Ceremonial Magic & The Power of Evocation.pdf - Higher Intellect

102 Pages·2007·10.31 MB·English

by  Joseph Lisewski

Table ofContents
Introduction by ChristopherS.Hyatt, Ph.D.
& S.Jason Black 11
ChapterOne The Purpose ofthis Book 25
ChapterTwo HistoryoftheGrimoires for the
Practitioner 31
ChapterThree Magical Propositions and Axioms for
Success and Survival 72
ChapterFour The FourthBookofOccultPhilosophy
and the Heptameron-Their History,
Purpose, and Power 119
ChapterFive The HeptameronOperation-PullingIt
AllTogether 130
ChapterSix Handlingthe Success and Dealingwith
the SlingshotEffect ~ 192
SuggestedReadingList 199
Illustrations WARNING!
PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY! This warning is
Figure 1 The Circle ofArt 160 given in earnest. It is not like other gimmicks meant
to sell a book. You now stand at the opening of a
Figure2 The Pentacle ofProtectionand
portal that will lead to personal power! If you decide to
Obedience 173
undertake what is written herein, you begin an incredible
Figure 3 TheMagicalSigilsand Images of journeythatcan lead you to materialfulfillment and magi
The Lord's Day 198 cal power. It is a book that describes the evocation of long
forgotten spirits; beings who have as much objective real
Figure 4 The Magical Sigilsand Images of
ity as you do. But it contains much more than that. Itwill
Monday 200
enable you to design your own occult system of personal
development which is the only kind that can truly work
Figure 5 The Magical Sigilsand Images of
for the individual. You are warned thatbyfollowing these
Tuesday 202
instructions you will produce the magical phenomena de
Figure 6 The Magical Sigilsand Images of scribed, and can most certainly succeed in obtaining your
Wednesday 203 heart's desire. In short, you, dear reader, may very well
have your wishes fulfilled. But there is an old admonition
Figure 7 TheMagicalSigilsand Images of
concerning wishes which you will do well to heed as you
Thursday 206 read and workfrom this strange text: "Becarefulwhatyou
wish for, because you just mayget it!" Mark this charge
Figure8 The Magical Sigilsand Images of
well!
Friday 208
Figure9 The Magical Sigilsand Imagesof
Saturday ~ 210
9
Introduction
D r. JosePh. c. Lisiewski first met with Dr. Francis
Israel Regardie during the week of October 8-13,
1973.Joe flew from his home in Selinsgrove, PA to
Studio City, CA to meet the world famous Occultist; this,
the result of a two-year correspondence that had passed
between them. They spent those days at Regardie's home
at 7332 Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Among the many
subjects discussed, Francis had confided in Joe (and in my
self) that in all of his years in the occult, he never knew of
anyone who had attempted the Abramelin Operation as it
is given in the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the
Mage. Regardie went on to say that those who did attempt
the operation always modified it in one way or another,
causing him to be extremely suspicious of their "results."
This idea of altering the magical operation left a marked
impression on Joe,who told me years later that it was this
one statementofRegardie's whichlaterformed the basis of
his belief-and later experimental verification-that sys
tems of magic must never be altered or mixed. Put quite
simply, this is the basis of this wonderful book: full and
completelyunaltered Magic.
AlthoughJoeand Ibegan corresponding in April 1985,
a month after Regardie's death, our first face-to-face meet
ing did not occur until April of 1986, approximately 13
months after Francis' demise. He flew to Phoenix from the
East coast. I picked him up, took him to my home in
Sedona, AZ, andourintensemagical times began.
During our early correspondence,Joestated to me that
he was one ofRegardie's students as well as his alchemical
consultant. While I normally would have been cautious of
such claims from most people-even likely to reject them
11
12 Joseph C.Lisiewski,Ph.D. CeremonialMagic 13
outright)-Iknew ofJoethroughFrancis beforehe knew of As time passed, and we becamecloser in ouralchemi
me, as Regardie had talked to me about him a number of cal and magical work, he finally explained that his lung
condition-and the need for an oxygen tank-was not
times. Indeed, Iwas presentat Dr. Regardie's home during
due to his years of smoking. He told this to people as a
severaloftheir marathon telephone discussions.
dodge: he didn'twant to have toexplainthe real reason.
