still was not quite right. After reading so many accounts on forums of people turning their lives around with Goetia I decided it was the best place to look. 

I did careful divinations with the Tarot to help me narrow down if Goetia would be helpful for me and to determine the nature of the spirit of the spirit I should work with. Being some years ago the best resources on Goetia were the Goetia of Dr Rudd and Crowley's illustrated version. Something about binding the demons with the Shemhamforesh angels didn't feel quite right so I discarded Dr Rudd's method, yet I decided to utilize the book for other purposes. 

Crowley's illustrated Goetia, assigned Jupiter qualities to the princes, and my divinations determined this was the type of being I needed to work with. I wanted to determine if the spirit wanted to be helpful to me. So I carefully drew his seal on a piece of paper and placed it on my nightstand. I asked the spirit to visit me if he wanted to be helpful to me. That night I had strange dreams of a dashing man in Renaissance period clothing riding a white horse who told me that he had been watching me for some time. I took them dream as a hard yes to proceed with the evocation.

There is something about desperation that makes a person unsure of themselves and question all of their abilities. I was nervous of doing the ceremony and not being able to detect the spirit. I remembered a halfhearted attempt to summon Raam years earlier where I could not detect the spirit and it wasn't until a couple days had passed and mayhem was happening in my life that I realized my error. How then would I be able to ensure that I would see and hear the spirit?

I turned to Franz Bardon and his work The Practice of Magical Evocation. He talked about creating an environment that was comfortable for the nature of the spirit so that the could more easily manifest. I had also created his fluid condenser from Initiation Into Hermetics a few months earlier, which gave me a fantastic idea.

With a piece of copper pipe I created the ring as described in the Goetia. I made an apron and with a fabric pen I drew the Hexagram of Solomon to reveal to the spirit when it manifested so that it appeared in a comely form. Finally, I went to an antique store and found a silver plate on which I inscribed the Pentagram of Solomon. I consecrated these items according to Key of Solomon and made them ready for the ceremony.

The temple was prepared in the colors of Jupiter as I understood them at the time. I hung banners with various god-names in flashing colors cut out of iron on fabric. I placed images of of Zeus and Jupiter on the high altar in my temple, and burned rich incense for the spirits of Jupiter. I bought blue gels to cover my lanterns with so that the room had a blue glow. Finally I carefully painted a circle on the floor and wrote names of God in Hebrew around it. 

As I completed my preparations in the temple, I realized that I had completed my plant stone. The timing was perfect. It was as if the entire coming operation was predestined to occur. I knew that the time had come to begin cleansing and purifying. 

I ate only bread and water for three days and abstained from sex. Each day, I would wake early and begin the day with prayer. In the evening I would take up a bundle of hyssop and dip it in holy water and recited Psalm 51:7. I felt so clean and pure in both my interior and exterior that it was like walking on air. 

Finally, the evening of the ritual was upon me. I dressed myself in ritual vestments. I painted the seals I had previously made for Seere with the fluid condenser and poured the rest of the fluid condenser and poured it in a fondue pot inside the triangle of art. I quietly and carefully consumed a small piece of the plant stone while I waited for the hour of evocation to happen. I was filled with waves of ecstasy which contrasted the nervousness I was feeling about what was about to transpire. 

The hour upon me, I rose from my chair and lit the fondue pot and a gentle steam began to slowly rise. I began to recite the Bornless Rite to the four directions. As I recited the barbarous names, my head began to fill with an expanding consciousness. I continued to press as waves of energy filled me and I felt as if I was growing in stature and proportion to the energy. My body trembling but my voice steady I began to recite the conjuration of the spirit from the Goetia. 

There was a sudden rapping on all the windows in the room simultaneously, but I did not let it distract me. The room was filling with a mixture of incense and steam from the fluid condenser. I began to see strange faces appearing in the smoke and mist outside the circle. Suddenly, a puff of steam rose from the fondue pot and there was the figure of man in the mist. The figure was very detailed and I could even see his facial expressions, in fact, he resembled the man I had dreamed about! I recited the constraint while the grinning apparition stood before me.

