So much occult work is about nothing more than catching the attention of a spirit that can bring the result you want. In many cases, the ritual is constructed in such a way that the spirit is compelled to respond. When you put it this way, magick sounds simple. Ask and you receive.
Every angel, demon, genius spirit and other supernatural being has preferences, styles of work and methods that make this contact more accessible. This is why there are different rituals for every different class of spirit. Some require elaborate rituals, while others only need to sense a sincere need. Some thrive on gratitude, while others only require that you command them clearly.
The books we publish give you the specific guidelines for the spirits that you have chosen to work with. Whatever books you use, however, you need to develop a relaxed confidence in order to make repeated and successful contact. The Magickal Cashbook was published first because the spirit Nitika is so easy to contact, and this can give beginners a confidence boost that makes other magick feel plausible.
The manifestation of your result depends on many other factors, such as overcoming lust for result, requesting a result that is just outside of your current reality, and other influences that are detailed in the books. When you contact a spirit in the right way, the spirit will respond. The less attention you place on the spirit and its response to you, and the more you place on overcoming lust and opening pathways for manifestation, the more success you will have. Despite this, it’s easy to worry about the nature of supernatural contact.
Many people ask me if they may have offended the spirits, by making a mistake during the ritual or missing a day of the ritual. While it is certainly true that you can build an affinity with a spirit, through repeated successful workings, these spirits do not take offence easily. They are unlikely to take offence because you mispronounced a word or got the ritual ‘wrong’. There is no objectively correct way to perform a ritual. It is there merely as a means to make contact. You tune the ritual to make contact as effectively as you can, and then the spirit hears you and responds.
As mentioned above, there are details of style and form that can help your message be heard by the spirit in the most receptive way, but the spirit does not sit on high, waiting for you to get your ritual ‘right’, judging you if you slip up. So you should perform your magick with a free confidence rather than fear about precision.
This doesn’t mean you should skip instructions or rush a ritual. If you want to ride a bicycle down a mountain (which I witnessed in Canada), you need to learn how to ride, you need to gather the skills and practice them, and then when the big day comes you need to let go of your learning and ride down that mountain with confidence. If you miss out the disciplined learning, you will fail. If you make the ride while filled with trepidation and fear, you will make more mistakes than if you are relaxed. Ideally you should be focused, relaxed and expecting the best.
It’s important to know that you are commanding the spirits, rather than begging or pleading or praying. To some people the word ‘command’ seems too authoritarian. We are dealing with angels, not dogs, after all. I have found, however, that polite, firm commands are responded to more frequently than obsequious requests. This is not to say that you are meant to order the spirits around.
I often use the analogy of a good manager. The best managers respect every worker, but they give instructions (or ‘commands’), rather than making requests. But they do so in a way that is filled with respect, admiration and gratitude. Vitally, managers do not beg or plead with their workers. If they did, they would be undermined. The same is true in magick. The rituals place you in a position of authority, by using sets of divine names and words of power, and it is then your role to speak your commands with calm authority.
You can get results if you simply ask. For some people, this is the only way they can work. They sense the presence of an angelic power, and they do not want to command. If so, that’s OK, but remember that you are making a statement about what you require, rather asking the angel (or demon) if it thinks it’s OK for you to have that. Magick is about you selecting the future events that you require in order to express your true will. You select those results and command them to come into being.
We often use the word ‘request’ in place of ‘command’ because it is more palatable. I am fully aware that people feel uncomfortable commanding angels and demons. But it is worth noting that any time you make a request, rather than giving a command, you are opening yourself to the possibility of failure. Saying, ‘Can I borrow your hammer?’ might lead to a polite refusal. ‘Please pass me your hammer,’ will usually result in the hammer being passed to you. It’s a small difference, but it underlines that although we should be extremely polite and respectful of spirits, we do not need to be too humble.
With this in mind, you should know that your confident intent is often more important than the structure of the ritual. If you catch the spirit’s attention, and get your message through with a confident command, the spirit will be compelled to help. The result is change, and that is the power of magick.
– Damon Brand
