The Neo-Platonic Basics - Rufus Opus

The Neo-Platonic Basics 

A Presentation of the Experiences and Revelations of the Spirits received by Frater R.O. after 

Attaining K&CHGA 

~ Translated for the 21st Century ~ 

Frater Rufus Opus 

© 2009, All Rights Reserved

A MODERN GRIMOIRE OF RENAISSANCE MAGIC 

About Frater R.O. 

Born in East Chicago, Indiana in 1974, Fr. R.O. studied the Great Work for roughly fifteen years 

before performing Liber Samekh and contacting his HGA. During that time, he began writing technical 

manuals, and developed his skills of researching and documenting procedures from “subject matter 

experts.” These consist of programmers and engineers in his professional life. 

Grimoires are much easier to understand than engineers. 

In 2006, Fr. R.O. began this short compilation of the seals, symbols, tools, and procedures 

required to contact the Archangels of the Planets. In 2009, he followed up with another short book on the 

performance of Goetic Magic. These two books were published to much acclaim solely in eBook form. 

After much cajoling and encouragement, Fr. R.O. has agreed to take the steps necessary to create a "real" 

book, on real paper, that can sit on your very own bookshelf and gather dust. He hopes it becomes dog- 

eared and often referenced, but he's a realist. 

Over the years, Fr. RO has garnered a reputation for providing clear and concise methods of 

performing effective, results-oriented magic based on the traditional and often unapproachable grimoires 

that were developed between the 15 th and 17 th centuries A.D. 

In this work, the Neo-Platonic Basics series of blog posts he wrote in 2006 is cleaned up and 

expanded upon, and the Modern Angelic and Goetic Grimoires are reproduced. In addition, the Greater 

Key of Solomon is examined and given the "tech writer treatment," clarifying the techniques and 

providing a simple and direct approach to accessing the powers represented by this foundational tome. 

Gratias Ago: 

I bear many thanks to everyone who has helped me understand the grimoires, and specifically 

Patrick Dunn, Jason Miller, Joe Peterson, Bill Heidrick, Aaron Leitch, Frater S.L. (that wascawy wabbit), 

Eli Rushing, Brother Moloch (even though if there were a hell, he’d definitely be going), Vorcirith, and 

Kathy McDonald, who is responsible for getting me into Agrippa in the first place. 

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Table of Contents 

Introduction........................................................................................................................................................3 

Overview of the Neo-Platonic System ...........................................................................................................6 

Neo-Platonic Cosmology: How it all started ..............................................................................................7 

The Harmony of the Spheres......................................................................................................................10 

Spirits: Why we Work with 'em, How we Work with 'em......................................................................14 

Why we Work with Spirits........................................................................................................................14 

How we Work with Spirits .......................................................................................................................15 

Why we're here: The Great Work in a Neo-Platonic Magical System.................................................19 

While we're here: The Great Work in Action...........................................................................................22 

The Holy Guardian Angel, Your Emissary from God.........................................................................22 

Working with the Spirits...........................................................................................................................25 

The Goal of the Great Work in the Neo-Platonic System.................................................................26 

Practical Applications...................................................................................................................................27 

The Lamp....................................................................................................................................................28 

About those Planets...................................................................................................................................29 

The Joys of Making Talismans....................................................................................................................33 

What is a Talisman good for? ..................................................................................................................34 

Making the Talismans................................................................................................................................36 

Decommissioning Talismans ...................................................................................................................39 

Elemental Kings............................................................................................................................................40 

Four Angels - The Kings ..........................................................................................................................40 

Four Rulers of the Elements - Angelic Orders .....................................................................................41 

Four Princes of "Divels," Offensive in the Elements..........................................................................41 

Four Princes of Spirits ..............................................................................................................................42 

Working with the Elemental Kings and their Princes..........................................................................42 

Spirit Pots....................................................................................................................................................42 

Them Pesky Demons are at it Again... ......................................................................................................45 

The Role of Demons.................................................................................................................................46 

How Demonic Influence Manifests........................................................................................................46 

How to Deal with the Bastards................................................................................................................47 

The Genius and the Evil Daimon ..............................................................................................................48 

The Genius .................................................................................................................................................48 

The Evil Daimon .......................................................................................................................................51 

Working With the Genius and the Evil Daimon ..................................................................................52 

The Glyph.........................................................................................................................................................56 

Putting it all Together: The Altar Layout Revisited.................................................................................57 

Using the Glyph in Practice ........................................................................................................................62 

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Introduction 

On January 24, 2007, I had a magical and mystical epiphany. I went through a 

revelation of the planetary magic system I had been working with that rivaled Dee and 

Kelley’s work, in my opinion. It all boiled down to a single glyph that represented all the 

powers and angels and demons and elements and Kings of the corners of the world that 

you could possibly need to Work with, and it was all lined up in a way that made it 

incredibly effective as a system of influencing any aspect of existence you can imagine. 

By setting up a simple altar setup, all the power of the creation, manifestation, and 

maintenance of the UNIVERSE would be at your disposal. 

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As you can tell, I was moderately excited about it. In my eagerness to share this 

revelation and get some feedback (that is, to see if I was way off base), I showed the 

glyph to my magician friends, most of whom have years of experience doing traditional 

magic. Since this was primarily based on Agrippa, the meat and bread of traditional 

magicians, I was sure they would take one look at it and totally get everything I was 

seeing in it. 

I was shocked at the lack of response the revelation received. At first I thought it 

was just so obvious that no one thought much about it. Then I started getting questions 

about the image that explained what was going on. I realized that many magicians simply 

did not understand what I was talking about. 

How could that be? I took a look at the path my studies had taken me on, and I 

realized that it was a little unique. I had ended up traveling through the writings of the 

philosophers that had formed the foundation of the system I used. I had gone back to the 

seeds that became the roots of the modern occult. Through my studies, I had gained an 

insight into how the universe is structured that brought clarity to the techniques and 

methods of the grimoires. 

The system I use is based almost entirely on the Three Books of Occult 

Philosophy by Agrippa. Agrippa makes references to various Platonic sources, and 

between his references and some nudging by the spirits that guide my steps, I had read 

Plato’s Timaeus, Plotinus' Enneads, and Hermes Trismegistus' s The Divine Pymander. 

At the same time, I was performing rites of initiation with the Archangels of the 

Planetary Spheres using the techniques Agrippa and Trithemius described in their works. 

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My mind was absorbing nuggets of gold from the research I performed, and like an 

alchemist of old applying heat to the Stone, the magic I was performing rarified and 

purified the bits of gold I had gathered from the founders of the Neo-Platonic system. 

What emerged was a simple system of both planetary angelic magic for 

macrocosmic rites, and a more terrestrial hierarchy of spirits for microcosmic rites. The 

Glyph was just a simple way to express the entirety of the System. 

When I hit the epiphany, at about 5:00 in the morning after being up all night 

graphing out the Table of The Scale of the Number Four in Agrippa’s Second Book of 

Occult Philosophy, I was convinced it was a Universal Truth. I still think it is, and the 

resulting system is, in my opinion, the most elegant traditionally based magical system 

I’ve ever seen. It allows you to incorporate all of the various schools of thought that 

produced the grimoires, and gives you complete control of your entire sphere of influence 

in this world, access to the seven heavens and the very throne room of the Source of all 

that exists. 

Pretty much. 

My goal in writing up this system is to provide a means for everyone that can 

benefit from this system to benefit from it. It’s relatively simple. Its results are 

incomparable. It raises the magician through the spheres to the highest planes of 

existence. It refines and purifies the magician as it empowers them. It accomplishes the 

Great Work, while providing a mundane life with as much comfort, joy, and happiness as 

you could wish. 

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It takes a short amount of time to really learn this system. You can be performing 

rituals long before you’ve fully grasped the system. In fact, performing rituals helps 

cement the system into place, helping you understand it as you go along doing magic. 

Even the inevitable spectacular explosions that result from magic gone strangely wrong 

are useful in this system. All it takes is a working understanding of the Neo-Platonic core 

of the Western Mystery Tradition. 

So that’s what you’re reading, a quick-reference guide to the Key to Everything in 

the Western Occult. Well, at least it has been for me, and I don't see anything that would 

indicate it wouldn't be the Key to Life, the Universe and Everything in a much more 

meaningful way than "42" for everyone. 

Overview of the Neo-Platonic System 

Like many modern magicians, I came to the traditional grimoires by way of a 

twisting and aduous path. I started in Celtic Neo-Paganism, and moved on to Golden 

Dawn style Kabalistic magic. Along the way, I read a lot of Crowley's writings, and 

while I think I benefited a great deal from his wit and insight, I assumed a great deal 

about magic and magicians in general that wasn't exactly true. 

While I thought I had a good understanding of what it meant to be a magician, 

and to accomplish the Great Work, the truth is that I had missed the most fundamental 

truths about my place in the universe. In order to understand what it means to even be a 

magician, I needed to start with the basics. 

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Neo-Platonic Cosmology: How it all started 

The best encapsulation of the neo-platonic creation story that I've found is in the 

second book of The Divine Pymander by Hermes Trismegistus. It's simple and to the 

point. Christians like myself can identify enough parallels with the Genesis account of 

creation to feel at ease in it, and pagans can find enough other gods that they feel at home 

too. It's a good little catch-all, and that makes sense when you study its history. 

The Corpus Hermeticum, which contains the Divine Pymander creation myth, 

was recorded in the 3 rd century A.D. This was the time that Christianity was becoming 

what it is today, Gnostic sects had infiltrated most of society, and the graduates of the 

Athenian Schools of philosophy were still respected. These varied belief systems were 

bumping elbows and rubbing off on one another throughout the Roman Empire. 

My understanding of the Creation is summarized below. There's a lot I'm omitting 

for the sake of brevity, but the required pieces to understand the foundation are laid out 

below. 

In the beginning was essential God-the-Progenitor, dwelling in perfect darkness. 

In that perfect darkness, God still and always resides. 

By its nature, it radiates infinite pure light, and within this pure Light all that we 

experience begins. Yet behind the light, within it and beyond its ability to illuminate 

resides the True Father, the Monad progenitor from which all things begin. I refer to this 

being as God, because it's easier, and I call him "him" because it's convenient for me, but 

his nature is beyond gender, and beyond the ability of words to express. He exists before 

thought, before the idea of ideas can exist, and within that state of being, there are no 

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words. The ones I choose are the best I can come up with. Yours will be more appropriate 

for you, but these work for me. 

