The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 Spells: A Concise Reference Book for the Magical Arts. Judika Illes
for many the most challenging, hard to access and believe magic, because it doesn’t feel real to many people. It may be hard to believe or comprehend that a rock has a memory, but at least you can hold the rock in your hand. When you’re working with spirits, are you actually working with anything or is this all just the stuff of myth, fairy tale, and make-believe?
Discussions about finding the goddess within, although perhaps extremely valuable from a spiritual or therapeutic perspective, present a further magical obstacle. If the goddess (and, by projection, any other magic power) is truly an aspect of oneself, why bother with any of the physical materials at all? Magic spells are, in general, a partnership between inner and outer powers—powers that are part of you, and those that are distinctly independent from you.
Our limited word pool also compounds the problem. Because we approach spirituality literally, we also approach religion. Seemingly neutral simple terms like god and goddess are actually highly charged with personal meaning and resonance. We think that when we use these terms we are all on common ground, but that’s not necessarily so. Some use these terms to indicate supreme creators of the world; others use the terms for any type of spiritual entity. So to level the playing field, let’s just use the term spirits to name those powerful entities that resist human efforts to define them.
Like magic in general, every people, every culture on Earth, has at one time or another practiced some sort of spiritual interaction. Although it might be suggested today that someone claiming to have personal contact with spirits receive psychiatric counseling, at one time this was a common, if never commonplace, human experience.
Spiritual communications of all kinds, but especially the various methods of requesting spiritual participation in magic spells, exist in very consistent ways all around Earth.
If this seems unreal to you or if, based on religious background, you perceive that contact with spirits is potentially evil, there’s good news. Although this is a powerful form of magic, it’s easily avoided. Simply skip these spells and find others. Hoodoo, some of the most powerful magic of all, is practical magic devoid of spiritual encounters, as are many other systems. Work with what empowers you and makes you feel comfortable. On the other hand, if you are devoted to a spirit, you may incorporate spiritual petition into virtually every spell.
There is a host of spirits, legions. There are spirits to serve every purpose, and spirits with a vested interest in every topic. In addition to love spirits, protective spirits, healing spirits, etc., there are spirits of the bathroom, beer, and perfume. If something can be conceived, then there is at least one spirit attached to it.
Why do they assist us or even pay attention to us? For a variety of reasons, which ultimately may depend upon the nature of the particular spirit in question. Some are benevolent in general, some may have affection for you specifically; however the basic answer is because it is their job to do so. Dentists take care of teeth, doctors treat the ill, and spirits have their own department of expertise. It is thus important to petition the correct spirit for a specific purpose, although the spirits who work most consistently and powerfully for you are always your personal guardians and allies as well as your ancestral spirits.
One person’s guardian angel can be someone else’s demon: I Corinthians 10:20 describes Pagan sacrifices as being made to demons. The Pagans would have disagreed with that assessment. Many of the spirits invoked in magic may seem obscure today, however once upon a time they were huge stars of the spiritual firmament. The emergence of Christianity and Islam demoted many once-renowned spirits to the side-lines. This does not diminish their potential power. If you’re willing to believe that a spirit has the power to assist you, then that spirit should be treated with respect and consideration. Never underestimate the power of even the lowest-level spiritual entity. Furthermore, other spirits, depending upon spiritual tradition, are more vital and empowered today than ever before.
At best, this human/spirit alliance creates mutually beneficial relationships of great affection, love, and devotion. There is something of a barter relationship involved: we feed the spirits and they care for us, so that we may feed them more and they may care for us more. The key to this relationship, even more than any other kind of magic, is reciprocity. Make an offering when you make a request. Respond with an acknowledgement of thanks when the request is fulfilled, whether by prayer, gesture, or through a gift or offering. Spirits, like people, possess preferences. These practices stem back thousands of years; there’s a tremendous quantity of accumulated wisdom. It’s not necessary to figure everything out for yourself, although intuition may be divinely inspired.
Spirit Categories
Angels
Angel literally translates as “messenger” in Greek, a direct translation from the Hebrew. Unlike other categories of spirits, angels do not accept “offerings,” or at least not officially. They are customarily called through prayer, petition, and fragrance, although High Ritual Magic, based largely on information attributed to King Solomon, compels the presence of angels through sigils and talismans.
Specific angels maintain charge of all matters of life. There is an Angel of Conception, the Angel of Thieves, angels of various specific countries, and individual guardian angels. According to the Talmud, there are eleven thousand guardian angels per person. If you can think of it, it has a custodial agent.
In general, they are dynamic and fierce; creatures of light so blinding you can’t help but see them even with your eyes closed. According to Jewish mysticism, angels are beings of light, but when an angel wishes to manifest in physical form, it takes earth, fashions clothing from it, and transforms itself.
Angels are discussed before other spiritual entities because they are somewhat different from others, and because (according to Islamic and Jewish traditions), angels are personally responsible for humanity’s ability to cast spells. The Creator may have created magic power but angels taught people how to recognize it and what to do with it. They are our magical teachers.
Christian magic, reflecting theology, demands the existence of angels as creatures of pure goodness (with the exception of the fallen angels, who essentially lost their status as angels during the Fall), in clear opposition to demons, who are plainly “bad.” This is not the case in Islamic, Jewish, and Pagan perceptions, where angels are just beings of power. There are good angels, “evil angels,” and angels who may be persuaded to behave in either direction. Pious descriptions of “good” angels insist that they are asexual and gender-less, although ironically this is in opposition to the Bible, which describes the lust angels feel for human women (Genesis 6:1–4). Because these women conceive children, we can assume these particular angels to have been male with all working parts intact.
Instead of courting these human women with chocolates and roses, the angels bestowed the gift of knowledge—teaching the arts of astrology, magic, witchcraft, and cosmetics (not the triviality it may appear today but an ancient magical art). According to the Book of Enoch these teaching angels and their subjects included:
Semjaza: enchantments and root cutting
Armaros: the resolving of enchantment
Baraquiel: astrology
Kokabel: constellations
Ezequeel: knowledge of the clouds
Araquiel: earth signs
Shamsiel: sun signs
Sariel: the phases of the moon
Angels are ranked in various manners: Archangels, Throne Angels, Watchers, Seraphim, and Cherubim among others. The archangels command spirit hosts. Various spells request assistance from the archangels, however whether they are personally expected to appear or to delegate another from their host may be subject to interpretation.
There’s little agreement among experts or traditions, particularly as regards to the archangels. Are there seven or are there four? And which ones are they?
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