Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) · 62 of 123 · tr. A.E. Waite
13. Necromancy-e
The chafing-dish containing the sacred fire should be in the centre of the oratory and the altar of perfumes hard by.
The operator must turn towards the east to pray, and the west to invoke; he must be either alone or assisted by two persons preserving the strictest silence; he must wear the magical vestments, which we have described in the seventh chapter, and must be crowned with vervain and gold.
He should bathe before the operation, and all his undergarments must be of the most intact and scrupulous cleanliness.
The ceremony should begin with a prayer suited to the genius of the spirit about to be invoked and one which would be approved by himself if he still lived.
For example, it would be impossible to evoke Voltaire by reciting prayers in the style of St.
Bridget.
For the great men of antiquity, we may use the Hymns of Cleanthes or Orpheus, with the oath terminating the Golden Verses of Pythagoras.
In our evocation of Apollonius, we used the Magical Philosophy of Patricius for the Ritual, containing the doctrines of Zoroaster and the writings of Hermes Trismegistus.
We recited the Nuctemeron of Apollonius in Greek with a loud voice and added a Conjuration beginning: “Let the Father of all be Counsellor and thrice-great Hermes guide.” For the evocation of spirits belonging to religions issued from Judaism, the following Kabalistic Invocation of Solomon should be used, either in Hebrew or in any other tongue with which the spirit in question is known to have been familiar: Powers of the Kingdom, be ye under my left foot and in my right hand!
Glory and Eternity, take me by the two shoulders, and direct me in the paths of victory!
Mercy and Justice, be ye the equilibrium and splendor of my life!
Intelligence and Wisdom, crown me!
Spirits of Malkuth, lead me betwixt the two Pillars upon which rests the whole edifice of the Temple!
Angels of Netzah and Hod, establish me upon the cubic stone of Yesod!
O Gedulael!
O Geburael!
O Tiphereth!
Binael, be thou my love; Ruach Hochmael, be thou my light; Be that which thou art and thou shalt be, O Ketheriel!
Ishim, assist me in the name of Shaddai!
Cherubim, be my strength in the name of Adonai!
Beni-Elohim, be my brethren in the name of the Son, and by the powers of Eloah Elohim, drive me in the name of Tetragrammaton!
Malachim, protect me in the name of Yod He Vau He!
Seraphim, cleanse my love in the name of Eloah!
Hasmalim, enlighten me with the splendors of Eloi and Shekinah!
Aralim, act!
Ophanim, revolve and shine!
Zaphkiel ha Kadosh, cry, speak, roar!
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Shaddai, Adonai, Jotchavah, Ehyezie.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Amen.
It should be remembered, above all in conjurations, that the names of Satan, Beelzebub, Adramelek and others do not designate spiritual unities but legions of impure spirits.
“Our name is legion, for we are many,” says the spirit of darkness in the Gospel.
Number constitutes law, and progress takes place inversely in hell as the domain of anarchy.
That is to say, the most advanced in Satanic development and consequently the most degraded and the least intelligent and feeblest.
Ritual maintenance of relationship with the dead as ongoing presences whose favour is cultivated and whose offence is propitiated. Shinto uji-gami and obon, Norse disir and the alfablot, Celtic samhain and the feast for the deceased, Roman lares and parentalia, Chinese ancestor rites, Vedic śrāddha. Practice-coded rather than belief-coded: distinct from soul_migration (cosmological doctrine of soul-transmigration) and theosis_deification (deification trajectory); ancestor_veneration centres the living's ongoing ritual obligation to the dead.
The text instructs on evoking specific historical figures like Voltaire and great men of antiquity.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The list of angels and Sephirot implies a structured chain of divine beings flowing downward.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Hell is described as a domain of anarchy where progress is inverse and intelligence is feeble.
A chafing-dish with sacred fire is mandated to be in the center of the oratory. [quarantine-w3: ritual_fire x western_esoteric — see rellm data/quarantine/dossiers.jsonl]
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The passage details a ritual using vestments, perfumes, and names to engage spiritual entities directly.
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.
Conjurations are recited aloud to invoke spirits, demonstrating belief in the causal power of speech.