Grimy grim grimorium nep fans! I just spent an afternoon reading theMagister Officiorium⁰ A volume that deals primarily with rituals of evocation, “physical interaction with spirits”, in the radiation of Slolumic ceremony. So, im putting together this thread for these thoughts, and future entries, of possibly more totemic quality.
Resting somewhere in between orthodox and archetypal, drawing from the tradition of Obeah¹and a host of magical texts, our “fiery tongued Brazilian”² friend sets out to direct us in creating our own tome of
“...many evil and false invocations of devils, divinations, charms, and other things of the magical art which give a very bad example and are against god and the holy christian faith.”³
From the top then, or in this case the cover. A fancy black slipped cover, depending on your addition, which hosts an emblem of what at first appears to be a cross, but is actually a dastardly downward facing dagger. Which just so happens to be the first of the tools prescribed for the summons with which we’ll fill our scary buisness book. And while some sources say that just any old blade will do, our pal Ody assured me that one with a black handle and blade tempered in oil and human blood on a tuesday from iron that was used to commit a murder. will be the most effective!⁴ Other handy dandies include the magic of circles, a white robe with the symbols for Alph and Omegle, and a nifty Solinium belt and ring combo that are both probably unnecessary, as well as sometimes not quite enough depending on what kinda calls you’re gonna make; but you’ll snag those two a little later anyway. This spooked up pokey stabby is mostly useful for protections, like retracing the circle, but it also adds a bonus to your threaten skill! and can be a a real boon in case you need to get that red life juice you keep inside to be outside for whatever read many reasons. Now all of this swag will be of aid for those evococitations i mentioned earlier. You have to render these invisibles visible if you wanna question em or snag their autograph on your pages. Ody likens this to the practice of exorcism⁵since it rides on the same principles of reminding spirits of their limited power in this world as well as commanding and threatening them to do your bidding in the names of higher authorities; like God, Angels or Deamon Kings.
What is implicit in the choice of names both inscribed on the regalia and in the words spoken is that there is a hierarchy which the spirits heed and of which they are reminded throughout the ritual, as proposed earlier when discussing authority. … top of the hierarchy sits the Heavens, … the various epithets of God and his Angels, descending to the sublunary spirits - or the spirits of air ⁶
And Mr. Ody offers us “... a series of conjuratyions of increasingly high pressure…”⁷ to accomplish this. Reminding us that, almost every grimore can “in the best of cases encompass the fundamentals of evocation… a suitable starting point.”⁸, but it is the desire of “would be practitioners” who need to make everything as convenient as possible that creates a quirky hobbyist. Ritual magicks are some serious stuff, and while “...adequate performance is in no way reliant on either acceptance of the religious precepts that govern it, or an understanding of the mechanisms by which we evoke and control them. It behooves the practitioner to … preform the ceremonies … so that its particulars can be grasped through trial, error and observation.”⁹, as a novice our authority comes from a reliance on tradition. Subsequent successes with “... capturing a signature and oath from the spirit that they will fulfil the charges as issued;...”¹⁰ will bring standing, and recognition on the part of spirits will make future workings easier.
“Take solace in the fact that, …, every facet of it is an enactment of an earlier method that upon inspection will be shown to vary.”¹¹
A presentation of five practical ritual workings, beyond the initial crafting recipes; The first and most important being the answer to “who-do-we-summon-first?!”. After filling the first pages of the tomb with the seven conjurations of the Ars Goetia that honour will be bestowed upon Gemon¹² Gemory. Gemon should be contacted with the intention to have her locate a key for the binding of a King, in this case Paimon¹³. Apparently this King of the West will give you a whole bunch of instruction later, making it way less necessary to ask other people where your next quest objectives or story events might be.
There's this whole hullabaloo about making sure the spirit you’re talking to is the right one, so Ceaser usually forces them prove they're the right ones by finding a hidden ring or coin in the room, or having them disclose some hidden knowledge that no one else could have; he lets em go if hes not sufficiently convinced. ’’But once he is’’ he makes them put down their signature, any alternate names they go by, promises on works to be fulfilled, and any and every other detail they might think is worth sharing.
After achieving success with the previous task the second check for the docket comes as seeking An Audience with Lucifer¹⁴ whom the Hygromanteia identifies as Eastern regent alongside Astaroth in the West, Asmodai in the North, and Belzebuth in the South. Ody identifies Lucifer with Papa bones as the black sun and fiery serpents¹⁵ possessing similarities grimoires as gatekeepers, rulers, and traffickers of spirits.¹⁶ Apparently these cardinals are too powerful to call to manifest in the way we do for the others, though the favour of this Lucy guy in particular is worth the risk in the indirectict petitioning.
