The elemental circle
It will feel
better if it’s something you do in a quiet, private place. A dark, calm
and atmospheric room, at night, will get you in the right state of mind,
but if you can’t find that, anywhere will be ok.
An hour before you begin, dampen the noise; turn off phones,
computers, the TV. Be alone, be quiet. Shut up and shut down.
Make
sure you’ve done the preparation described in the chapter called
Before the Magick, unless you have a good reason to miss it out.
I prefer to sit alone, dressed normally.
Do your
best without strain. If you’re sitting there with gritted teeth, forcing
yourself to picture things, that’s too intense. This should be easy.
To begin the ritual, create the Elemental Circle, picturing Earth,
Air, Water, and Fire, encircling you. In some traditions, Earth belongs
in the North, or The East or The West, and Air in the South or The
East. You get the picture; there are lots of different ideas about
where these Elements ‘belong’.
In the pathworking itself the Elements are represented
symbolically, in this order; Earth, Air, Water, Fire. That’s the same
order used to create the Elemental Circle. The method is
straightforward.
With eyes open or closed, imagine a circle of Earth around you.
How you imagine this is up to you. I usually see muddy soil and clay
surrounding me in a circle about nine feet wide. It’s not a disc, but a
circle, like a line of Earth. It’s as though somebody has taken
handfuls of this clay and used it to draw a wide circle around me.
(Some people prefer to use the word ‘ring’ instead of ‘circle’, as that
makes it easier to picture. Use the word that makes sense to you.)
I usually imagine myself in an empty place. I picture myself standing
on a desert plain, with a white sky, and that’s easy for me.
If you can’t imagine anything, you can think, ‘There is a circle of
Earth around me.’
You then picture this Earth transforming to Air. Picturing
something invisible is difficult for everybody, so we usually cheat and
picture something being moved by Air. I picture a circle of autumnal
leaves being swirled around in a perfect circle by the Air. Other
people picture a circle of mist, but I find that too watery. You can
make up your own image for Air if it’s meaningful to you. The circle
of Air should replace the circle of Earth.
If you have a really bad imagination, you can think, ‘A circle of Air
surrounds me.’ This one’s quite abstract because we’re surrounded
by Air everywhere all the time, so how can there be another circle of
Air? This is why I think it’s useful to think of it as a moving, flowing
breeze, separated from ordinary Air. Sometimes, I imagine that even
though it’s separate from me, I can feel its fresh chill.
You now imagine the Air turning to Water, and this is where I
imagine the Air sublimates and splashes down to the ground, settling
into a ring of Water. It’s like somebody has dug a trench, a shallow,
circular trench a few inches across, (with the circle itself about nine
feet wide), that surrounds me, and the Water circulates there, clear
and glittering. I like to picture the Air gouging out the trench as it
turns to Water, but it doesn’t have to be as dramatic as that. You can
forget about Air and picture the Water in place around you. If you
can’t picture anything, think, ‘There is a circle of Water around me.’
Water transforms into Fire, and for this I see the Water darken
before igniting. It’s like imagining the Water has turned to oil, before
bursting into flames. Some people don’t do that, and let the Water
vanish and then be replaced by flames. I like to see the flames as
quite low, a few inches high, so that I don’t feel like I’m surrounded
by an inferno, but some people picture a thick wall of flames.
Practice and preference will help you decide what works for you. If
you can’t picture anything, you can think, ‘A circle of Fire surrounds
me.’
The circle is not a protection in
itself, (that is, it’s not a protective shield like many magick circles
are), but it means that the method of pathworking that follows will let
Elemental Imagery bring you the right demon, safely.
The Pathworking Ritual
Contact with the demon is achieved by reading each line of the
pathworking beneath the demon’s sigil, thinking of the demon’s
name, and then breathing onto the demon’s sigil using the Elemental
Breath described earlier. This is not difficult.
Imagine you are playing with your niece, and she asks you to be a
dragon. You can imagine breathing pretend fire onto her toy castle to
burn it down. If you’re not the playful kind, imagine instead what you
do when you breathe on a very cold window. You breathe onto the
glass, knowing that condensation will mist over the glass. The
Elemental Breath can be like this; you know that the image is being
transferred from you into the sigil with your breath.
You picture the image, and if it takes several breaths in and out to
get the image clear that’s ok, and then when you are ready, you think
the demon’s name for a moment (as though ‘speaking’ it in your
mind), and then let the pathworking image leave you as you breathe
out onto the sigil. The image passes from you to the demon through
this Elemental Breath.
Do not focus on trying to get the image out of your mind. It’s ok if
there’s still some there; you are not trying to empty your head. It’s
like throwing half a glass of water on somebody. They get wet, and
you still have water in your glass. If the image is still within you, trust
that it has also been passed to the demon.
To reiterate, you breathe out onto the sigil, knowing that the
pathworking image is within your breath, and is communicated to the
demon through the sigil. If you can, keep your eyes open as you
breathe onto the sigil. If you aren’t able to do that, look at the sigil for
a moment before making each Elemental Breath.
You know that by breathing a pathworking image into the sigil, you
have taken one step closer to the demon and that the demon has
been drawn closer to you.
