How do I communicate with spirits?
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Crowley had a lot of contempt for spiritism (chapter 24, MWT), but if that's your thing, try looking into voudoun and systems that incorporate ancestor worship. A key technique is remembering the dead and feeding them. Some cultures leave food by grave sites, but it makes more sense to use incense or perfumes that they liked (scent is linked with memory) and offerings of energy. In the Voudoun Gnostic Workbook Bertiaux states that after making a request to a spirit, one should rub their palms together rapidly and then hold the hands up, allowing the heat and energy from the palms to feed the spirit. The danger of course is that one may attract a wrong spirit and who then refuses to leave you alone - not unlike picking up a stray dog or homeless person on the astral.
Crowley and others would recommend you attempt to first discover your HGA and then everything else will follow naturally.
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Ofcourse Crowley had a great contempt for many forms of Spiritism, but one may ask what is Spiritism? Magicians of all ages communicated with spirits, if you talk about Spiritism in particular what do you see as Spiritism? John Dee communicated with spirits, Crowley communicated with spirits (demons and others), Franz Bardon communicated with spirits (planetary beings and others), question is do we call that Spiritism? Crowley by the way hold Dee in very high regard and worked with Enochian spirits, I think when you wish to talk to spirits first thing to do is think about protection, if you think your ancestor spirits are protecting you than for some forms of communicating with spirits that might be enough, but for other kinds of communications (like communicating with demons for example other forms of protection migh be more of appropiate, I think best thing to do is knowing with what kind(s) of spirits one wishes to communicate, and then find out the best protection method(s) that go with it.
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@alysa said
"I think best thing to do is knowing with what kind(s) of spirits one wishes to communicate, and then find out the best protection method(s) that go with it."
Crowley's point was that just because a majestic-looking spirit shows up all dressed in light and answering your request doesn't mean anything. One must test all spirits. He compared mediums to open sewers because they open themselves up to any and all spirits without critically questioning them.
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Why would someone want to talk to even 1 spirit? An exchange of information? Do you want that information to be useful? If one doesn't, then one might as well just type the questions into Google, and accept the first things that pop up. Just don't blame me if you get a virus...
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Hi Alysa
I must apologize. I reread chapter 24 and Crowley did not use the words “open sewer”:
the modern Spiritist in the dingy squalor of her foul back street in her suburban slum, the room musty, smelling of stale food, the hideous prints, the cheap and rickety furniture, calling up any one required from Jesus Christ to Queen Victoria, all at a bob-a-nob! Faugh! Let us return to clean air…comparatively worthless odds and ends, true Qlippoth or "Shells of the Dead"...devitalized and frittered away by the mere lapse of the centuries...caught up and adopted by some wandering Entity, quite probably some malignant demon….Qlipoth—Shells of the Dead—Obsessing Spirits! Here we are back in the pestilent purlieus of Walham Green, and the frowsty atmosphere of the frowsy "medium" and the squalid séance…Robert Browning's Mr. Sludge the Medium…read your Erdmann if you want the gruesome details. But why should you? …It is not fair to tar all mediums with the Sludge brush; there are many who could advance quite sincerely some of the apologia of Sludge. Why should a medium be immune to self-deception spurred by the Wish-Fiend?...usually of the type that delights in the secret dirty affinities, and so naturally and gladly attract entities of the Qliphothic world to their magical circle. Hence tricksters, of the lowest elemental orders, at the best, come and vitalize odds and ends of the Ruach of people recently deceased, and perform astonishing impersonations. The hollow shells glow with infernal fire….they soak up vitality from the sitters, and from the medium herself…a most poisonous performance. And what do they get out of it?...only stuff the party up with a lot of trashy lies.
People often make important decisions or have life-changing experiences based on communications with the spirit world (cf. Dee and Kelley engaging in wife-swapping or Crowley receiving Liber Al from Aiwass). That’s why its important to confirm who one is talking to before taking their communication as authoritative and relevant to one's life.
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I only have one point to make in this thread, I and others are thinking that it is of no necessity (only when you have a good reason to do so, but I can't think of one, the wisdon is within the self), ofcourse the whole context changes if a spirit is trying to communicate with you first, but I think that most unlikely, then it's of absolute necessity to know as much about the spirit as might be possible.
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@v0rtex666 said
"Why do you want to communicate with spirits?"
I'd like to communicate with them so that i could have some of my spiritual questions answered. I'd also like to build relationships with spirits. I'd like to communicate with things like arch angels, divine intelligences, elementals, etc.
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Then how do you know that you're not just asking an empty husk that answers to "Archangel Michael" in exchange for free prana?
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"I'd like to communicate with them so that i could have some of my spiritual questions answered. I'd also like to build relationships with spirits. I'd like to communicate with things like arch angels, divine intelligences, elementals, etc."
I understand. They never said the teacher must be another human. Your quest IMO is noble. Know thyself, the ancient spirits can help you, as they are of you. But take heed of the others warnings on wandering spirits. Do not welcome any chaos, but ask for a name, a sigil.
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@Dannerz said
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@v0rtex666 said
"Why do you want to communicate with spirits?"I'd like to communicate with them so that i could have some of my spiritual questions answered. I'd also like to build relationships with spirits. I'd like to communicate with things like arch angels, divine intelligences, elementals, etc."
As regards spiritual questions, I would say that the Tarot is a good place to start. As regards relationships with spirits, I offer this quote (source forgotten):
"Therefore, we are to proceed carefully in magic, as spirits likewise desire the communion of the human soul."