“Lucipher is the father of all devills, he may not be called, for he is in the depths of hell, yet by him as by Tantavalerion, other devills may be coniured & bound, for all devills doe reverence & worship this devill Lucyfer & that with a kind of maiestie, they doe all obey him, for soe hath God ordeyned & appointed to them.”¹⁷ For this working the shopping list looks like: some rum, an egg, the absolutely hugest tree you can find, enough of your blood to scratch out six names on a square of fine white linen, a Brass Serpent¹⁸ , and two yellow candles to be placed in the fanciest candle holders with the highest price tag you can find¹⁹. This Tree represents the one at the very center of hell, and we’re gonna offer the egg and tasty dark rum to its roots rather than the spirits we are petitioning. Saying “Tree of fiery roots, servant of the unbowing Lord of the Forest, carry forth in your veins my message to these most abominable Kings, without delay. I offer these to you as payment.”²⁰First though we have to leave the serpent to hang out with the candles for seven days before a full moon. Then we write the names Bael Lucifer Belezebuth Satan Ashmedai Tantavalerion in our blood on the white square staring at it for half an hour, rolling it up like a scroll and walking backwards away from it as we leave the candles to burn down. A night later later go out to the tree with the effigee the cloth, the offerings, and two fresh candles in their holders. Untie the cloth, light the candles, place the offerings on a plate and chill till they burn out; while chanting
“Lucifer, Belezebuth, Satan, Ashmedai, Tantavalerion, Bael, rulers of in Hell, I adure you to be of aid to me. Send me a faithful spirit to meet me at the crossroads of dreams, who can advise me in your ways of gaining your favour, so that I may consort with your legions. May my master be affable and tell me no lies, as I, {name}, your supplicant seek not to overthrow you. And once this is done, I will bid them to return to you and will hold their name in honour for the rest of my days”²¹ Rinse and repeat for the next six days, dumping the rum and the egg on the tree roots and giving it our thanks, as written, under the light of the full moon on the last. If all goes well we will be met with a messenger in our dreams, or another notable sign within a few days.
Next we are gifted brewing instructions for bottled spirit, methodically achieved by either extracting one from the possessed or removing said spirit from a haunted treasure²², gibbed straight out of the Hygromantiea! We’re gonna need musky galbanium cloves for incense, one bottle, four candles, and a virgin or olive oil depending on which you have more handy. Light the incense, fill the bottle half way with the oil, then place the botte on the cloth in the center of the four lit candles. Bring whatever the spirit is attached to into the vicinity. Place your various demands upon it that it leave your possessed person, treasure, or treasured person and make manifest in the smokey smolder wafting up off our gently igniting highspecific incentious miscellany. Once it shows up in the visible scented air point your murder spike at the bottle and tell that paranormal hitchhiker to “Get. In. There.” Once your virgin friend, or you, sees the spirit inside the bottle, apply the cork and various appropriate ⛧seals⛧ to its top. & there the spirit shall remain until you release it (or dont) to take care of some task it has agreed to do for you, presumably in exchange for its freedom.
‘‘The Bottle’’ is, ofcourse, a one and done kind of dealio; so for those looking for a more permanent spiritual fix Ody has developed a Magical Skull in a Jar. Tricky, since it needs to be both large enough to write on but small enough to fit in your opaque wood or clay jar. Here the purpose is to aquire a familiar by binding it to the skull for the ease of access. Just open the hid and
<WHAMO
>’hi there little spooky buddy’
Call up your preferred distributor by your selection of esoteric chant and visualizer through their sigil, have it and its representative place it & is representative’s signs in your book, then place its given symbol on the skull. Could not be easier or peasier.
The last of Ody’s instructables is The Black Table of Bune, which are basically his directions on holding a seance²³ with the Goetic sigil for Bune²⁴placed in a under the table. Obviously the one that plays best at parties, though Ody suggests regular meetings with this this technique can give you a tight group of advancing necromancers in as few as four weeks,so gather your most psychic friends, a table of appropriate seating space, and a black cloth to cover it. A ouija board can be a stand in if you have no psychic friends. With the help of Bune scrawled under the table any spirit of particular or unimportant identity can now be summoned for the interrogation interview of those present. Stuff like this has been known to get out of hand so make sure to perform all proper purifications and banishings prior and following every session. Ody likes to wash himself with unperfumed soaps, wear fresh linens, abstain from sex, recite Psalm 51 and douse the whole place in holy water.
Now you might be wondering “Where exactly ought i perform these great offenses to the lord?” to which i respond “have you never even seen a scary movie?” cuz any and all of the most classicest of locales will do! Forests, crossroads, clearings, caves, groves, dry or when river beds, filthy abandoned gas station batherooms in the middle of nowhere. Heck, even the shy, agoraphobic and antisocial masses can participate seeing as even your dingy bedroom can work. What matters most is that you can manage to remain undisturbed by non participants (or the light of the sun) for the entirety of the ritual ~ ♥ ~