Holding my consecrated sword in my hand I demanded that the spirit swear an oath of loyalty to me. That he would not deceive me or work mischief against me. I held the sword beyond the circle and a misty hand touched it as a reply. "I am here as you have summoned me. What is it you want?" 

I explained my problem and that I required a solution of steady income that would cover all of my expenses so that could live the lifestyle I wanted and be free from worry. "This I can do for you. What can you do for me?"

I said that I would honor him with incense and wine if he fulfilled his task for me in a timely manner and without mischief. 

"We have an agreement. Do not forget me." 

I halted him at that moment. I was so caught up in my business that I forgot to ask if he appreciated the accommodations. 

"These things are greatly appreciated as it is an effort for us to manifest in such ways."

Satisfied, I bid him to depart in peace and that there be peace between us. Slowly the apparition faded, and the presence in the air began to diminish. Eventually, it was just me in the circle alone and excited.

About five days passed and I received a phone call from a company I would subcontract for. They were offering me $1000 a month per diem plus an accelerated pay rate to travel to train new technicians. I took the opportunity immediately. I remembered to leave the offering for Seere and even told a few other magicians that they should call upon him. 

I worked with Seere on and off for a couple of years before moving on. I came to realize that he is an instructor for the magician and can unlock knowledge on how to work Goetia effectively. He is still a very good spirit and I recommend that those wanting to pursue the craft to consider evoking him.

Spirits I've Summoned: The Gnomes

The frame work of ceremony I followed in the early years my magic carrier were based on the Neophyte and Grade initiations of the Golden Dawn. I worked the elements by following an outlined based on the Grade ceremonies in order to scry and commune with the elemental beings of each realm. My  first experience with this method was introduced to me by an Adapt of the Golden Dawn.

In my early days of practicing magic, I was very influenced by the visionary works of Dee and Kelly as well as Crowley with his infamous Vision and the Voice. I was fascinated by the idea that magicians could view the invisible through ceremony and scry stones in order to gain knowledge and power. Naturally, a young magician like myself would want to gain esoteric knowledge from spirits and be able to predict the future.

I recall voicing my fascinations to a more experienced magician and he informed me of the Golden Dawn making use of tattwa cards to interact with elemental beings. Tattwa cards used specific elemental images of the Samkhya Hindu philosophy to symbolize the basic elements. A yellow square for earth, a blue circle for air, a red triangle for fire, a silver crescent moon for water, and a black or deep indigo egg for spirit/akasha.

I sat out to acquire Dr Mumford's book and card set Magical Tattwas, and straight away began to attempt the exercises in the book. One of the main objectives of the exercises is to "see" the tattwa image within your mind and project yourself through the image into the elemental landscape. I spent long hours attempting to open visualize the images with my eyes closed and see the "portal" so often described to little avail. However, despite not yet having the ability to see the elemental landscape, I was getting quite good at simply seeing the tattwa image in my mind.

I vented my frustrations with my progress after a couple of months to the same more experienced magician. He suggested that we open an elemental temple and then try scrying the tattwas. Admittedly, I was uncertain how a ceremony would improve the ability to scry, it seemed to me that all the action would produce the opposite state of mind I was striving for. Regardless of my feelings, I decided to go along with the ceremony.

The next day I went to the park to try and get in touch with earth elementals. I found a shady spot under a tree where the soil was rich and soft. I introduced myself quietly and sat around for a while, I thought I felt a presence like being watched but eventually gave up and decided to leave. I touch a small amount of soil with me for the ceremony that would take place the following evening.

We prepared the space for the ceremony by doing a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. Then we cleansed and incensed the space with water and frankincense. I was given the task of doing the invocation of Earth. I had spent the day practicing tracing the Earth invoking pentagram while intoning the God names of the Zealtor ceremony. I felt my whole body shaking while I drew the pentagram while intoning the names. The room began to feel animated and a lamp flickered on and off while I said each name.

