I will cover a lot of ground in this blog; over 52 pages will be summarized. To start with I will quote Bardon at the beginning of chapter 2, because he says it so succinctly.
"Although a true magician can achieve everything with his own powers-which he has earned without any other help as a result of his spiritual maturity during is magical development-it is his choice to make extensive use of ceremonial magic and all the aids that belong to it.
Ceremonial magic offers the advantage that, when used continuously and frequently for one and the same operation, effects are produced without making use of one's own powers…All magical aids, every single instrument, are basically mnemonic aids, aiding the magician's consciousness." In essence magical aids take the effort and exertion out of doing magic. It is all pre-charged and awaiting your command to release the magical forces involved. So, how does one charge the magical aids with a particular force, and which aids should one use? I will describe my method of charging in a second but the question on which aids to use is all up to the magician.
As Bardon mentioned, each tool is just an aid, a repository for magical force at your best. Are you the type of person who keeps post-it-notes all over the house? Well you may need a few magical aids. If you want to supply the energy for the ritual, during the ritual than you may need far less. It really all depends on you, your personal makeup, how you go about doing things, and if you find supplying large amounts of magical energy each and every time you do a ritual. If you remember in IIH when you did finger rituals to make loading elemental or vital energy easier it is the same. Instead of taking a dozen or so breaths of an element into your self and then directing the force outwards you have a prepared ritual that summons the force immediately to your will. Much easier! Like calling a taxi when you need a ride instead of building a car any time you need to go some where.
So, let us describe the process of charging an item with what you need and then we will go through each item and what it needs to be charged with. Then you can decide which items you wish to make and charge for regular use.
To charge an item you must first embody as much as possible mentally and even astrally a certain quality. We will use the wand as Bardon did for an example. Let us say you wish to load the wand with "willpower". Take the wand into hand and begin to meditate on what willpower is, what are its qualities and characteristics. Try imagining that you are a being of pure willpower no other attribute is a part of you being. Willpower is a quality of the fire element-hot, powerful and expansive- so you should definitely add that to the meditation. What forces in nature come to mind when you thing of fire or the will? Lava or a volcano, lightning, the sun? Any of those or more will do or all three and more. The key to the meditation is to feel absolutely filled with the essence of willpower. Now, focus on the wand. Try and push all of that energy just called up into the wand. You can either feel all of
the energy drain out of you and into the wand or imagine you *are* the wand and the energy is now in there with you. Just extract yourself out after leaving the energy inside. Now just repeat until you are satisfied with the charge.
Bardon mentions later on in the section of magic wands that normally it takes 462 times to make a battery of charges strong enough to be effective on the physical plane. He mentions this in KTK as well. This depends on how strong the imagination is and the spiritual maturity of the individual. But it basically breaks down to this, if you want to wave your wand and have instant results on the physical plane you would have to repeat the above loading meditation 462 times or there abouts. Also each time you did so you would have to increase the amount of power. Now do not fret, that is just for physical results. Here is how it breaks down:
To be effective in the akasha you must charge it twice.
To be effective in the mental plane it must be charged sixty times.
To be effective in the astral plane it must be charged four hundred times.
And it is cumulative too, so…there is that. But once complete that ritual is now so strong it can immediately change the physical world without any effort on your part. Let us now move on to the tools or aids you may wish to use and what ideal they need to be loaded with. For purposes of working in evocation I would recommend charging an item several times for a mental density. Once you begin evocation work you will most likely only be able to call a spirit to the local mental plane so it will be effective there. Over time and many rituals the item will grow in power. Occasional
additional charges can never hurt either. Circle
Divinity, one needs to feel as if they have immediate contact with the divine once they stand within the circle. It does not matter what the circle is made of or how it is created. As long as it creates the ideation of divinity.
Triangle
As mentioned previously the triangle represents all things three. Bardon mentions it should be point upwards and not lying down. It represents two universal powers (electric and magnetic) united by the base. The will, intellect and feelings-power, lawfulness and life. All thoughts, connections and ideas concerning threes should be meditated upon in connection to the triangle.
Censer
Bardon goes off on several tangents while talking about the censer as if he could not make up his mind whether or not it served an actual function or just provided some sort of symbolic key for loading the atmosphere. I would recommend charging two censers. One censer with the electric fluid and the other with the magnetic fluid. Both would then receive the charge that over time their
powers would increase and lend the energetic component to manifesting the spirit. Then of course with each ritual one simply loads the atmosphere with the proper color (discussed later).
