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Over the years I have experimented with various versions of "mixed fields" - that is, trying to tune ritual spaces with multiple Greater Pentagram and Greater Hexagram rituals. What I have managed to work out is that mixing elements or planets or signs does not seem to work well. My current model for this is that tuning the space is like taking a flashlight and putting a colored filter in front of it. If you cover the flashlight with a red filter and then cover that with a blue filter, you'll get barely any light coming through.
So as an example, if you perform a ritual where you are trying to use, for example, the GIRH for Mars and the GRH for Jupiter (chosen only because they match the flashlight example of blue and red), the first GIRH (Mars) puts the red filter over the "white light" invoked by the LIRH that precedes it in the operant field opening. Then the second GIRH for Jupiter tunes the red to blue - but the red has already filtered out blue. So little light, if any, remains and your ritual is likely to fail.
Where this doesn't necessarily apply is when you are combining a sign and a planet or a planet and an element. The elements, planets, and signs form complete systems of attributions in their own right and operate on different "levels" of magical reality. So you can use, say, a GIRH for Aries followed by a GIRH for Mars and wind up with a space tuned to Mars in Aries. Those happen to be about the same color, but that doesn't always hold and anyway it doesn't seem to matter.
What does matter with this method is the condition of the planet in the sign. You'll get a strong energy when your planet is dignified in the sign (Rulership or Exaltation) and a weak energy when the planet is debilitated in the sign (Fall or Detriment). Mars in Aries is a powerful energy because Mars rules Aries. The Sun would also be powerful because it is exalted in Aries. But Saturn (Fall) and Venus (Detriment) in Aries would both be weak. Jupiter, Mercury, and Moon would all be somewhere in between since they are neither dignified nor debilitated.
The following table from my Chart Victor article shows these dignities and debilities for the seven traditional planets in all the signs.
This is likewise the case with the elements. I should point out that in the Golden Dawn tradition students did work with "element of element" relationships. I have also done that myself. But when doing that you use the GIRP for the "base" element only to tune the space. So if you were wanting to work with Water of Fire, you wouldn't do GIRP - Fire followed by GIRP - Water. When traveling in the spirit vision you can use the Pentagram of Water to set your destination once you are in the realm of fire, but this is a different application than the initial space tuning.
When working with an elemental aspect of a planet, like Fire of Mars, you need to pay attention to the planetary elemental rulers, or Triplicity Lord. Each element has a Day Ruler, a Night Ruler, and a Participating Ruler according to the attributions of traditional astrology. The following table is again from my Chart Victor article, but with the Participating Rulers added to the Day and Night Rulers. The Participating Rulers do not affect the Chart Victor calculation, so I omitted them from the table in that article.
Finally "element of sign" is simple to determine. Fire and Water are opposed elements, and Earth and Air are opposed elements. Aries is a Fire sign, so in Aries Fire will be strong, Water will be weak, and Air and Earth will be in between. In Taurus, and Earth sign, Earth will be strong, Air will be weak, and Fire and Water will be in between. In Gemini, an Air sign, Air will be strong, Earth will be weak, and Fire and Water will be in between. In Cancer, a Water sign, Water will be strong, Fire will be weak, and Air and Earth will be in between.
Those relationships hold throughout the zodiac for the elements of the signs. All Fire signs have the same strong and weak elements, as do all signs of Air, all signs of Water, and all signs of Earth. The elements of the signs are generally well-known, but this table shows all of them and their elemental aspects.
Multiple Greater rituals are always done in the order from "top" (zodiac) to "bottom" (elements), imitating the "Lightning Flash" by which potentiation descends into matter. So zodiac precedes planets and elements, planets precede elements, and elements precede neither. So this is the opposite of how the Lesser rituals are performed in the standard opening, with the LRP preceding the LRH. When empowering yourself to do magick you expand your consciousness outward and upward, and to conjure you call down power from above.
This technique allows you to put together tunings for very specific operations. In fact, you likely need to take care that you not tune your space too specifically. You can tune on all three levels, but the applications are somewhat limited by the qualities of the energy and their rulers. Here are a couple of examples where the energies should all line up and work harmoniously.