In The Divine Pymander, Hermes Trismegistus is given a vision of the creation of 

the material realm. Within the infinite light appeared a great darkness, smoking as if it 

were on fire. Out of the infinite Light leaped a "certain holy Word" and that Word joined 

itself to the dark mass of Matter that came into being. When this holy Word entered the 

darkness, the matter itself separated into four realms. Fire leaped up highest to be closest 

to the infinite light, followed by Air, which seemed to hang between the Fire and Earth- 

Water below. 

Next, God created a Workman. This guy created seven governors, each with their 

own sphere, surrounding the realm of Matter. Then the Holy Word, Logos, leaped up and 

cohabited, consubstantiated with (or possessed) the Workman. This being then set the 

spheres in motion, and the Spirit of Nature within the World began creating animals and 

plants. 

Meanwhile, God made Man in Its image. Man was the honored and beloved 

brother of the family. Eventually, after a lot went down , Man entered the physical realm, 

containing a spark of infinite God within, and yet also loving and being loved by Nature. 

Thus we are of two natures, mortal and immortal, united for the sake of Love. 

Within each of us, we retain that immortal spark of the Divine. Bein immortal, it 

is the same spark that was first created by God. It is the same entity that hung out with 

God, the Logos, the Workman, the Seven Governors, all the hierarchies of elemental and 

terrestrial spirits, and who first fell in Love with the form created by the Spirit of Nature. 

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This spark within is what gives us "authority" over the elements, and the seven 

governors. They love us, and work with us because we are the image of God. We're 

coworkers though, not masters of legions of spiritual slaves. 

Ptolemy's geocentric model of the universe laid out the basic cosmology of the 

Neo-Platonic system we use in Solomonic Magic. It's like our modern map of the Solar 

system and the orbits of our star's planets, but it's a spiritual model, like the Glyph I was 

so proud of, drawn from the experiential point of view of human beings living on Earth. 

In the center of everything are the elemental spheres that make up our physical 

planet. The center sphere is the sphere of Earth, surrounded by the sphere of Water, then 

Air, and finally Fire. Then there are the seven Spheres of the Governors. Each of these 

spheres is associated with one of the seven planets of classical astrology, the Moon, 

Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Around these are the "fixt stars," 

whose influence is primarily felt through the planetary governors. Beyond the stars is the 

realm of eternal light, and sitting in eternal divine darkness, radiating the light outwards 

and willing existence is the Primum Mobile, God. 

The following image displays the basic cosmology of the Neo-Platonic system: 

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As you can see, there's a hierarchy involved. Each successive sphere heading 

"outward" brings you further from the realm of matter and closer to the realm of God. 

This is the structure brought to Creation by Logos, the "holy Word" created or uttered by 

God-the-Progenitor. 

The Harmony of the Spheres 

Ok, so there are spheres within spheres that make up the cosmos beneath the 

realm of God. There's a sphere that has the constellations on it, a sphere for each of the 

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planets, a sphere for each of the elements. That's 12 spheres (hey, just like the number of 

astrological signs, and the number of tribes of Israel, and the number of apostles, and the 

hours in a day and in a night, what a freaking coincidence!). 

Now, there aren't "really" 12 spheres. The realm of sensate matter is the lower 

four spheres, the Elemental spheres. This sphere includes all the physical planets, stars, 

galaxies, universes, etc. that we can and cannot see. Anything that can be sensed exists in 

the realm of the elements, below the sphere of the Moon. So the elemental spheres, while 

separate and harmonious, blend together into what we see. This is the sphere that can be 

sensed through our material bodies. 

The uppermost sphere, of the constellations can be viewed as an influencing 

sphere as opposed to a governing sphere. Agrippa talks a bit about this, and I won't get 

too into details here, but suffice it to say that in my understanding of the Neo-Platonic 

cosmology, the sphere of the constellations is more like a barrier between the realms of 

the planetary governors (ending at the horizon of Saturn's Sphere) and the unknowable 

Realm of God (Light-Divine Darkness-the One). The constellations can be viewed as 

pinpricks in this barrier through which the infinite light enters the realms of sensation, 

guiding or feeding as it were, the planetary governors. 

Now, what we've done here is divided the infinite universe into three parts. The 

material realm is composed of the four elemental spheres. The seven spheres of the 

planetary governors is the second part, ending at the barrier of the Sphere of the 

constellations. Then there's the infinite realm of God, the third part. 

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Only the realms of the Planetary Governors, Sphere of the fixed stars, and the 

sphere of matter can be known and interacted with consciously. The higher realms may 

be experienced, but being before the utterance of the Word, they can't really be put into 

words. 

The realms of the Planetary Governors exist as pure emanations of God. When 

viewing God they are passive, but when viewing the realm of Matter, they are active. 

Being pure in their essence, they are in perfect harmony with one another and with God. 

Now I'd like to introduce a concept (and I don't claim to have created it) called 

"the Sphere of the Magician." Every one of us live in a bubble of perception. Lots of us 

have read various modern and classical interpretations of existence that say all that all we 

experience is limited by that which can be sensed. The universe we observe and interact 

with is how things were a fraction of a second ago when the waves and particles hit our 

sense organs and the messages were sent to and translated by our brains into what we 

think of as happening right now. Plato would have totally grokked Robert Anton Wilson, 

God rest his heathen soul. 

This bubble of perception is our sphere within the material realm. The Emerald 

Tablet of Hermes, an excellent model of magical operation on its own, bears the famous 

inscription "that which is above is like that which is below." Metaphysically speaking, we 

have a spiritual sphere of sensation as well as the physical sphere of sensation. They 

aren't really separated, but it's easier to think of them as parts than to try to understand the 

whole all at once. A seed in an orange doesn't look like an orange, and neither does the 

peel by itself, but they're still one thing. 

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The basic intent of the magician is to get their "sphere" into harmony with the 

other spheres. Neo-platonic philosophers had various ways of achieving this. Plotinus 

taught that you could instantly "get it" by realizing your race and value. He talks about 

denigrating the things of matter and exalting the things of spirit. He, and Porphyry, his 

student and biographer, believed that the way to reclaim your race and value was through 

Philosophy, and various forms of Asceticism. Later, some Gnostics and others would 

take the idea to the extreme. They believed that because matter distracted you from your 

goal of reuniting with God, then all matter must be inherently evil. Some went so far as to 

claim that the God that created Matter must have been evil, at worst, or just plain stupid 

at best. 

Poppycock. 

Plotinus had another student that helped us out immensely as magicians who 

would rather do something more active than philosophize all day, and who wanted to 

participate in the matter-manifestation process in a more hands-on way. This guy was 

Iamblichus. He taught that theurgy, magical arts and working with spirits were viable 

means of reuniting with the One, God. That's the core of this system I'm presenting here. 

There are various other branches of neo-Platonism, and lots to discuss and argue about, 

but as magicians working with the Neo-Platonic magical system, the point is to 

harmonize our sphere with the spheres above, and through this harmony to join with God, 

accomplishing what later became known as the Great Work. 

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Spirits: Why we Work with 'em, How we Work with 'em 

Now we get to the meat of the matter. Magic in the Solomonic tradition especially 

depends entirely on conjuring spirits. I have argued in the past, and still do on occasion, 

that all magic is performed through the conjuration of spirits. Sometimes I think it's just a 

manifestation of our essence, and our essential relationship with the spirits, but for me 

that always manifests as a conjuration. 

Why we Work with Spirits 

In the Neo-Platonic system, we work with the Spirits to get closer to God. This is 

called theurgy. Iamblichus taught that working with the Spirits was a means to purify the 

sphere of the magician, to make it more like the creator and less like the created. He 

recognized that when you conjure up a Spirit of Mars, you're working with something on 

a higher level, and that "something" has emanated something into what eventually 

manifested as you. As it is more pure, its very presence close to your sphere purifies your 

own sphere, restoring a bit of the awareness of your own divinity as it relates to the 

powers over which that particular spirit presides. 

II), we read: 

In the Thomas Taylor translation of Iamblichus' Theurgia (Section IV, Chapter 

In all theurgical operations the priest sustains a twofold character; one, indeed, 

as man, and which preserves the order possessed by our nature in the universe; 

but the other, which is corroborated by divine signs, and through these is 

conjoined to more excellent natures, and is elevated to their order by an elegant 

circumduction... 

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In other words, when the spirits are near you, you are transformed and raised to a 

higher level of being. 

How we Work with Spirits 

The chapter I quoted from is in the context of how Iamblichus taught that we are 

to interact with spirits. He was addressing an argument from Porphyry, another of 

Plotinus' students, who asked why a mortal man in the flesh would be conjuring a 

"superior" being, and then turn around and command it to act in such-and-such a way. 

(I'm paraphrasing.) 

The answer is that while yes, we are in matter, we are of two parts, the divine and 

the flesh. The divine aspect of the self has existed since before time within the One, God, 

who emanated down through all the spheres and beings and elements and stuff-ness of 

everything. The flesh part is the temporary shell of the divine spirit, and while it is lower 

in the cosmic hierarchy, the spirit within is still in authority. Therefore, the magician 

surrounds the material part of themselves with the symbols of the divinity within, and 

petitions the higher spirits to appear using the classic conjuring orations from such 

sources as the grimoires. 

The Spirits (and I'm including the "gods", angels, daemons, elementals, or 

whatever else you would call them in your branch of the Western Mystery Tradition) 

appear in response to the conjurations because they have a vested interest in us. They are 

also aspects of the One within us. However, they are of a different form, and in that form 

they don't have the same capacities that we do. Once they appear, the differences in the 

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nature of our emanation place us in a position of authority over the spirits, and we are 

therefore able to "command" the spirits to do our bidding. 

Now, the basic formula for conjuring the spirits is pretty simple. You surround 

yourself with the things the spirit has an affinity for. Each Spirit is responsible for 

emanating an aspect of the One into the material realm. Michael, Archangel of the Sun, is 

responsible for emanating the things that manifest with a solar nature in the material 

realm. You surround yourself with the things that have solar properties to get his 

attention, and conjure him in the name of God that describes his function. 

Now, as a ceremonial magician, the best thing you can have that Michael has 

emanated into the material realm is his Arch-angelic Seal that he revealed to magicians. 

His Name itself is the means he revealed himself to this realm. The names of God that are 

associated with him are also revealed by Michael into this realm in order to establish 

contact with him. 

