Current Work: Gabriel

I've recently decided to begin working intensively with Gabriel, the Archangel of the Sphere of the Moon. My psychic senses are woefully underdeveloped, and Gabriel is supposed to be a good spirit for building one's ability to sense spirits and receive visions. I think part of my problem is overthinking things, so I second-guess myself and get in my own way. The receptive, flowing, intuitive qualities of the Lunar sphere should help to correct that tendency. Also, in the Hermetic system the Moon is the first step on the ladder of lights leading up to God, so it seems like as good a place to start as any.

Actually, my recent thoughts on the matter have helped me understand that it's no coincidence that the Moon comes first. You begin by developing the psychic abilities which allow you to commune with the spirits, and you experience the mingled rays of the spheres as they're gathered in Luna before pouring forth on the Earth. This equips you with the basic tools to get started in the Work, and gives you a glimpse of the harmony of the whole system from a relatively "low" point on the chain of manifestation.

It should be noted at this point that I have not really experienced any of this yet; this is mainly just my ruminations on the system as described by Frater Rufus Opus, who has done a really beautiful job of communicating his understanding of the Hermetic cosmology. I cannot stress enough how much a beginner I currently am. I'm hoping that it will be interesting and edifying for people to observe my progress from this early stage. Most of the magic blogs I currently read were not begun until the authors were pretty advanced, and I've wished many times that I could read some stuff from the perspective of people closer to my level.

So yesterday being the day of the Moon, I attempted an initial conjuration of Gabriel to begin my Lunar work. Due to deeply ingrained habits of procrastination, I didn't begin the operation until the very tail end of the hour of the Moon; I ended up spending most of the hour drawing up a Lamen at the last minute.

Initially I had intended to hew as closely as possible to the operation as described in R. O.'s Modern Angelic Grimoire (a fantastic text available in e-book form from his website www.headforred.blogspot.com), but I realized at the last minute that none of the scrying vessels I had intended to use would fit inside the triangle on the Table of Practice I had drawn up. So I decided to improvise! Necessity is the mother of invention, right? 

It occurred to me that I could produce a decent approximation of the Table within my working space, in the form of some 3-D magical constructs that are taught in Jason Miller's Strategic Sorcery course. Without revealing too much of the proprietary course material, one of the early lessons deals with creating magical spaces. One of these spaces is called the Heptasphere, and it incorporates the powers of the seven classical planets in order to balance them and modulate astrological influences. There's another one called the Adamantine Temple which surrounds the practitioner with a tetrahedron that can serve the same function as a three-dimensional version of the summoning triangles used in evocation rites. 

Compare that to the Trithemian Table of Practice as described by R. O. There's an outer circle containing the seals of the planets and the names of their ruling Archangels. Then there's an inner circle with the four Archangels at the corners of the world. Then in the middle there's the triangle in which you mount the scrying crystal in which the spirits you're summoning appear.

So: planets, elements/corners of the world, triangle of manifestation. I figured I could put up the Heptasphere, then call the four Archangels within that space (in a fashion similar to the LBRP), then finally put up an Adamantine Temple within the space marked off by the Archangels. Then instead of calling Gabriel into a crystal, I figured I'd call him right into the space around me and try to commune with him via speech, thought, and pendulum divination.

So that's what I did. After generating the consecrated spaces, I performed the conjuration ritual more or less word-for-word from the Modern Angelic Grimoire, except without the consecration of the scrying medium and replacing all references to "spirits appearing in the crystal" with "spirits appearing in this temple".

The results were not exactly mind-blowing. I actually felt more "juice" during the preliminary prayers to God than during the part where Gabriel was supposed to show up. As I mentioned, my scrying/spirit sensing abilities are pretty pathetic at this point, so I wasn't necessarily expecting to get a fantastic vision of the Angel descending, but I was kinda hoping to feel at least a tingle.

Still, I proceeded with the work, thanked Gabriel for showing up, and made some requests. I asked for initiation into the Lunar Mysteries and enhancement of my clairvoyant and psychic abilities, and I also asked him to send me a dream of my girlfriend (who is away for the time being) which I would remember in the morning. Plus I had a bad headache during the rite, and I asked him to clear it up. Pendulum divination appeared to confirm that he was present and was willing to grant all my petitions.

I did not have the dream I asked for. Or I didn't remember it, at any rate. And while the headache went away after I asked for relief, it started to creep back as soon as I ended the ritual and pretty soon it was at full strength again. Overall, I would have to consider this a failure in terms of tangible results.

But a magician presses on! Perdurabo and all that. This initial conjuration was only meant as the beginning of a long-term attempt to get aligned with the powers of the Moon. So I performed another calling tonight, using the same framework but starting the whole thing with a recitation of the Bornless Ritual as given in Jason Miller's The Sorcerer's Secrets. This one seemed to go better, I had a clearer sense of the Angel's presence. I even thought I perceived him kissing me on the forehead when I  asked for his blessing. Again, we're talking a very faint, fleeting mental impression, nothing super-clear, but it did somehow seem like something coming from outside rather than my own thoughts.

I don't know if the improvement is down to better preparation (I actually managed to frame the whole rite within the Moon hour this time), or the Bornless Rite kicking the whole thing off, or to the fact that I was ruminating on Lunar symbolism a bunch at work earlier, or some combination of all three. I'm not even totally sure it was a genuine improvement; I may just have felt better about it due to increased confidence. I asked Gabriel to appear to me in my dreams tonight and trigger lucidity, so we'll see if that happens.

If not, I'll try again. And again and again and again if necessary. Baby steps along the path.