Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail From: nocTifer Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick.goetia,alt.christnet.demonology,alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic,alt.pagan.magick Subject: Spirit Character (was To Summon a Demon Helper) Organization: Sonoma Interconnect,Santa Rosa,CA(us),http://www.sonic.net Lines: 86 Sender: yronwode@sonic.net Message-ID: <9k4vbt$qq9@bolt.sonic.net> References: <20010723150427.05120.00001315@ng-fi1.aol.com> Reply-To: nagasiva@yronwode.com X-Newsreader: NN version 6.5.4 (NOV) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 00:51:58 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.224.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 996540718 208.201.224.36 (Mon, 30 Jul 2001 17:51:58 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 17:51:58 PDT Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:28008 alt.magick.goetia:939 alt.christnet.demonology:12724 alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic:31289 alt.pagan.magick:27730 50010730 VI! om Hail Satan! luckyhoodoo@aol.com (LuckyHoodoo): > A daimon, in the greek concept, could be either good or bad. all Greeks from all times? I'll bet it varies a little. would these Greeks of whom you speak differentiate into solid categorical descriptors (e.g. "The daimon Agrares is a bad spirit, whose works should be avoided by those without a great deal of power.")? > I believe it was Socrates who wrote about his personal daimon > who gave him advice. no, I don't think Socrates (Plato's famed teacher) wrote anything down. like Confucius (Kung Fu Tse) and his expositor Mencius, Socrates has become known to the world through the writings of his pupil. in any case, Plato does describe how Socrates has a guiding spirit, in Greek the 'AUGOEIDES', or 'guardian spirit', who communicated with him personally and gave him guidance. similar tales can be found in other cultures, such as the Jewish demon and angel on the shoulders which have become so very prominent in popular media. Hermetic mages have seized this idea about the augoeides and its combination with personal angels and constructed entire rituals and traditions surrounding the summoning and tutelate ("Knowledge and Conversation") with one's "Holy Guardian Angel" (cf. Crowley's text on the subject, as well as the grimoire "The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage" which inspired him and, apparently, Golden Dawn members). > Now the word "genuis" means the same thing. A genuis was a > spirit wich may attach itself to a particuliar family and was > invoked to give oracular predictions and answers to problems. > In time people began calling gifted people "genuises" as if they > were the physical incarnations of these supernatural beings. interesting. also compare 'djinni' (whose plural is 'djinn'), from which derives the modern term "genie". I'm sure that most of these terms are related, etymologically. the grimoires known to ceremonialists as "Keys of Solomon" play on the old legend of the Jewish King Solomon (cf. Jewish and Christian scripture about Solomon and The Temple) whose magic was considered so potent that he is said to have bottled up all of the world's djinn in a brass vessel, using his magic ring and a variety of magical words, and sent it to the bottom of a sea or ocean. the Keys even include designs for his magical ring and Brass Vessel, if memory serves. subsequent tales divulged how a mistake in the capture or the acts of another being freed some or all of the spirits/djinn. perhaps there are some who believe some or all of the djinn hare still captive in his Brass Vessel. the "Keys" of Solomon are, therefore, directory listings, descriptions, names, etc., necessary to summon and control a wide variety of characters of spirit. reading through at least the Lesser Key (Goetia), one must be struck by the lack of imagination of the author because of the routine repetition (reference-like dryness? I think poor writing) of associations with the spirits, their appearances and powers. if it were published by Llewellyn today perhaps it would be completely regarded with a great degree of skepticism. who were the REAL authors of these grimoires? such is left for the speculation of scholars, I suppose. the time of their appearance does not, as I understand it, accord with their having been written by Solomon (or Good Old Shlomo, as I prefer to call him!). >When I "communicate" with spirits I do indeed see images, hear sounds, and get >emotional responses. I can tell the spirits "former" sex and other useful >info. It's weird though since no two spirits communicate in exactly the same >way.... do spirits always somehow approximate human characters (i.e. "former" sex, etc.)? is it possible they can be alien single-sex beings, or ghosts of some asexual or bisexual plant or animal? what about Slug Goddesses? what really are the limitations for spirits? blessed beast! nocTifer -- emailed replies may be posted ----- "sa avidya ya vimuktaye" ----- "that which liberates is ignorance" http://www.luckymojo.com/nagasiva.html hoodoo catalogue: send postal address to catalogues@luckymojo.com