First scrying evocation: Anael

Who is Anael
Anael is one of angels of Venus. He is associated with the Fire element and he is called the messenger of God. anael's field of work are visions, messages, predictions, simply contact with the divine. That's also why Anael should be the first one to be evoked through a black mirror.

First scrying evocation
Prepare your incantation. Make sure you call Anael a couple of times and you ask him to bless the mirror to give you messages through him.

Mirror should be placed in an angle so you can see a reflection of your face (scrying bowls and crystal balls do not have this requirement). Your environment should be completely dark except two candles placed on the sides of the mirror. Play around with the position of the candles, your reflection in the mirror should be neither too sharp nor too vague. The reason is that your mind needs some reference point in the mirror to start with but having too sharp reflection will beat the idea and too vague image won't give you the sense of depth needed to successfully operate the mirror.

Choose some point on the reflection and observe it, repeat your incantation a couple of times out loud, then silently as well. You will feel your vision getting blurry and distorted. Usual reflex is to re-focus to gain back the sharp image, but you have to avoid this process so the lucidity can kick in.

If you manage to observe passively without refocusing the image will start looking sharp again but the appearing face will be completely different from your own, hopefully that will be Anael. Then proceed as we have learned before in the chapter describing basic format of the rituals.

3rd Grade, Week 2: Charging the black mirror

Now it's time to charge our mirror. The mirror, just like any Magickal tool, must be "yours", it must become a part of your Self. First part of this process is hidden in the creation of the mirror, tools you craft with your own hands have a much bigger sentimental value then things you simply buy and more time you spend with crafting and decorating your items, more valuable these items will be for you.

Put your mirror in the front of yourself, you can be sitting, standing, the mirror can be on the table, floor, simply anywhere. My personal approach is to sit down and place the mirror on my lap, that makes me more sentimental for me.

Now it's time to let your mirror absorb your magnetic and electromagnetic fluids. Place your right hand just closely above the mirror, waving over the mirror as if you were petting its surface (don't touch the surface, have your hand just above it). Don't make the movement regular, use different patterns, speed, play with it as if you were touching your lover, be kind and gentle.

Do the "mirror petting procedure" for about 5 minutes, then switch your hands and repeat the process for another 5 minutes with your left hand. After you are finished you can put the mirror away, wrap it in clothes or whatever method of storing the mirror that you have chosen.

This procedure should be repeated every day for at least a week before you use the mirror for the first time. Also remember, more often you charge the mirror, more powerful tool it becomes.

Some of you might find it a bit problematic to hold your hand above the surface for 5 minutes, if your mirror has a thick frame, you can use it to support your hand to ease the pain, but this shouldn't be the concern as you are still supposed to do your daily physical exercises as presented in the first grade of this curriculum and therefore your physical body should already be much stronger than before.

3rd Grade, Week 1: Alphabet of desire

What is the alphabet of desire
Alphabet of desire and simply a collection of pre-made sigils that can be used to quickly form a new Sigil.
The idea is to save some time and also to gain some additional punch in your Magick by actually re-using the Sigils, charging them stronger and stronger, plus it looks like some mystical occult alphabet, which is cool, too.

How to make your own AoD
Let's start traditionally, make a list of opposing aspects: yours can look like something like this:

Love/Hate
Life/Death
Passion/Poverty
Health/Stupidity
Good/Selfish
Evil/Selfless
.
.
.

Continue till you run out of ideas.
Notice that some things on my list do not seem to be opposing, the reason is that we all are individuals and what's opposing to me doesn't need to be opposing for you (I also did it so you won't just copy/paste it instead of doing actual work).

After your list is finished, make a Sigil for each and every force on the item, that means do a Sigil for Love, for Hate, etc, till you are finished.

Charging the AoD
Well, now you should associate each individual glyph with its intended meaning. You can do it by meditating upon each individual Sigil while holding some example of the intended purpose in your mind, you can also go for old-fashioned death postures, make some ritual to charge them all at the same time or just charge them on the fly while you are using them.

