Greetings fellow spell slingers, conjurers, witches, and all yee who dare to meddle with the dark forces that underpin reality! Today I wanted to talk a little bit about my own ritual set up, and how I undertake a Goetic operation.
Now, fair warning, my rituals are largely not ‘by the book’. Years ago I started by following the text word for word, as closely as I could, but experience is the best teacher, and my methods have evolved as experimentation has led me to techniques that work better (for me) and yield better results (again for me.) I cannot say that my methods will work better for you than following the old grimoires, however I might be able to give you a few ideas when designing your own rituals, or give you a few new avenues of exploration and experimentation.
My Goetic workings always begin with a cleansing ritual. The exact elements change from time to time depending on exactly what I am trying to achieve in the central ritual, but the basics remain the same. The cleansing takes place in the shower, where I wash myself thoroughly to remove any extraneous energy that might be lingering on myself or my clothes. While washing I say ‘purge me with hyssop, oh Lord, that I may become clean.’ After which I repeat the mantra AOTH ABRAOTH BASYM ISAK SABAOTH IAO one hundred times.
Sometimes this is done with the lights on, sometimes in the dark, sometimes by candle light. Sometimes I add incense or burn sage, depending on the time of day, who I am trying to contact, and the overall objective for the ritual.
After the shower I don clean ritual clothes (for me this is usually a black velvet robe with a white silk lining.)
From there I move into my altar room (this is not where I perform my Goetic evocations, but it is where I prepare for them.) I light one black candle and one white candle and perform the Middle Pillar ritual, followed by the Bornless One ritual. Then, I meditate on what I aim to achieve with the evocation itself, while again repeating the mantra AOTH ABRAOTH BASYM ISAK SABAOTH IAO.
I perform my evocations in the basement. When I leave the altar room all of the lights in the house are off, and the windows are closed, allowing in as little light as possible from outside. Typically I like to do these late enough at night that the entire house is as dark as possible.
I bring a single candle with me from the altar room to light my way as I descend the stairs to the basement where my ritual space has already been set up.
There are several reasons why I like to do this. Symbolically, I like the feeling of descending into the underworld (in this case a subterranean basement) in order to commune with demons. The darkness helps to stimulate the mind, and prepare me for what is coming, and I personally believe that Goetic spirits find a dark and spooky atmosphere more appealing in which to manifest, which helps on a bunch of levels as well.
Once I am in my ritual space proper, the evocation itself can begin. The evocation I use is not publicly available, but I have written it up and it is available for purchase. Because I have it available there, I will not be sharing the specifics of that ritual here, but suffice to say it, like my setup, is based on my own experience in working within this tradition to maximize results. It is also designed to work with the Goetic Impressions medallions and mat, so if you do not have those yet then you may be better off sticking with your own ritual, or one from a traditional source.
That is it from me for this week, but check in again next weekend for a post on wacky things that can happen (and have happened to me) during an evocation that you may want to be prepared for.
~Ben, from Goetic Impressions