Gemini --> Mercury --> Air. A spell to heal multiple personality disorder. This is an extremely rare mental illness that could be approached in this way. Gemini rules bilocation, which could be thought of as a form of "split personality." Mercury rules healing, and Air rules mental processes.
Aries --> Mars --> Fire. Consecrating a talisman to (A) burn down someone's house or (B) protect your house from fires. Aries rules consecration, Mars rules "works of wrath and vengeance," and in this case Fire would represent physical fire.
Libra --> Venus --> Water. A spell to balance emotions associated with a romantic relationship. Libra rules "works of justice and equilibrium," Venus rules love and relationships, and Water rules feelings and emotions.
And these are just a few examples. Since the powers of the signs, planets, and elements are descriptive, not proscriptive, there are many other applications for even this list, let alone every possible combination. Keep in mind that if you are using a tuning that results in a weak energy, you will need to either (A) raise more energy at the beginning of the operation or (B) find another way to get what you want done without calling up incompatible energies.
(B) is usually the easiest, since using fewer aspects together lets you generalize more. With descriptive powers, you are probably going to be able to find something that will work unless you absolutely require a mixed field tuning for something very specific. At the same time, though, you can experiment and see if something that did not work well with a more general tuning might work better with a very specific one.
One of the applications that I am looking into more extensive experimentation with now is working with the demons of the Lemegeton Goetia according to the attributions in Liber 777. They are listed with double attributions, of both a sign and a planet. So the basic concept is to work with tunings for planet in sign and see how that goes. Up until now I've only done a couple of experiments with those entities, and nothing that definitive.
I will add that to some extent I'm looking to delve into the Lemegeton spirits mostly for completeness. One of my ongoing projects is developing a Thelemic grimoire based on the 777 association, which include the demons of the Lemegeton. However, one of the reasons I never have gotten into that system is that I have yet to find anything that Goetic magicians can do that I can't do better, or at least as well, with Enochian.
At the same time, having more tools at one's disposal is always better. If nothing else, exploring that system will mean that I can finally answer questions for those readers who assume that anybody who works with Enochian also works with The Goetia - and there are a lot more of those than you might think.
So as an example, if you perform a ritual where you are trying to use, for example, the GIRH for Mars and the GRH for Jupiter (chosen only because they match the flashlight example of blue and red), the first GIRH (Mars) puts the red filter over the "white light" invoked by the LIRH that precedes it in the operant field opening. Then the second GIRH for Jupiter tunes the red to blue - but the red has already filtered out blue. So little light, if any, remains and your ritual is likely to fail.
Where this doesn't necessarily apply is when you are combining a sign and a planet or a planet and an element. The elements, planets, and signs form complete systems of attributions in their own right and operate on different "levels" of magical reality. So you can use, say, a GIRH for Aries followed by a GIRH for Mars and wind up with a space tuned to Mars in Aries. Those happen to be about the same color, but that doesn't always hold and anyway it doesn't seem to matter.
What does matter with this method is the condition of the planet in the sign. You'll get a strong energy when your planet is dignified in the sign (Rulership or Exaltation) and a weak energy when the planet is debilitated in the sign (Fall or Detriment). Mars in Aries is a powerful energy because Mars rules Aries. The Sun would also be powerful because it is exalted in Aries. But Saturn (Fall) and Venus (Detriment) in Aries would both be weak. Jupiter, Mercury, and Moon would all be somewhere in between since they are neither dignified nor debilitated.
The following table from my Chart Victor article shows these dignities and debilities for the seven traditional planets in all the signs.
| Sign | Rulership | Exaltation | Detriment | Fall |
| Aries | Mars | Sun | Venus | Saturn |
| Taurus | Venus | Moon | Mars | -- |
| Gemini | Mercury | -- | Jupiter | -- |
| Cancer | Moon | Jupiter | Saturn | Mars |
| Leo | Sun | -- | Saturn | -- |
| Virgo | Mercury | Mercury | Jupiter | Venus |
| Libra | Venus | Saturn | Mars | Sun |
| Scorpio | Mars | -- | Venus | -- |
| Sagittarius | Jupiter | -- | Mercury | -- |
| Capricorn | Saturn | Mars | Moon | Jupiter |
| Aquarius | Saturn | -- | Sun | -- |
| Pisces | Jupiter | Venus | Mercury | Mercury |
This is likewise the case with the elements. I should point out that in the Golden Dawn tradition students did work with "element of element" relationships. I have also done that myself. But when doing that you use the GIRP for the "base" element only to tune the space. So if you were wanting to work with Water of Fire, you wouldn't do GIRP - Fire followed by GIRP - Water. When traveling in the spirit vision you can use the Pentagram of Water to set your destination once you are in the realm of fire, but this is a different application than the initial space tuning.