So to conjure Michael, you would burn some solar incense, wear the seal of 

Michael, and conjure him in the Name of God associated with the Sphere of the Sun, 

"Eloahv Da'at." (Your spelling may differ.) 

When Michael appears, you explain your need, remembering that yes, he is 

superior to you in some ways, but at the same time, he will work with you out of the love 

and respect he holds for his creator's image. 

If you're commanding the Spirits from the authority of the part of yourself that is 

the flesh, you'll get no results. As a Christian, I know that I have been "Born of the 

Spirit," and my work with my HGA has resulted in certain "initiations" that grant me the 

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awareness of my Roles and Responsibilities in the cosmic Hierarchies, so I tend to get 

pretty consistent results. They're not always pleasant from the mundane perspective, but 

they are always beneficial. 

So the proper order for conjuring the spirits is: 

1. Be right with God. Know your place. "Thou hast cleansed me with hyssop, 

oh Lord!" and so forth, begin the standard rites from the grimoires. 

2. Have the seal of the spirit. 

3. Call the spirit ("Thou spirit Michael, I conjure thee here in the name of the 

Most High God, in the Name of the Logos-Christ within me, in the name 

Eloahv Da'at, to appear before me in this crystal...") 

4. Explain what you want from the Spirit. (It's a good idea to get 

confirmation that it understands, and have it tell you how it will do what it 

agrees to.) 

5. Thank the Spirit, and bid it to go and do as it agreed. 

Pretty simple, eh? The rest of the details of the various grimoires and such are 

cultural necessities. That means that when the Almadel has you make a Beeswax Angel 

Conjuring Device, you make a Beeswax Angel Conjuring Device if you expect to work 

with the spirits of the Almadel. That doesn't mean you can't conjure the spirits of the 

Almadel using the techniques of the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals, but every step 

away from the original context tends to leave you further from clear communications 

with the spirits. 

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I have found that this is particularly true of the less-bastardized grimoires, the 

ones that are most complete. The Arbatel provides all you need to know to conjure the 

Olympic Spirits, and it's a complete and whole un-bastardized system of conjuring 

planetary spirits. 

The Goetia of the Lemegeton lies on a far opposite end of the spectrum. This 

grimoire is an internally inconsistent collection of spirits from several other grimoires, 

pushed into framework of rites that appeal to those who are insecure in their relationship 

with the divine, ignorant of their divine race and eternal value, and who believe the whole 

Hollywood version of magic because they haven't really done much real magic. The 

spirits of the Goetia, I have found, are much more effective when you drop the whole 

master-slave approach and treat them like as the types of spirit they are. 

Regarding the "grimoire," it helps to understand its role in our lives as magicians 

if we have a basic understanding of what is currently called Classical Education, but 

more accurately should be called the Trivium. The three stages of the Trivium are 

Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric. Grammar teaches the basic building blocks, Logic 

teaches how the building blocks are assembled, and Rhetoric is the stage where you 

demonstrate your understanding of the pieces and parts by assembling them in new ways. 

The Grimoires themselves contain the elements of the Grammar stage: lists of 

spirits and the techniques used to contact them. Performing the instructions in the 

Grimoires brings you in touch with the Spirits, who teach the Logic stage. After you've 

been "initiated" you advance to the Rhetoric stage, and you can make things up based on 

your knowledge and understanding gained from research and experience. 

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I'm not advocating Chaos Magic, but I've grown to recognize the elements of 

Chaos Magic that are true in certain contexts. What gets on my nerves is that Chaos 

Magic doesn't give magicians the context necessary for success. 

Why we're here: The Great Work in a Neo-Platonic Magical System 

The Great Work 

A magnificent phrase, eh? I've been through so many online debates and 

discussions about what the Great Work "means" that it isn't even funny anymore. There 

are those who say it is "attaining unity with the Divine." Others say it is becoming the 

best that you can, without bothering to think too long about the best what, exactly. Others 

believe that every person has their own personal Great Work to do, that it represents the 

climactic culmination of all their efforts in life. To some it's a divine assignment, a 

Mission from God. To others, it's a long-term goal, like finishing the manuscript of their 

sci-fi novel, or composing an orchestral masterpiece. 

In tracking back the phrase in the esoteric community, I ended up back with the 

Alchemists. I'm sure it goes back further, but I'll be damned if I can find it quickly 

enough to suit my purposes. 

Briefly, the alchemists saw the Great Work as the accomplishment of a spiritual 

transformation that was paralleled by and intrinsically linked to the creation of a physical 

Philosopher's Stone, a stone with the ability to turn base materials into finer materials, 

like lead into gold. One couldn't create the Philosopher's Stone (in my interpretation, 

though others with more education in Alchemical treatises have other opinions) without 

being spiritually "advanced." The process of creating the Stone resulted in perfection of 

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the person, and the perfection of the person resulted in the ability to create the 

Philosopher's Stone. There's a marriage here of physical and spiritual elements that I 

think cannot be stressed enough. 

In the Neo-platonic context, the goal of man is to return to the Source of all that 

is. The Philosophers saw this as a process of training the mind to think like a God without 

becoming falsely proud. Plotinus speaks of the process as "reclaiming" our race and 

value. I love that concept. 

It isn't becoming a God. You're already a manifestation of "the good," "the One," 

"the Primum Mobile." It's a process of remembering where you came from. The reason 

we forget is detailed in the Enneads of Plotinus, and they're an interesting read. Here's an 

excerpt that pertains: 

The souls peering forth from the Intellectual Realm descend first to the heavens 

and there put on a body; this becomes at once the medium by which as they reach 

out more and more towards magnitude [physical extension] they proceed to 

bodies progressively more earthy. Some even plunge from heaven to the very 

lowest of corporeal forms; others pass, stage by stage, too feeble to lift towards 

the higher the burden they carry, weighed downwards by their heaviness and 

forgetfulness. 

It must be noted, however, that the process of reclaiming your race and value did 

not result in anything spectacularly fabulous. No lightning from the fingertips, or flaming 

balls of fire. What it did result in was a change in the person you are. It changed the way 

you acted and interacted with everything else. You remember why you're here, and what 

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your purpose in life is, and you're suddenly happy. You see things as a whole complete 

process, and the painfulness of the moments of sadness are gone, and the moments of joy 

are magnified. 

It was a philosophical change, a change of Mind that brought satiety, the sense of 

being completely fulfilled. And if you weren't feeling that way, you had forgotten, and 

needed to remember where you were from again. 

So Plotinus said there's two ways to remember your race and value. You honor 

the things of the higher realms, and dishonor the things of the lower realm. Asceticism 

blossomed under this philosophy. Lots of Gnostics took up the mantra of "all things 

material are evil and to be avoided at all costs." This view influenced a lot of the early 

Christians too. Paul, for instance, expresses a lot of ascetic notions in his writings in the 

New Testament. 

Iamblichus, meanwhile, took things down a different route. He was a wee bit 

more into the Hellenized Egyptian mythology. As a result of his initiations into the 

Egyptian mystery cults, he participated in the Theurgic rituals of his day. I'm intensely 

jealous. In the Theurgia, his reply to a letter written by Porphyry criticizing Theurgy, he 

explains how working with the spirits of the higher realms results in getting you closer to 

God. He also talks about our role in this realm of matter. 

Each level of emanation from the higher realms, each entity that inhabits the 

realms between the material and the Source of Everything has a purpose. We are also 

manifestations, and our greatest goal as magicians is to remember that we are emanations 

of God, and that we are here to do something specific. The Work is a process of learning 

- 21 -


what that purpose is, and how we're supposed to accomplish that purpose while we're 

here. We work with the spirits to learn, and to be raised higher and closer to God, but at 

the same time, we guide them in their ministrations here in the realm of matter, because 

that's where we fit into the hierarchy of things. We're the part of God that came to matter 

(Nature) out of love for matter to care for the matter and minister to it through the actions 

of the spirits on the higher levels. The trick is to remember what we're here for, and then 

to learn to do it the right way. 

While we're here: The Great Work in Action 

We've established what the Great Work "is" within the neo-platonic traditions. 

We now turn our attention to how this unfolds in the life of your average Magician 

practicing the Great Work. This is where the various grimoires come into play. 

The Holy Guardian Angel, Your Emissary from God 

Chances are good that you've seen a boat-load of talk about the Holy Guardian 

Angel (HGA), what it is, and what it does across the Internet. There's lots of talk in 

modern published magical books, too. Most of what you read is speculation, because 

people with opinions and writing talents who haven't managed to attain K&CHGA 

(Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel) don't bother to let that stop 

them from saying their piece. 

The phrase itself comes from the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. It was 

popularized by Crowley and Mathers in the modern Western Mystery Tradition. The 

author of the Sacred Magic wrote the book to his second son because he could not pass 

on the mysteries of the Kabala to him. The Kabala had to go to the first-born son. He 

- 22 -


wanted his second son to have a mystical heritage as well, so he gave him the mysteries 

of the Sacred Magic. He states that the Sacred Magic can be derived from the Kabala, but 

the Kabala cannot be derived from the Sacred Magic. 

In the neo-platonic magical system, we've seen that the basic premise is that of 

emanation. God unfolded itself throughout existence in hierarchical stages, each getting 

closer to the realm of Matter. The Kabala is another manifestation of this type of 

philosophy. 

In the past, I've argued that the neo-platonic emanationist philosophy is the source 

of the Kabala, and that the Jews adopted the concepts and dressed them up in their own 

cultural symbols. There's evidence that can be found to support this view, but there's also 

evidence that can be found to support the view that the Neo-platonic system was really 

derived from the Kabala. Some rational folks have even said that they developed at the 

same time, in the same environment, drawing from the same sources. 

While various interpretations of the evidence can support different views, I 

personally believe the Greeks are the source of the Kabala, or at least the primary 

influence. There's just an awful lot of "coincidental" domination of the Jews by Greek 

influence at every major growth-point of the Kabala. 

In the Greek Magical Papyri, we find references to spirits known as "Supernatural 

Assistants." These spirits have really incredible abilities that are necessary skills to have 

if you're planning on getting anywhere as a magician. When you look at the Sacred 

Magic of Abramaelin and see the way you're supposed to work with the HGA, and 

compare it to the Supernatural Assistant of the Greek Magical Papyri, there's a pretty 

- 23 -


strong argument that the Supernatural Assistant is the fore-runner of the Kabalistic 

interpretation we know today as the HGA. 