Privately, Francis told me that Joe was one of the few
He further told me that he did not have emphysema at
students of the occult who he respected. He "knows his
all.Instead,his lungconditionwas causedby an alchem
stuff!" he said, "...particularly in the areas of alchemy and
ical experiment gone bad. Specifically, he was calcining
evocation." He also confided in me that Joseph Lisiewski AntimonyTrisulfide ore. This ore, coming directly from
had attended Frater Albertus' school of alchemy, and was a mine, containsnaturally-occurringarseniccompounds
one of the few students Frater Albertus respected greatly. thatmustbe removed through a special calcinationpro
In fact, Joe had completed the entire seven year cycle of cess. He did this same experimentmany timesbefore in
alchemicalinstructionin sixyears (1975-1980). his small shed; but this time, instead of leaving during
Thus, Joe became part of the inner alchemical circle the lengthypurificationprocess and only checking on it
intermittently, he remained inside. The arsenic vapors
which included some of the Dallas people (such as Hans
causedhim tonearlypassout. He was unable to breathe
Nitzel), along with Dr. Regardie, and of course, Frater
as well.He made his way the few feet backto his house,
Albertus himself. All of them communicated regularly
andcalled for medicalattention.
with each other, sharing the results oftheir secret alchemi
In the hospital, his lungs were determined as having
calexperiments.
been "burned" badlyby "some caustic agent," as he ex
As you may know, Dr. Regardie became a strong plained to me. The condition deteriorated as he got
supporter for physical alchemy. That is, he simply didn't older. Not only was he adamant about not explaining
see it as Jung and others saw it-as a form of archetypal this to othersbut,for somereasonIcouldneverfathom,
psychology-even though Regardie's earlier book on he wouldnot publiclyadmittohis involvementin phys
alchemy did originally support that view. Time and direct icallaboratory alchemy either. Hence he made up the
experience changed Regardie's stand on the matter. Like storyofhavingemphysemaasaresultofsmoking.
Joe, Francis also had his own alchemical laboratory, in
Returning to Jung's work and physical reality: While
which he carried outa number ofbothbasic and advanced
Regardie respected [ung's work, insights, and metaphori
alchemical works. In fact, as Regardie personally told me
calmodel,in the endhe abandonedJung's methodologyas
and a few others, it was actually an alchemicalexperiment
being extremely flawed, and chose Reich's psychotherapy
thatputhiminto the hospital, and was the causative factor
methods instead. Here, again, we see Regardie accepting
behind his emphysema. Joe later criticized Regardie to his
the physical overthe metaphysical-a.nd this is one reason
face for doing this dangerous experiment in closed quar
he admired Joe. For not only was Joe performing magical
ters withoutproperventilation.
evocation and doing real alchemical experiments, he was
Beyond this, Regardie later confided to Joe what actu
also being educated as a physicist at university while yet
ally happened as a result of that experiment. This is what
carrying on his own scientific work: applying what he
Joetold me, as Regardie explaineditto him:
learned to his ownideas in physics.
Francis'lungconditionwasnotduetohis yearsofsmok Both Dr. Regardie and Dr. Lisiewski did agree on the
ing, as he first told me andeveryoneelse. The fact of the fundamental issues underlying the practice of magic. One
matteris,he quitcigarette smokingin his 40's, and took point that was extremely important to both was that there
up apipethroughouthis 50's,whichhe thengaveup. is no such thing as "Magick Without Tears." To them,
14 JosephC.Lisiewski,Ph.D. CeremonialMagic 15
~agic is serious business; and considering how difficult it given over to the pomp and pageantry that underlies
IS to perform a genuine ritual, and how exact results of Golden Dawn initiations. Francis was. It is important to
even serious ritual and ceremonial work are in large mea remember, however, that both Regardie and Joe agreed
sure unpredictable, both Regardie and-joe felt thatwhat completely that the old grimoires were the key to func
most people called.a ':magi~~l ritual" is, in fact, nothing tional, practical,and verifiable magic.
more than an exercise m futility and ego gratification. Joe, Regardie would always tell me howbeautifulhe found
Regar~,ie, a~d} would <:>ften smile at what most people the ritualsof the GoldenDawn, boththe initiations and the
called Magic, and that mc1uded Crowley's Gnostic Mass religious-type rituals such as Corpus Christi. (Joecouldn't
and adorations. In our view, these performances are not have cared less. His position was, and is, intensely practi
true magic but: r~ther,mysticism interlaced with religion, cal, always lookingfor the underlyingprinciples-just as a
and placed within a framework meant to elicit a scan physicist should!) However, when it came to practical
dalous reaction from the general public. Regardie, Joe, and magic and the accomplishment of a given end, Regardie
I felt-an~ J~e .and I still do.-that this is particularly true always fell back on the older, more complete systems as
of those individuals who Identify themselves with the representedby the olderGrimoires.
