Goetia and Evocation

Of all of the questions that I get asked about magic, how do I evoke a demon is by far the most popular one. So I have decided to give a list of instructions as well as some hinters here. Now why every person that just started doing magic about a week ago wants to know how to evoke a demon is beyond me, but I will just hope that some of the more experienced practitioners are reading this.

At the same times as everyone wanting to dive into evocation, there is the constant worry that the practitioner is going to be eaten or some other gruesome fate. Well perhaps that is why everyone wants to dive right into the practice, I'm not sure. Well personally I have never heard of anyone being eaten in particular from performing evocation. Another fear is that of possession; well I guess it is possible, but so is being hit by a car if you aren't careful.

I recommend a good few years of magical practice before practicing evocation, and yes I said years, not weeks. Why the rush? You still have many years to live, and evocation works so much better once someone has built up their magical abilities and power by working magic over time.

Step 1. Read the Keys of Solomon!! No I don't mean read the chapter in Modern Magick, I mean read the actual books of Solomon! I recommend Joseph Peterson's book on the topic. If for some reason you cannot afford the books, there are several pdfs online. So read them, 5 or 6 times over. Take some notes. Write out a step by step guide for yourself. You did this with your school textbooks (well some of them anyway) so why not do it with your magical text books? While you are at it, read some other older grimoires, such as the Picatrix, the Grimoirum Verum, the Black Pullet, the Grand Grimoire etc. etc. Yes, these can also be found online in pdf format. Take evocation as a topic of study, study the various works on evocation and how to do it. You would spend quite a bit of time studying any other skill, so put in the effort.

Step 2. Decide what you want out of this. Is it arcane knowledge you are after? Or perhaps something more physical like a promotion at work? Whatever it is, narrow it down, write it out, decide what you really want. It is generally best to perform evocations for things that in a month from now you won't suddenly decide that perhaps you didn't need that after all. I personally don't know of any refund or exchange department within the worlds of the Goetia beings. Also be sure to write out what it is you want clearly, the more understandable that your request is, the more able you are to get an outcome that you want. However, be sure to leave some of the figuring up to the spirit called. For example if you ask for a promotion at the company that you work for, that is leaving out the possibility of a better position, but at another company.

Spend quite a bit of time on this step. I do magic work for clients, and you would not believe how often I get the request of "well I want a spell on my ex girlfriend" and when asked what sort of spell "well I don't know, just a spell". Oftentimes in these situations I recommend the good ol' pick up the telephone and call her spell :). Also, be sure to have some idea on the work that you will be doing on the project. That is nice and all to demand of some spirit to make you rich, but they really aren't going to be able to do much if you are sun tanning at the beach all day long! Quite often with evocational work, it is a team effort.

Step 3. Decide on how you are going to do the evocation. There are quite a few different options here. There is the well known and most popular Ceremonial Magick version, where one does the banishing rituals, the watchtower ritual, the bornless ritual, then the evocation itself. This sounds quite complex but can be quite effective and easy enough to perform if one knows the rituals. If you want more information on the Ceremonial Magick rituals and want to hear the sound files click here.

Another method of performing Goetic evocation is by doing it by the Grimoire itself!! Oh that is too much work you say? Well then I recommend this site instead knitting for beginners, because perhaps you should take up a different hobby! Not that you necessarily have to follow each and every step in the grimoires, but the more the better in my opinion. I even have an article on how to construct (or buy) the tools yourself here: Solomonic tools. If you are using the Ceremonial method you would need to decide which of the rituals you will be using and in which order, and if you are using the Grimoires, you would need to decide if you are going to use the conjurations as is, and if not how you will be changing them.

As a 3rd alternative there is my method of using the techniques of Enochian magic for evoking these spirits. Hey I did mention above that you should have been working magic for a number of years before embarking on this... With my method I basically use the corresponding Enochian keys, call the beings of the watchtowers, and set out my skrying device. This technique is not for everyone and I recommend avoiding it unless you have a good deal of experience in magic and/or feel especially drawn to it. I have outlined the steps to my working methods here.

Step 4. Make any needed tools, write out the conjurations you will be using (no I did NOT say print them out, I said write them out) and if you can memorize them all the better. If you are using the Ceremonial Magick method, you will be needing your 4 elemental tools and a rainbow or other wand, as well as a sword. Complete instructions for constructing the Ceremonial Magick tools here. If you are using the Grimoire method you will need to construct the 9 foot circle if you will be using one, the triangle, the mirror (how to make and use a mirror is here), a sword and various other tools. Also, I recommend making or purchasing a robe. Robes are easy enough to make, just cut out a Tau shape robe and sew it up, or an even more simple version is to fold your silk in half, cut a neck hole, then sew up the sides leaving arm holes open. if I can make one I know you can! I failed sewing in school, but still have managed to hand sew myself several robes over the years :) If you want to be fancy about it, you can even purchase pattern making material and create your pattern first, or even purchase a pattern from the halloween section of the pattern books.

Step 5. This can be done alongside steps 1-4. If you will be using skrying as your main form of seeing and communicating with the spirit, start practising now! I have complete skrying instructions here. Skrying practice can be done with such things as the Enochian or Hebrew letters, a tarot card, an archangel that you commonly call in your daily rituals etc. I have found that results from skrying and evocation tend to take anywhere from the first try to several months, so it is best to get some practice in! Don't worry if you don't get anything at first, the results will come if you keep at it. Be sure to achieve an altered state through meditation or some other means before you start. Skrying can be done with a mirror, crystal ball, bowl of water, candle flame etc.

Step 6. Make the spirit's seal. This can be done with our wonderful pure metal discs (order one now). According to Mather's Goetia one uses Gold for the Kings Complete instructions on how to use our discs to make the spirit seals are at the bottom of our extras page.

Various other materials can also be used for creating the spirit seals, such as clay, pure metal clay, wood, rock, semi precious gemstones(email for info), parchment (coming soon), and paper if you really can't afford another option or find a rock anywhere. Also, for the more creatively inclined, the spirit seal can be painted on canvas, added to an art project, beaded on silk, embroidered, drawn in the sand on a beach, worn as a t-shirt (buy one of our great Goetia t-shirts here), carved in wood, carved into stone, knitted into that scarf you learned to make from that link above, etc. However I usually only use these ideas as rewards or with spirits that I work with on a regular basis.

More steps to come, the 6 steps above should keep you busy for long enough for me to put the rest up!