Why Evocation?

Greetings Seekers of Magick!

I decided to check in on Brother Moloch’s Evocational Magics forum tonight, and I came across an interesting post that asked a very good question:  Why Evocation?  I think you folks might be interested in my response, so I’m posting it here as well.  🙂

First, here are the relevant parts of the original post:

I’ve never actually seen the need to evoke anything though. Simpler methods (sigils, natural magic, improvisations using familiar tools/symbols, etc) have always sufficed to solve the problems I’ve faced. I’m now looking at workings that will probably involve entities…

So, I guess I’m asking whether you’re working with these entities because:
– You’re called to do so

– It’s part of your basic toolkit, like rootwork might be in someone  else’s toolkit

– There are some things that require spiritwork, like RO talking about how his sphere resonates with the sphere of the entities he evokes, which leads to personal change and growth.

 
So why do you evoke? Or, perhaps a more interesting question: why should someone like me, who’s never performed an evocation, seriously consider it?

And here is my response:

Historically, “magick” was all about working with spiritual entities. (You had Astrology, Alchemy and Magick respectively.) Even simple spells, incantations, rootwork, etc all involed the participation of one’s familiars or  patron gods/spirits, etc. Going all the way back to tribal shamanism, the initiation into magick was focused upon introducing you to your familiars and patrons – then it was the spiritual entities who taught you the real magick. All  the spells and incantations you use today (or even the art of using them) were delivered originally to shamans by the spirits.

The idea that magick can work without the direct involvemnt of spirits is a modern one, and in my personal opinion it is a step down. 😉

The art of spirit work is the art of knowing how to interact with spiritual entities and get them to work wirh/for you. How to contact them, how to make proper offerings to them, how to secure their cooperation. Even the Keys of Solomon are focused primarily on teching one how to contact the spirits, then the real magick is left up to you and them.

Also don’t make the all-too-common mistake of thinking evocational magick is just “another option” of magickal practice. What I mean is that students often think that one can use spells, talismans, incantations, etc OR evoke spirits.  And, in that vein, the way one works magick with spirits is to simply call them up and request what you want. That’s not how it works.

Instead, one evokes a spirit to ask HOW to get what you need. In response, the entity may give you instructions for a talisman, a ritual, rootwork, an offering, an incantation etc, etc. Then you perform the given spell (or whatever you were instructed to do) with the assistance of the entity to achieve your results.

Why evocation? Because it is how magick really works. 😉

LVX
Aaron