The Inverted Pentagram Exercise

I’m not experiencing this as E.A. said you should (so I’m wondering if I’m failing, as he stated that this exercise will decide if you’re going to fail or be successful)…

I painted mine on black cloth in red fabric paint (and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself). I use the 1st conjuration given.

Although I do get into a mild trance-like state, I don’t feel the power of the symbol or the conjuration. I do much better getting into TGS with just meditation. I also do not see the lines move around as E.A. suggests, although I do experience the lines perhaps expanding and contracting (slightly) at times. Most of the time, I get the cloudy stuff, like when you scry in a black mirror. And if anything, it obscures the symbol to the point as I go deeper into trance, where I can barely see it, if at all. I never see any flashing at all.

Today is day 7, and I decided to do a second exercise in one day for a change, this time at midnight. I asked Azazel to lend a hand if he would. The deeper I got into trance, the candle (I always use a candle in a dark room) would get dimmer and dimmer, and I could barely make out the pentagram (if at all). When my mind got distracted the candle would burn brighter. When I focused, the candle would dim again. When I stopped, the candle burned normal again. However, I can’t say the trance was all that deep. In fact, Day 1 seemed to be the deepest I have went so far. I also had some high emotion (anger/elation) (for seemingly no reason) on Day 1 which hasn’t repeated itself.

I go into the exercise each day, clearing my mind of any thoughts of failure and approach each day fresh and optimistic. But since I am not experiencing the exercise as E.A. said we should, I am starting to wonder if I’m not failing.

Thoughts?

Prospero have you ever done a mandala meditation? Just relax your eyes while looking into the center of the mandala. After a few minutes you should notice it start to spin and move. The key is not to try to make it do anything, just relax your eyes and breath as if in normal meditation. Try this and see how it works.

If you can do it with this you can do it with the pentagram. Also what emotional ties do you have with the inverted pentagram? Is it a symbol of evil, the devil, black magick etc? The less knowledge and familiarity with a symbol the less influence it generally has in my experience.

It sounds like you might be attached to a certain result from the ritual from what you’ve said and my thoughts on this would be to scrap any ideas or thoughts you might have in relation to what you might expect and completely immerse yourself deeply with whatever feelings arise in you(anger, hatred, sadness, power, ecstacy, etc), no matter how petty or seemingly insignificant to begin with which in turn should lead you to a totally unexpected result and/or perspective/s about the symbol.

I relate to you when you said your first day was the most substantial. This has often been the case for me as well. By using the above method, this may possibly open up the other days of your rite as powerful and unique sessions in their own right? It did for me anyhow. When I stopped trying so hard to see see the hidden meanings and began to get angry, frustrated and annoyed and whatever else came up and followed that down the rabbit hole, that’s when things got really interesting. Anger was a huge catalyst.

I’d also recommend not getting too hung up on the conjuration. Say it if you feel the need but don’t let it distract you from what might possibly come forth if you were to stop the conjuration and pick up on the subtle cues that the inverse pentagram may arouse in you while gazing at it. Close your eyes if you desire as well. That is when I went on some unforgettable journeys and meetings with spirits. Totally unexpected.

Best of luck!

Thanks, and I’ll try that. I do try to keep my mind clear and relax my eyes and breath normally. This is when I get the fog/smoke (like scrying into a black mirror) and the lines of the pentagram become obscured to the point where I can barely see them, if at all.

Well, when I was younger (childhood), the inverted pentagram was Satan/evil…etc, not that I was afraid of the symbol, but it made me nervous that perhaps it wasn’t something to be messed around with and could bring badluck. As I got older, and my ideas about good/evil changed into something quite a bit different, I stopped seeing anything ‘evil’ about the inverted pentagram at all, and instead saw it as a bit silly and meaningless (!), probably because it’s so abused and overused to be represented as something scary and forbidden.

I should note that when I started the exercise, I did as E.A. suggested and put all my preconceived notions about anything related to the symbol, conjuration, and exercise to the side.

It could be that, like everything I do in my life, I do not like to fail. And when I’m not getting the results someone tells me to expect, I feel like I’ve done just that.

I do get slightly frustrated during the exercise at times. I’ll try latching onto this and see what happens. Thank you for the advice.

As I moved on in the lesson, I realized that perhaps I’ve been too critical of myself in the exercise. I’ve been meditating for many years, and I (seemingly) have never had a problem getting into the state E.A. calls the TGS. I’ve always been able to see the ‘static rain’, and pretty easily at that. But E.A. mentions everything around you flashing, and that the lines of the pentagram will move around all over the place, which I just don’t see. However, I don’t think this is necessarily a sign of ‘failure’.

Thanks for the advice and help, guys. It helps to have a forum where people are willing to help.

I painted mine on black cloth in siver/white fabric paint. I use the 1st conjuration given and electric light.
I see the lines disapiear and the Pentagram move, even a blue after image and the wall changeing color(and blacking out) but i do not feel anything.
Exept the refocusing and jumping of my eyes and the question am i doing it right/wrong/wtf… (basicly thats my question in this post)
Today i got some light phenomenon in the pentagram littledots and fogs of light forming in different places plus color changes aroung the black cloth.
Am i doing it right how can i improve?!?