I've staid away from the Kabala in this work so far, but practically speaking, the 

HGA is the best-known representative from God in modern Western Mystery Traditions. 

There's an Agathadaimon in more traditional Hellenistic writings that may correspond to 

the HGA, but I worked with my HGA before even knowing about the Agathadaimon, so 

anything I would say about that entity would be tainted speculation. I've got to stick with 

what I know. 

The first thing you should do as a practicing magician using the Neo-Platonic 

system is make contact with your HGA. This entity is assigned to you at birth, and is 

responsible for all the spiritual initiations, authority, and Gnosis you achieve in life. It is 

your personal emissary from the Good, the One, the Source, God itself. 

Through K&CHGA, you get the attunement of your sphere to the point where you 

can work with the spirits from your position of authority as a representative of God in the 

material realm. It's like a new age spirit guide, in some ways, but the new age spirit guide 

model doesn't present the meat of the entity's interaction with you the way the HGA 

model does. Spirit guides in the New Age take on forms of animals and such, indicating 

they are "lower" in the neo-platonic hierarchical system than the angels. However, that 

being said, my HGA revealed it had taken on the form of a spirit guide earlier in my 

magical practices to get me to the point where I could attain K&CHGA, so just because 

someone has a turtle spirit guide doesn't mean they aren't working with the HGA. In 

matters of the Supernatural Assistant, I've found it's better not to judge others' 

interpretations too harshly when they differ from our own. 

- 24 -


To attain K&CHGA, I used the ritual Liber Samekh as presented in Lon Milo 

DuQuette's The Magic of Aleister Crowley. Some people say it isn't the same thing at all, 

but in my experience, they're honestly mistaken. The evidence to prove this is found in 

the Abramelin rite itself. You have to perform Samekh successfully to find the proof, but 

it's there. I don't go into detail about the proof often because I want people to find it for 

themselves. 

After making contact with the HGA, your sphere is changed. You go through a 

Solar initiation. The result is the beginning of the experiential knowledge of your Race 

and Value as expressed by Plotinus. Once you've begun assimilating this knowledge- 

based-on-experience, you are in a relational position with your Source that allows the 

Spirits to work with you as partners in manifestation. 

Working with the Spirits 

After attaining K&CHGA, the magician is ready (and strongly urged by the 

HGA) to begin working with the spirits. Spirit conjuration is the primary methodology of 

any magician's performance of the Great Work. In this book, I provide the methods I 

have used to conjure Archangels of the Planetary Spheres and the terrestrial spirits using 

the techniques of Goety. 

I started with the ten Archangels of the Sephiroth, because I was coming out of a 

primarily-Kabalistic background. After Working with the spirits for a little while, I 

realized that the Archangels of the seven classical planets were sufficient for my initial 

stages of the Work. Through them, I learned an incredible amount of knowledge. Their 

influence on my sphere changed the way I am able to see the world. At first there was 

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nothing spectacular (no auras, second-sight, remote viewing, or psychic flashes), but I 

received a perception of the world that changed my life. 

The procedures for working with the spirits of the planets can be found in Book 2 

of this work, The Modern Angelic Grimoire. 

In addition to the spirits of the planets, the spirits of the elements are also worked 

with in performing the Great Work. These spirits rule over the physical manifestations of 

the rays of the higher spheres. A fire elemental might be put in charge of manifesting a 

Jupiter ray into someone's life, resulting in an unexpected and tumultuous promotion at 

work. For mundane operations, elementals and other terrestrial spirits are the best spirits 

to work with in the overall hierarchy. 

The spirits of various grimoires are also worked with in the Great Work. The 

spirits of the Goetia in the Lemegeton, for example, can be considered to be "earth- 

bound" spirits, that is, residing closer to the material realms than to the heavenly realms. 

These entities have been documented and worked with by many magicians, and the 

methods for conjuring them I use and suggest are contained in Book 3, The Modern 

Goetic Grimoire. Their attributes are documented, and once contacted, their abilities and 

limitations can be discovered simply by asking the spirit itself. 

The Goal of the Great Work in the Neo-Platonic System 

You've no doubt noticed that the Work consists of both the spirits of the higher 

realms and the spirits of the lower realms. If the Great Work were all about transcending 

the material realm, there would be no reason to work with the lower spirits. If the goal 

were simply to return to God, suicide would be the quickest method of accomplishing the 

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Work. The fact is, however, that we aren't born in the flesh to transcend it. We are here to 

learn our role, and then to exercise our authority to meet our obligations. 

Humanity is the nexus point between the material realm and the spiritual realm. 

We are the stewards of the manifest realms. In the Neo-Platonic system, we stand at the 

gateway between the realms, seeking union with the divine in order to fulfill our assigned 

tasks for as long as we appear to be separated from God, and directing the forces that 

manifest as reality according to the Will of God. We learn this Will by going up through 

the hierarchies and learning our place in existence, and then we implement the plans 

through the direction of the spirits. The higher up you go, the more responsibility you get, 

and the more Work in the physical realm you'll have to accomplish. 

The Goal of the Great Work is not to leave the flesh and material realms behind. 

We do that when we die anyway. The Goal is to find your place in the scheme of things, 

your reason for being, and in finding that, you gain the ability and authority to 

accomplish it. The accomplishment of the purpose is the practical manifestation of the 

Great Work. 

Practical Applications 

In the previous sections, the basic philosophical foundations of the Neo-Platonic 

cosmology (as I understand them) have been laid out. 

The next sections will focus on the practical applications of the system. These 

sections will present the methodologies and the tools used in the magical application of 

the Neo-Platonic system. 

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The Lamp 


When it comes to the list of standard magical tools usually required in modern 

occult literature, the Lamp is rarely discussed. I think that's a damned shame. Its 

influence and usefulness will help with the application of the subjects that follow. 

The Lamp is a tool I hadn't really used much before getting the vision of that 

Glyph that started this work on the Neo-Platonic basics. Usually, I would light some 

appropriately-colored candles in my Work, and either let them burn out as part of the 

ritual, or snuff them and relight them later. 

Then Modrocus posted a couple of experiments he had been doing using the 

Papryi Graecae Magicae (PGM) at the ritual_magic yahoo group. This was about a day 

or two before I had a revelation about the Glyph and the altar setup it implies. When the 

revelation came, the role of the Lamp became pretty clear. 

In the PGM, the Lamp is used as a means to commune with the spirits. In some 

rituals, when the spirit is present, the magician or skryer can see their presence as a 

quality of the light around the Lamp that isn't there when the spirit isn't present. In other 

rituals, the Lamp is like a transmitter, with the wick being made out of a cloth with the 

spell written on it and then burned. I thought that was pretty cool. 

Then I had the revelation of the Glyph, and it became apparent to me that the 

Lamp plays another role as well. In order to be effective in this role, the Lamp must be 

positioned outside the circle of the planetary talismans, representing the realm of infinite 

light that surrounds the divine darkness in which the Good dwells. 

- 28 -


This minor little detail has made a big impact in my Work. I never grasped the 

far-reaching effects a properly laid-out altar can have on your personal and magical life. 

The altar is the representation of the macrocosm and the implements at your disposal to 

function within that macrocosm as a magician. Just setting up your altar properly results 

in a fundamental change in your life. 

My "Lamp" is a tall brass candle stand, about 18 inches high. I have a tea-light 

candle holder on top of this, and I can drop in a tea-light before the ritual begins, and it 

has a really neat effect on the rest of the altar layout. It provides just the right ambiance 

for scrying in a crystal, and as I go through the various stages of the Work, I can check 

the Lamp to see if I'm where I need to be. If the Spirit of God is present, it shows. 

In addition, I can use the Lamp as a transmitter through the use of tea-lights 

appropriately inscribed and anointed, following the guidelines of the PGM. 

So in addition to the "standard" elemental tools a magician in the Neo-Platonic 

system has on their altar, I strongly urge you to include a Lamp. It completes your altar in 

a way that can't be easily described, but is almost instantly understood when 

implemented. 

About those Planets... 

Earlier, we established that the planetary spheres represent aspects of God 

radiating down from the highest heavens into the manifest realm. Each sphere has a 

governing spirit and legions of spirits that are responsible for manifesting the aspects of 

that sphere into the material realm, and specifically into the sphere of the magician. We 

also established that these governors are under the authority of the Logos, and that the 

- 29 -


Logos is within every magician. Consequently, the Governors of the planetary spheres 

are under our authority as magicians. 

In order to access this authority, we must first get to the point where we reclaim 

our Race and Value, as Plotinus put it. There are various means to accomplish this. My 

personal favorite is being Born Again in the Spirit, but I'm a Christian, so what can you 

expect? The major downfall of this method is that the best environment for receiving this 

rebirth, or "baptism of the Holy Spirit" is in a fundamentalist charismatic Christian 

Church, and while the spirit of God is awesome, the people in the churches... well, they 

aren't exactly... sane. 

Within the Western Mystery Tradition (WMT), other means exist. Knowledge 

and Conversation with your Holy Guardian Angel (K&CHGA) is one way. I personally 

believe this is a necessary first step in every magician's practice. Once this has been 

accomplished, you're guaranteed access to the Governing Spirits of the Planets, and you 

can begin to work with them to harmonize your sphere with theirs, thus eliminating the 

stumbling blocks in the areas of your life that are governed by their assigned rays. 

Integrating the powers of the planetary spheres into your own sphere results in progress 

along the Great Work, the elimination of character flaws that hinder your satiety, and 

wisdom in the realm governed by that particular sphere. You just can't go wrong. 

For example, if you're chronically unlucky in business, this could indicate that 

you're out of tune with the sphere of Mercury. In such a circumstance, you would conjure 

the Governor of Mercury, and ask it to integrate the powers of Mercury into your sphere. 

- 30 -


Soon after the ritual, you'll find that patterns of inappropriate behavior become 

apparent in your life. When you've identified these patterns, you work with your HGA to 

change these patterns of behavior, isolate the root cause, and reclaim that part of your 

life, putting it in its proper place. 

Eventually, you'll find that you're not ruled by misfortune in areas of business, 

instead you're dictating through Mercury how your success in business will manifest in 

your sphere. 

