Demons of Magick: Three Practical Rituals for Working with The 72 Demons (The Gallery of Magick) Paperback – May 26, 2017

Do you have a hobby in which, skill-wise and ability, you are better than the average person? For instance, tennis or chess. It doesn't even have to be something that's inherently competitive; it could be figure skating or painting. You may even be considered "good" in this hobby, but certainly not up to the level of a world-class pro/performer. You may be inspired to rise to the top ranks, while simultaneously you have anxiety and doubts on whether this can be achieved. This was what led me to do a ritual with Haagenti as one of his powers is to remove fears and doubts regarding a person's potential.I'll admit, the result wasn't quite what I had in mind. (No, it's nothing silly like what you'd read in The Monkey's Paw -- that is superstitious nonsense.) The result was simply quite mundane. It's often said that magick takes the path of least resistance, and that definitely applied in this case. I ended up browsing through an occult book that I hadn't touched in nearly a year for a completely unrelated purpose. I got a slight jolt of almost-recognition when I came across the sections which related to my very request, namely: removing doubts and getting in touch with the highest potential of one's talent. Not what I was expecting, and I still had work to put in. However, I'm positive and confident that the magick in the book I've (re)discovered will help considering my past experience working with it.If you can relate to handling difficult emotions of doubt and fear while wanting to reach for the highest potential of your talent, give Haagenti a try. Your result will likely differ from mine, shaped by your immediate environment and life circumstance, among other factors. Maybe you'll come across materials that directly address this as I have, or you'll come across a possible mentor that can guide you, or maybe you'll just find yourself feeling less and less fear and doubt!All that being said, I debated whether to give the book four stars or five. I'll start with the area in which I found it lacking (boy it sounds harsh when written out!) before moving to the positives. Simply put: it's unclear exactly how some of these demon's powers are to be put into actual use. I'll need to elaborate on what I mean: I am not talking about an issue on finding the right spirit for the job; I am talking about how to actually work with some of the more 'abstract' powers and the lack of instruction in regards to this. If someone's desires were external, for instance, to petition a demon for monetary gains or to attract a specific person, how this plays out in day-to-day life with the result or lack thereof is obvious along with how the demon's power is to be put to use. However, we may run into some difficulties when the goal is more internally focused, especially those aimed at changing one's own personal traits. For example, the power to make one more eloquent and convincing so that one's arguments have the effect of charming. How exactly is this to be worked out in actual use? As a pre-requisite or ideally, must one be already taking courses on verbal persuasion as well as debate, or something of a similar nature? Or are we to expect speech to naturally become more eloquent and convincing over time? Also if we only wanted this effect in specific situations and/or on specific people, is that to be worked out with the demon after the initial petition? But isn't that getting too specific and strangling the possibilities of the result? Or the power to create awe in friends and enemies; how are the specifics to be worked out and agreed upon?There are a lot of powers aimed at changing one's own personal characteristics (or the perception of them by others), and the other half of these 'abstract' powers concern gathering intel on various subjects. If the demon's power is to answer direct questions, likely the answer will come in the form of intuition, omens, or dreams. But suppose I wanted a clear answer on the spot while also posing further inquires based upon the answer? Of course, "Ritual 2" and "Ritual 3" (evocation) addresses that, but suppose I don't have my "psychic senses" open. What does Gordon (the author) say regarding such situation? Not too much from what I've gathered, aside from (to paraphrase) 'the more you practice the easier it gets' and to basically just keep persisting.Now, the good: Clear, well-developed, yet simple methods for working with the demons of Goetia. Unlike what some may claim, you won't find these exact methods anywhere online or previously published. The 'words of power' used to facilitate the altered states are also not found in any mainstream occult titles or online. A clear listing of the three angelic emissaries used to constrain each of the seventy-two demons; you can readily find the Shem angels that correspond to each demon online but you'll be hard pressed to find a listing of the three emissaries for every demon. Also the "Evocation Keys" particular for each demon, used to help bring about direct contact. I realize this description sounds much like the book description on the back, but it's true: these points make this book like no other