9/7/2019 Evocation - Wikipedia

Evocation
Ev ocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, deity or other supernatural agent, in the Western my stery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-
altering substances with and without uttered word formulas.

Contents
In the Western mystery tradition
Texts and language
Objectives of conjuration
Religious views
Conjuration in Mid-West Asia
Contemporary references
In other beliefs
See also
References
Further reading

In the Western mystery tradition

The Latin word evocatio was the "calling forth" or "summoning away " of a city 's tutelary deity . The ritual was conducted in a military setting either as a threat during a siege or as a result of
surrender, and aimed at div erting the god's fav or from the opposing city to the Roman side, customarily with a promise of a better-endowed cult or a more lav ish temple. [1 ] Evocatio was thus a
kind of ritual dodge to mitigate looting of sacred objects or images from shrines that would otherwise be sacrilegious or impious. [2 ]

The calling forth of spirits was a relativ ely common practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric sy stems of antiquity . In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is
frequently seen as the classical example of this idea. Manuals such as the Greater Key of Solomon the King, The Lesser Key of Solomon (or Lemegeton), the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage
and many others prov ided instructions that combined intense dev otion to the div ine with the summoning of a personal cadre of spiritual adv isers and familiars.

The grimoires prov ided a v ariety of methods of ev ocation. The spirits are, in many cases, commanded in the name of God - most commonly using cabalistic and Hellenic 'barbarous names' added
together to form long litanies. The magician used wands, stav es, incense and fire, daggers and complex diagrams drawn on parchment or upon the ground. In Enochian magic, spirits are ev oked
into a cry stal ball or mirror, in which a human v olunteer (a 'seer') is expected to be able to see the spirit and hear its v oice, passing the words on to the ev oker. Sometimes such a seer might be an
actual medium, speaking as the spirit, not just for it. In other cases the spirit might be 'housed' in a sy mbolic image, or conjured into a diagram from which it cannot escape without the magician's
permission.

While many later, corrupt and commercialized grimoires include elements of 'diabolism' and one (The Grand Grimoire) ev en offers a method for making a pact with the dev il, in general the art of
ev ocation of spirits is said to be done entirely under the power of the div ine. The magician is thought to gain authority among the spirits only by purity , worship and personal dev otion and study .

In more recent usage, evocation refers to the calling out of lesser spirits (beneath the deific or archangelic lev el), sometimes conceiv ed of as arising from the self. This sort of ev ocation is
John Dee and Edward Kelley evoking a
contrasted with inv ocation, in which spiritual powers are called into the self from a div ine source.
spirit
Important contributors to the concept of ev ocation include Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Francis Barrett, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, Aleister Crowley , Franz Bardon and Kenneth Grant. The
work of all of these authors can be seen as attempts to sy stematize and modernize the grimoiric procedure of ev ocation. Many modern authors, such as Peter Carroll and Konstantinos, hav e
attempted to describe ev ocation in a way independent enough from the grimoiric tradition to fit similar methods of interaction with alleged supernatural agents in other traditions.

Conjuration in traditional and most contemporary usage refers to a magical act of inv oking spirits or using incantations or charms to cast magical spells. In the context of legerdemain, it may
also refer to the performance of illusion or magic tricks for show. This article discusses mainly the original and primary usage, describing acts of a supernatural or paranormal nature. [3 ][4 ]

The word conjuration (from Latin conjure, conjurare, to "swear together") can be interpreted in sev eral different way s: as an inv ocation or ev ocation (the latter in the sense of binding by a v ow); as
an exorcism; and as an act of producing effects by magical means.

The word is often used sy nony mously with terms such as "inv ocation" or "ev ocation" or "summoning", although many authors find it useful to maintain some distinction between these terms. The
term "conjuring" is also used as a general term for casting spells in some magical traditions, such as Hoodoo. In that context, amulets and talismans are often kept in a "conjure bag" and "conjuring
oils" may be used to anoint candles and other magical supplies and thus imbue them with specific magical powers.

Alternativ ely , the term "conjuration" may be used refer to an act of illusionism or legerdemain, as in the performance of magic tricks for entertainment.
Native American "conjuror" in a 1590
One who performs conjurations is called a conjurer or conjuror. The word (as conjuration or conjurison) was formerly used in its Latin meaning of "conspiracy ". [5 ]
engraving

Texts and language

The text of the charms to be recited to conjure the spirit v aries considerably from simple sentences to complex paragraphs with plenty of magic words. The language usually is that of the conjurer's, but since the Middle Ages in Western
tradition, Latin was the most common (although many texts hav e been translated into other languages).