The presence of the spirits fully invoked I picked up my little dish of soil and sat down in front of the altar where a the tattwa for earth was on display. I gazed into the yellow square and felt my consciousness begin to move into the image. I closed my eyes and saw the portal! I instinctively walked through and saw a landscape of rolling hills. It was like looking at a television screen. Suddenly I saw squat ugly little men in funny clothing coming over the hills. They were dancing and singing a strange little song. It seemed like they were watching me as I was watching them. They began to dig gold out of the ground and offered me handfuls of it.

Slowly the vision began to fade and I found myself back in the temple. I took a moment to regain my bearings and looked around the room. I was informed that I was in a trance for a very long time. Excitedly, I explained everything I experienced and I was surprised that no one else had such intense visions. It was suggested that because I was the one who did the invocations that I would have the more potent visions.

After that ceremony I began to experiment more with using God-names before scrying with similar success. I found myself being requested to be a scryer for ceremonies after I developed the skill. It even translated into my tarot reading abilities as I began to see things when I looked at the cards. I still employ a similar technique to this day when I wish to speak to angels in a crystal ball.

Spirits I've Summoned: The Great God Pan

Of all the exercises that the Golden Dawn offered that were of value, the absolute greatest of them is the assumption of God-form. This is an excellent exercise for aspiring mediums and those seeking control over their mediumship. I was not aware of my gifts as a medium (although I think I had suspicions) until I started practicing the assumption of god-form and the practice of invoking deities.

My earliest success with this practice came almost 17 years ago when I discovered Aliester Crowley's Hymn To Pan in an old hardcover copy of his Magick. Mind you, I believe that Crowley should be taken with a grain of salt and a laxative as his notions are deliberately way off base, however, a broken clock is right twice a day. 

Even reading the Hymn To Pan silently to myself I began to be filled with an otherworldly notion. It seemed as if a wild energy began to flow through as I excitedly read the words. I found myself working to memorize the Hymn in an afternoon so that I could enjoy it whenever I pleased. Around this time I was reading Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick, and was learning some basic Golden Dawn Magic techniques. 

For a little over a month I would sit quietly and relax myself. I would gaze at various images of Pan and satyrs. I would begin to recite the Hymn and imagine the shape of the god formulate around me. I would begin to feel my consciousness expand into the image, all the while visions of satyrs and nymphs would fill my mind. Gradually I would wind myself down from the ecstatic state and ground myself by touching things around the temple. 

I noticed during this time period that my life was becoming VERY interesting. It seemed like I was always getting invited to parties and my sex life had never been so wild. There was a charm in the air around me and I noticed that people seemed to center around whatever I was doing. People would often give me things for free and my social life was expanding.

I wanted to see how far the experience could go and I decided that I wanted to formally invoke Pan. I told some other young magicians that I was acquainted with about my desires, and everyone agreed that they wanted to make it happen. We convened at another magician's house because it was centrally located and the space could accommodate the small crowd. We brought a bottle of wine for the god to drink and some bread for him to eat. 

The ceremony opened with a Lesser Banishing Ritual of Pentagram and followed with the Greater Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram. I burned an incense that I had made from cedar, pinion, vetiver and other resins while asking that my prayers be heard. I stood between the pillars temple and began to recite the Hymn. As I did the other magicians began to chant, "IO Pan! IO Pan!" 

Waves of ecstasy washed over me and I felt as though I was transforming into what had previously been an image in my mind. I felt horns protrude from my forehead, and my feet twist into hooves. My voice changed into the sound of a goat baying when I would try and say, "IO Pan." Eventually I lost all sense of self and everything disappeared. 

When I came too, I looked around the room to see an expression of shock on every face. It seemed as if just a moment had passed, but each magician informed me that they saw me change before their eyes. They said I looked like a satyr and began baying like a goat. That I then grabbed the bottle of wine and drank the whole bottle in a few gulps, and then began to give an oracle to each person present. I informed them that it was not me but rather Pan that had done so. There was no doubt in the room that a god had just been present.

