The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) · 172 of 175 · tr. Arthur Edward Waite
Page 80 (part 5)
Be this done by the virtue of God the Father ✠ , by His blessed Son ✠ and by the union of the Holy Spirit ✠ , even by the Trinity in unity, Which liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.
Amen ✠ .
Incessantly do I call, adjure, conjure, ordain and require thee, Human Spirit, by the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity, by the immortality which cometh after death, by the power and victory of Hell, by the bearer of the Seven Swords, by the Most Holy and Secret Seal, by the sacred love of Jesus, by all the Ministers and Archangels of God, Ophanim ✠ , Aralim ✠ , Hasmalim ✠ , [paragraph continues] Cherubim ✠ , Seraphim ✠ , and Malachim ✠ , and by the terrible torments of the demons.
I conjure thee also by the good angels Maluzim ✠ , Penpalabim ✠ , and Calizantin ✠ , by all the Powers of Heaven ✠ , by the earth ✠ and by the torments of Hell; I adjure thee by all mysteries, by the Crucifixion, by the dolorous scourging, by the crowning with thorns, by the bitterness of the Divine death, by the Most Holy and Ineffable Name of Jesus ✠ , which is sacred unto all Christians, but terror and anguish to the evil, for they have refused the salvation which has been offered them by the great living God.
I conjure thee to come before me immediately, in thy Proper human form, even as when thy treasure was buried.
Come before this circle, answer me faithfully, without falsehood and without enigmas.
This I command thee, in the Name and by the Power of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen .
A CONJURATION COMPELLING OBEDIENCE I adjure and command thee, Human Spirit, to appear before me under the similitude of fire.
By the ineffable Name JEHOVAH , by the ineffable and incomprehensible Fiat, by the power which created all things and sustains all things, I conjure and adjure thee to come visibly before this circle.
By the good ness of God when He created man in His own likeness, by the power of His justice, which expelled the demons, enchaining them in the Infernal Abyss; by His infinite mercy when He sent His Son to redeem us; by all Divine Names and Attributes; by the omnipotence of our Saviour Jesus Christ, destroying the works of hell, blessing the seed of the woman and empowering it to crush the serpent's head--do thou answer me and obey faithfully.
By the ineffable Name TETRAGRAMMATON , inscribed on this rod, answer me without deception or equivocation.
By the Power of our Saviour, Who shall judge both thee and me, the quick and the dead, I conjure thee.
Come .
IF THE SPIRIT BE OBSTINATE I conjure thee, Human Spirit, by the Ineffable Name of God, written on this sheet, but not to be Pronounced; by my blood, most excellently redeemed by the Lord of the Prophets, Jesus Christ; by His most Glorious Mother; by the insignia of His humility; by the great book of the judgments of God; by the angels, archangels and all the host of heaven.
Be thou obedient unto me, a Christian baptized in the holy waters of Jordan.
Answer me exactly, without enigma or pretence.
Make known the power which aids thee.
I command thee by the most holy Name of God, Who hath condemned thee to frequent this place wherein thou hast buried thy treasure.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen .
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The text assumes God actively orders the cosmos and human affairs ('power which created all things and sustains all things'), which the magician leverages.
Final, collective cosmic judgment as an event in which the wicked are sentenced and the cosmos restored; distinct from psychopomp_journey (individual passage at death) and emphasising verdict where Zoroastrian frashokereti emphasises restoration.
References to the Saviour judging 'both thee and me, the quick and the dead' invoke the final cosmic judgment as a source of authority.
The interference of a discarnate human soul, or the lingering condition of a particular place, with the living — Dion Fortune's distinction between a soul in distress that clings out of ignorance and ties itself to a person or locality, versus deliberate malice. Distinct from animism (indwelling nature-spirits inherent to a place by nature, not a specific dead individual's soul) and from psychopomp_journey and ancestor_veneration (guiding the dead onward, or the living's ongoing ritual obligation to the honoured dead) in naming the pathological case: a soul that has NOT been guided onward and instead interferes, whether with a person or a place.
The spirit is addressed as one who has buried treasure and is compelled to appear, implying a discarnate human soul lingering in a specific place or state.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The magician asserts authority ('I command thee', 'This I command thee') based on divine backing, demonstrating the doctrine that cultivated volition has causal power.
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
The text begins and ends with 'Amen' and uses liturgical language ('Be this done by the virtue of God'), functioning as a form of petitionary or commanding prayer.
Form-mutability as a constitutional property of divine and preternatural beings — gods, heroes, spirits, and their human practitioners possessing inherent capacity to alter form across human, animal, plant, or elemental states. Loki and Odin's transformations in Norse, Math's pigs and Blodeuwedd's owl-shape and Pwyll's exchange with Arawn in the Mabinogion, the Greek Proteus, the Indian dasavatara, Vainamoinen's bird-flight in the Kalevala, Ovid's metamorphoses, the shamanic and witch's capacity for ritual form-change. Distinct from anthropomorphism (divine taking specific human form, single embodiment) in that anthropomorphism establishes a stable form whereas this concept establishes form's plurality and instability.
The spirit is commanded to appear 'under the similitude of fire' or in its 'Proper human form', acknowledging the entity's capacity for form-mutability.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The entire passage is a ritual text explicitly designed to command and compel a 'Human Spirit' to appear and obey through consecrated seals, circles, and divine names.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The passage relies on the causal efficacy of spoken commands ('I conjure thee', 'I adjure thee') to alter reality and force the spirit's appearance.