New Aeon-where magic is nothing more than a watered There existed yet another basic disagreement between
down form ofChristianity. In fact, neitherCrowleynor the Regardie and Joe, and that was the nature of the beings
so-called "New Aeon" provide much credence for hard evoked to physical manifestationthrough the act of evoca
core Magic. Dr. Regardie would often say to me that the tion. Regardie felt thenature ofthe demonbeingevoked to
New Aeo~ and the New Age were co-extensive, and manifestation was psychological, thus favoring Crowley's
referred to Itas "CosmicFoo Foo." view as givenin the Goetia. He also preferred the use of the
This view did not make Dr. Regardie popular with full Qabalistic theory in an evocation, once again, as
many ?f the Wicca people nor with the OTO, which Crowley gave in the Goetia. For example: that the number
Regardiesupported,nonetheless, outofhis commitmentto of candles, the color of the candles, etc., must correspond
his.m~mory of his Guru, Crowley. In fact, to this day, to the planet the demon is under. Joe, however, never
while .Itwas Regar~iewho helped bring Crowley and his favored this, arguing that the Old System-the grimoires
work mto the public eye, most high-ranking members of themselves-very rarely call for any such significance. In
the OTO despise Regardie for 'having psychologized fact, Joe argued that the Grimores have their own require
Crowley, ~s~e did in his biograp~y, The Eye intheTriangle. ments, and very few of them are Qabalistically-based. An
WhIle It IS true that Joe practiced Golden Dawn Magic example of this canbe found once again in the same Goetia
for many years under Regardie's direct tutelage, and was concerning the times for evoking a demon of a given rank.
both a member and officer of Crowley's A:.A:., he found In this scheme, Qabalistic Planetary Hours are not used.
?oth systems of magic to be utterly lacking in accomplish Instead, a different set of times for evoking a being of a
mg what he wanted: reliable results. This is where Dr. given rank are presented. In both my opinion and Joe's,
Reg~rdie and Joe disagreed, as Regardie was highly sup Francis' stancehereagainwas a reflection ofhis dedication
portive of the Golden Dawn. Yet their disagreement only to Crowley.
strengthened their friendship. It did not end it, as the his At other times, however, Regardie told Joe and me that
toryof Magic hasshownis almostalways thecase. he was actually uncertain as to the nature of the evoked
My view is that whatever disagreement there was beings; and yet still there were other times when he felt
between them was due to a confusion between initiation theywere objectivebeings. Putsimply,Joe did-and still
ritual and the techniques of practical magic. Joe is not views the beings manifested through evocation as being
16 JosephC.Lisiewski,Ph.D. CeremonialMagic 17
purely objective in nature, and refutes their psychological IfThere AreSpiritsInYourHead,
basis completely. IHaveABridgeInBrooklyn ForSale, Cheap
Regarding alchemy, Joe explained to me that Francis
was responsible for getting him into the in-residence, "Any sufficientlyadvanced technology
seven-yearcycleofalchemical instructionat the Paracelsus isindistinguishable from magic."
ResearchSociety.A.sJoeexplained, - ArthurC.Clarke
ItwasinOctober1974thatRegardieandI discussed the One of the most recurrently frustrating features of my
issue of alchemy, and my interestin it. I told him of the
involvement in esoteric groups for the past thirty years is
basic experiments in alchemy that I had already con
the irritating,and seeminglyinevitable, tendencyofpeople
ducted at that time-which came from Rosicrucian
to simplifyesoteric practiceto the pointofevisceratingit.
Order AMORC instructions. Francis insisted that as I
In largely Protestant America, even Christianity-a
was a physicistin the making, it wasvitalthat alchemy
religion already simple well past the boundary of stupid
be brought under the aegis of the Hard Sciences, and
strongly lamented the fact that he had not gone this ity-has been reduced from the elegant ceremony of
routehimself(he wasveryinterestedin chemistry,andI Catholicism and the Episcopal church, to congregations
sensehe wouldhaveliked to havebecomea chemistin which merely sit in pews to be yammered at or, at most,
steadofpursuingthecareerhe chose.) As aresult,he in driven into (often fake) hysterical fits in a Pentacostalist
formed me ofFraterAlbertusandPRS,and askedme ifI hall.
wouldbe willingto enterthe seven-yearcycle ofinstruc In a culture already used to lazy superstitious religious
tion. I immediately agreed. Regardie then contacted his traditions, and almost completely alienated from ancient
verygoodfriend FraterAlbertus, and made the arrange
esoteric practice, it is no surprise that even the most seri
ments for me to begin with the Prima Class (first year
ous occult streamshave suffered from this tendency.
class) in February1975.Icompleted the seven-yearcycle
Since I began by studying alone in the Midwest, find
in October 1980 after 6 years, having taken two, two
ing classic sources only with great difficulty, I was
week classes back-to-hack in 1978 (the Quarta and
Qunitaclasses.) shielded from the moralizing and "blandizing" that was
already taking place in movements like Wicca by the late
There is much, much more that Ican say and reveal, as 1970's.