I maintained a very special relationship with Pan for many years after that. Eventually, I felt that he brought me to the place I needed to be and that we both needed to move on. However, those experiences with him were very special and still fill me with delight when I think about it.

"Goat of Thy flock, I am gold, I am God!

Flesh to Thy bone, flower to Thy rod!

With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks,

Through solstice stubborn to equinox!

And I rave, and I rape, and I rip, and I rend,

Everlasting world without end,

Mannikin, maiden, Maenad, man,

In the might of Pan!

IO Pan! IO Pan Pan! Pan! IO Pan!"

Spirits I've Summoned: Cassiel

I've been asked repeatedly lately if I could share methods of summoning spirits. Mind you, I consider any sort of conjuring of spirits whether by prayers or evocation to all be valid. There are many ways of summoning spirits, all of which have their pros and cons and some ways are more dangerous than others. The methods I outline are no longer methods I use to summon spirits, however, that does not make them less valid it simply means I've found more efficient ways of working. 

About 15 years ago I moved to riverside Jacksonville, a charming historic downtown area that has a fair share of drugs and crime. Despite it's obvious issues I liked my shotgun apartment and the location was convenient for the job I was working at the time. My job at the time meant I had to carry quite a bit of tools and inventory for AT&T in my personal vehicle. I made sure to place some wards in my car to protect it as much as possible, but I still managed to attract the attention of some little punk. 

Om more than one occasion, I caught this guy trying to break into my car and once my apartment. You have to give some credit for tenacity, despite the obvious stupidity of the guy. Absolutely fed up, I decided to deal with the guy from a magical perspective. I got out my cards and began inquiring as to which spirit would help me. I ended up drawing Death and determined that a Saturnine spirit would be the best to call for assistance. Further divinations determined that Cassiel would be the best spirit to call for this purpose. 

Now, at this time my magic was heavily influenced by the Golden Dawn system of magic, and even though this is no longer the case I emphasize that some techniques can be useful. As a novice at the time I followed the correspondences as outlined between Agrippa and the Golden Dawn to create a ceremony to evoke Cassiel. I first painted the sigil of Cassiel on a wooden disc on a Wednesday during the Saturn hour. I incensed and consecrated the sigil and recited a short prayer to Cassiel during this process. 

I then prepared began my temple by hanging black and white curtains and burning Myrrh incense for the Saturnine spirits. On my central double cube altar I placed the sigil of Saturn along with it's Kamea. I printed a picture of Chronos on my high altar. For the next few days I donned my black hooded robe when I entered the temple and said a short prayer to Saturn before beginning my daily ceremonies. 

That Saturday, I remember the moon was waning and I felt that the time was right to perform a ceremony to place some severe limits on this persistent offender. I feel like I should note here that every time I conjured a spirit for the first time successfully, conditions would feel right on their own. I knew the time was right and that my preparations were more than adequate. 

I opened the ceremony with a short prayer asking that God and my Guardian Angel guide me through the ceremony so that I execute it flawlessly and beautifully. I then began the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to banish all unwanted energies from the temple. I then performed a Banishing of the Hexagram to banish unwanted planetary energies. I took up my cup and began to purify the temple reciting Psalm 51:9 and sprinkled water throughout my temple. Picking up my censer I recited Psalm 141:2 and imagined the incense carrying my words to the ears of the spirits. 

The temple buzzing and feeling alive with the spirits, I took a moment to compose myself and performed the Middle Pillar ceremony before preceding with the actual conjuration. Once I felt ready I stood up and picked up my black handled dagger and began reciting a brief conjuration I had written. I repeated it over and over again while I poured myrrh on the hot coals, as I did I began to feel the pressure begin to change in the room. 

I watched as the incense smoke seem to form a dense shape in front of me. I could easily see a figure of what looked like cruel king standing in front of me. Not exactly what I had been expecting! A grimness fell over me and I could feel a sense of dread as though I was standing in the presence of death itself. Suddenly a deep voice crept through my head, "You have summoned me. What is it that you want?"

