Preparatory Immersion - Recommended Works

In preparation for work on evocation, I thought it would be good to ask about any reference works that anyone has found to be particularly valuable for preparatory immersion, specifically those that have large lists of spirits that have been found to be accurate enough to be useful.

I’m not looking for a list of grimoires here, but rather books that would be used as an adjunct to them for the purposes of facilitating preparatory immersion. An example of the sort of book I’m referring to would be one like the Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson.

I hope that this thread might consolidate some information for the purpose of those planning to delve more deeply into Evocation, similar to the threads of books recommended for beginners.

The Dictionary of Demons, by Michelle Bellanger. It’s only dotted with sigils here and there, but she gives very useful descriptions of the powers of each demon, and even gives a listing of their specialties at the back, like wealth, or destruction. I have found it very useful.

I’m quite fond of the Modern Goetic Grimoire by Frater Rufus Opus, and S. Connolly’s Demonolatry Goetia. The latter is particularly useful when it comes to giving context to what the demon’s abilities are in a modern setting. Consequently, some people may take issue with it, but this has been complied after her 20+ years of working with the demonic, so take that as you will.

I like the “Gateways to the Keys of Magic: the Summoning of Solomon’s Archangels and Demonic Princes”

It is a good look at some of the GT’s hierarchies and their descriptions.

Aleister Crowley is great to read if you have developed a fine vernacular like his writing style. There’s a lot of good information in this.
[url=http://hermetic.com/93beast.fea.st/files/section1/ABA/Book%204%20Part%20III%20MiTaP.pdf]http://hermetic.com/93beast.fea.st/files/section1/ABA/Book%204%20Part%20III%20MiTaP.pdf[/url]
I don’t really read anything from front to back its not necessary for the immersion in my case.

[quote=“thinktank123, post:5, topic:3617”]Aleister Crowley is great to read if you have developed a fine vernacular like his writing style. There’s a lot of good information in this.
[url=http://hermetic.com/93beast.fea.st/files/section1/ABA/Book%204%20Part%20III%20MiTaP.pdf]http://hermetic.com/93beast.fea.st/files/section1/ABA/Book%204%20Part%20III%20MiTaP.pdf[/url]
I don’t really read anything from front to back its not necessary for the immersion in my case.[/quote]

Yes I agree it is a good book, had it on my shelf for quite a while. However I’m wanting to keep this thread focused on books with a major focus on the qualities of spirits rather than the methods used to work with them, although it is inevitable there will be some overlap in this case.

Just wanted to update this with another amazing reference: Lieber 777. It obviously doesn’t have attributes for every spirit ever, but there are the Archangels/tons of Kabbalah entities, Goetic spirits, and even various gods.

To use it, you look for the spirit in the charts you want attributes for (for instance, if you scroll down to the Goetic chart, you’ll see Bael corresponds to the number 15 key scale). If you search the various other chart rows for the number 15, you’ll find all sorts of things you can use in your communications with Bael, such as Dragon’s Blood Incense (under perfumes) and images of rams and owls (under animals).

There are like a million different applications for this sort of information: offerings, visuals for pathworking and projection, ritual aides, meditation enhancement… it’s most certainly worth your attention.

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