evocation
bacchuseternus and I had the great fortune last night to play host to Dr. She D'Montford and her traveling companion Jain. Our brother Adam has followed She's work, and when he found out that she would be in Sedona for a workshop, invited her to come to the Phoenix area for a private workshop. Originally, the intent was to do a Goetic evocation, but for various reasons, we did an evocation of Mercury/Hermes/Thoth instead. Serendipitously, we had eight people in attendance, eight being the sephiroth corresponding to Mercury on the tree of life.
The evocation itself was taken from a translation of a Greek Papyrus. The manner of calling to the directions differed a bit from what I am familiar with from modern magick. The number of directions was seven (N S E W U D and center), to correspond with the intonation of seven Greek vowel sounds, and the gestures for each direction differed from the strictly elemental signs that are more familiar. However, the structure of the evocation was such that it was obviously the basis for contemporary Western Hermeticism.
I would have preferred to have been more familiar with the permutations/combinations of the sounds employed in the ritual, since sound/chant/mantra plays such a key role in my own workings. When I let go of trying to chant along, I slipped easily into a mild trance, breathing deeply of the cinnamon scent diffusing the air where I stood. Images of Mercury, Hermes, and Thoth flashed like a strobe light in my mind's eye as I formulated my intent of the work that I desired Hermes' assistance with. I had lost track of the evocation itself, simply letting it wash over and through me. When She fell silent, the silence pulled me back from my reverie. Looking around I saw that each of the others were in their own head space, and quietly waited. When everyone had come back to the present, we performed the closing portion of the ritual. I bowed my head and did the Sannidhaapanii Mudra (indicating apology to the deity for any inconvenience caused by summoning in this manner), and we broke circle. The presence of the deity, in true mercurial fashion, had come and gone in a flash.
The evocation, though, was only half the fun. Our guests proved to be truly fascinating individuals, providing hours of stimulating discussion afterward. She has a doctorate in religion and philosophy, and has studied with Tibetan, Hindu, and Aboriginal shamans. We traded stories for some time, and She gave me the email address of a Kali devotee that she urged me to get in touch with, warning that he would probably try to get me to write something for the Kali 'zine that he puts out regularly.
It was Jain, however, that I resonated with most. His passions are magic squares, sacred geometry, and Vedic mathematics. Vedic math is so much more efficient than the math that we learn in public schools that he is able to perform astounding calculations more quickly than the time it would take to press the buttons on a calculator. He demonstrated for me a few of the sixteen sutras that form the basis of this approach to math, and within half an hour, had me multiplying numbers whose results number in the millions. I couldn't help thinking of this technology as a kind of mentat training a la Frank Herbert. In some ways, this formed an almost immediate response by Hermes to the aid I had requested.
I recommend checking out Jain's website at http://www.jainmathemagics.com and She's site at http://www.shambhallah.org for more information.
The evocation itself was taken from a translation of a Greek Papyrus. The manner of calling to the directions differed a bit from what I am familiar with from modern magick. The number of directions was seven (N S E W U D and center), to correspond with the intonation of seven Greek vowel sounds, and the gestures for each direction differed from the strictly elemental signs that are more familiar. However, the structure of the evocation was such that it was obviously the basis for contemporary Western Hermeticism.
I would have preferred to have been more familiar with the permutations/combinations of the sounds employed in the ritual, since sound/chant/mantra plays such a key role in my own workings. When I let go of trying to chant along, I slipped easily into a mild trance, breathing deeply of the cinnamon scent diffusing the air where I stood. Images of Mercury, Hermes, and Thoth flashed like a strobe light in my mind's eye as I formulated my intent of the work that I desired Hermes' assistance with. I had lost track of the evocation itself, simply letting it wash over and through me. When She fell silent, the silence pulled me back from my reverie. Looking around I saw that each of the others were in their own head space, and quietly waited. When everyone had come back to the present, we performed the closing portion of the ritual. I bowed my head and did the Sannidhaapanii Mudra (indicating apology to the deity for any inconvenience caused by summoning in this manner), and we broke circle. The presence of the deity, in true mercurial fashion, had come and gone in a flash.
The evocation, though, was only half the fun. Our guests proved to be truly fascinating individuals, providing hours of stimulating discussion afterward. She has a doctorate in religion and philosophy, and has studied with Tibetan, Hindu, and Aboriginal shamans. We traded stories for some time, and She gave me the email address of a Kali devotee that she urged me to get in touch with, warning that he would probably try to get me to write something for the Kali 'zine that he puts out regularly.
It was Jain, however, that I resonated with most. His passions are magic squares, sacred geometry, and Vedic mathematics. Vedic math is so much more efficient than the math that we learn in public schools that he is able to perform astounding calculations more quickly than the time it would take to press the buttons on a calculator. He demonstrated for me a few of the sixteen sutras that form the basis of this approach to math, and within half an hour, had me multiplying numbers whose results number in the millions. I couldn't help thinking of this technology as a kind of mentat training a la Frank Herbert. In some ways, this formed an almost immediate response by Hermes to the aid I had requested.
I recommend checking out Jain's website at http://www.jainmathemagics.com and She's site at http://www.shambhallah.org for more information.