Steve Savedow is the author of The Magician's Workbook: A Modern Grimoire and Goetic Evocation: The Magician's Workbook, Volume 2. He has studied magic and the Western Mystery Tradition for many years. Savedow lives in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he is the proprietor of the Serpent's Occult Bookstore, an independent bookstore specializing in magic and pagan titles.

CHAPTER 1

INVOCATION AND EVOCATION

The two supreme acts of ritual magick are the invocation and the evocation.Webster defines "invocation" as "a formula for conjuring," and to "invoke" "tocall forth by incantation." It defines "evocation" as "the summoning of aspirit," and "evoke" "to call forth or up" or to "conjure." From these briefdefinitions, the two acts sound very similar, when in fact, they are extremelydifferent. Indeed, both acts involve an interaction with nonhuman entities,however, the type of entity and the manner of interaction are vastly differentduring each of the separate acts. To really understand the difference betweenthe two, it becomes necessary to grasp the concept of "hierarchy."

Hierarchy is essentially the "chain of command" for sentient beings. In thearmy, the chain of command is a system of titles or ranks designating executivepositions, in order of authority. In the "Magickal Universe," hierarchyinvolves the designation of "God" as the highest authority, and human beingsbeing one of the lower. The full order of hierarchy is God, Demi-Gods,Archangels, angels, humans. Beneath human beings are the "spirits," or demonsand archdemons. Beneath these demons are the most foul and loathsome creatures,and should not be of concern to the student, at this time.

Knowing this system of hierarchy, it should be understood that invocationinvolves interaction with beings above us in the hierarchy, and evocation dealswith the beings below. The difference in the manner of interaction being thatinvocation is a request to the higher beings, and evocation is a demand to thelower beings. Invocations involve serenades, courtesy, love, and evensublimation. Evocations require curses and constraints, disdain, andoccasionally, torture. Lastly, an invocation results in enticing a celestialinfluence into the circle, where an evocation forces the reluctant, repugnantdemon out to the triangle. This should make it clear that these two acts arevery different operations of what is known as "high" magick.

Allegorically speaking, the art of magick may be divided into two categories,that of high magick and that of low magick. There are instances where variouswriters hypothesize about the origins and meanings of the designations to someworks as being "high" or "low." Some have said that it may have been due to thelocation of the practitioner, meaning that in the "highlands," the mighty courtsorcerer would practice ritual magick, high up in the castles and courts of theroyalty of the land, using weapons of steel and gold. While in the "lowlands,"the impoverished witches practiced their craft in meager surroundings, utilizingwooden tools and roots and herbs that could be easily foraged for in theforests. Were this true, the classification of high and low magick wouldrepresent prejudice and injustice, suggesting that a "witch" would be incapableof practicing high magick. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.

Witchcraft, or "wicca" as it is referred to today, may be described as a paganreligion of nature. Wicca is presently undergoing an upsurge of popularity,thanks to the relatively recent repeal of the infamous witchcraft laws, thatfor centuries proclaimed the practice of paganism as "satanic." Again, nothingcould be further from the truth, which the groundbreaking writings of suchwiccans as Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente and Sybil Leek, to mention just afew, have documented. Additionally, a background of wiccan beliefs is anexcellent foundation to build a working knowledge and understanding of ritualmagick upon.

The actual classification of distinguishing high magick from that of low magickshould be based on the following criteria:

1) Low magick is performed in order to produce effects on the material plane,which is considered a "lower" plane. This includes such magick as love spells,money spells, good fortune spells, spells to improve crops, healings, curses,invisibility spells, and any operation that affects life on the physical ormaterial plane.

2) High magick consists of essentially invocations and evocations. Theseoperations have results that affect the higher or mental planes. They shouldcompel the individual to progress emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and mostimportantly, magickally.

As the results of high magick have a much greater potential for experience andmeaning, so can they result in much greater, and even disastrous, perils whenimproperly practiced. Failures in the works of low magick could conceivablycause unpleasant, and even painful repercussions on the material plane. Butfailures in the works of high magick can result in such forms as spiritual andemotional regression, mental deterioration, schizophrenia, psychosis, andinsanity. For this reason, students of ritual magick should undertake a lengthypreparation period which entails intensive study of certain texts that will beoutlined in chapter 3. Additionally, extensive practices of certain exercisesoutlined in chapters 4-9 have been designed to prepare the uninitiated forfuture life as ritual magicians.

CHAPTER 2

RITUAL CONSTRUCTION

Generally speaking, every ritual of high magick is composed of four periods oftime. These are: creation, preparation, the performance and the results. Theperiod of creation begins with either the "creation" of the ritual by thepractitioner personally, or the discovery of a ritual, long lost or newlypublished. This is the point when the magician first realizes that the ritualmust be performed. The "creation," or creative period, ends when the full ritualis laid out in detail on paper, in its entirety, to be studied and memorizedduring the next period.

The preparation period consists of finding a suitable location, gathering allnecessary materials required for the ritual, and memorizing every...