Planetary showdown

Hey BALG,

This past year I 've been diving pretty heavy into runes and the elements to better understand the magic of the Here and Now.

In 2015 I am turning my attention to the Planets to better understand the macrocosm and its forces. Along with my elemental and rune work I have been studying both the Hermetic view of Planetary Magic (Governors of Spheres, Intelligences…etc) and the Gates of the Necronomicon, as both fascinate me.

My readings on both paths show that there is no clearly better path for me. Both will help me incorporate the energies into my sphere.

So with no clear “winner” I thought I would do a little test. As I am sure most of you know, the NEC. Current has a book designed for practical magic known as “The Necronomicon Spellbook” and is basically sigil magic with 50 names of Marduk (A god who oversees the Sphere of Jupiter)

While the closest thing I can find that would be comparable on the Hermetic side is The New Avatar Power. (I have done some research and I noticed that a few people place all of the spirits listed in NAP in the Sphere of Mercury.)

So I have two books with similar styles of practical magic. Both have a planetary correspondence, both rely on minimal tools, both rely on gaining an altered state of mind, raising power, and then speaking barbarous words of power to get the spirits attention and cause change.

So here is what I am going to do. I am going to find 10 things (of varying difficulties) I want changed in my life and then split them into 2 groups of 5. I will then over the course of a few months use one of the systems to attack my problem(s).

The only change I will make is to light a candle for the spirit whose help I asked for. I read that on Brother Moloch’s blog as he described doing so during some of his early work with NAP. I will follow suit as to honor the spirit and remind it of its task.

What ever system gets me the best results wins, and I will presue planetary initiation through that current.

I welcome any suggestions or critiques. I also welcome you dear reader to watch as I either find my path with the Angels …or get possessed by an Elder God.

Thanks for reading,
L

Hey man, sounds like a great idea. Have you looked into possibly using Jason Millers’ Advanced Planetary Magick rather than NAP? It’s seals and calls would, in my opinion, be very comparable.

:open_mouth:

I have that book and it never even crossed my mind…

Well now I have something to think about, thank you DK.

Just remember that things like ancestral inheritance, possible “past life” experiences and so on make this test valid for YOU, but it may be that the results won’t hold true for everyone.*

That said, it sounds really interesting, so good luck and I look forward to reading about it! :slight_smile:

  • PS: IMO this is why some forms of magick work great for some people and sputter out like a dud firework for others, and I was speculating that it might be good to devise a test to see what forms of magick a person will naturally thrive with… just tagging that on, and it’s something I might take a look at in the New Year.

Why don’t you try The Arbatel system and the Olympic entities?
It’simple and straightforward and you can even use only the sigils if you want.

PS:
I think OCH’s name should be change to OUCH…Very hot entity

[quote=“Lady Eva, post:4, topic:4478”]Just remember that things like ancestral inheritance, possible “past life” experiences and so on make this test valid for YOU, but it may be that the results won’t hold true for everyone.*

That said, it sounds really interesting, so good luck and I look forward to reading about it! :slight_smile:

  • PS: IMO this is why some forms of magick work great for some people and sputter out like a dud firework for others, and I was speculating that it might be good to devise a test to see what forms of magick a person will naturally thrive with… just tagging that on, and it’s something I might take a look at in the New Year.[/quote]

Right, I am looking for my path to the heavens. I am not that much of a megalomaniac… ok I am :wink:

I have been asking my ancestors and they are all gungho for me never working with the demonic despite my successes with it, so we will see how much my ancestral heritage factors into the Nec. I already know of one crazy gypsy sorcerer in my ancestral line maybe I will find more.

I share your view on ancestors playing a big role in helping some of or magic along or hindering it. Sometimes Grandma really does know best. :slight_smile:

@Dron Doesn’t the Arbatel require a specific circle or table of practice? I read a blog about one magicians working of the Arbatel and I think he mentioned that he had a specific table.

Lol Ouch. :slight_smile:

“Welcome to The Oris-Dome: two systems enter, one system leaves.”

:slight_smile:

My money’s on the Nec., but can we like take bets on this? :smiley:

I remember the operation requires only a circle (an easy one) and two white candles.(If you want to go as the book says).
I’m with Koetting in this one.Sigil and the name are enough to make contact.I didn’t used a circle or LBRP with OCH.Just his sigil,the day and hour af the sun,full moon and the sun was in leo sign.
And then it burned me big time

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There is no doubt about it – Jupiter and the Necronomicon gods.

Denning & Phillips also have their Planetary Magick, based on Aurum Solis teachings. IIRC, they have you doing an intital contact with the Planetary energy via the Olympic Spirit and one of several Gods related to the planet, and then moving on the Planetary Spirit and Intelligence for practical work. I recall thinking it seemed like an interesting approach.

