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The Nature of Entities
The word "entity" has been mentioned several times in the introduction, and rightly so, because the whole point of performing an evocation is to come into contact with one of these beings. But what are entities, really, and where do they come from when called?
Without an understanding of the nature of entities, it is incredibly difficult to perform an evocation and virtually impossible to control the outcome of one. It is for this reason that this chapter is devoted to explaining the inhabitants of the unseen world. Like many Planetary intelligences are very powerful and can help the magician in a number of related tasks simultaneously.
In other occult truths, however, the nature of entities has been explained both correctly and incorrectly over the years. To understand why this is so, it is important to first understand who originated these theories.
Throughout the ages there have always been two kinds of occultists: armchair theorists and practicing magicians. The former have, in the past century, attempted to explain occult phenomena using the science of the time, neglecting the fact that occult science is a science of the future. As a result of the efforts of these armchair occultists, all sorts of psychological theories about magic have surfaced. These concepts are hopelessly flawed, as their creators were basically guessing about a topic they didn't understand. Practicing magicians, on the other hand, have experimented with magical techniques and achieved repeatable results. These tested theories are the ones the student of the occult will find most useful.
The theory that entities only exist in the magician's mind originated with the armchair occultists of history. According to them, evocations do nothing but bring these entities "up" from one's subconscious, and "out" into seemingly external appearance. Followers of this teaching feel all information gained by evocations is the result of some type of telepathy, and that materializations witnessed by a number of practitioners are the result of some type of telepathic projection on the part of the magician performing the ritual. To someone who has never practiced magic, this concept could seem feasible. But to a trained magician, the flaws of this theory are immediately obvious, for a number of reasons.
In philosophy, there are two concepts known as the Efficient Cause and the Final Cause. The Efficient Cause of an object is that which caused it to originate, and the Final Cause is the purpose of the object. Upon applying these principles to mystical study, a great number of occult secrets can be learned. Practicing magicians realized this, and used these ideas as a basis for their experiments in trying to identify what entities are.
The Efficient Cause of everything in the universe is God—the Infinite and Divine Providence. Of course, it can be argued that we ourselves have created magnificent things and that certain natural processes create things all around us. For example, plants and animals reproduce, tectonic plate movement creates mountains, and artists paint masterpieces. But Divine guidance affects all of these things. The inspiration for a painted masterpiece comes from God, as does the ability for plants and animals to reproduce, and mountains to form.
If it is accepted that Divine Providence is responsible for all creation, then the next logical step is to try and figure out what certain things were created for. The best way to facilitate this is to look at a Kabbalistic map of creation called the Tree of Life (figure 1.1). Each of the Ten Sephiroth, or spheres, on the Tree serves a specific purpose in maintaining cosmic order, and as a result, each are made up of different types of energies related to their tasks. For example, the energies of the lowest Sephirah, Malkuth, help maintain order in the physical plane, while Yesod governs things related to lunar energies and the astral plane.
Just as these Sephiroth were created to serve a specific purpose, the entities of the universe were also created to fulfill some type of "office." Each of the Sephiroth, for example, is "inhabited" by beings that are in agreement with the energies represented there. The angels were created to oversee certain of these aspects, and for this reason they will maintain these posts forever. While humans have the ability to advance spiritually and achieve higher and higher levels of being, the entities and angels of the universe are fixed to their appointed tasks as part of God's way of maintaining order in the cosmos. This is the Final Cause of all entities.
How could entities exist only in the mind of the magician if we accept the above as true? The answer is simple: They can't. Neither the existence of the universe nor the existence of its inhabitants depends upon the presence of one human. Whoever actually wrote the Goetia is no longer living, yet the beings described in the book can still be conjured. The spirits he or she worked with still exist, independent of him or her—even if this author created them in the first place.
By now it should be clear that the beings of the unseen world are not accidental creations. They were created with specific attributes to help them accomplish their assigned tasks, and exist completely independent of us. However, just as some forms of physical creation are accomplished through human mediums, the creation of entities is sometimes facilitated by trained magicians. Like a painter who takes Divine inspiration and creates a marvel on a canvas, a magician can sometimes channel Divine energy into the creation of a completely new entity. This magical construct, commonly known as an egregore, is an energy being created by the magician to carry out a specific task. Egregores, like other entities, are completely independent of the magician once created.
Whether an entity is created or conjured, the fact it is independent of us does not mean we are not responsible for its actions. If one were to command a being of any type to perform an evil act, then he or she would be responsible for the karma of that evil act. It goes without saying that this type of black magic would eventually destroy the person who practices it.
Sometimes, creating an egregore can be dangerous, regardless of the use a magician puts it to. This is because egregores grow stronger the longer they are allowed to exist. While an existing entity can be banished back to its realm of origin once its task is completed, an egregore has no place to go back to. It is for this reason that magicians usually give egregores a set amount of time to "live," and after this time runs out they are ritually destroyed. This prevents them from becoming more and more powerful in the astral plane, until they are virtually uncontrollable. The legend of the golem illustrates this possibility in an accurate, yet allegorical way, and what follows is a short summary of the tale. I still recommend, however, a very careful reading of the actual story before attempting this type of magical creation. The story of the golem takes place in Prague, where Jewish people lived in constant fear of the Blood Accusation. This was the belief that Jews needed the blood of Christians to perform certain Passover rites. Every year around Passover, riots would break out, and false accusations would be brought up against the Jews. Rabbi Judah Loew, a village elder, felt someone might be planning the destruction of his people, so he prayed to Heaven for help.
Rabbi Loew was told in a dream to make a golem out of clay to protect his people. Following this advice, the rabbi and his pupils constructed a man-shaped clay figure. The rabbi was well versed in Kabbalistic magic and enchanted the creature to give it life. He named it Joseph.
Joseph did as he was instructed and protected the Jews from physical harm. He also investigated some of the accusations brought against the Jews so, eventually, the truth behind most of these allegations was exposed. Christian people were soon shown how the Jews had been framed all along. After the monk Thaddeus was exposed as the mastermind of the plot to destroy the Jews, Rabbi Loew's people were no longer persecuted.
Since the golem had done such a good job, Rabbi Loew and the others grew accustomed to having him around, and one day they forgot to assign him a task. Joseph wandered around the village and saw a flower in a windowsill, which he then plucked. Consequently, a woman in the house screamed at him, and Joseph became uncontrollably angry. He ran around the streets, causing all sorts of damage to the buildings and scaring the villagers.
The rabbi heard what was going on and tried to stop the golem. With a great amount of difficulty he managed to bring Joseph under control again. Along with his pupils, Rabbi Loew brought the golem to his house, where he ritually destroyed him. The clay body was then stored in a secret room, where no one could find it, to ensure Joseph would never be brought back to life.
Even though the golem was a clay creature and not a spirit, it is still an accurate metaphor of a real egregore. Once named and created, the golem was a servant to Rabbi Loew, yet when the rabbi neglected to give it instructions, the golem went off on its own and caused mischief. The warning of the story is clear. These beings have no place to return to once their purpose is accomplished, and they must not be allowed to linger. Cruel as it may seem, they have to be destroyed.
You will find a method for creating egregores later in this book. The actual process of creation contains a segment that establishes the limit of the entity's existence, and gives a method for easily terminating it when the time comes. There is nothing evil about this practice, as egregores are simply energy constructs created for one task. Upon their dissolution, the energy built up in egregores returns to the cosmos.