Joe was-and is-part and parcel of the modernhistory of One of my first encounters with this phenomena came
magic. At the time of this writing, he is 55 years old; and early in my involvement with an occult order after my
like myself, has been involvedwith serious magic for well move to SouthernCaliforniain 1978.Amanwasin conver
over forty years now. However, as I have stated, he is sation with another about the Gaetia (the Lesser Key ofSolo
absolutely unlike most practitioners. He is for real. He mon) and Ioverheardhim explainingthat "themagic circle
knows his material, and practices what he writes in this, can be anything you wantit to be. Pretend you've laid out
the first of his many books to come from his publisher the circlewhileputtingon yourbeltifyou wantto."
New Falcon Publications. I will now pass the ball to my And this was in aCrowleygroup, at that time, aboutas
associate S.Jason Black.
hard-edged as you could get short of one of the Satanist
orders. This same group, however, for some considerable
- ChristopherS.Hyatt,Ph.D.,
time, met twice a week to experiment with John Dee's
June 2004
Enochian system, so there was still serious practice occur-
18 JosephC.Lisiewski,Ph.D. CeremonialMagic 19
ring for years to come. This, unfortunately eroded over half-assed evocations ever done. Within 90 days, all three
time. Much of this deterioration can be laid at the door of ofus hadlost ourjobs.
Alei~ter C~owley himself. In 1903, when "editing" the
Goeiia, which he would eventually publish (it has been One very important thing about Dr. Lisiewski's book,
suggested he stole it from MacGregor Mathers), he wrote Ceremonial Magic, that one rarely finds in occult books
in the introduction: "The spirits of the Goetia are portions (other than books about ghosts) is the author's emphasis
ofthe humanbrain." on materialmanifestationofthe spirit.
This single remark has mislead thousands of sincere In the surviving grimoires that have been published,
seekers, and created an excuse for even more thousands of which are by and large, merely outlines of ceremony, not
dilettantes. Never in his life did Crowley have any real philosophy or, indeed, teaching, the manifestation of the
familiarity with psychology (this is demonstrated by his spirit is a given, and not elaborated on. Since Crowley's
fear ofhypnosis), and he himselfcitesnumerous occasions "brilliant" remark, recent-generation "magicians" have
in his biographical writings when he has experienced spent.theirtime ponderingwhat the writers "really" meant
pI:y~icalphenomena in connection with the conjuration of by this, In a talk I gave awhile back, a girl asked me if I
spirits. thought the instructions of the old books were "really
He also says, in the same introduction: "Our Ceremo blinds"; my response was: "For what purpose? And have
nial Magic fines down, then, to a series ofminute, though you tried following the instructions?" The first question
ofcourseempirical,physiologicalexperiments, and who so she couldn't answer, the second, of course, was "No." Dr.
will carry them through intelligently need not fear the Lisiewski, being a physicist, and trained in scientific
result." method, as well asbeingthe personalstudentoftwo ofthe
The only true thing in this remarkable bladder of hot greatestoccultists ofthe twentiethcentury, and notbeing a
air is the word "empirical." As far as the practitioner not lazy man, made no such assumptions. He followed the
needing to fear the result,nothingcouldbe further from the instructions, and got the results indicated by tradition, as
truth. Fundamentalist churches are full of converts who did I, as Iwillshow later. Incidentally, Dr. Lisiewski is not
were told spirits are psychological, and found out other the only physicistthat Iknow ofinvolved in the practice of
wise. I'vebeen acquainted withmany. ceremonial magic. There is little in the traditions of magic
In nearly thirty years of active practice, I have wit thatcontradictsmodemphysics.
nessed poltergeist phenomena, apparitions (usually in This flit's all psychology" thing has not been such a
broad daylight), andsuccessfuldeathspells as the result of problem until now, as earlier writers, such as Dion
ceremonial evocation. The result of mishandling or inepti Fortune, werefamiliar with the publishedworkon psychic
tude can be disastrous so far beyondbelief, that onlyother research, as well as traditional spiritualism. Ironically,
people who have had the experience are likely to believe Fortune really was also a mental health care professional,
yourstoryshouldithappen to you. but had no problem whatsoever in the literal existence of
As a particularlymild example, many years ago, Ipar spirits. One of my abiding gripes from day one of my
ticipated in Aleister Crowley's Rite of Jupiter, one of his association with occult groups, is that, aside from, say, the
series of "Rites of Eleusis." I was one of the three major Edgar Cayce people, their ignorance of 130years of scien
male characters in the drama (though I no longer remem tific research into the paranormal is as vast as the Arabian
ber which one) and along with some others, I placed a desert so, as with the Bible,any opinion is of equal worth.