This can be applied to the other planets as well. Agrippa gives the following 

attributes to the planets in chapter xxxviii of Book 3: 

By the seven Planets as it were by instruments, all powers are diffused into man 

from the Supreme fountain of good: by Saturn a sublime contemplation & 

profound understanding, solidity of judgment, firm speculation, stability and an 

immovable resolution: by Jupiter, an unshaken prudence, temperance, benignity, 

piety, modesty, Justice, Faith, Grace, Religion, equity, clemency, royalty; by 

Mars, truth; not to be terrified, constant courage and fortitude, a fervent desire of 

animosity, the power of acting and the practice, and an in-convertible vehemence 

of the mind. By the Sun, nobility of mind, perspicuity of imagination, the nature of 

knowledge and opinion, maturity, counsel, zeal, light of justice, reason and 

judgment distinguishing right from wrong, purging light from the darkness of 

ignorance, the glory of truth found out, and charity the Queen of all virtues: by 

Venus, a fervent love, most sweet hope, the motion of desire, order, 

concupiscence, beauty, sweetness, desire of increasing and propagation of it self; 

by Mercury a piercing faith and belief, clear reasoning, the vigor of interpreting 

- 31 -


and pronouncing, gravity of speech, acuteness of wit, discourse of reason, and the 

swift motions of the senses: by the Moon a peace making consonance, fecundity, 

the power of generation and of growing greater, of increasing and decreasing, 

and a moderate temperance, and faith which being conversant in manifest and 

occult things yields direction to all; also motion to the tilling of the earth for the 

manner of life and giving growth to it-self and others. 

The Spirits of the Planets have their own hierarchy. Different Grimoires provide 

different interpretations, but for the sake of simplicity, each planet can be said to have an 

Intelligence that acts as a mediator between the lower realms and the higher realms, and a 

Spirit that acts as a mediator between the higher realms and the lower realms. The 

magician (generally speaking) works with the Intelligences on matters of spiritual 

growth, and the Spirits in matters of material manifestation. The Spirits, while extremely 

powerful, are placed under the authority of the Intelligences. 

For Work that results in material gain, like fabulous riches, you might start by 

working with Your HGA to identify the best means to get the fabulous riches to manifest 

in your life, and identify the appropriate planet to work with. This could be Jupiter, if you 

want to get rich by gaining promotions and responsibilities in your career, or the Sun, if 

you want to discover fabulous riches that were previously hidden, or Mercury, if you 

want to get rich through quick-witted transactions. Your HGA will guide you to the 

appropriate planet. 

Once you've identified the appropriate sphere, you'll want to ascend to the 

Intelligence of the sphere and enlist its aid in preparing you to receive the manifestation, 

- 32 -


and in getting its help in directing the Spirit to manifest the riches in the best possible 

way in the material realm. 

Then you would conjure the Spirit of the planet, and give it detailed instructions. 

The Spirits of the planets are incredibly powerful, but not necessarily intuitive. They'll 

often do what you say, not what you want. That's why it's important to work with the 

higher spirits first. 

Now, if you're in a hurry, you can also choose to work directly with the lower 

spirits, those closer to the material realm. Each of the spirits and angels in the various 

grimoires are usually listed with some reference to their planetary governor, and you 

would work these spirits through the authority of their higher-ups. 

In the next section, I'll get into Talismans, the most effective means I've found to 

direct the rays of the planets into your personal sphere. 

The Joys of Making Talismans 

A talisman is a symbol or seal inscribed or drawn on an item in order to attract the 

forces represented by that symbol. In Solomonic work, you can draw a seal of a spirit on 

paper surrounded by the appropriate names of God or what have you, and that is a 

talisman. Solomon's Ring is a talisman. My Spirit Pot is a talisman. Franz Bardon's Fluid 

Condensers are talismans. Your consecrated elemental weapons can be considered 

talismans. A talisman is any physical representation of a spiritual force or being that 

draws the powers of that force or being into the manifest realm. 

- 33 -


What is a Talisman good for? 

Talismans are used for a number of things. Agrippa has the planetary tables that 

can be inscribed on their appropriate metals, and these will bring healing, joy, love, 

martial prowess, or whatever planetary energy you're interested in drawing down at the 

moment. 

The astrological weather is important to consider when inscribing these things. A 

planetary talisman is a long-term snapshot of the qualities of the rays of that planet when 

it was created. I have a Mars talisman I created while Mars was in Sagittarius and nicely 

aspected by other planets. 

In the previous post, I talked a little about how we work with the planets using 

their Intelligences and Spirits. A key way to get these guys' attention is by calling them 

by name while holding their planetary talisman in your hand. The Talisman is already 

drawing the forces conducive to the spirit's manifestation, and when you conjure it by 

name or seal, it's easier for that spirit to appear. That's great for specific Workings, but 

there's a more sublime purpose behind creating talismans in your pursuit of the Great 

Work. 

In the Modern Angelic Grimoire, I explain the use of the Table of Practice. The 

Table of Practice I discuss in that book is based on the one from Trithemius' Art of 

Drawing Spirits into Crystals. A magician conjuring a spirit places their skrying media (a 

crystal ball or bowl of water, for example) in the center of the Table. The Table has the 

seven planets' symbols and the names of the angels that rule them around the outside 

- 34 -


edge, the names of the four angelic elemental Kings, and a Triangle with symbols in the 

corners: 

From a friend in Australia, I learned of a more elaborate Table of Practice 

described in the Ars Paulina. She created a beautiful Table of Practice, painting the seals 

of each planet on wood, then coating it with a few coats of polyurethane. It's incredible. 

- 35 -


I had been making various talismans for specific Workings, a couple of lead 

talismans to bind some wandering spirits for my mother-in-law, and a Michael talisman 

for some other exorcism rituals, and it occurred to me to create a talisman for each of the 

planets that could be easily transported, a portable Table of Practice and seven specific 

talismans of each planet for specialized planetary work. 

I did so, and as I completed each of the talismans, the beams of that sphere would 

be focused directly into my own sphere. When I had finished the seventh talisman, I had 

a complete microcosm of the planetary spheres. Shortly after this, I received an epiphany, 

which will be discussed in more detail when we return to the Glyph. Putting the talismans 

together in their appropriate places on your altar space creates a harmonizing and 

stabilizing effect in your sphere, and serves as a long-term ritual that continues to adjust 

and attune your sphere as you go on about your business. 

The Table of Practice, by its very existence, eliminates the necessity of the 

pentagram and hexagram rituals of the Golden Dawn. It takes longer to make, but the 

investment of time and effort takes place early on, and the return on the investment is 

awesome. You end up with the permanent effects of the pentagram and hexagram rituals 

in your sacred space. 

Making the Talismans 

When you make a talisman, you are interacting directly with the spirit that rules 

the forces you're "trapping" in the object. The result is a change in your own sphere in 

relation to the forces you're working with. You get a little wiser, a little more 

knowledgeable. At the same time, as you're engraving the metals, or smelting the alloys, 

- 36 -


or sanding the nearly-finished product, you receive guidance, instruction, and are led to 

insights about the nature of the entity or forces you're working with. It's a very 

contemplative and meditative exercise that requires long periods of trance-state brain 

activity. Making a talisman results in taking a step in the Great Work. 

Making talismans is fun, too. I use a Dremel tool, fiberglass resin, the metals of 

the planets (Lead, Tin, Iron, Gold, Copper, Mercury, and Silver), wood, and other 

appropriate materials. I've learned a bit about metallurgy, wood carving, embossing, and 

how not to use a propane torch in your kitchen. There are risks associated with heavy 

metals, like lead and mercury, and risks associated with natural things, like the toxicity of 

yew, and proper precautions must be made. This should never keep you from making the 

talismans though. 

Taking the proper precautions is part of the experience, and teaches you aspects of 

the planets the metals represent as well. Saturn inappropriately concentrated in your 

sphere will have the spiritual equivalent of the effect of inappropriate amounts of lead in 

your body. Integrating the Moon into your sphere has a similar effect to drinking silver 

nitrate, and combining the lunar energies with solar energies inappropriately has a similar 

effect to what happens when you go into the sunlight after drinking too much silver 

nitrate. The silver reacts with the light just like photographic paper, leaving you a bluish 

color. The blued-silver in your skin blocks the ability of the body to process vitamin D 

from the Sun. Inappropriate combinations of the powers of the sun and Moon can result 

in a similar blockage of the ability to absorb and process the solar powers. 

The process I follow when I make a talisman consists of identifying an opportune 

time astrologically, when the planets associated with the talisman are well aspected. Then 

- 37 -


in the right hour, I'll conjure the appropriate spirit, and then perform the Work required to 

make the talisman. While I'm working, the spirit communes with me, and that interaction 

is wonderful. When it is finished, I've got a physical representation of the powers I want 

to work with. I'm all set to use it at the right time. 

When I do a solar rite, I'll use my solar talisman. Right now, for instance, I've got 

a stand with a picture on it over the top of an orgone generator that's resting on my 

talisman of the Sun. The Talisman's forces are being focused up through the orgone 

generator, enhanced by the properties of the generator, and then "beamed" into the 

picture. It's an entire ritual performed without requiring the conjuration of any spirits, or 

the drawing of any circles, or the waving of any elemental weapons. 

That's the beauty of talismans, but at the same time, you don't want to make a 

talisman for every magical act. There are occasions where you don't need a permanent or 

even long-term representation of a spiritual force. It's tempting to make a talisman for 

every spirit you want to work with, but ultimately you'll end up with a few hundred 

talismans and nowhere to put them. As your ritual space becomes more and more 

cluttered, your life will get more and more cluttered. Use good judgment in determining 

what you really want the talisman for, and remember it's a long-term investment. 

my. life. 

I've got this spirit pot with Bune in it, for instance, and I. will. for. the. rest. of. 

Unless I decommission it. 

- 38 -


Decommissioning Talismans 

When you're ready to move on to the next step, you can decommission the old 

talismans you've got hanging around. When creating them, you poured a lot of time and 

effort into identifying the seals and symbols required, gathering the elements, and putting 

them together. Some indications that it's time to decommission the talisman are that it has 

accomplished its desired outcome, or you've discovered the properties of the forces you 

worked into the talisman aren't in harmony with your intent. The spirit of the talisman 

might be directing you to decommission it, or you might be prompted by your HGA to 

eliminate this force from your sphere. 

When these things happen, you need to break the talisman down to its component 

parts and thank the spirit of the talisman for its work. For metal talismans you've 

engraved, melt the metals again to restore them to their "blank" state. Wood materials 

you can burn and scatter the ashes somewhere where they will be sent to the ends of the 

world, like a convenient river or a stiff breeze. Paper talismans should be burned as well. 