Objectives of conjuration
The conjuration of the ghosts or souls of the dead for the purpose of div ination is called necromancy .

When it is said that a person is calling upon or conjuring misfortune or disease, it is due to the ancient belief that personified diseases and misfortune as ev il deities, spirits or demons that could enter a human or bestial body ; see demon
possession.

Religious views
A conjuration is traditionally linked to repelling negativ e spirits away , and protecting an indiv idual, space or collectiv e. Howev er, it is also believ ed by some, particularly in Christianity and Islam, that magic and conjuration is an inherently
ev il practice. Conjurers summon demons or other ev il spirits to cause harm to people or things, to obtain fav ors from them, or simply to enter their serv itude. The belief in similarly -minded conjurers also exists in belief sy stems in which
magic is not inherently ev il, although in these cultures these "black magicians" are not the rule and hav e opposition among more traditional magicians.

Conjuration in Mid-West Asia

Conjuration is a v ery common my stical practice in Mid-West Asia, most commonly found in Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Many practice it to settle personal grudges or for healing, personal enhancement,
or foretelling the future. There are also those who will sell their serv ices as conjurers to others.

Islam strongly forbids the use of conjuration, because it is seen as an unholy procedure, and therefore to perform it is to giv e an insult to Allah. It is also considered to, in the end, harm people more than help them: those who regularly contact
demons are believ ed to go mad through ov erdosing on power, or being possessed (since demons are thought to be short-tempered entities, and giv en the opportunity might ov erpower and enslav e the one who summoned them).

Contemporary references
Within some magical traditions today , such as contemporary witchcraft, hoodoo and Hermeticism or ceremonial magic, conjuration may refer specifically to an act of calling or inv oking deities and other spirits; or it may refer more generally
to the casting of magic spells by a v ariety of techniques. [6 ] Used in the sense of inv oking or ev oking deities and other spirits, conjuration can be regarded as one aspect of religious magic.

In the context of illusionist magic practiced today as entertainment only , "conjurer" or "conjuror" is still a common term used by practitioners. In times past, illusionist conjurors were suspected of using magic power to create their
entertaining illusions and ev en suspected of casting spells. They were regarded as "magicians" by the general public, who were often not cognizant of the techniques and tricks used to create their illusions.

In other beliefs
Ev ocation is the magical art of calling forth spirits, angels or demons to bring spiritual inspiration, do the bidding of the magician or prov ide information. Methods of this exist in many cultures that feature a belief in spirits, such as the
shamanic traditions. Daoism, Shintoism, Spiritism and the African-American religions (Santería, Umbanda etc.), hav e particular sy stems of ev ocation.

See also
Hermeticism
Hoodoo (folk magic)
Magic and religion
Magic (paranormal)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evocation 1/2
9/7/2019 Evocation - Wikipedia
Servitor (chaos magic)
Sex magic
Thaumaturgy
Theurgy

References
1. Mary Beard, J.A. North, and S.R.F. Price, Religions of Rome: A Sourcebook (Cambridge University Press, 1998), p. 41.
2. Nicholas Purcell, "On the Sacking of Corinth and Carthage", in Ethics and Rhetoric: Classical Essays for Donald Russell on His Seventy (Oxford University Press, 1995), pp. 140–142.
3. "Conjure | Define Conjure at Dictionary.com" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/conjure). Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
4. "Conjuration | Define Conjuration at Dictionary.com" (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/conjuration). Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
5. Ex. gr. Chaucer, Wycliffe, Caxton; see OED s.v.
6. Houdini, Harry (1926). "Conjuring" (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Harry-Houdini-on-conjuring-1973131). Encyclopædia Britannica (13th ed.). Retrieved January 22, 2018.

Kocku von Stuckrad: Western Esotericism: A Brief History of Secret Knowledge. Translated and with a Foreword by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. London: Equinox. XII, 167 pp.

Further reading
Max Dessoir. (1891). Psychology of the Art of Conjuring (https://archive.org/stream/aroundworldwithm00burl#page/137/mode/2up). In H. J. Burlingame. Around the World with a Magician and a Juggler. Chicago: Clyde Publishing Co. pp. 137-165
Thomas Frost. (1876). The Lives of the Conjurors (https://archive.org/details/livesconjurors01frosgoog). Tinsley Brothers.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Evocation&oldid=897118061"

This page was last edited on 14 May 2019, at 21:58 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-
profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evocation 2/2