Most if not all people think of the Arts as something to be either feared or revered. Depending on their point of view, my point of view is that you need a great deal of “respect”, when dealing with the Arts but I reserve reverence for God.
In magic you’re never quite sure what you’re working with. It could be any of a number of entities from an element to one of the Arch Angels unless you specifically call one of many minions.
That's assuming you are not evoking an unredeemed spirit, more commonly known as Demons. To do that you must first call protective Angels and have the proper weapons. To do either is beyond most people's ability, financially or minutely. To call the Angels you need for that demon (only certain Angels can be used with certain Demons) can take days to set up each Angel, for they can only be called at certain hours of the day or night.
Your weapons are everything you use from your robe to your incense and they all vary, depending on who you call and they can take years to acquire. The blood of a white Ass is hard to find at Wal-Mart but was readily available in the ancient world. What we find almost impossible to find was available in most markets a thousand years in the past.
Another thing, time is very important; day and night have twelve hours each regardless of the length of the day or night. Time is measured from sun up to sun down. So 2am is not 2am on your watch, and you can get it wrong if you do, it won’t work, and you have spent weeks for nothing.
One more thing you must have one of the Grimoires. You can't make it up.
The longest spell I know takes eighteen months to complete. Can you hang around the house that long?
There are volumes more that I could say on this subject but this is all I will say; if you walk here you walk alone. I only said what I did so you will understand I know the fear side most people have of the Art.
I'm not here to talk of that side, not because it’s bad or evil I won’t discuss it because it can be used as a means of control. It gives you control of a demon that can give you control over another person and that always ends up badly. I have known people in my life that used this sort of power they said, to keep their children safe. But at some point the person begins to understand something is wrong and they will lash out. I don't believe they consciously understand who the oppressor is but they seem to always pick the right one and what they are trying to save the person from is only exaggerated.
When you try to control another for whatever reason, you break the fundamental law of trust and trust is the foundation that all relationships are built on. Be it parental, marriage or professional, losing someone's trust is to lose that person forever. If you want to have that kind of power you will have to search it out yourself.
The use of this part of the Art is commonly known as Gray or High Magic, it uses a Demon to fulfill a benevolent endeavor that usually is but doesn't have to be beneficial to you. You need the Angels because a Demon doesn't like doing benevolent things. This type of magic was and probably is practiced today, by the Catholic Church and by some Rabbis. It all came from Moses and Solomon, with a little Greek and Egyptian magic mixed in. Did you know the Voodoo Doll came from the old kingdom of enchanted Egypt? There really is nothing new under the sun.
High Magic is the Art of making bad things do your bidding with God’s protection. If you think you’re smart enough and talented enough to take this path the way is open to you but I will not help. By the way have you ever wondered why it takes a Demon to control something on this plane? Just a little something for you to think about. According to legend Solomon used this type of magic but I don't think I'm as smart or devoted as Solomon was, so I don't.
Another form of the Art is called Black Magic. This is the most destructive type of magic to the practitioner. It's like Gray Magic but you don't have Angels to protect you and you embrace the gentility you evoke and accept its offer. The rewards can be great but the price is high. I'll make it simple, it’s like winning a marathon, something you've wanted and trained for all your life and your next step after the finish line you fall into the abyss. Anyone taking this path deserves the fruits of their labor.
I must admit I have tried High Magic in the past without all the proper weapons and Grimoires as I thought my personal power sufficient to make up for what I lacked and Black Magic once by accident. I can tell you the outcome was far from pleasant. I practice White Magic by pure accident. It was not my intent; it just turned out that way. I wanted to be a Preacher but one thing led to another and here I stand somewhere between Christianity and all the rest.
Regardless of what you think I'm a God fearing person. Where I differ from most is the giving over of all spiritual power to the church. I could not sit in a pew and be feed what the spiritual world is, when every part of me was crying there's more.
I found this unacceptable; if there was more I wanted to know. I don't remember when I started this journey but I do know it’s far from over. I would never suggest anyone should give up their childhood beliefs. In fact I believe you need them to fall back on from time to time, as you embrace the other possibilities. When one runs too far or too fast, it's good to have something to fall back on. I've used it more than once and in my life.