When working with an elemental aspect of a planet, like Fire of Mars, you need to pay attention to the planetary elemental rulers, or Triplicity Lord. Each element has a Day Ruler, a Night Ruler, and a Participating Ruler according to the attributions of traditional astrology. The following table is again from my Chart Victor article, but with the Participating Rulers added to the Day and Night Rulers. The Participating Rulers do not affect the Chart Victor calculation, so I omitted them from the table in that article.
| Triplicity | Primary/Day | Secondary/Night | Participating |
| Fire | Sun | Jupiter | Saturn |
| Air | Saturn | Mercury | Jupiter |
| Water | Venus | Mars | Moon |
| Earth | Venus | Moon | Mars |
Finally "element of sign" is simple to determine. Fire and Water are opposed elements, and Earth and Air are opposed elements. Aries is a Fire sign, so in Aries Fire will be strong, Water will be weak, and Air and Earth will be in between. In Taurus, and Earth sign, Earth will be strong, Air will be weak, and Fire and Water will be in between. In Gemini, an Air sign, Air will be strong, Earth will be weak, and Fire and Water will be in between. In Cancer, a Water sign, Water will be strong, Fire will be weak, and Air and Earth will be in between.
Those relationships hold throughout the zodiac for the elements of the signs. All Fire signs have the same strong and weak elements, as do all signs of Air, all signs of Water, and all signs of Earth. The elements of the signs are generally well-known, but this table shows all of them and their elemental aspects.
| Sign | Element | Strong | Neutral | Weak |
| Aries | Cardinal Fire | Fire | Air/Earth | Water |
| Taurus | Fixed Earth | Earth | Fire/Water | Air |
| Gemini | Mutable Air | Air | Fire/Water | Earth |
| Cancer | Cardinal Water | Water | Air/Earth | Fire |
| Leo | Fixed Fire | Fire | Air/Earth | Water |
| Virgo | Mutable Earth | Earth | Fire/Water | Air |
| Libra | Cardinal Air | Air | Fire/Water | Earth |
| Scorpio | Fixed Water | Water | Air/Earth | Fire |
| Sagittarius | Mutable Fire | Fire | Air/Earth | Water |
| Capricorn | Cardinal Earth | Earth | Fire/Water | Air |
| Aquarius | Fixed Air | Air | Fire/Water | Earth |
| Pisces | Mutable Water | Water | Air/Earth | Fire |
Multiple Greater rituals are always done in the order from "top" (zodiac) to "bottom" (elements), imitating the "Lightning Flash" by which potentiation descends into matter. So zodiac precedes planets and elements, planets precede elements, and elements precede neither. So this is the opposite of how the Lesser rituals are performed in the standard opening, with the LRP preceding the LRH. When empowering yourself to do magick you expand your consciousness outward and upward, and to conjure you call down power from above.
This technique allows you to put together tunings for very specific operations. In fact, you likely need to take care that you not tune your space too specifically. You can tune on all three levels, but the applications are somewhat limited by the qualities of the energy and their rulers. Here are a couple of examples where the energies should all line up and work harmoniously.
Gemini --> Mercury --> Air. A spell to heal multiple personality disorder. This is an extremely rare mental illness that could be approached in this way. Gemini rules bilocation, which could be thought of as a form of "split personality." Mercury rules healing, and Air rules mental processes.
Aries --> Mars --> Fire. Consecrating a talisman to (A) burn down someone's house or (B) protect your house from fires. Aries rules consecration, Mars rules "works of wrath and vengeance," and in this case Fire would represent physical fire.