Jupiter talisman under whatever passed for the central And speaking of the Bible,the major desire of the current
altar. Well, all in all, it must have been one of the most crop of "magicians" is religion. They twist the definitions
20 Joseph C.Lisiewski,Ph.D. CeremonialMagic 21
progressed, it became clear that the man's religious orien
of magic in any direction required to accommodate this
tation was not the only factor in his reaction. It was also
need, while still referring to themselves as magicians. The
the notionofdirect, individual contactwith the supernatu
ultimately ridiculous example of this has occurred in the
ral. Ifconfronted,the man might evenhave claimed not to
Crowley groups where a church service~the "Gnostic
believe in it, but the tone ofhis voice said otherwise. Isus
Mass"~is now referred to as a "magical ritual." Well,
pect that most "nee-pagans" of one kind or another, hav
Crowleyalwayswanted to be a Bishop.
ing been raised in white, Protestant environments, have
Soperhapsnow is the time for abasic definition.Magic
the same deep-down reaction. They are willing to do any
is the manipulation of hidden forces or intelligences to
thing, so long as it doesn't work. The reasons for justifying
produce a desired result. A church service produces no
such inaction are also ingenious-.Many are the initiates
results except for, at best, hypnosis, and more usually,
thatIhave metoverthe years whodo no practice-s-and are
boredom. My morning tarot reading is more magic than
damned proud ofit.
twenty years of this kind of nonsense. It is expected to
The main solution to this problem is disciplined anti
forecast the immediate future, and before the day is over, I
nomianism, which ismore difficult than it sounds, and has
will knowifit worked.
little place in a book on the evocation of spirits, except for
The tarot example aside, magic is frequently hard
the fact that the successful practice of this Art requires the
work. While there are enough lazy people in the occult
acceptance on a gutlevel ofthe falsity ofthe accepted real
whowantto avoid this outright, still, overthe years, Ihave
ity that our culture teaches us-e-which is no easy thing. So
known many involved in the sort of thing I have just criti
difficult is it, that persons who start as sincere students of
cized who were adept at both the martial arts and some of
magic art often feel compelled to adapt that art to middle
the more demanding forms of yoga; and indeed, the Rites
class suburbanviewsofthe universe...
ofEleusis that Imentioned abovecan take days ofphysical
preparation. Yet,most of these samepeoplewouldn'tlift a
FloatingLights and ExplodingToilets
finger to draw a magic circle, while still wanting to be
calledmagicians. One wonders whatthe problemis. One of my earliest experiences in evocation occurred
I think the answer is twofold. To begin with, people around 1979.Ihad moved to Southern California from the
become deeply and emotionallyattached to dogmas that Midwest, and was living alone, so Icould experimentfully
give them personal status. If a person is inducted into a for the first time withoutfear ofinterruption.
group or tradition that says spirit evocation is creative Iconstructed a circle (from a design in Francis Barrett's
visualization, they can practice in thatvein, and call them TheMagus)from a painter'sdrop cloth thatcouldbe folded
selves "initiated magicians." If presented with the data up and put away when not in use. I had decided on a
that such is not the case, but "spirits" literally exist, then ritual from one of the Grimoires (it was either The Key of
theyare justanotherfailure. Solomon,or Goetia, Ino longerrememberwhich) andbegan
Once, some years ago, justafter New Falconpublished to do a full evocation around five nights a week. WhatIdo
either Pacts With the Devil or Aleister Crowley's Illustrated remember is that it was connected with the Sun. Early on,
Goetia, Ihad the chance to overhear a conversation about perhaps the third or fourth night, I was in the middle of
the book (which one, I don't remember, and it isn't impor the conjurationwhenIwas stoppedcold byaphysicalsen
tant) where an obviously Protestant Christian man was sationemanating from the (outside) doorway. Therewas a
reading an account of drawing a magic circle, and calling buzzing sensation on the surface of my skin, probably
up a spirit. Inan almost panicked voice he kept repeating, what the spiritualists used to call "vibrations," and an
"I'd never do that! I'd neverdo that!" As the conversation