Tag: spirit conjuration
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St. Cyprian: Magic’s Unlikely Saint
I’m generally circumspect when it comes to naming specific spirits I work with in my own practice. The one exception is St. Cyprian of Antioch, who was one of my earliest patrons. St. Cyprian of Antioch1 is a fascinating figure for those interested in magic, particularly magic in the Solomonic tradition. He was dropped at…
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On the Nature of Spirits
There was a question recently about the nature of spirits. Specifically, how much we should be attributing human-like personalities or characteristics onto spirits. Are relationships with spirits like human relationships? Or are spirits more like forces of nature that we can attune ourselves to? Different practitioners land at different places on this spectrum. Some view…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Overview and Index
Over the last four months, I’ve been writing a series of posts that explore the nuances of Solomonic spirit conjuration as a technology we can (and should!) apply in our magical practice. The series has taken turns that I never expected, ultimately clocking in over fifteen thousand words across twelve posts. For folks who haven’t…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: The License to Depart
We’ve now made it all the way through our examination of Solomonic conjuration rituals. The spirit has appeared and any desired requests or exchanges have taken place. The only thing left to do is close down the ritual. This is where our final step comes in: Licensia, the license to depart. In the Constrictio step,…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Ritual Innovation
We’ve nearly wrapped up our examination of Solomonic methods of spirit conjuration. At this point we should have a working knowledge of how to make contact with a spirit, set the terms of engagement, and participate in the resulting communication. There’s one more element, often overlooked, that’s worth covering in our discussion of the Ligatio…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: The Spirit’s Reply
In previous posts we’ve covered all the elements that go into summoning a spirit. We’ve now made it up to the penultimate stage in our Solomonic conjuration framework: Ligatio. In this phase, all the preliminaries are complete, the spirit has appeared, and the terms of the engagement (if any) have been set. The main thing…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Defining the Boundaries
We’ve now made it up to step four in our Solomonic conjuration framework: Constrictio. We’ve performed all our invocations and evocations, and made contact with the spirit. From here on out the ritual will proceed quickly; the main hurdle has already been overcome. The constrictio step is a reiteration of the boundaries you wish to…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Calling the Spirits
We’re now through all the preparatory phases in our deep dive on Solomonic conjuration. We’ve talked about setting the stage, consecrating our tools and completing the requisite purifications. We’ve talked about spirit names and seals, and the various different ways a spirit may show up when called. We’ve invoked various divinities, patrons, and gatekeepers for…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Making Contact
So far we’ve talked about the steps that need to be taken before summoning a spirit. This week we’re going to explore a slightly different facet: when to stop. One of the biggest objections to Solomonic conjuration among modern practitioners is its dominating tone. Threatening a spirit with hellfire and damnation unless it appears before…
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Solomonic Magic in Practice: Choosing a Spirit
Let’s recap where we are in our Solomonic ritual. We’ve consecrated our tools, our spaces, and ourselves. We’ve drawn out our circle. We’ve invoked various powers (God, angels, intermediary spirits, patrons, directional guardians, etc.) to set the stage. Now we’re ready to actually summon the spirit we are trying to contact. Before we can get…