Note: Mercury and lead cannot be dumped in nature. You've got to extract 

Mercury and store it properly in glass or iron. Lead you can melt under a filtered 

ventilation system, and reuse later. 

Tin and copper and any other planetary metal can be pretty easily melted using a 

propane torch and some creative research on Google. 

If you can't melt your talisman, like if it's iron that you've engraved, you can file 

down the images, and then sand them down until the iron is blank. Drop the lump in 

- 39 -


some salt for a while too, or anoint it with Holy water. Try to keep the materials you've 

put into your talismans, if possible. You'll have another use for them eventually. 

Elemental Kings 

In the Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 7, Agrippa provides a table 

that presents the Scale of the Number Four. In this Table, the Kings of the elements are 

listed as the Four Angels ruling over the corners of the world. Under them are the Four 

Rulers of the Elements, the Four Princes of Spirits, and the Four Princes of "Divels, 

offensive in the Elements." 

Four Angels ruling over the 

corners of the world. 

- 40 - 

Fire Air Water Earth 

Michael Raphael Gabriel Uriel 

Four rulers of the Elements. Seraph Cherub Tharsis Ariel 

Four Princes of divels, offensive in 

the Elements. 

Four Princes of spirits, upon the 

four angels [angles] of the world. 

Four Angels - The Kings 

Samael Azazel Azael Mahazael 

Oriens Paymon Egyn Amaymon 

Personally, when I work with the Kings of the Elements, I prefer to work with 

these Angels. I've got an angelic connection in general with my Work, and I figure if it's 

working as well as it is, why mix things up? 

For years, I've thought the LBRP got the angels from the Bedtime Sh'Ma, a 

Jewish version of "now I lay me down to sleep." I was very pleased to discover they are 

also considered the angels of the corners of the Earth in Agrippa's system.


The GD got most of their stuff from Francis Barrett's The Magus anyway, and 

that was plagiarized from Agrippa almost 100%. Seeing the angels here as the Kings of 

the Elements has helped me further understand that Angels can share names without 

sharing their personage. I mean, Michael, King of Fire isn't going to be the same as 

Michael Governor of the Sun. There are similarities, of course, but that doesn't make 

them the "same" being. Even if they were the same being, in the office of the King of 

Fire, Michael will not behave as the Governor of the Sun. 

One nice thing about discovering these guys are the Kings of the Elements is that 

I've been doing the LBRP in ignorance for years. I've managed to build up as decent a 

relationship with them as can be hoped for, considering the depths of ignorance I was 

wallowing in. 

Four Rulers of the Elements - Angelic Orders 

If you look at the sigils of the ten countenances of God in the Magical Calendar, 

you'll see that the names of the angels ruling the planet/sphere are written on one side of 

the talismans along with the names of their respective Angelic Orders. I believe these are 

the Orders from which each Angelic King draws their legions of helpers. In working with 

these spirits, I'm placing the names of the Angels on their talisman along with the name 

of the Order of Angels presented here. 

Four Princes of "Divels," Offensive in the Elements 

These spirits represent the malefic aspects of the elements. While Michael might 

represent a controlled flame, like a candle or a hearth, Samael would represent a burning 

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house. Both are aspects of Fire, and it is important to note that the Princes of Divels are 

under the authority of the Kings of the Elements. 

Four Princes of Spirits 

These four Princes represent the "neutral" spirits of the elements. They are like 

the worker bees of the elements, in my experience. They, and their assigned legions, are 

the ones that oversee the manifestation of the elemental manifestations of the directives 

of the spirits higher up in the, uhm, hierarchy. 

Working with the Elemental Kings and their Princes 

Now, with the above overview in mind, and remembering the way magicians 

work with the hierarchies of the spirits, a multitude of possibilities becomes available to 

the resourceful magician. In terms of the Great Work, we know from the Divine 

Pymander chapter of the Corpus Hermeticum that the Logos abides with the righteous 

and sends an evil Daemon to confound the impious through their sphere of sensation, 

causing them to be further removed from their memories of their race and value as 

manifestations of God. 

Spirit Pots 

In an Appendix of this book, I have included some blog posts about the Spirit Pot 

I made for the spirit Bune of the Lemegeton's Goetia. The Lemegeton is a Solomonic 

grimoire, and like all the grimoires I've seen, it is fundamentally rooted in the Neo- 

Platonic system we've been discussing. Personally, I place the spirits of the Goetia in the 

elemental realm, mostly within the sphere of the Air. 

- 42 -


Spirit pots are an interesting subject. I don't think they are the specific product of 

the Neo-Platonic system, but like the brass vessel in the Goetia, they certainly fit nicely 

into the scheme of things. In Greek mythology (at least in the Hesiod from over 500 years 

before Christ), there's the story of Pandora's "Box," which in the original Greek was a jar. 

The jar as a vessel for trapping spirits can be found in many cultures, and frankly, 

I can't tell whether it originated in one culture and traveled, or if it's a universal constant 

across all cultures. The use of pots to contain spirits or their effects can be found in 

Persian stories in 1001 Arabian nights (along with rings), African Tribal Religions, the 

Hesiod in the Greek traditions, and even in the Bible in the form of the Ark of the 

Covenant. (Ok, that might be stretching it a bit, but functionally, it's the same thing.) 

The reason I bring up the spirit pot in the context of this system is because it's 

going to play a significant role when I get back to the Glyph. 

My understanding about spirit pots in Palo and Hoodoo practices is that they are 

usually homes for spirits specific to the magician. That is to say, the spirits in a Palo or 

Hoodoo pot aren't going to be conjured at any given time by three or four hundred 

magicians reading from the same grimoire. I don't know how many magicians are 

working with Bune at any given time, but I've talked to at least three other magicians who 

have worked with Bune, and God knows how many other mages or would-be 

demonologists are summoning Bune right now. 

Spirit pots can be made for any spirit. They generally seem to function like an 

icon to a saint. Burning candles in its vicinity with a statement of intent results in a 

manifestation of the desired outcome in the way the Spirit interprets the request. For 

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instance, asking to get a specific dollar amount has resulted in Bune providing a huge 

series of very lucrative opportunities in my chosen line of work. Bune hears the request 

and goes about manifesting it according to his role, his designated nature. 

Other manipulations of the spirit pot have provided results that have led me to the 

conclusions I currently hold. Polishing the lid resulted in clearer manifestations. Placing 

it in an exalted status on my altar by putting it on a stand resulted in more authoritative 

results. I went from working with co-workers on projects to working directly with 

management. The spirit pot has given me the ability to fine-tune my interactions with 

Bune in a way that I wouldn't have had otherwise. 

Making a spirit pot is easy. A friend made one out of a paper box. All you need is 

a container, the means to get the spirit's attention, and something to inscribe the 

appropriate seals around it to influence the Spirit's activities in your sphere. I prefer metal 

containers for their durability. I like to inscribe metal with my Dremel tool. It's fun. The 

Spirit's representation should be at least its name and/or its seal. Any corresponding 

materials that are in tune with its nature can be included. I have dirt and rocks from my 

local bank in Bune's pot, for example. 

The names that constrain the Spirit's influence should be representative of the 

macrocosm. Ideally, all seven classical planets and the Primum Mobile should be 

represented in your work with the Spirit. For example, the names on the front of the 

Mathers-Crowley version of the brass vessel in the Goetia are "AShR AHIH: GBRiAL: 

MIKAL: HANIAL:". From the GD interpretation of things, these are the God-Name of 

Kether, the GD Archangels of the Moon, Venus and Mercury. On the back is the 

notariqon ARARITA (One is His Beginning: One is His Individuality: His Permutation is 

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One) followed by ChShMLIM, the name of the order of angels of the Sun, and Tzadkiel, 

the Archangel of Jupiter. Mars and Saturn can be found on the Secret Seal of Solomon, 

and Michael on the Triangle of Art. 

At the very least, the Spirits in charge of the Spirit you're working with should be 

inscribed somewhere on the pot. This ensures the Spirit is constrained to operate with 

your best intentions in mind. This is more important with the troublesome "demonic" 

entities than with the neutral or angelic spirits, but it can never hurt. 

Them Pesky Demons are at it Again... 

Speaking of demons, in the Neo-Platonic tradition, in the grimoires that comprise 

it, in the writings of Hermes Trismegistus that frame it, and in the writings of Agrippa 

that provide the most comprehensive resource of the modern occult, there are mentions of 

demons. Demons are maleficent spirits that cause trouble. I would personally rather 

believe that all spirits are basically neutral, and they don't have any ill will in and of 

themselves towards humanity. Unfortunately, the Neo-Platonic writings (and my 

experience) fail to support this belief. 

Going back thousands of years, mankind has known that there are spirits that are 

out to make life miserable for humans. It's in the Bible, the Hesiod, and in the African 

Tribal Religions. From the steppes of Siberia to the Amazon rain forest, shamans deal 

with evil spirits every day. Modern cultures have lots of rational ways to explain away 

the existence of demons, from anti-Christian rhetoric that says the Church is to blame for 

misrepresenting gods of other cultures (which is true, to a degree), to psychological 

models that say they're all in our heads (which is also true, from the perspective implied 

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by the notariqon ARARITA). Regardless of the veracity of these explanations, the 

pragmatic truth is that if you are doing magic regularly, you will run into spirits that will 

behave as if they are Demons. 

The Role of Demons 

Fortunately, we have the benefit of thousands of years of occult research on our 

side. We know from sources like the Bible and the Divine Pymander that the evil spirits 

are under the authority of God. If you're into paganism, you'll find in the story of 

Pandora's box that evil spirits contained in a divine spirit pot were sent to plague mankind 

by Zeus after Prometheus gave us fire. They're serving god. In the Divine Pymander, 

Pymander tells Hermes that the Evil Daimon is sent to the impious to drive man further 

away from the Logos by filling the senses with desire for more sensations than can ever 

be appeased. In the Bible, evil spirits are sent to set up kings to fall, to reveal the glory of 

God. 

They are sent by God into the world to wreak havoc in the lives of those who are 

ignorant of God. Their primary victims are those who have grown ignorant of their Race 

and Value in God. They are sent to get the people who, instead of seeking their Source, 

seek satisfaction in the things of the material world. Demons serve as tempters, bringers 

of illness, and they serve to create situations that result in spiritual advancement. They 

perform evil acts, but they do them to draw people closer to God. 

