EXPERIMENTING WITH DUNN'S GOETIA SIGIL INVOCATION TECHNIQUE

1.Thanks,Alan,for being so generous with your knowledge.It helps to make clearer the comment on deities by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka: "Without the knowing of divinity by man,can deity survive?". You seem to distinguish,though, between the deities you invoke and call into the embodiment in  the servitor and the servitor itself,as an embodiment of spirit matter,this matter being an aspect of the universe  not created by you as the servitor partially is,if I understand your thinking well.

I wonder what physical matter the servitor must be composed of?Should it be a living form,an actual spider,a plant,a non-living  organic form like a  stick,a combination of these,like a pot in which such objects are kept,or even a mechanical form,like a pen,or even a computer,for example?

It also reminds me of the idea that the manifestation of spirit can be shaped according to human intention,an idea central to Mark Dunn''s efforts to visualize the spirits of the Goetia as female in relation to imaginative scenarios derived from various cultures,in which Astarota,for example,becomes an attractive woman,instead of  a naked man,and instead of an animal,the woman is riding a  spaceship.

Mark Dunn's method of invoking the Goetic spirits purely through visualization and chanting of their names,along with visualizing them as women with whom the magician has sexual relationships,has come under criticism  as dangerous on account of  what some describe as the volatile nature of the Goetic spirits,and Agbor Pi here claims that Dunn's approach can be mentally unsettling. 

Interestingly,I have been experimenting with Dunn's method  and will post an interesting dream I had today after using  his technique.I am in the process of adapting it even further by using his  correlation of the Goetia with Asian thought to meditate on the sigils and perhaps even perform a basic invocation  in terms of non-Goetic ideas.

I wonder what others think about such experiments.I know this is not identical with work with servitors but is  closer to broader questions of relationships between the nature of spirit in relation to the human mind and to methods of directing spirit.

Thanks

toyin

 2.Wow! Amazing info.
Thanks,Alan, again for the sharing of cutting edge knowledge-on servitors-that most people might not even know exists.

Im struck you see my experiment as something you would need more acquaintance with the spirit to undertake safely.

Its quite basic really.

I simply make sure I  spend a good length of time meditating on the Goetic sigil.For some reason or other,not sure why,I am particularly interested in Astaroth,perhaps beceause Dunn's characterisation of this spirit brings together  elements I really enjoy-the erotic,scientific speculation,magic and Dunn's characteristic imaginative flexibility and range.

I made sure I  visualised this sigil carefully and kept it in my mind even when going about anything I  was doing at home,where I work,from the kitchen to any other activity in which my mind was not really occupied.I did not invoke the spirit.I did not mention  the spirit's name mentally-Dunn's method- bcs I was afraid  I  would end up invoking the spirit.I did meditate, though, on the attributes of the spirit as described by Dunn.I also read up almost everything he wrote about sigil magic as well as all his characterisations of the various Goetic spirits, information for my academic work,of which the entire magical project is a part.I combine academic and magical research using one to feed the other.Eventually  I experienced a stream of ideas that enabled me write about a 3,000 word essay placing Dunn's sigil work   in the context of what I know at present about sigil magic,with a focus on the Astaroth sigil.I posted the essay on my Facebook page but will soon post it on my blog on Dunn's work.

As of yesterday,I had  again been visualizing the Astaroth sigil and taking special care not to call the spirits name(I don't know how a serious magicians would see that).I took  the meditation a step further, though.Taking a cue from Dunn's conception of the sigils as means of entering into a relationship with what he names a Feminine Inorganic Intelligence,I linked  the sigil with Devi,the Hindu conception of the feminine force that underlies the universe,by visualizing the sigil against the background of outer space,while keeping that cosmic idea vaguely in mind.I  also imagined myself  stepping though the sigil and experiencing the universe as a heartbeat,a form of cosmic consciousness.I began the visualisation  by drawing the sigil mentally the way you do the banishing ritual of the pentagram as described in the Golden dawn ritual text published by Israel Regardie beceause the sigil is a pentagram with  four additional design features that dont change the basic design.After drawing the sigil,I identified the four vertexes with the four elements and the topmost one with spirit,an idea from Regardie's Tree of Life.As spirit exists in balance with, but above the elements, as symbolised by the pentagram,the sigil,adapting Dunn's idea of the Goetic sigils as a means of shaping one's reality through accessing alternate realities,can  represent  the magician's ability to traverse time and space as represented by the elements,with the vertex of spirit indicating  the ability to shape possibilities in the material universe.

I had conducted perhaps just the basic visualisation when I got dressed to go out for a walk.As I sat on the edge of the bed,preparatory to putting on my socks,I seemed to doze off while seated.I had this odd dream in which as I was walking outdoors,in an environment that looked like my native Nigeria, rather than England where I live now,I came upon a stool on which were a book and a magazine or journal.The book  was a paperback  similar to a textbook  on geography I bought from Borders in Cambridge recently.In the  magazine/journal   I noticed a short article on scholarly work on the African ethnic group the Dogon,an area of scholarship in which I have keen interest beceause of the sophisticated myth and philosophies ascribed to Dogon thinkers and priests.

As I puzzled over why such precious materials were left by the side of the road and if they had been abandoned and if I could help myself to them,a Black man man emerged from a building across the road that suggested to me  a carpenter's workshop .He was of very mature years but not particularly old. In a very agreeable and accommodating manner, he  explained to me  that the books were his and that he used them in  learning  about the past, beceause as he put it,the past can be quite informative.He then seemed to go back into the workshop since I did not see him again.

I then seemed to either perceive within the same  space I was or in another space I was also in at the same  time but which was not identical with the space with the literature I had accidetally discovered,an animal from the big cat family,like a tiger,pacing the ground.It was alert but not menacing. It paid me no attention  and did not come near me.

In fear I  ran into a nearby house,into a room which  I understood the nice man  to live in but found dog inside it.The dog was backing me,with its face  in a bowl  on the floor,as if eating or drinking.I am wary or even afraid  of dogs and so I ran out again but my shirt  sleeve seemed to catch on the door handle.

 I woke up to find myself seated on the edge of the bed.

I was tempted to dismiss the dream at first but something suggested that it was meaningful,possibly as my own encounter with the conception represented by  Astaroth,an experiential counterpart to Dunn's  image of Astaroth,although Dunn visualises the spirit as a sexy female space traveller,an image facing me on my bed  when I had the dream. Could the animals refer to Astaroth's association with an animal in the dog or wolf family  he is supposed to fly on in the Goetia?Or could the the scholarly texts I saw in the dream be related to his description as teaching liberal arts?Or could the man in the dream being Black  be related to Astaroths description in one account as being black coloured?

A  description of Astaroth describes him as teaching handicrafts,like the work of the carpenter in the dream.

Is the dream and all these correlations evidence of the spirit responding to my reaching out to him/it or my subconscious mind at work or something of both?.

My sister thinks I should have engaged the man in conversation,seeing his accommodating manner as suggesting that possibility.She says I should have asked him how to get literature like those ones I saw.

I also read that Astaroth teaches about the past,the present and the future as the carpenter described himself as studying the literature I saw in order to learn from the past,describing it as relevant to  the present.

I will  continue my meditations,doing them one a day at least.

Thanks
toyin
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