THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE

a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | OCCULTISM | MAGIC

Spirits and Volitional Dynamics

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.magick.goetia,alt.christnet.demonology,alt.satanism,alt.pagan.magick
From: satanservice.org@boboroshi (SOD of the CoE)
Subject: Spirits and Volitional Dynamics 
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 22:44:33 GMT

50030217 VII Hail Satan!

"SwAmI"  wrote about a botherseome demon:
>>> What if it already has a name? Can i give it a new one?

a name is a tool by which you may interact with any agent.
if an agent has a name, then discovering this may afford
one leverage in the case that that name still holds power
with respect to said agent (agents may attempt to keep 
such names hidden, concealed, or obscured from view so 
as to prevent anyone attaining this leverage). in other
cases, *former* names may yield no advantage on account 
of the change of overall composition of the agent in 
question and its development of a new name. discovering
the newer name (esp. if concealed) will assist one here. 

giving an agent a name can be a very powerful way to find
advantage with respect to it. it may become the means by
which one achieves communication with and finds symbolic
identification in said agent despite what it may purport
and truly believe its true name may be. this is directly
related to the volitional power of the mage and how well
and powerfully-projected the name may be in use so as to
influence the agent to which it is applied. very powerful
mages may issue reformatting names to agents and thereby
catalyze a complete rectification/disruption of character.

thus the first thing you should do is get a good idea of
your overall volitional power as a magician. granted you
have achieved this, I respond to your query according to
whether you are:

	* naive or weak-willed, a beginner

	  the chances are good that any name you select
	  will not have a transformative effect upon the
	  agent. that said, the name you select may serve 
	  a facilitating role, especially if you assert
	  the character of appearance associated with
	  the name you provide (e.g. a perceptual
	  character of beauty or kindliness rather 
	  than one horrific and intimidating)


	* of indeterminate volitional strength, an aspirant

	  giving the agent a name will not only provide
	  it with a 'handle' by which it may approach you
	  on your terms, it may serve to seed the whole
	  condition of your interaction; the dissonance
	  between any original name provided by the agent
	  and the one you provide may or may not be
	  helpful to the resolution of your relations.
	  watch the character of the agent in response
	  to the address and, after a few interactions, 
	  decide whether to utilize the agent's specified 
	  name, the one you've given it, or some new one 
	  that you can now discern may be more conducive 
	  to getting where you want with it.


	* of great volitional strength, a master

	  the master sets the terms of interaction, and
	  any determined name utilized by the master will
	  serve to reformat and recast the character of
	  the agent to which this new name is applied.
	  it is for this reason that the master is careful
	  in the selection of any name used in opposition,
	  or adversely-aligned, to that proposed by the
	  agent itself; the name selected contains within
	  it the seed of the master's desired outcome 
          (if any seed and/or outcome is selected). 

 
"Tom" :
>> Of course it has a name, in the sense I was talking about.  
>> It has a nature and a proper place which is represented 
>> as its name.  What's for you to do is find out what that 
>> name is.

lovely. thanks, Tom.


uncited (Tom?):
>>>> Binding them to their assigned place is keeping their power
>>>> directed to its proper purpose.

if such binding is possible and warranted. an agent may not be
so easily-discerned as "demon" or "angel" in some dualistic
sense. only those who have mapped out their cosmological 
scheme may be able to distinguish categorically, and then with
as much value as their mapping bears resemblance to the real.

add to this the variable power wielded by any mage and spirit,
and it is not necessarily the best tactic to attempt a binding
(it might not work and the agent might become more caustic).

in general a guide for proceeding with agents could vary based
on how they appear:

	* antagonistic and/or corrosive

	  attempt to become shielded from corrosion and
	  limit the extend of their influences through
	  deriving power from guides/gods/tools and
	  enhancing position with amulets/sigils/spells.


	* strange, fantastic, but of indeterminate visage 

	  attempt to understand how their appearance is
	  related to their nature so as to determine their
	  overall character and just how far to trust them.
	  it may be that perceptual manipulation is one of
	  their skills, in which case pay more attention to
	  the CONTENT of their expression, as long as they
	  aren't attempting to be violent/coercive, and the
	  extend and character of their power and authority.


	* supportive and/or beneficent 

	  respond as befits your station and power with
	  respect to the agent as you know it: should it
	  be in some specific relation to your God, for
	  example, then one need have little protection
	  or attempt to manipulate it beyond what is
	  considered due for that God's purpose/aim.
	  some mages, for example, are given positions
	  of power within their God's cosmologic schema,
	  and therefore are duly provided/required to
	  give the supportive agent instructions as to
	  its activities immediately following contact.
	  some Gods don't presuppose a hierarchy, and
	  thus kindness and mutual aid may be warranted,
	  for example.

as always, developing one's volitional fortitude through
focussing and expressive exercizes (meditation, and the
practice of deliberative and regular expression such as
in arts like the martial, aesthetic or published) allows
a greater breadth of potential response to agents of all 
sorts (i.e. the referent 'agent' within this post need
not be just spirits/demons/whatever-you-think-they-are).