Also, when it comes to attuning oneself to the Planetary energies, I highly recommend following astrological transits. A two-pronged approach, whereby you first look at various events in your life and try to comprehend which planet(s) influenced that (checking with transit and natal charts later), and also looking at transits and trying to see the corresponding events in your life, can brings some real insights into the nature of the planets.

Don’t forget about New Ishtar Power by Al Manning, it closely resembles New Avatar Power and may be a more comparable match against NAP since the different entities are each governing a separate planet.

Well, something to keep in mind - the complete Key of Solomon (not Mathers - check out Skinner/Rankine’s Veritable Key of Solomon) has the full planetary groups from Olympics to intelligences/demons and lots of fun talismans to play with once you’ve gotten to know the spirits that work them. Of course the planetary grimoire pairs with the demonic grimoire in the third book (True Grimoire, deleted from the Mathers version). I’ve been working through this stuff lately and the organization is pretty brilliant once you pick up on it - everything breaks down so that it has an Intelligence/Angelic and Daemonic/Demonic - the talismans can be worked by the Intelligence or the Demon of the planet depending on what kind of results you need, and the demons can be called through their Angelic or Demonic superiors, depending on what kind of energy you need manifested.

Huge hint that I’ve just gotten wise to – the Hygromanteia (Golden Hoarde Press) - it’s a Greek prototype of what would become the KOS and TG. A lot of bits of information that got lost or simplified in Solomonic material is spelled out in greater detail here. Most of it’s not particularly useful unless you want the definitive answer on exactly how you make ink out of bat’s blood, but the planetary tables are priceless. Instead of just listing the hours of each day and the angels that rule them, the Hygro. gives you pages and pages explicitly listing out what kinds of operations every hour of every day is good for. So a student who just wants to test planetary hours doesn’t have to study astrology for a year to find out whether or not it’s useful. But it gets better. After the table of hours, you get tables of angels and demons for all of them, which seems useless until you realize that you’ve been explicitly told in the hour tables what every single one of them specializes in, instead of just listing them and saying nothing like the later books do. Just to be clear, these are the same planetary hours you get in the Solomonic grimoires, just with a clear breakdown of what they’re good for, so it’s adaptable to any planetary system.

I had my first and to date biggest success in money magic working the Necronomicon spellbook, but have not seen it repeated. I think timing might be a huge conisderation - if circumstances are tricky, then it might require more careful planetary timing.

I believe Finbarr (the UK publisher for these titles) has said they’ve received a lot more positive feedback from New Ishtar Power and Power of the Ancient Deities than they ever did from NAP, even though they were just “inspired” by their predecessor.

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Thank you Sultitan, I am going to add those books to my Christmas list. Thank you everyone for your replies. After reading what you all have posted I have decided to brush up on some of the readings and systems you mentioned as maybe NAP is not the best or most compatible system for what I am looking for.

I did however already have a ritual in mind, so I decided to go ahead with this NAP working. The first practical problem I decided to attack with magic was health related.

The day before Thanksgiving I hurt my back. I have had reoccurring back problems due to a car accident in 2008. Now a days it so never such a huge problem, but it does interfere with everyday life. I am usually fine in a few weeks, but I have gotten sick of the recoup period…so…magic?

I decided to use The Miracle of The New Avatar Power’s rite for health.

Full disclosure, my back was getting better, but I was still in a lot of pain and taking pills for it. I could not sit in an asana at all so for this working I laid down on my back. (The Dee Hay Tooth ritual was definitely out of the question)

I started with the NAP Power Ritual, then I proceeded to the Middle Pillar (I forgot what Cobb calls it) vibrating the god names/words of power slowly and repeated three times. Then I recited Cobb’s version of the Bornless One three times as well. I ended with the Chant for Health three times.*

I envisioned a ray of light descending upon me and healing my back as I chanted. I then lit a candle for spirits involved. I did this same ritual three days running. The whole rite lasted about 45 minutes each day.

Three days have gone by and my back feels great. By day two I was out and running, I mean like actually going on a run around my neighborhood. Today I was able to sit in an asana for the duration of the ritual.

I would rate this at about a 4 out of 10** in terms of difficulty as my back was getting better on its own, however it was doing so slowly. I would say this rite really helped my recovery time. I am now pain free and have mobility in my back again.

So thank you Zoroel, Sabriel, and of course Arzel.

  • Yeah, I know that Cobb does not specifically mention the need to recite anything more than once a day but I have noticed those who have had the most success with NAP recite things in multiples of three.

** I also did not have a rich uncle die and leave me a bunch of money, nor did I find buried treasure. Reading NAP I kinda expected something like that to happen…common Cobb…get your game together.