My excitement was overwhelmed by the overwhelming dread inside of me and I quickly explained the situation to the spirit. I told the spirit that I wanted the person gone from the neighborhood so that he could not mess with my vehicle or more home again. "So, it shall be." 

I bid the spirit farewell and asked it to go in peace and let there be peace between us. The heavy feeling began to lift and I patiently waited for the spirit to completely depart before doing or saying anything else. When I felt the presence leave, I noted that the incense smoke was almost completely gone. I closed the ceremony by doing a short Eucharistic celebration to rejuvenate myself and then banished once again.

Three days later the stooge that had been harassing me tried breaking into the wrong house and was badly beaten up by local gang bangers. The little house he was renting suffered a small fire, and he was promptly evicted. After I was certain that he was completely gone, I offered a small glass of wine to the spirit as a payment for the work that was done. Although I have dealt with Cassiel a couple of times since, admittedly that first contact was a powerful experience that changed my view of "Angels."

The Head Spirit Vs The HGA

There seems to be a great deal of confusion and erroneously held beliefs between the western concept of the Holy Guardian Angel and the Head Spirit of Haitian Vodou. At some point in my development I actually believed that they were similar, but as I grew in my understanding and within my tradition I realized that they are two entirely different phenomenon. It is my intention to point out the differences between the two different concepts and demonstrate the continued colonialism of westerners into foreign traditions.

The HGA in Origin

The notion of guardian angles was largely championed by Christianity in the 5^th century, although there is a mentioning in both Islam and Zoroastrianism, Christians expanded deeply upon the concept liturgically and theologically. In Catholicism the guardian angel is an angel set to preside over each individual from birth. Through daily prayer and devotion, one develops a working relationship with this angel. One famous instance of this is recorded in the life of the stigmatic Padre Pio, who claimed that he could see and speak to his guardian angel from a very young age. The guardian angel is consistently described as an external force meant to guide the faithful and guard them from danger and demonic forces.

The Holy Guardian Angel in the Abramelin

The Holy Guardian Angel commonly called the “HGA” was a concept that originated in a medieval grimoire commonly called the Abramelin naming an author of Abraham von Worms, supposedly legitimizing the magic in the grimoire as being Jewish in origin. This type of notion was popular in texts of the time that the Jews in their closed culture were hiding esoteric mysteries from the goyim. What makes the claim of that the grimoire is Jewish in origin stands as a dubious claim is the fact that it is written in German instead of Yiddish, which would have made sense if we are to believe its supposed origins. The primary claim of this particular grimoire is that it is to place the magician in contact and communication with his very own Holy Guardian Angel, and in doing such would confer authority to the magician over all “unredeemed spirits” upon the earth. The supposed method was given to Abraham von Worms by an Egyptian mystic by the name of Abramelin.

The HGA and the Magical Revival

In my younger years I readily swallowed the story of this Jewish mystic writing down the secrete magic of Abramelin in the form of letter to his son Lamech. I mean it all fit my immature model of the magic and the universe as was introduced to via the Golden Dawn’s founder Samuel L. Macgregor Mather’s and espoused by Aliester Crowley, the self-proclaimed prophet of the Aeon. Mather’s original translation called The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, was based on French manuscripts that were resting in the Bibliotheque de l’Arsenal. Unknown to Mather’s was the numerous flaws omissions in the translation and seals from the manuscript he was working from. However, the concept of the Holy Guardian Angel and the Knowledge and Conversation thereof would become the focal point of the teachings of the Golden Dawn and later that of Crowley’s A.’.A.’..