How Demonic Influence Manifests 

In your life, you're going through all kinds stress that I can't even begin to know 

about. Job insecurity, financial woes, emotional problems, and sickness plague us all. 

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Most of the people reading this have it pretty good compared to poorest of the poor on 

the planet, but that doesn't make the problems we face any easier to bear in the moment. 

I don't believe every bad thing that happens is the result of a demon, but they do 

happen to be present every time bad things happen. I'm sure it's a coincidence, really. 

They could just be attracted to bad things... Sure... that could be it... 

Alright, I really do think all bad things that happen are the result of demonic 

activity. I'm a Christian, for Christ's sake. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but 

against powers, principalities, and wickedness in high places." It's the simple truth. 

They set the stage for pain and suffering, they sit at the edges of our sphere 

whispering thoughts that sound a lot like our own, speaking fear and doubt and anger and 

anguish and despair into our minds. They entice our senses with lights and shining things. 

They use the people at work like pawns to challenge us, to bring us to the brink of 

catastrophe. They influence kings, presidents, princes, senators, congressmen and 

women, people in power across the lands of the earth to create a realm that will drive 

those with an understanding of their race and value closer and closer to the Logos within. 

Pretty nasty, really. And as annoying as hell. 

How to Deal with the Bastards 

Demons are under God's authority. God's within. We deal with spirits in every 

ritual. We have the names of the demonic princes from Agrippa's Book 2, chapter 7. We 

know how to make talismans and spirit pots. They can only do what they're allowed to, 

and God sets the boundaries. 

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The fastest way to lessen the effects of the evil spirits is to put the Demonic Kings 

in spirit pots and bind them with melted lead sealed with the Names of the four Elemental 

Kings. I've got a makeshift version of this on my altar at the moment. It hasn't completely 

eliminated bad things from happening, but it sure has cut down on the extremes of my 

emotional reactions to bad things when they come. That in itself robs the demons of their 

powers over us and our lives. 

The Genius and the Evil Daimon 

The Genius and the Evil Daimon are entities with a long history in the Western 

Mystery Tradition. The idea of the good and evil spirits assigned to people is so ingrained 

in the American culture that I grew up watching cartoons that frequently showed a 

character with a little angel with a harp on one shoulder and a little red devil with horns 

and a tail on the other, each giving the person advice. More often than not, the character 

would listen to the devil. How typical of mankind. 

The Genius 

The term "Genius" as I'm using it loosely comes from Agrippa's Third Book of 

Occult Philosophy, chapter xxii. Technically, "Genius" is supposed to refer only to one 

part of the three-fold good Daimon that preserves the person it's assigned to. The three 

parts are the Holy part, which is roughly speaking the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA) of the 

Abramelin ritual, the Genius or "Nativity Angel," a Spirit whose nature is determined by 

the placement of the stars at birth, and the Daimon of your Profession, who influences 

how successful we are at our chosen line of work. Agrippa refers to all three parts 

singularly in the title of the chapter, "That there is a threefold keeper of man." Since it's a 

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singular entity, and he only gives instructions on deducing the name of a Genius, and not 

the HGA or Professional Demon, I'm referring to all three parts of this one entity as the 

Genius. 

The earliest reference to the Genius that I've found so far is in the Corpus 

Hermeticum, written in Hellenized Egypt. In The Divine Pymander, it says: 

I (the LOGOS, Pymander, shepherd of Men) ... come unto men that are holy and 

good, pure and merciful, and that live piously and religiously; and my presence is 

a help unto them. And forthwith they know all things, and lovingly they supplicate 

and propitiate the Father; and blessing him, they give him thanks, and sing hymns 

unto him, being ordered and directed by filial Affection and natural Love. And 

before they give up their bodies to the death of them, they hate their senses, 

knowing their Works and Operations. 

This is the Logos talking about how he works with those who are pious. While it 

might look like a bit of a stretch, the Logos and the HGA are of the same Spirit. In 

Agrippa's record written roughly 1200 years later, this corresponds to the Holy part of the 

Genius. Agrippa frames it thus: 

The holy Demon is one, according to the Doctrine of the Egyptians, assigned to 

the rational soul, not from the Stars or Planets, but from a supernatural cause, 

from God himself, the president of Demons, being universal, above nature: This 

directs the life of the soul, and always puts good thoughts into the mind, being 

always active in illuminating us, although we do not always take notice of it; but 

when we are purified, and live peaceably, then it is perceived by us, then it does, 

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as it were, speak with us, and communicates its voice to us, being before silent, 

and studies daily to bring us to a sacred perfection. Also by the aid of this Demon 

we may avoid the malignity of a Fate... 

Agrippa says of the Genius specifically: 

...when the soul is coming down into the body, it does out of the choir of the 

Demons naturally choose a preserver to it self, not only choosing this demon on 

its own, but choosing one that is willing to defend it. This being the executor and 

keeper of the life, helps the human spirit to the body, and takes care of it, being 

Communicated to the body, and helps a man attain the office to which the 

Celestials have fated him. 

In other words, the Genius is what can guide you to the roles and responsibilities 

you incarnated to accomplish. 

In addition, being the only part of the threefold keeper of human beings that you 

can get the name of from your horoscope, the Genius can also be used to establish 

conversation with the rest of the threefold keeper, including the HGA and the Daimon of 

your Profession. 

By "used," I mean you can converse with it through conjurations and establish a 

relationship, discovering the things that are needed to be done in your life to prepare you 

for the next step in your Work. 

As you Work with your Genius, a momentum builds up. You don't have to choose 

to be a decent, pious person always choosing to do good and be kind to small furry 

animals, or help old ladies across the street. You don't have to choose to be offended by 

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injustice when you see it. You don't have to try to find wisdom or insight in your studies. 

And you don't have to make yourself seek your Race and Value in God. 

Instead, you find yourself naturally doing these things. You find character flaws 

revealed, and the means to change them. You find yourself naturally pursuing Virtue over 

Vice. You stop sabotaging your progress towards your goals, and you find yourself 

knowing and understanding things intuitively about yourself and others around you. 

Glimpses of the future come in sureties felt in evaluating potential outcomes of situations. 

Mysteries unravel before your very eyes. 

This spirit's influence on your life can be enhanced through practical exaltation of 

the spirits name, which I'll discuss below. 

The Evil Daimon 

Heading back to The Divine Pymander, it goes on to say: 

56. But to the foolish, and evil, and wicked, and envious, and covetous, and 

murderous, and profane, I am far off, giving place to the revenging Demon, which 

applying unto him the sharpness of fire, tormenteth such a man sensible, and 

armeth him the more to all wickedness, that he may obtain the greater 

punishment. 

57. And such an one never ceaseth, having unfulfiled desires, and unsatisfiable 

concupiscences, and always fighting in darkness; for the Demon always afflicts 

and tormenteth him continually, and increaseth the fire upon him more and more. 

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Here is the Evil Daimon, sent by God to punish the wicked with insatiable desires. 

My experience with this entity leads me to believe that this Demon drives you to the 

point where you have to turn to God to find relief from your passions, or die of despair or 

overdose. 

If you refuse to turn to God, when you die you return as a more brutish man, or an 

animal, or even a plant according to Plotinus. The further from God you turn in your life, 

the further from God you result in your next life, each incarnation resulting in less and 

less opportunity to turn from God until you are a plant with no choice but to turn to the 

Sun to live. 

People always have some degree of a relationship with this spirit. Like the cartoon 

characters listening to the little red demon on their shoulder, we have spent our lives 

listening to and following the advice of the evil Daimon. A momentum builds up with the 

Evil Daimon just like with the Genius, and soon you find yourself surrounded by chaos 

and madness if you give in to the temptations this spirit whispers to you too often. 

curbed. 

Like the demons opposed in the elements, the effects of the Evil Daimon can be 

Working With the Genius and the Evil Daimon 

To Work with these entities, the first thing you'll need is their name. These are 

discovered through your horoscope, as discussed in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult 

Philosophy, Book 3, at the end of chapter xxvi: 

There are also the Arabians, and many others, and some Hebrews, who finde out 

the name of a Genius by the places of the five Hylegians, and making projection 

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alwayes from the beginning of Aries, and the letters being found out according to 

the order of Hylegians with the Astrologers, being reduced into a known order, 

and being joyned together, make the name of a good Genius: but they draw the 

name of an evil Genius from the opposite Hylegian places, projection being made 

from the last degree of Pisces against the order of signs. 

Ok, did you catch all that? No? Well, fortunately I’ve got a spreadsheet I use to 

make the process a little easier. I don’t know how the renaissance magicians managed 

without the power of modern technology. 

I’ve got all the Hebrew letters associated with the degrees for the Good Genius 

and the Evil Daimon lined up with their appropriate degrees. To determine the name, you 

get a horoscope of your birth, and write down the degrees of the sun, moon, ascendant, 

and part of fortune. Then you find the syzygy, and that’s the fifth letter of the name. The 

syzygy is the location of the moon at the closest full or new moon prior to the date you’re 

charting. To find this, you get another horoscope of the time of the nearest full or new 

moon, and write down the degree the moon is in. 

Pretty simple, eh? 

No, not really. It’s a bit of a pain in the hindquarters, honestly. But this is worth it. 

Once you've got their names, you can conjure and commune with your Genius by 

creating a Lamen of the spirit. Spell out its name in Hebrew in a circle with the names of 

God written around the perimeter. I use the Celestial Script from Agrippa, and the Lamen 

looks like this (that's YHVH in the script, you'd need to change the name to use it): 

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Poke a little hole in the top, and you wear it during the ritual. Conjure the spirit in 

a crystal or other scrying medium using the techniques outlined in Book 2, The Modern 

Angelic Grimoire, and you're all set. 

The same technique provides the name of the Evil Daimon, that little red devil 

that sits on your shoulder whispering temptations and evil thoughts. I have him bound in 

lead and sealed in a multi-purpose talisman I created that has helped me out a great deal. 

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I took an oak log and carved it to serve as a means to exalt the Genius and bind 

the Evil Daimon at the same time. Below is the basic layout, and the real life thing looks 

almost exactly like it. 

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The Glyph 

Having covered the basics, it's time now to return to the Glyph. This book began 

because I wanted to share the background that had lead up to the satori experience I had 

while studying Agrippa's table on the Scale of the Number 4 (Book 2, Chapter 7 ). 

Everything I had been studying all came together in that moment, and the result was a 

compelling urge to map out what I was seeing on paper. 