Usage of the AoD
You can create an old fashioned Sigil and then include some glyphs of the AoD as a decoration (e.g. in the circle around the Sigil, or to fill some empty spaces, et cetera) or you can build your Sigil purely from the glyphs, composing them in amazing structures or simply putting them on the horisontal or vertical line as if it were a sentence in some unknown language.

Additional glyphs
You might find out that your glyphs are not everything you need. Thinking super abstractly is not for everyone, we are practical people and by combining glyphs health/life/love we will hardly make our sexy accountant to love us. That's why we also need verbs and other words. Feel free to add them to your AoD, also feel free to use one-time glyphs for specific things, for eaxple I surely don't need permanent glyph in my alphabet for some client or a friend when I need to use it only once.

Exploiting the AoD
So, we can re-use Sigils so we can be more lazy in drawing them with a little side benefit called "more power", but what else is there?
You can also associate each glyph with a word or a sound which then can help you to use your AoD on the fly, literally creating your very own barbarian language. This gives more variety and usability into your Magickal practice.

So, we can pronounce our glyphs now, what else is there? You can add anything you want. If you add gestures and body postures to your glyphs, you have effectively re-invented Rune Magick.

You can also print or draw your glyphs on separate cards and then you can build your Sigils by simply placing some cards together to gain a desired outcome and then use your favorite method to charge your Sigil. I hope I don't need to mention that such a deck of AoD ca also be used for divination instead of tarot cards. You can also carve your glyphs into the stones or pieces of wood, re-inventing the rune divination system.

Generally having each glyph of your AoD imprinted on some deck or a collection of stones is a very good idea thanks to the portability and efficiency. A lot of times we are in conditions where we cannot use a pen and paper for our Sigils, but cards, stones, sounds and gestures are always ready for use.

3rd Grade, Week 1: Pendulum divination

What is a pendulum?
Pendulum is some object on a piece of thread, normally used to find how straight vertical surfaces are.

This object can also be used for divination, simplified procedure is that you grab the piece of thread, place the pendulum into the air, you ask questions and the pendulum swings in certain manner to give you answers.

Many people buy pendulums meant for divination, these are usually made from stones or crystals with a small chain attached to it. Trust me that you can use any object you desire as a pendulum, whether a ring on a piece of thread or a long hair. Important aspect is that the object is heavy enough to affect the thread (too light object and a human hair will hardly point down)

Charging the pendulum
To charge the pendulum to be ready for Magickal practice simply remember what you have learned about the Vital Force during previous grades. Pump the pendulum with the VF with intention to use it for divination, that's it.

You can also cast Sigils to charge it or use any other way you find suitable. Or you can omit the charging for good, after all, Magickal tools are charged by the use, as well.

Practising with the pendulum
Draw a cross on a piece of paper. On both ends of the horisontal line write NO. On the both ends of the vertical line write YES.

Grab the piece of thread of the pendulum between the index finger and thumb of of your leading hand.

Place the pendulum just above the center of thecross you have drawn.

If you are sitting, your elbow should be rested on the table.

Use your other hand to support the hand that holds the pendulum so there is no shaking that would affect it.

Command the pendulum to swing in the direction of the YES line (your hand must not move), then command it to stop, then to go in the NO direction, then stop it again.

Keep practising this till the movement is fairly visible and consistent.

Using the pendulum for divination
To use the pendulum simply place it above the YES/NO cross, let it rest and ask a yes/no question, swing of the pendulum will be your answer.
Always command the pendulum to stop between different questions so answers are't mixed and confusing.
Also if you don't like the answer don't ask again, that would be just stupid and could force the pendulum to tell you only what you want to hear instead of what you want to know.

Just a quick note: don't take pendulum too seriously (don't take any divination method too seriously), use it rather as a recommendation than some written-in-the-stone-truth.

3rd Grade, Week 1: Black mirror creation

What is a black mirror
Black mirror is a divination tool used for scrying. It can be used for telling future, seeing past, distant places, performing invocations and evocations, distant healing or reality manipulation.

Maybe the first scrying mirror used was the surface of a running water (eg a river). Later a black bowl filled with water was used, black reflective surface maximizing the effectivity of the mirror.

Water was later replaced with a glass, which was called a solid water and many people believed it has the same spiritual qualities as the water.