The influence of the Golden Dawn, Crowley, and Thelema upon the modern understanding and practice of magic would become immeasurable. These concepts would be parroted from generation after generation of aspiring magicians without question and would eventually became canon for all novices. The pervasive ideology of the need for a guardian angel reached peak levels of nonsense when Satanic and Luciferian magicians claimed the notion of a Guardian Demon that was in opposition to the supposed Holy Guardian Angel. All the while not a single person making a claim to neither confirmed nor denied their own gnosis or knowledge and conversation. Most would begin a circular argument that someone must complete the supposed rite and know for themselves. The nonsense of not being able to adequately prove let alone discuss the phenomenon should give any reasonable person a moment of pause. In fact, the continued obscurity of the HGA by magicians that have supposedly attained this union flies in the face of the “wisdom” of the Abramelin itself:

“Everyone should be able to describe properly everything that he has seen and learned. A clear description of what has been seen gives listeners the opportunity to judge whether a traveler’s boasts are true.” –Abraham von Worms

Haitan Vodou and Colonialism

Haitian Vodou, the indigenous religion of Haiti well known for its influence over the Haitian revolution as well as having a large influence over Haitian politics has always been a source of fascination of Americans. The journalist William Seabrook published a rather sensationalist account of Haitian Vodou in his book The Magical Island in 1921. A book that would later inspire the film White Zombie. The notion of wild orgies and midnight fire-lit ceremonies where priests of invisible dark forces would be the source of a great deal of media while simultaneously distorting the ancestral traditions of the Haitian people.

In 1964 a man by the name of Michael Bertiaux would travel to Haiti and claim his initiation into Haitian Vodou, as well as, stake claims to an order of dubious origins known as the OTOA by which he somehow becomes the sole authority. (Sounds very similar to Crowley and the OTO, huh?) He would publish essays of his version of Vodou that would later be compiled under a single text called the Voudon Gnostic Workbook. This collection ranging from simple hoodoo spells to rambling virtually incoherent nonsense of homosexual sex magic, pseudo-Loas, and secret initiations would become fuel for a movement to gain access to the secret magic of the Haitian people. The overall tone of his work smacks of an intelligent white man who took mystical knowledge from another people only to improve upon it.

A more modern author, published under the name of E.A. Koetting would publish another pseudo-Haitian Vodou grimoire known as The Spider and the Green Butterfly. Making bold claims of having “backdoor initiations” or being able to command the powers of the Loa. He goes as far as claiming that a counsel of “Master Houngans” convened over his because the information was so incredibly crucial. What the work did offer however was a collection of poorly compiled information on a handful of Loas (one of which was even mis-gendered) and pseudo-ceremonies that have no foundation in the actual practice of Haitian Vodou.

Now this essay isn’t meant to pick on individuals who have made a profit by exploiting traditions that they have no valid claim to, I am merely setting the stage for my next point.

The Met Tet and Initiation

Within Haitian Vodou it is understood that Vodouisants have a Met Tet commonly referred to as Head Spirit, a being that presides over the spirituality of the individual. The purpose of the Head Spirit is better understood by the literal translation of Met Tet: Head Master. This spirit governs and protects the spirituality of the vodousiant. This relationship is secured only by initiation whereby a houngan (priest) prepares the head and soul of the initiate to receive the spirit. After the initiation the Head Spirit now resides in the head of the initiate. Possession play a necessary role in the initiation and must occur in order for the rite to be considered successful. The spirit will mount its “horse,” perform magic, offer advice, and voice concerns. The result of this union numbers the initiate among the ancestors of the society that initiated them, and grants a tremendous amount of spiritual authority. What is interesting is that the notion of guardian angels exists in some Vodou societies as a separate spiritual phenomenon that is tied to the influences of Catholicism in Vodou.

This process vastly differs from the asceticism of the Abramelin which involves solitude, prayer, and meditation. It also differs in the certainty of attainment of the spirit and the knowledge that the spirit that has been encountered is correct. The HGA is described an external force in the text while the Head Spirit exists within the head of the initiate. While the Holy Guardian Angel gives authority over “unredeemed spirits” the Head Spirit grants authority over the spirituality of the initiate and grants generational authority from all ancestors affiliated with the society. To this end, we are absolutely dealing with two different phenomenon, each one unique and each deserving the respect of individual recognition. Conflating the notion of the Holy Guardian Angel with the Head Spirit serves only the interest of a certain few who are seeking validity without having to explain themselves. 

Stop colonizing other traditions and work to understand your own.