Libra --> Venus --> Water. A spell to balance emotions associated with a romantic relationship. Libra rules "works of justice and equilibrium," Venus rules love and relationships, and Water rules feelings and emotions.
And these are just a few examples. Since the powers of the signs, planets, and elements are descriptive, not proscriptive, there are many other applications for even this list, let alone every possible combination. Keep in mind that if you are using a tuning that results in a weak energy, you will need to either (A) raise more energy at the beginning of the operation or (B) find another way to get what you want done without calling up incompatible energies.
(B) is usually the easiest, since using fewer aspects together lets you generalize more. With descriptive powers, you are probably going to be able to find something that will work unless you absolutely require a mixed field tuning for something very specific. At the same time, though, you can experiment and see if something that did not work well with a more general tuning might work better with a very specific one.
One of the applications that I am looking into more extensive experimentation with now is working with the demons of the Lemegeton Goetia according to the attributions in Liber 777. They are listed with double attributions, of both a sign and a planet. So the basic concept is to work with tunings for planet in sign and see how that goes. Up until now I've only done a couple of experiments with those entities, and nothing that definitive.
I will add that to some extent I'm looking to delve into the Lemegeton spirits mostly for completeness. One of my ongoing projects is developing a Thelemic grimoire based on the 777 association, which include the demons of the Lemegeton. However, one of the reasons I never have gotten into that system is that I have yet to find anything that Goetic magicians can do that I can't do better, or at least as well, with Enochian.
At the same time, having more tools at one's disposal is always better. If nothing else, exploring that system will mean that I can finally answer questions for those readers who assume that anybody who works with Enochian also works with The Goetia - and there are a lot more of those than you might think.
7 comments:
I happen to conjure the spirits of the Goetia just like I do the planetary spirits from Agrippa. I've been doing this for some time now and I have now problem with it. But unlike in your planetary rituals, I add the godname, angel name and intelligence name in a single conjuration to the spirit rather than going down the hierarchy.
So for example, for the path of Jupiter you would do your conjuration like "SACHIEL, JOPHIEL, HISMAEL, I conjure you by the name of the great god ABA" or something to that effect? Do you find that it works just as well as working down the hierarchy? Also - are you saying that you just use the planetary GRH for the Goetic spirits?
I haven't experimented with calling on the planetary angel, intelligence, spirit all in one conjuration, but I don't see why it won't work. I call the angel, tell it why I've called it (purpose of the ritual), then tell it to wait until I call the intelligence and spirit. Then I call the intelligence, greet it and tell it to wait for me to call on the spirit. Then I call the spirit and greet it. Then I address all three and give them the charge - i.e. Sachiel, Iophiel, Hismael, bring me X amount of money etc.
Whenever I'm calling a spirit of the Goetia I'm using the GRP of the path of the planet to which it is attributed as per 777. I think both the GD and Crowley got these attributions from Rudd.
Anyway, the ritual is a slight variation of yours, as I'm doing the MP godhead assumption after the GRP. Then I say the conjuration. Last spirit ice called with this method was Marchosias who is attributed to the Moon. My conjuration was: Marchosias, come to me you great marquise! In the name of the mighty god Dah, and by the angels Gabriel and Maklah (...) (because the intelligences are angels anyway), I conjure you to manifest within this triangle...
Hope that made sense :)
Okay, so pretty close to how I do it then. I was just curious there - it sounded like you were describing something different than it sounds like you're doing.
Also, I always have thought of the MP as general, so I probably wouldn't do it after the GRH (you mean GRH, right, for path of a planet?).
But then, my first rule is still if it works it works...
I'm doing the MP as I wrote here:
https://www.spiralnature.com/magick/godhead-assumption-through-the-middle-pillar-ritual/
It's after the GRP and the Orphic hymn to the planet. But in case of the spirits of the Goetia I skip past the Orphic hymn and just say the conjuration.
Oh, okay. You are doing it more like the original Felkin version, bringing a specific planet/sign/element through all the sephiroth points. That makes more sense following the Greater ritual.
Anyway, don't mean to nitpick. I'm more curious than anything else.
It's okay. I'm happy to share ;) I hope others who are like I used to be in the beginning find these useful.
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