Mirror
The magic mirror is a fantastic tool to use. It provides many more uses than any of the tools mentioned above. A magic mirror does not have to be made of glass either. I made mine from a round piece of wood I picked up at Lowe's. It is a little over a foot long and three inches thick. I
drilled four holes in the four "corners" and loaded each with a special fluid condenser of my making (amber and rock crystal mixed with pieces of gold.) I then painted the front in a swirling dark violet and then another swirl of black-violet. Mixing in tiny pieces of amber and rock crystal on the wet surface as I painted. When the paint dried the rocks were sealed in. I then loaded the akasha principle into the mirror with the idea that it connects me to anything I wish to see without space- time getting in the way (akasha is beyond space-time). I have had a few people tell me that looking at it they think it starts to move and swirl. You can load the mirror with any force you like, spherical colors of the planes- white light- astral light (like a bluish flame or gas light). You can make your mirror as you please. Even a good coat of midnight black or a near blue black is good. Make several for different spheres. Do as you will.
Lamp
Using color filters on an oil lamp is a great way to load a room's atmosphere with the proper astral mood. I recommend an oil lamp obviously but feel free to experiment. Bardon thinks electrical lighting disturbs the astral sphere making it harder to manifest a spirit. I have never noticed any such thing but you make the call. I would buy some oil for the lamp and charge the oil with electro-
magnetic energy (a volt) and then imagine that the light produced by the oil fills the room with a thick astral substance aiding the spirit to manifest.
Wands
That's right wands. You can charge many different wands with whatever force you choose. Different elements, spherical energies, the akasha (good for necromancy or Goetic work Bardon says), vital energy for healing, the fluids for healing or commanding negative spirits, attributes (such as the will, commanding or domination). All of the many different ways are the same. Simply identify the energy you wish to load, accumulate that energy within yourself through concentration and meditation and load that energy into the wand.
Sword
The sword is to be charged with the idea of absolute victory on all planes and spheres. Try to call up the feeling of victory and being unbeatable. Do as you did with the wand and load the sword with this idea. It is very potent against unruly spirits and dark forces. Possibly a meditation of Michael the archangel's sword may be an aid.
Miter cap, crown, and headband
Either one of these should be loaded with the idea of spiritual authority and great dignity. Think of the most revered thing you can imagine and load it with that energy.
Robe
Bardon recommends a silk robe for protection. I can wholeheartedly agree with the insulating power of silk. Any robe will do though, or as Bardon mentions several robes can be used –one for each sphere. Symbols of protection as well as the idea of protection should be loaded into the fabric of the robe so that it shines with great power on the astral.
Belt
The idea of mastery over the elements as well as equilibrium and balance should be meditated on for the belt.
Pentacle, Lamen, Seal
The pentacle Bardon states should be charged with the wand to exert the influence of obedience and respect on the spirit when it shown to the being. I use a seal of Solomon only when a spirit shows up that does not belong. I have an earth pentacle that I will probably be changing soon that for now represents balance, harmony and Law. The seal is made before the evocation and wrapped in silk until needed. While making the seal the magician should meditate on the spirits qualities and
attributes as well as the sphere the spirit resides in. He does this as he draws the sigil, thinking in his mind how this sigil is already in connection with the spirit. One should have a connection to divinity at the time to make this the most effective.
Now imagine if you will, having to provide all of those energies and do all of those meditations every single time you performed an evocation. You would be exhausted at the end! That is if you could finish it. These tools save time and energy.
So, what tools do I use? Depending on the spirit or whether or not I have evoked the spirit before I may use little or no tools at all. But that comes from a few years of doing evocations and experiments in the art. Kind of like an artist who uses certain paints and brushes. When I do use all of my tools they are the following: a wand charged with willpower, my earth pentacle/ seal of Solomon, an oil lamp-I do not use color filters but I have done so in the past. I use a magic mirror on occasion, the one I described above. I also have a "mojo" bag filled with items of power or things that connect my mind to magic. I "borrowed" this idea from something Brother Moloch mentioned on his website and an idea from someone at a coven I used to hang out at mentioned. In most respects it is similar to a medicine bag and I believe witchcraft has a similar concept where they place miniature replicas of their magical tools inside the bag to work on the road. Basically, the bag is filled with a few items of power such as solid condensers, a feather given to me by the archangel Gabriel, a few stones, a glyph or two of power and some other items I will not discuss. I also have a sword that is charged with the energy of victory and several meditations on the sword Michael the archangel uses. I only use it when dealing with spirits that may be troublesome.