Happy Halloween!

Here's the actual Post. Those who subscribe to my blog got the title in an RSS feed with no post because I hit Enter after typing the title instead of Tab. Blogger happily published the post. Title. I hadn't even started writing yet. Sorry.

Now, for today's post:

Hopefully you finished yesterday's exercise. If not, do so before performing any of the following operations. It doesn't replace K&CHGA, but it at least prepares you for what's coming.

This being Halloween, the day of the year when the veil between the worlds is thinnest, it's a great day for Necromancy.

I'm going to be conjuring Bune to make spirits appear on their sepulchres. I have a favorite graveyard where I'd like to perform the rite, but it's out in the country, way the hell away from here. I'll likely settle on building an astral image of a spooky old graveyard and performing most of the communications with him there... Although, it might be fun to have a spirit pop up on Poe's grave while they're doing Pennies for Poe here in Baltimore. Hmmmmmm....

No, no, I'll keep it serious.

Ok, so here's the deal:

In the Lemegeton's Goetia, you're given the seals, circles, pentagrams, hexagrams, etc. that you need to perform the conjuration. The bad news is, you won't have time to make them if you don't have them. The good news is that you won't be needing them to conjure Bune.

Instead, you'll need to perform the exercise from yesterday. When you're done, read the descriptions of Bune from the Lemegeton's Goetia AND from the Pseudomonarchia. Meditate on it for a while, imagine how he might look as described in the grimoire. Next, draw out Bune's Seal.

When you're done, go back and read his description again. Draw the seal a couple more times. This time intone and vibrate his Name as you're drawing it. When you've got it down nicely (it took me a couple of tries to figure out how to draw it properly proportioned), get a fresh, clean, never-used piece of paper, and draw it again. Write his name above it, intoning and vibrating it.

On the opposite side, draw out the Pentagonal Seal of Solomon. Again, vibrate and intone the words as you write them in the corners of the pentagon, and as you draw the little seals. I start with "Abdia" and work around, then finish with "Soluzen" in the center. The last thing I do is write the Te-Tra-Gram-Ma-Ton around the Pentacle. I've speculated in the past that every time you see "Tetragramaton" in a ritual or on a seal, you should replace it with the actual "IHVH." This isn't possible for the Pentagonal Figure of Solomon. You need the Four-Lettered Name represented in Five syllables. It's an important key to the system, this Four-in-Five (imho). You might be able to use YHShVH as effectively, but I've never tried it.

Thread this paper and wear it as a lamen, with Bune's seal facing your chest and the Pentagonal Figure facing outwards. I thought this was weird at first, but it works well, and you don't really internalize the spirit, not any more than you do any other spirit when you conjure it. Having performed the exercise from yesterday, your sphere's vibration will be humming along nicely, and the more materialistic vibe of Bune's sphere won't bring you down too much.

Finally, use the Oration from the Pseudomonarchia to conjure Bune. Go on, go read it. I'll wait. Hmmm, hmm-hmm-hmmmm. Ok done? Back already? Too Christian for ya? (Picture Fr. R.O. laughing his ass off.)

Ok, for serious, it's almost too Christian for me. I get serious chills reading it. It's like Lon Milo DuQuette's chanting ceremony in Enochian Vision Magic, a long series of prayer and God Names, but with a lot more begging God to grant you the authority to conjure the Spirit. I've only ever said it all the way through aloud once, Vibrating and intoning the God names as I went along, and man, by the time I was finished, the air was humming with power.

The trouble is, I don't agree with the doctrine it represents in the slightest. I think the parts where it says the spirits were "cast down" or "thrown out of heaven" are misrepresentations entirely. The Divine Pymander explains that the "Evil Daimon" is sent to the impious to lead them into temptation and distraction from God to punish them for forgetting their source by making them slaves to their possessions. (In writing, that's called a run-on paraphrase, I think). Point is, the spirits are here, within the terrestrial realm like we are. The "Fall" is simply a reference to gaining more spiritual density as they approached the sphere of the Earth.

Instead of going through all that, I suggest you perform yesterday's exercise, draw the seal and the Pentagonal Figure as noted above, and then close your eyes and imagine yourself in a very detailed graveyard, standing within a circle containing the names and symbols from the exercise. Picture yourself standing before the grave of the person you want to speak with. See their name engraved upon the stone in your mind's eye. See the inscription of the date of birth and death, if you have that information, or simply know you are standing before the grave of the person you seek to contact.