>>> OK. Well then maybe i should go ahead and make its sigil then. 

symbolizing (in vulgar or other languages -- barbaric?)
agents and their energies allows integration to rites
intending to incorporate these agents for some reason.

tying it to a captivating container (e.g. the Triangle
of Art or some bottle, ring, or urn) by placing one's
sigil-construct near or into the container itself, for
example, is a time-honoured use of names/sigils for 
unruly or morally-suspect agents.


>>> I am just a little suspicious why it would want to be bound.

it might not. however, if your volitional strength is
sufficient, then it may not have a choice. alternatively,
if it seeks no harm to you and/or has an important relation
to your God, then binding it might be something that it
will welcome on account of your attentions and further
interaction (i.e. you begin to fear its wildness less 
and it takes you more seriously).


>> It wants to be recognized and indulged.   Binding it is the 
>> first part of that process, recognition, but properly handled, 
>> a binding will not indulge the demon.  Clumsily handled, the 
>> demon becomes an obsession, demanding more or less constant 
>> indulgence.

it sounds like Tom knows your situation pretty well. I haven't
observed the entire consultation so it is difficult for me to
discern the truth of this.


"SwAmI" :
> This sounds like my situation to a degree. I might already be 
> Obssessed or something similar. It seeks constant attention 
> and finds painful ways of getting that attention if it is 
> not given. So its a battle of wills in a way.

thus the category of parasite is at least an applicable one
for the agent of which you speak. attention-seeking is not
necessarily of an entirely-adversarial mode. painful means
of attaining said attention do tend to qualify, however.


> This is why i refused to make it a sigil because wouldnt 
> i be giving into its will if i do so?

that depends on your intent in making the sigil. some sigils
could be utilized for the purposes of bringing wayward agents
to bear, to 'heel' so to speak, or behave. this might require
your mustering of dissuasive energies to combat the alien
intelligence and give it reason to desist in its tortures.

> I want to bind it because its causing no end of trouble for 
> me. 

sensible, as long as you have the relation and ability.

> But is it causing the trouble to force me into making 
> its sigil?

does the concept of creating the sigil come from the agent,
or from experts you are consulting? is there some reason
to think that the agent has some relation to those whom you
are consulting or is in some way influencing your percepts
such that you could differentiate the advice's origins? 
if so, then the motivations for the agent's aggressiveness 
may be more easily understood and addressed.

> Basically what i mean is: Would i be giving in to its demands 
> by making the sigil 

these are the questions I would ask of you in response:

	did it demand that you make such a sigil? 
	did it demand power, over and above attention?

if it didn't demand the sigil, then you can ascertain that
you aren't shifting in tune to its demands. if it did, is
there some reason to think it may be attempting some kind
of reverse-psychology given that you're receiving advice
that sigil-creation is a means of effectively handling the
interaction with the agent? if so, 'giving into its demands'
might coincide with an effective solution to your problem,
and the agent is just confusing the issue.

>                       and does this give it any power i 
> wouldnt want it to have?

making a sigil to represent the agent should only prove
problematic, magically, if you somehow use the sigil to
intensify the problems it is causing you. for example,
if one is being possessed by a demon, and then makes a
dimensional-gateway-sigil to intensify the connection
between the demon and the magician, then this would be
an example of a mistaken context for the creation of a
sigil to name or somehow identify the demon.

the work of the Philosophus is, in part, the discernment
of the location of power and authority. if you treat the
harrying by adversarial agents as tests placed before you
by a Cosmic God (regardless of the truth of this theory),
then you may faciliate a more proper response on your
part to the conditions which prevail (Jobian, ostensibly).



> ...What connection is there, if any, between the 
> Shadow and "demons"?

'demons' is too general a category to solidify in relation
to the Shadow by my understanding. it is possible to take
the operation of the Shadow as disconnected from its
variant extentions and thereby project an entire embattled
magical perspective (e.g. Dr. Strange?) whereas refinement
to a single adversary may provide a context for effective
response and spiritual maturation.

> ...It looks like i am ging to have to study Evocation a lot
> more than i already have....

that might be valuable in the event you wish to have some
kind of moderated interaction at some remove.

blessed beast!

boboroshi at-sign satanservice.org: Satanic Outreach Director
Church of Euthanasia: http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/
TOKUS WEBLINKS: http://dmoz.org/Bookmarks/B/boboroshi
Ninth Scholar's Library (Satanism Archive): http://www.satanservice.org/

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races