For the first demon, Bael, you would read the line, The remains of
burned branches on a slab of white marble. You keep breathing
normally as you let yourself imagine this image. It might take a
moment or up to half a minute. You get whatever image you can. If
you can’t see anything other than the words, that’s ok too, as you’ve
generated the image within yourself through reading the words, even
if you don’t have the imagination to see the image itself.
You now
think the demon’s name, Bael, as though speaking it in your mind,
and then breathe onto the sigil, knowing that the image of burned
branches on a slab of marble is being passed through your
Elemental Breath into the sigil. The demon is aware of you.
You would then read, The sound of laboured breathing. This is not
an image, as such, but think of it as an image because it is formed in
the imagination. You might actually hear laboured breathing, or you
might think about laboured breathing. When you feel ready, think the
name Bael once more, and breathe your imagined sound of laboured
breathing into the sigil.
You do the same for the next two images, and when you have
thought the name Bael for the fourth time, and breathed the image of
a white sky that becomes orange with sunrise into the sigil, Bael will
be present.
Some people feel or sense nothing until this final breath. Others
feel a pull to the demon with each breath. You might feel nothing at
all. You might find it difficult to breathe images out, in which case
practice this technique. It’s not hard so long as you’re not hard on
yourself.
You now make your request with a final Elemental Breath. You
came up with a phrase earlier, so run through that until you can feel
it. Again, think the name Bael, and then ‘speak’ the request in your
mind, and then breathe that request into the sigil. You will be heard.
Remain more aware of the demon than of your request itself. That
means you shouldn’t get lost in your own musings about your desire,
but keep the demon in mind as you breathe your request out,
knowing the demon is present. It usually takes one breath, but if you
want to take a few more, that is ok.
That is pathworking. If this sounds weird - the idea of breathing
out a request - it’s easy if you try it. Imagine feeling really angry, and
somebody tells you to take a deep breath and let it all out. It’s like
that. If you want, practice this with other thoughts and ideas before
you try a ritual. Imagine something you want, and imagine breathing
the desire out, onto any object, or into the air. Once more, if you
aren’t hard on yourself, and know that this is easy, it won’t be hard.
It’s best if you breathe onto the sigil with your eyes open, but if
you can’t, look at it for a moment before making the Elemental
Breath.
Your request has now been made, so you close the ritual by
releasing the demon. You do this by looking at the sigil and
‘speaking’ the demon’s name three times in your mind, knowing that
this gives the demon the power to leave. Close the book, and it’s
over. You don’t need to do anything to get rid of the demon. People
love to spread scary stories about demons lingering, and tell you to
banish and call on archangels to help, but you don’t need to do
anything. Banishing won’t mess things up if you’re into banishing, but
I don’t bother with it.
26. BIME
Obtain material wants. If there is something you want, use the ritual
not to attract the actual finances required, but the desired outcome. If
you want to buy a car, you need the financial resources to obtain that
car, but your desire is the car. During the ritual, you would focus on
the car, and ignore the money. Although you know the ritual is about
finding sufficient money to meet your wants, it is by allowing the
desired result itself to come about, giving no heed to money, that you
are most likely to get what you want.
The First Sigil Of Bime
A glossy scorpion on orange sand.
The angry barking of many dogs.
The taste of charcoal.
An azure sky brightens to amber.
50. FURCAS
For supernatural ability. If you use divination, seek visions, or
attempt anything that might be called supernatural, including astral
projection, this power can improve your ability to connect with your
natural talent. It will only have an effect if you are working to develop
such an ability and will have no effect if you just want to be more
psychic. If you want to be more psychic, choose a method that is
known to work, and then ask the demon to improve your ability to
learn. If you already possess a supernatural ability of any kind, you
can reach your full potential with it more rapidly by calling for the
demon’s aid.
The Sigil Of Furcas
In bright sunlight, a muddy river is streaked with blood.
Birdsong.
The smell of burnt hair.
A dark blue sky becomes pale blue as a yellow sun rises.
62. VALAC
Money from nowhere. A power that sounds as good as this is
tempting, but don’t let it become your main source of magickal
finance, because although it’s more reliable than gambling, it’s not a
way to generate stable income. When you ask for money to come
from you in any way that it can, money will come to you, but it is
usually anything from a few dollars here and there, to a few hundred
dollars. It’s not a way to make a living, and although it can work
when you really need it to, this power works best when it’s more like
a game.
The Sigil Of Valac
A waterfall breaks on black rocks.
The sound of laboured breathing.
The smell of a stagnant pond.
From a silvery darkness grows glaring white light.
68. BELIAL
Bring wealth. I have never found Belial to bring overnight riches,
and the power is most effective when you are working on long-term
wealth and seek ongoing, stable increases. Call once a month to
increase your wealth, and you will find guidance, fortune, and a
reward for your efforts, that all increase your wealth.
The Sigil Of Belial
Rocks covered with wet moss.
The sound of many people breathing in sleep.
The taste of honey.
A pale green sky with a golden sun.
71. DANTALION
To attract potential lovers into your life. If you have any social life,
you will find yourself meeting more potential lovers during the
following months. This does nothing to make you more attractive, but
you should obtain more opportunities for love. You will also have
more awareness of when you have an opportunity.
The Sigil Of Dantalion
A wall of brass, shimmering in candle light.
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