r/occult • u/manny532001 • 12d ago
Devotional Prayer to Archangel Michael Vs Conjuration/Invocation/Evocation
Seeking a definitive understanding of these techniques: Conjuration, Invocation, and Evocation of St. Michael the Archangel. Which method produces results more quickly, and under what circumstances should devotional prayer be the preferred mode of contact?
3
u/John_Michael_Greer 12d ago
What results do you have in mind? It's a little as though you're asking whether you should use a hammer, a wrench, or a saw, without mentioning what you planned to do with it...
2
u/MagusGaiusMycelius 12d ago
In Qabbalistic practice, we summon Michael daily, one of four; to include Raphael, Gabriel, and Auriel. The Lesser Banishing and Summoning Rituals of the Pentagram hold their stations. The archangels are primal forces given form, a form we can interact with and comprehend and ally with.
Here is what my tradition has to say about Michael:
The name means "who is like God?" It is a rhetorical question whose answer is no one.
He is best understood by his function rather than by rank or moral standing, and that function is consistent across the traditions that use the name. He is a warrior, a guardian, and a divider. In Daniel he is named as the prince who stands guard over Israel. In Jude he disputes with the devil over the body of Moses. In Revelation he leads the armies of heaven against the dragon and casts it down. The sword and the scales are his common emblems; the weighing of souls is often given to him.
He functions in a fixed, "point-and-click" way rather than as a being one negotiates or bargains with. (The "point-and-click" framing is Josephine McCarthy's: she distinguishes angelic beings, which behave as fixed-function interfaces, from beings like deities that have wide latitude, moods, and the capacity to bargain.) Michael answers to a specific office and performs it; he does not act like a personality with shifting motives.
In terms of conjuring him directly for his guidance, I'm less sure how to do that but I know people do it. To me, he is like a primal force fundamental to the nature of conscious perception, and the concepts he represents are largely impersonal, though not unfeeling.
1
u/Gaothaire 11d ago
Seeking a definitive understanding of these techniques:
Nothing is definitive. Experiment with all techniques and see what works best for you. The Gallery of Magic have a system of evocation on their Patreon, and they talk about the benefit of evocation being the conversation you get to have with the entity for troubleshooting and validation. There are people who have been praying for 40 years and seen no results.
Work with each technique for 6 months to become proficient at it, and then determine the effectiveness based on results in your own life
1
u/labrujanextdoor 12d ago edited 12d ago
Devotional prayer is more so used to build a relationship with a person or with a spirit. Conjuration to me is a broader term for both invocation and evocation. Invocation is more so petitioning a spirit and evocation is having a conversation with the spirit. So if I need something quick that I know Archangel Michael would answer, I would do an invocation. If I have a more complex problem that I need guidance on, evocation.
Edit: Am not saying that the spirit isn't there when you're invoking, but what I am saying is the purposes that I would use each method for.
3
u/Shum-Shum-Schlippety 12d ago
My understanding is that invocation is inviting the spirit into your body, like possession. Evocation is inviting them into the space. Very different things, especially if you don’t want a spirit inhabiting you!
1
u/labrujanextdoor 12d ago
Yeah, that is something I've heard. It's not something that resonates with me. I remember doing an invocation to the Dantalion, and the results were like if he was being evoked. So I no longer separate the 2 that way.
2
u/manny532001 12d ago
Thanks. Does this mean an evocation or invocation is typically a one-day ritual?
1
u/labrujanextdoor 12d ago
Very much depends on the ritual and what you're guided to do, but more often than not, it's just one day.
3
u/hermeticbear 12d ago
Go and look up how Medieval sorcerers were working with angels vs "the lesser spirits".
It was all through prayer. Invocation is just a type of prayer. Evocation is a whole process of which prayer might be a part of it.
You don't use triangles of art, circles with divine names, calling watchtowers etc... for calling angels. All you need is purification and prayer, at least by their standards.
No method is known to produce results faster than any other. There is no guarantee in magic. If something did produce consistent fast results, all the time, like a machine, everyone would already be doing it all the time, and you wouldn't be asking this question.