Say something along the lines of the following:

"Bune, thou spirit of the Lemegeton and the Pseudomonarchia, I [your name/motto here] conjure you to this land of the Dead by the most holy names inscribed within this circle. Come now from whatever part of the earth, under the earth, or upon whatever wind you ride to appear before me now. I conjure you here by the name Adonay, and by Hagios, O Theos, Iscyros, Athanatos; Paracletus, Alpha and Omega, and by these three secret names: Agla, On, Tetragrammaton, that you at once fulfill what I desire."(1)

In your mind's eye, you should see him appear. If he doesn't, then picture his seal (good thing you drew it so many times) beaming out from the lamen around your neck (you are picturing yourself wearing it, yes?). See the seal projected between yourself and the grave of the person you are seeking to communicate with. Vibrate and intone (or SING! - that's for Mike) his Name, and as you do, see his Name form in flaming letters around his Seal. Really pump the Seal full of the power that resonates with his Name. Then repeat the conjuration, picturing the Seal transforming into Bune.

I don't think you'll need that much, frankly. When I conjured him into the Spirit Pot, I just said, "Bune, are you here?" and heard a solid "Yes" in response, a thought that originated from outside my head, sort of from behind my ears on both sides. Like he communicates through the hippocampus part of the brain.

When he's present, say something along the lines of:

"Bune, I have conjured you here to cause the spirit of [person's name] to appear before me upon their sepulchre (that's a grave). Will you do this for me now?"

Bune will likely say he will, because he likes to do that kind of thing.

Let him sort of fade into the background scenery, and look up on top of the sepulchre you've imagined. I see a little candle flame that grows in brightness, hovering above the stone. When it's finished growing to whatever size it grows to, begin speaking to the spirit. "Are you [name]?" is a good place to start. If you're a Christian, have it say "Jesus is Lord" to affirm it is who it says it is. Thelemites have success making the spirits say something out of the Book of the Law; Jews may have success having it swear by Tetragrammaton that it is who it claims to be. You can try banishing pentagrams, but I think they're hokey, and you'd likely banish the spirit. Invoking pentagrams seems like a really seriously bad idea when working with the Spirits. I'm not GD, so I dunno what to tell you if that's your thing.

Assuming it passes the test, begin to talk to it about whatever it is you've conjured it for. Ask where that will was stashed, or who your real father was, you bastard.(2) Ask what he meant when he wrote that confusing chapter in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, if you're conjuring Agrippa. Ask who shot him if it's JFK. Ask whatever you want to know, about the after life, the present, the future, whatever you think this spirit would be able to answer knowledgeably. I wouldn't ask Marie Antoinette the finer points of calculus, but I might ask Poe to recite some of his more recent poetry, or ask Einstein what he thinks of Hawking's theories about black holes. Not that I'd understand it very well, but still.

When you're finished, thank the Spirit for their time, and bid them to go in Peace. Thank Bune for his help, and bid him go in peace, bringing no harm to any you know or love, and remind him I still need that $7 million.(3)

After you've done all this, take some time to ground yourself out. Perform that exercise again, to cleanse any death-vibes from your sphere that might be hanging around. Place the lamen somewhere and light a votive or tea light candle as a gesture of thanks to Bune. Take a bath. Brush your teeth. Play with your hematite, iron pyrite, steel blade, jet, obsidion, or amethyst. Roll them around between the palms of your hands, extending your awareness into them, picturing yourelf floating in the center of whatever stone you have.(4)

Then come back and post your experiences in the comments below, or send me an email. If I include this post as a chapter in a book that ever gets published, I'll throw your experiences in the "Anecdotes" appendix, with permission, of course.

(1) Adapted from the Heptameron, see Joe Peterson's notes on the Oration and Conjuration sections of the Lemegeton's Goetia. Really, you should be familiar with how the orations go anyway.
(2) Just Kiddin'! I'm sure you're not a bastard. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you are (you bastard)
(3) Ibid. If you mention me during this rite, I'll personally hex you so bad you'll be dead by dawn. Then I'll eat your soul.
(4) If you're using a steel blade, don't roll it between your palms; that would be stupid. As in all magical rites, DON'T BE STUPID.