Spirits of Place
If you've read my Jupiter series, you know that I do quite a bit of spirit summoning. It may seem like an odd vocation for a modern person, to summon and talk to invisible spirits. However, I've found it to be both informative, provocative, and an interesting activity.
I have to give a big shout out to Jason Miller, who's book The Sorcerer's Secrets has been a great influence on my thinking in regards to spiritual beings. If you're a worker of magic and you haven't read this book, you seriously need to give it a look. I haven't read his Protection and Reversal Magic, but I have taken part in the Strategic Sorcery course, and recommend that highly.
If you read the grimoires or take a solely Christian stance, you may end up thinking dealing with spirits is an incredibly dangerous act. However, Jason Miller advocates treating spirits just as you would any other being, and I have to say that particular attitude is incredibly effective.
Not all spirits are equal, of course. Summoning an angel is a more formal and perhaps dangerous endeavor than inviting the local earth spirit in for an offering. Summoning the sub-lunar spirits of the goetia is a taxing and very precise action if you're trying to accomplish something specific. However, one of the things Jason recommends is inviting the spirits of the place where you live in, to introduce yourself and offer them some gifts, sort of like a housewarming, but in reverse.
As I've spent the whole weekend moving to a new location, I took the early morning hours of Sunday to do such an introduction. A lot of my work is done in a Masonic/Golden Dawn/Aurum Solis vein, and so I had my double cubical altar with two pillar candles on it, and I used those candles as a gateway, to open the veil between the material and spiritual world. Then I invited the spirits of the elements of this place to come and make themselves known. A bit of meditation and runic randomness later, and I had been introduced to the four local spirits of the elements, and knew a bit about them. We basically did the spiritual equivalent of coffee with the neighbors.
When moving to a new place, I highly recommend this practice, which is elaborated on in Jason's book. I think encountering the spirits of a place will make your life, and the lives of all who live there, better. Also, from the spirits I contacted, I got some ideas for improvements the spirits would like to see, to make the place more vibrant and more livable.
I have to give a big shout out to Jason Miller, who's book The Sorcerer's Secrets has been a great influence on my thinking in regards to spiritual beings. If you're a worker of magic and you haven't read this book, you seriously need to give it a look. I haven't read his Protection and Reversal Magic, but I have taken part in the Strategic Sorcery course, and recommend that highly.
If you read the grimoires or take a solely Christian stance, you may end up thinking dealing with spirits is an incredibly dangerous act. However, Jason Miller advocates treating spirits just as you would any other being, and I have to say that particular attitude is incredibly effective.
Not all spirits are equal, of course. Summoning an angel is a more formal and perhaps dangerous endeavor than inviting the local earth spirit in for an offering. Summoning the sub-lunar spirits of the goetia is a taxing and very precise action if you're trying to accomplish something specific. However, one of the things Jason recommends is inviting the spirits of the place where you live in, to introduce yourself and offer them some gifts, sort of like a housewarming, but in reverse.
As I've spent the whole weekend moving to a new location, I took the early morning hours of Sunday to do such an introduction. A lot of my work is done in a Masonic/Golden Dawn/Aurum Solis vein, and so I had my double cubical altar with two pillar candles on it, and I used those candles as a gateway, to open the veil between the material and spiritual world. Then I invited the spirits of the elements of this place to come and make themselves known. A bit of meditation and runic randomness later, and I had been introduced to the four local spirits of the elements, and knew a bit about them. We basically did the spiritual equivalent of coffee with the neighbors.
When moving to a new place, I highly recommend this practice, which is elaborated on in Jason's book. I think encountering the spirits of a place will make your life, and the lives of all who live there, better. Also, from the spirits I contacted, I got some ideas for improvements the spirits would like to see, to make the place more vibrant and more livable.
Comments
Myself, personally, I've learned quite a bit about the practice through my exploration and engagement with the Coptic magical traditions as exemplified by the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri - our grimoire predecessors - and it's very enriching to work 'from the bottom up' as opposed to constantly conjuring angelic or sublunar forces.