I don't believe my child hood belief is wrong, just incomplete. I know now there is much more out there than I was taught. Sometimes your encounters are great and wonderful while others are quite upsetting but all are enlightening and some of their meaning will take time to be revealed.
I mostly invoke the Elements. Before you discount my choice you should know I'm not looking for God and I'm aware of the scriptures that proclaim that God is not in the Elements. The fact that you cannot seek God through the Elements does not diminish the power of the Elements.
To think someone would seek God by calling The Fire Drake of the South seems a little bizarre to me, but people have believed stranger things.
There is something we should discuss and that is how the secular among us attack the spiritual. First you must realize they believe in nothing, because to believe in anything is to put restrictions on your behavior. This is unacceptable to them so they give everything they don't like or can't explain a scientific name and dismiss it as a syndrome. So all of you out there with spiritual talents or beliefs, you are according to them crazy. I find that quite liberating because a crazy person can't be held accountable for their actions. It would be nice if God saw it that way but I don't believe He'll buy it, so crazy or not you are still responsible for your actions.
My use of Angels, Elements or Ancestors (all are minions I use) has nothing to do with my relationship with my God, for I separate the way I feel about them.
It is very easy to get caught up in your experience and misunderstand your feelings and feel reverence toward them. This is a bad mistake, one I made myself and a very understandable one. For their mere presence is a wonder to behold and the power they have is greater than anything most of us have ever experienced.
That is when you control your mind and give the proper "respect" they deserve but you never give reverence to anything but your God. Minions can be very powerful and capable of great things but they are not God, so keep the two separate or you will find yourself following a false God that doesn't care about your best interest. There will be no happy ending.
It doesn't matter what path you travel or what entity you use, you must always keep the proper perspective. You only show the amount of respect that entity deserves, no more or less.
Keeping the proper perspective not only allows you to keep control of whatever it is you are dealing with, it also keeps you grounded in reality. Never get caught up in yourself because what you are dealing with deserves respect for a reason and very few are benevolent. The reason you don't revere it, is the same reason that it demands respect. If you are able to summon anything you are in a very small group, you are gifted, one of those mentioned in the Bible that have the ability to touch the nether world on some level.
According to the Scriptures each of the chosen will receive a different gift and no one will receive all the gifts. So your gift comes from your God. Now you should ask what about all the people that had these powers before the Day of Pentecost. I believe what happened on that day was a way to legitimize in a new religion, the ways of the past. Because all of the gifts were known in the old religions, think of the powers of Moses, Joseph and Solomon not to mention the priest of Egypt whose powers almost matched those of Moses.
Think back on that passage where it told of the gifts but it never said you had to be Christian to receive them. I believe you are born with it, it may take some nurturing or an emotional shock to get it out but it’s always been there.
History is written by the winners of the wars. We know who won but I've often wondered how many draws there were. We haven't even discussed the prophets and wise men and women of all the old religions. All of these men and women had similar powers that were proclaimed on that day.
Don't think I want to impugn what happened that day in any way but I must make all the bits and pieces fit together in my mind. I take nothing for granted just because it’s written in a book, men write books, and God speaks to your heart. I believe the Bible is not only the history of the evolution of the Judo Christian religion, it is the only account we have of the war between the ancient Gods and yes the Bible speaks to me.
I believe organized religion is God’s way to civilize a barbaric animal that was made in "our likeness". Man believes he subverts religion for his own purposes but I believe God is guiding mankind to a certain place and time. Is it Dec. 21st 2012? How should I know? Jesus said "only The Father knows the day and hour" if He didn't know how would anyone know?
I do believe 2012 is a turning point in mankind's path but I don't know what it is, not just because of the Maya calendar. It is the political mood of the civilized world. If you hate yourself you can't stand and there's only two ways anything move, that's forward or backwards. I think that's a choice we will make soon.
I'm not here to talk politics. It's the only subject more divisive than The Art. What I'm here to tell you is that if you have one of the gifts embrace it, you are not Devil possessed or evil. It also doesn't make you a Saint or one of God’s chosen. It makes you one of the gifted, what other category you fit in is up to you.
Thomas
Fear not what God has given you. Fear self pride.