What do I need to create my own black mirror?
-picture frame (round ones look better but it really doesn't matter)
-black mat spray paint

Remove the glass from the picture frame and spray paint it black on one side. Make sure the surface of the paint is regular and there are no weak spots, it must be consistent.

After the paint dried, return the glass back to the frame, painted side should be on the bottom. This makes a nice reflective surface on the top. You can also avoid painting the bottom side of the glass by putting black colored paper inside the frame, but the painted glass looks better.

Alternatives
We already named the river's surface and black bowl filled with water. These are two alternatives for the black mirror described here.

Another alternative is the Cagliostro's mirror:
-crystal glass is filled with water and a candle is place behind it so the flame is visible through the surface of the glass. You then gaze into the flame to obtain visions. This alternative is good because it doesn't require much charging for the mirror to be functional but generally solid mirror is better for transportation and is ready to use anytime when it's charged. Cagliostro's mirror or any water based mirror must be prepared and charged before the operation, wasting the precious times and it also tends to become annoying over time.

Fluid condenser
Many people use Magickal fluid condensers, which simplify charging and makes it more stable (mirror without condenser discharges faster over time of not being used). Condensers are usually solid (eg dust of gold and silver mixed together) or there are fluid based condensers made from the mixture of herbs. This one is usually applied on a piece of paper hidden within the mirror.
Theoretically you can also use a sigil as a condenser but unfortunately I have never tried this idea in practice, maybe I will change it before this grade is officially published.

Working without a condenser is fully fine, just keep in mind that your working with the mirror will have to be much more consistent.

Third grade: selected topics

So, this is going to be the third and final grade of the curriculum.

Hopefully I will finish it before April so then I can fully concentrate on the Armanen runes magick.

Week 1:
--black mirror creation and alternatives
--pendulum divination
--alphabet of desire
--basic format of the rituals

Week 2:
--charging the black mirror
--magickal prayer
--preparing own incantation
--eyeless evocation

Week 3:
--how to recognize a spirit's presence
--basic invocation
--dream invocation
--evocation through smoke
 Week 4:
--first scrying evocation: Anael
--magickal chain
--shadow evocation
--physical manifestation of spirits

Week 5:
--basic planetary correspondences, positives and negatives
--remembering planets and calculating planet hours
--planetary correspodences on the tree of life and implications.
--planetary intelligences

2nd Grade, Week 5: Enchantment using elements

What is enchantment
Enchantment is a process of charging some non-magickal object with Magickal energy, therefore creating a Magickal object. Magickal object can be a charm, talisman, amulet or a tool. Charms and talismans are basically to bring you luck, wealth, happiness, etc, amulets are for the means of protection and tools are used in Magickal practice.

Why to enchant objects with elements
Elemental correspondence is one of the simplest, you pick a reason, then you find corresponding element and you are ready to charge, no messing around with planetary correspondences is needed.

Procedure of enchanting the object
First of all specify what you want to achieve and find some suitable object (don't use eg socks to bring you money).
After you have acquired suitable item you should cleanse it. Let it bathe in the smoke of White Sage and during that say a following incantation: "Creation of [object type], I [your Magickal name] command thee, be cleansed of all material delusion and dissolve in the holy fire of the Sage. Abandon your physical vessel, abandon your current state of existence and become as I say."

After the object is cleansed you can start with the elemental charging. For that purpose accumulate the selected element into your body while holding the intention in your mind, intention of what do you want to achieve.

Once that is done, place your hands above the object and let the energy transfer into the object, during that you can also say a following incantation: "Creation of [object type], you dead creature, I charge you with the power of [element]. Don't keep me waiting, fulfill my wish and accomplish my desires, arise and be living".

After all the energy was transferred into the object, you can say following incantation: "Creation of my Will, awaken, open your eyes and follow my destiny, join my journey and help me accomplish my goals, that's why you were created, that is now your destiny, spirit of creation I conjure thee."

How long time will the charging persist
This really depends on the type of the object, its material and your mood, but basically a completely unsuitable object might stand charged for about a month. Later I will show how to create a fluidic condenser that will improve the effects of the charging.