I think I’ve got the smoke down. Still tinkering with the lighting. Any amount of light seems to be too much. I’m down to a single black taper candle now and it’s still too bright. When I blew out the candle after the last ritual it was like WOW. The darkness was amazing. This big, cosmic darkness - you hear these things described, but you get the impression of being alone against some horrifying void. This felt like home. Anyway, I realized I need that darkness in combination with the smoke, which means a lot less freaking light. Anybody got some good ideas for how I can get a small closed-off space dark and still have enough light to see? I’m working in a room without windows so I can have total darkness anytime.
I also wanted to note - I think I already know this state you’re trying to get to. It’s like the lights going down in a theater - everything gets darker and you notice that suddenly all sound has completely ceased, except sometimes there’s a howling wind, usually in the distance. For me, this never actually seems like an altered state, except sometimes afterward when I come out of it I’ll realize how “out of it” I was. Other people describe it like they’re on the verge of passing out. So I think I was aiming for a new experience when it was actually a state I already knew from previous workings where I wasn’t expecting physical manifestation. Thoughts?
I use tea light candles, they tend to last about the length of the ritual and only really cast light in the area immediately around them. For my last ritual I had 2 on the ground in front of the triangle for cast light into the smoke, I find this assists with materialisation and then 2 on my altar for reading and writing. These actually cast so little light that the ones I use for reading and writing I actually have to move up and down the page as I work or you can’t see anything. For me this creates the perfect atmosphere, although I think I am using a large space than you (a two car garage) so that light would get soaked up more than perhaps in a smaller room
What about trying a low watt red bulb? Might create just the atmosphere and minimal light too?
Also when you mention the howling wind I wonder if thats because you have cut off the outside world so much you can hear the roar of the blood in your ears which reflects a pretty deep turning inside to your inner experience…
You could also use a candle shade or a colored/clouded glass to house your candle (you could even use a drinking glass or jar that you’ve wrapped the outside with colored paper or paint to add opacity). In conjunction with using small candles like tea lights (Soundwave’s suggestion), you should be set. Or as Neo suggested, unless the candles add to the atmosphere or are a direct part of your ritual, light is light - use whatever you need.
Great suggestions, guys. Think I’m going to try an opaque shade of some sort - maybe keep some kind of tiny battery-powered light handy in case I need to read/write.
Lots of people have written about the astral wind phenomenon. I often see the wind quite clearly in my peripheral vision. Sometimes, the candles will appear to be flickering violently, even about to blow out, but when you give in and look at them they’re fine. Books pages and fabric material will appear to flutter too. I don’t get that effect so much with evocation, though.
The first time I ever tried working with a goetic, this massive thunderstorm broke right as I read the conjuration, massive, sky-ripping thunder and howling wind all at once. There hadn’t been any clouds beforehand, so I was wondering through the whole ritual whether or not it was an actual storm. (It was) Storm and wind sounds are reported by a lot of people, especially during the summoning/transitional phases, which is when I hear them, usually just briefly. It’s usually impossible to tell whether it’s real wind or not.