Working into the wee hours of the morning with a compass and some folded 

paper to serve as a straight edge (the kids had broken my ruler), I ended up with a Glyph. 

This Glyph embodies the Great Work of the Magician, the realms of the spirits we work 

with in the material realm, the spirits of the seven planetary realms, and the role of the 

magician balanced in between the Above and the Below. 

Pretty neat, in my opinion. Not long after receiving it, I posted the information 

everywhere I could. I thought that just looking at the Glyph would bring instant 

Illumination to everyone who saw it. When people looked at it and said, yeah, ok, neat, 

and went on with their lives and Work, I thought they just didn't have the background to 

see the awesome impact this Glyph can have on Ceremonial Magicians. 

Taking what it represents, taking the keys that are summarized in its concentric 

circles and the perspective of the layout, and putting it into practical use results in 

complete and total control of all things material and spiritual, from an enlightened and 

beneficent place of authority in the cosmos. 

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So I labored on the different sections of this work with the goal of bringing 

everyone this power, illumination, and understanding of Life, the Universe, and 

Everything. 

Since the time that I received this Glyph, I've been using it to great effect in my 

Work. It really does do everything I thought it would do. But I've realized that it's not 

going to be for everyone. 

Understanding now that this is a personal revelation, I've been putting off 

wrapping up the series. I intended it to be a climactic culmination that brought everything 

else together and sparked a mass enlightenment experience that spread like wildfire 

through my audience. I no longer expect that to happen, but nevertheless, I hope this 

serves to at least inspire some of you on to your own Glyphs, your own empowerment, 

and your own harmony. 

Putting it all Together: The Altar Layout Revisited 

The first thing I did, being the pragmatic Tech-writing Taurus that I am, was to 

draw up the Glyph on my computer. It's easier to do concentric circles and save them as 

images in Visio. What I ended up with is this: 

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As you can see, there aren't seven circles for the spheres of the planets, or four for 

the elements as you might expect. I drew out all the spheres in earlier drawings, but 

they're just too big. This suffices, and it has a circle for each of the primary items one 

works with as an incarnate magician. 

The inner three circles represent the sphere of the incarnate magician. They are 

divided into four quadrants, one for each of the cardinal points. In the innermost circle 

are the four Demonic Kings of the corners of the world. The brackets here represent their 

influence upon the magician being bound. Surrounding them are the Four Angelic Kings 

of the four corners of the World. These angels bind the influence of the Demonic Kings 

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from the sphere of the magician, while empowering the magician in the spheres of the 

elemental Kings. 

In the circle around the angles, I placed the elements as presented in Agrippa's 

Scale of the Number Four. Those familiar with Golden Dawn and neo-pagan 

representations of the elements will immediately note that they don't line up the way 

you're used to seeing them. This is because the Golden Dawn, based in England, used the 

qualities of the Four Winds to establish the elemental directions for their location. The 

neo-pagan authors seem to have repeated the Golden Dawn information without regard 

for the qualities of the Four Winds that may be different in Arizona, Alaska, or the 

steppes of Asia. 

I just used Agrippa's attributions, and it works great. 

In the outermost circle are the planets. The order is very specific. If you look at 

the table in Agrippa's Book 2, Chapter vii, you'll see why they are placed where they are 

placed. 

The order of the planetary spheres as the spirit descends into matter is Saturn- 

Jupiter-Mars-Sun-Venus-Mercury-Moon. However, we're already incarnated, and when 

we look up at the spheres from the world of manifestation, we'll see them from the 

perspective of the material realm. 

Placing the planets in their respective quadrants as seen from below represents 

understanding the place of the incarnated magician in the cosmos. We are spirits, sparks 

of the Logos, of the Race of Gods. Our origin is from beyond the stars and the planets 

they influence. Yet our home, our sphere of influence is the material realm. We transcend 

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through the realms of the planets to return to God, yet we retain our places in the manifest 

world, anchors, as it were, for the power of God to return with us to this realm. 

There's only so much theory and metaphysics I can personally stand. It doesn't 

mean anything if it doesn't affect anything, in my opinion, and it was vitally important to 

get the harmony represented in the Glyph grounded in my sphere. 

Where is the magician's sphere represented physically? Their altar, of course. It 

holds their elemental tools, the symbols of their authority over the essences that Plato 

taught combined to form all things. It's also the Table of Practice, the key to working 

with the spirits of each realm. It represents the access point for the Magician. It's the 

pivotal point between the realms Above and the realms Below. It represents everything 

spiritual in the magicians manifest realm. 

So I took the Key to Everything represented in the Glyph and put it in place on 

my altar. The first thing I did was bind the Demonic Kings in miniature Spirit Pots. Then 

I created miniature talismans of the Angels of the four corners of the Earth using the 

Kings of the elements in the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Beside each of these cards on the 

Altar, I placed the Elemental weapons associated with the Corner. That was great for the 

physical sphere. 

For the planets, I placed the seven talismans in the layout in the outermost circle 

of the glyph. Outside the circle of the planets, I placed my Lamp, to represent the Source 

of all, the True Father, the Speaker of the Word who dwells in perfect darkness within the 

source of the radiating Light. 

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Immediately I began to see the effects of cleaning up my altar space on my Work. 

The Spirits of the planets come more quickly, and every aspect of my life has been drawn 

into an increasing harmony. My credit has cleared up, my job has become more secure, 

communications that were blocked are open now. Questions I have are resolved quickly 

and "miraculously." 

It must also be noted that failure to properly lay out the altar can cause troubles 

too. I moved my office and my altar with it into another room in my house, and when I 

set up the altar, I relied on my limited ability to visualize spatial transformations to lay 

out the altar. I pictured how it was laid out before, figured out how many revolutions the 

altar had gone through, and laid it out the way I figured it should go. Now, I had a 

compass that pointed North. I could easily have used that instead, but I was arrogant and 

figured I knew what I was doing. 

Over the course of three months, I had two jobs, and quit one, the wrong one, and 

became obsessed with the job I had chosen. I was soon doing less and less magic, and the 

results I was getting were, frankly, terrible. I was soon in debt up to my ears, and getting 

more and more desperate. 

Also, I began to use my altar as a place to haphazardly put mail, loose change, 

dead batteries, and other junk in my office that accumulated. Everything I put on my altar 

manifested in my life. Dead batteries brought about a lethargy, the bills I had left there 

became huge debts, and as the altar became more cluttered, my thinking became less 

precise and more jumbled. I couldn't plan my way out of a paper sack. 

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One day I remembered I was a magician. In desperation, I had lit a candle to my 

HGA on the talisman I showed above, along with some incense. I offered a quick prayer 

for guidance and understanding of what had happened. I realized the state of my altar was 

a part of the problem, and cleaned it off. I took everything off and dusted and polished 

the items, and I used the compass and the Glyph to set my altar up the right way. That 

was when I realized I had set it up all wrong when I moved. 

It took about three months, but soon my sphere was cleared out. I had to go 

through a cleansing phase, and it was uncomfortable, I assure you. The altar is a powerful 

tool of manifestation, one often overlooked or taken for granted. Be serious, learn from 

my mistakes, and you will avoid time consuming periods of annoying reality. 

Today, everything isn't perfect, of course. We're still in the manifest realm. But I 

do have an insight and a position of stability and authority from which to oversee the 

sources and interactions of the forces behind the scenes in my life. 

Using the Glyph in Practice 

Once the Altar was laid out appropriately, methods of using the Glyph in practice 

came naturally. 

The binding of the Demonic Kings immediately cut off a great deal of mischief in 

my life. People at work that were obstacles to accomplishing my work suddenly became 

too distracted doing their work to give me grief, and began giving me the information I 

needed to do my job quickly to get rid of me. The kids behaved better. My wife and I 

understood one another better. I quit running over curbs. (This is a big deal. For some 

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reason, I've been running over curbs a lot in the last few years. It twisted the frame of one 

van, and popped the tire of another.) 

The placement of the elemental Kings in their appropriate locations (that is, not 

the traditional GD quadrants) brought me into harmony with the tiny parts that go into the 

moments I experience. The first few days, I had supra-luminescent vision, that 

transcendentalist-painting-vision, where the underlying divinity of all things is bursting 

through the edges of the forms they're wearing. I performed (successfully) workings 

within the elemental kingdoms for the first time in my magical career since leaving 

behind The 21 Lessons of Merlin. (Don't read it, it's a mental poison that takes years to 

cleanse from your sphere. It's one of those books that after reading, you have managed to 

become somehow more stupid. There are some good parts, like the contest with the 

Elementals that are useful, bu you can get them from other books that don't leave you 

stupid.) 

My elemental weapons have gained a "shine" to them that wasn't there previously. 

I don't feel at all silly using the wand or dagger like I used to. They've become a natural 

extension of my Work. The Elemental realms themselves appear at the edges of my Altar 

space in the astral temple I use. My favorite is Raphael standing on the windswept 

mountains of the West. It reminds me of Colorado. 

The Planetary Talismans... Well, let's just say things are going as well there as 

they are everywhere else in my Work. I can't recommend highly enough the importance 

of having a talisman for each planet on your altar arranged in the right place. I have a 

peace of mind, and an understanding of the flow of things in this world that guides and 

aids me in all that I set my hand to accomplish. 

- 63 -


The practical benefits are awesome too. Having the Talismans in their appropriate 

place in the physical representation of my magical sphere has resulted in the effects of 

those planets integrating in ways I didn't expect. I can be fifty miles away from home at 

work, and feel a planetary influence, conjure the archangel or one of their legions, and 

receive something I need right then and there. The communications are bi-directional, 

and the results are cumulative. 

Now this system I describe in this section of the book is based on the magic of the 

Renaissance magicians that wrote the Solomonic books. It's a modern interpretation 

based on my research, experience, and a lot of guidance from my HGA. It is a personal 

application of the core philosophy of the Solomonic grimoires, but it is not something 

you'll find in any traditional Solomonic text. 

That said, I firmly believe that the time I spent learning and applying this system 

factors a great deal in my repeated success using the Solomonic texts. Having the core 

understanding of the chain of manifestation so intricately enmeshed in my sphere 

empowers me to accomplish things many magicians struggle with. The initiations I 

received working with the spirits of the spheres has granted me the ability to "speak 

spirit" as Patrick Dunn recently put it. I'm hoping he comes out with a phrase book 

translator for human to spirit, it would be a great read. 

- 64 -

The Neo-Platonic Basics - Rufus Opus

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