On the art of Conjuration.

Each pronunciation of the name is an act of Invocation. Every letter and every instance of naming things, whether known or unknown, is a true conjuration; it is crucial for the Aspirant to understand the model of thinking that initiates this process. The act of responding to advertisements from weekly newspapers is no different from the act of invoking an Angel; the magician must understand that all the principles in the universe are the principles of his own mind and that if he truly understands how one single cogwheel moves, he will understand all things in the Universe.

With a name, you can summon, as much as you can banish. To realize this in more detail, we have to rest for a while and devote ourselves to one other thing. This is one of the basic mechanisms with which the Aspirant is acquainted already at the beginning of his work while practicing the ritual of the pentagram. Sadly, there is so much rambling surrounding this affair that, from such pointless repetition his mind habituated to doing things incorrectly so that one can no longer recognize or feel anything that is truly expressed by the names. Therefore, in the names, he perceives what as opposed to who. This can lead one to become tangled in such a terrible mistake in his work over the years that he does not feel any progress at all, does not feel any change and does not feel any reason why he would continue. It is so inconvenient to think that we use all rituals and meditations to develop what we already possess, even though we are endowed by the most wonderful circumstance of all. That of Feeling. For good, bad, right or wrong, success or failure. And most of all, for beauty. Learn to feel everything so you can see the beauty in all things. Even the ratio must be felt to be rational. Without the feeling and sensation of the rational truth, there is no rationale to be true. Even the lack of sensation is a sensation, in a certain sense. A sense of emptiness is by no means an emptiness, as much as it is a sense. That mechanism of feeling, which in most supreme way plants within us the truth about a being which feels, far more than the sum of all feelings that flow through it, is contained within every Oath in the A∴A∴. The Aspirant understands that within himself there is an emphasized idea of the being; he sees that all feelings are nothing more than different aggregate states of that one being. If we could gather in one place all the feelings of the world, we could only distinguish a couple of different ones. Actually, we would arrive at what we call the Grades.

Therefore, the Aspirant acts in the following roles, making corresponding decisions:

1. the Probationer; to obtain scientific knowledge of the nature and powers of his own being,
2. the Neophyte; to obtain control of the nature and powers of his own being,
3. the Zelator; to obtain control of the foundations of his own being,
4. the Practicus; to obtain control of the vacillations of his own being,
5. the Philosophus; to obtain control of the attractions and repulsions of his own being,
6. the Dominus Liminis; to obtain control of the aspirations of his own being.

By a name we can swear, invite, invoke, evoke or banish, call or recall, but only if we are in contact with that essence which uses such a name as a drive and if we know what the name really is carrying and what nature is hidden behind it. The name must be in balance with the desired force. In the idea of balance lies the key to all our pursuits; indeed it serves the education of our mind to deal appropriately with the forces of nature. All the strategies of wonder are hidden in spending the entirety of available resources for finding the leverage point, never in rising power for the movement itself. When the perfect balance of the forces is found, the thing starts to act on its own. The will of a magician is often a weak thing when it comes to initiating, but it is unbeatable when it comes to accomplishing. Therefore, the knowledge of the correct pronunciation of the name is less valuable than the knowledge of the nature behind the name. This observation particularly refers to the work within the Enochian system. After all, nothing is as efficient as silence itself. The full effect of the ritual commences only after its final word, never during the performance itself; the type of silence when words become mere echo within the mind drained from active desire, and once the Will has already been previously invested in the awareness of the goal. Success is found in the end, as all ends are crowned by silence. What is the common conclusion of all books, stories, poems, and fables? It is a dot in the end, and no matter how magnificent the saga is, that dot has more to say than all the letters and words combined. If the dot is the body, then silence which occurs after is the blood of that sacred organism with which we must make our final communion at the end of all lessons, tasks, and insights. Without it, any message would be without meaning. This silence is equally in the Knowledge and Conversation, as much as it is in all the Mottos of the Aspirants.

There are two main ways of dealing with names. When you rob the bank, always start from below and never from the top. This is gold-worthy advice; you have to be on good terms with a doorkeeper, or even better with a cleaning lady who will give you the right information in exchange for a kind word regarding her new red shoes, unlike everyone else in the bank who might be mocking her. Flattering to a bank’s executive is meaningless; no matter how high your offer, it will never be enough. Therefore, one way is to use the names through forcefulness, while the other is binding with love. One by cursing, the other by embracing. Both approaches are neither good nor bad, as right or wrong can only be the mind that uses what is given by the gods. To all these things, the Aspirant needs to pay attention to fully understand the principle on which lie the use and purpose of magical names.

Frater 273