More on Evocation
© 2002
>> I think it is a disservice to ignore the existence and activity of autonomous beings on the planes to whom most of these evocations and conjurations are addressed. <<
I did not suggest such a thing. What I have said is that evocations that try to force or coerce, do not reach the planes where autonomous beings exist. Such evocations reach only into the psyche, specifically into that part of the psyche that needs to force and coerce another being. The filter of the psyche must be set aside in order to even be able to reach these other planes -- the *first* step in a Bardonian evocation is to mental wander to the realm of the entity to be evoked, which itself requires a setting aside of the filter of the psyche.
If the magician's psyche has not been transformed and if the magician is not capable of recognizing the filter of their own psyche and able to then set it aside and function separate from it, then they will inevitably evoke from their own powerful psyche. That is simply the nature of the human mental-astral-physical corpus.
In this context, when something within the own psyche is misidentified and is believed to be an autonomous entity, a schism is created within the self. This schism generates a certain dynamic energy within the psyche, reinforcing the illusion of an independent force to the mind of someone who doesn't understand the laws that operate within the human psyche. This schism can generate great amounts of psychic energy, even to the point of creating astra-physical effects.
When one then tries to force into submission or destroy this misidentified part of the own psyche, it's like trying to cut off your own arm. Your own being reacts with a degree of self-preservation which increases the dynamism generated by this internal schism exponentially. It becomes a vicious, self-perpetuating and inescapable circle -- the more force you exert; the stronger, more cunning your foe.
Similarly, when one tries to strike a bargain with a misidentified part of the own psyche, this feeds the energy generated by the schism, but in a less frictional way. Here, instead of opposing a misidentified part of the own psyche, one is encouraging it from a standpoint of coercion and essential powerlessness. Feeding the psyche's fire, so to speak, with its favorite fuel -- self-delusion. By its nature, this relationship snowballs. As the energy of this schism builds, more tangible results are seen from the bargain and simultaneously, one becomes more dependant upon maintaining this schism and its attendant self-delusion. Again, it becomes a vicious, self-perpetuating and inescapable circle -- the more you feed this force and use it, the stronger it becomes and the weaker you become.
One thing about Bardonian evocation that I think most folks don't take into consideration is that a Step Nine magician is *capable of accomplishing any task they would request of an evoked entity*. A Step Nine magician is in no way dependent upon an evoked entity because she or he can do the same thing by using the techniques they mastered in Steps One through Eight. So, asking an evoked entity to accomplish a specific task, is *a matter of convenience*, not a matter of necessity. It frees the magician from having to personally carry out the mechanics of accomplishing the task.
>> Just as we experience other people through the filters of our prior experience, responses, and expectations ... the same can be said of the many spirits. <<
Evocation demands more of a person than the normal level of perception. Our filters of perception may be appropriate in mundane circumstances such as daily interactions with others, but evocation is not such a circumstance. Approaching evocation as just this sort of mundane interaction is dangerous play because this assumption is inappropriate to a *magical* evocation.
Anything perceived through a filter is filtered and its essential nature is not fully perceived. The Step Nine magician is capable of setting aside this filter of perception in ANY circumstance. This ability is an essential prerequisite to all of the higher magics such as evocation and kabbalistic speech. In Bardonian evocation, the magician deals with the *essential nature* of each evoked entity. This *essential nature* is what is called into manifestation within the triangle.
>> I'd say that there are twinned errors here. The first is in taking our projected reactions for their reality (one head-shrinker I knew used to say, "show me what you hate, and I'll show you yourself."). This infects many relationships to many degrees -- from the person obsessing with "they really love me but can't say it" or "everybody really hates me and is plotting behind my back" to the all too frequent goof in taking your partner for granted. I suspect we all have lost good chances when we misinterpreted somebody else! The second lies in thinking that there is no reality in the perceived person. This seems to me to be solipsist hubris. The author who thinks that the reactions of his/her audience is really a projection of his own desires and fears will usually fail to progress as an author / composer/ artist. <<
What you say here very much applies to mundane human relationships but it does not apply to magical evocation. The evocationist must be able to interact at a more evolved level or they are incapable of performing true magical evocation.
>> Angelic class beings are perilous, even when friendly. <<
I disagree. It is human beings who insert the variables here. Angelic class beings are completely predictable and consistent. However, when one interacts with such a being whilst still bound to their own filter of perception, the being *appears* perilous and inconsistent. It's like sunlight shining upon an oil slick -- the light is refracted in an almost kaleidoscopic manner.
>> Just as our physical hardware simply doesn't have the capacity to endure the energy levels or immensities of complexity which occur at the angelic level (especially in the higher orders), <<
Those energies are not physical energies, they are mental energies.
>> it is also pragmatically impossible to wholly escape the presence and activities of perceptual and emotive filters while incarnate. They are the mechanisms, after all, in which our incarnate consciousness encounters "reality". <<
My point is that they are *part of* the mechanism by which incarnate human consciousness perceives, but they only the lowest part. We also possess higher parts of our ability to perceive. Furthermore, we *can* set aside the lower parts and function with the higher parts by themselves. This is perception with the solitary mental body, bereft of the astral and physical filtration.
In Bardonian evocation the very first step is to wander, with the solitary mental body (mastered during the Step Eight work), into the realm of the entity you wish to evoke, and greet that entity. Thus, at the outset, you are perceiving the essential nature of that entity *without* the astra-physical filtration. This is the primary difference between Bardonian evocation and other forms of evocation -- you know the essential nature of the entity *before* you evoke it.
This also implies that the magician can only evoke an entity that he or she is mature enough to reach through mental wandering. In other words, if the mental body has matured to the stage where it can wander into the Venus sphere, then an evocation of a Venusian entity is possible. But if it is capable of reaching only the Lunar sphere, then it would not be possible to evoke a Venusian entity.
The practice of Bardonian evocation is an initiatory *process*. It is not just a *technique*. As the mental body matures, it reaches higher and higher planes and the magician can evoke higher and higher entities. In other words, the magician's quantifiable abilities keep pace with the quality of the entities met through the practice of evocation. When a magician has reached the level of Venus-maturity, they are truly capable of accomplishing anything that a Venusian entity of their own level of maturity can accomplish. This is why I say that the Bardonian evocationist is capable of doing anything that the entity they are evoking would be capable of doing for them.
>> Frankly, I find it amazing to consider that any level of existence is free from the sort of predatory malice that our human spirits are so obviously capable of showing. <<
In my experience, *when I set aside my humanizing filters of perception*, I see that this trait of predatory malice is unique to humanity. I have never encountered it in the *essential nature* of an evoked entity nor in any of my explorations of the various spheres.
My best to you,
:) Rawn Clark
27 Sep 2002