on the subject of Goetia. What you get is a well-developed practical system that you won't find published or online anywhere. And despite my criticism in regards to the lack of examples for working with some of the powers, I realize that would have made this book even lengthier. Gordon may have wanted to encourage readers to discover for themselves through trial and error experience.Update 9/24/17 Demon Vassago and My Lost Object. Around the start of the month I had a new furniture brought in and as a result some things had to be moved around along with clutter being cleaned out. It wasn't until days later that I'd noticed an item I value had become lost. I'm certain this happened after the furniture being brought in, likely from things being moved about. I had always kept the object in the same location, but I got the sense that I'd temporarily placed it someplace else during the cleaning. Problem was I couldn't remember exactly where! For the following week I searched every corner in the house to no avail. I even used Adam Blackthorn's Sigils of Power for recovering a lost object; I had once used it to locate a lost item within a minute of using it! No results this time however. I next did a divination to see if the object was still within the home or if it had been unknowingly thrown out: it showed it was still within my home (hence I could apply magick to remedy this).I used Ritual Two ("Connective Evocation") and tasked the demon Vassago to recover my valued object. Nothing overtly supernatural was sensed. The only sense I got was the Internal Click, felt immediately after verbally calling forth Vassago. It's hard to describe, but it's like everything goes silent yet intensely heightened for a split moment; one moment you hear the bustling activities of the day, the cars passing, distant voices of people, next imagine all of that activity just stops, goes silent, and all attention becomes transfixed in your direction like you are the center of the Universe, only a split second later for the world to resume back to how it was as if nothing was amiss. The remainder of the ritual felt more mechanical than I'd like. Nonetheless I did the best I could, and in the coming days I would periodically search around my home while also trying to be as open to intuitive feelings as possible. I also paid extra attention to my dreams in case Vassago revealed relevant information. This turned into a week, and at this point I was losing confidence. Did I not get my message through to the demon, was my wording off, was Vassago just being a jerk and brushing me off? I didn't care as much about the result at this point, but was bothered by where things may have gone wrong. I needed to use a cable cord, so I reached into an open bag where it's kept, and a small voice says "Maybe it's in here..." I grab the cord while brushing off the thought since I've had numerous such thoughts to no avail, and I had also previously checked the very same bag and the object wasn't in there. As I walk to my desk, cable cord in hand, I hear something soft drop onto the carpet: my (formerly) lost object laid right there at my feet! It must have gotten inside the mess of tangled cords and only now fallen out when I moved it. Vassago has delivered, despite my doubts.Lessons learned: If one type of magick fails, try another. Depending on the circumstance your result may take longer than a week to manifest; it took twelve days total from the day of the ritual to when I finally recovered the lost object. The ritual can still take effect even if you have doubts, although I think this is a very tricky one. More than anything what I continue to be shocked by is the precise nature of how these demons deliver the result. For instance in my petition to Vassago I worded my desire as "My lost (name of item) is easily found." Indeed, it was easily found, simply dropping onto my carpet. But of course, when I was putting effort into actively finding it it may as well have been invisible. I've worked with a number of demons in this book, and each result all had this striking quality of preciseness. I've since come to believe this to be a defining feature of how demons deliver our desire compared to other classes of spirits. If anything, demons are very faithful in keeping close to the wording in our petition. As Gordon advises think of them as loyal servants, members of your royal guard. This also means we can't assume things and expect the demon to bring us what is left unspoken: the wording in your task to the demon is important. (This is what I've found to be true from my experience, but it's possible your experience may differ.)The more I work with the methods in this book, the more my appreciation for it grows: this book is a masterpiece. True, there is a learning curve but the discoveries you make along the way is priceless. It's a book that can guide you towards decades of development in working with the demons of Goetia.Update 10/7/17 Paimon and Seer: Powerhouse Duo. We increasingly live in a world where the average citizen is at the mercy of big corporations and institutions. Justice can be hard to come by as any issue you attempt to resolve is met with apathy and shifting of blame as each department would rather point fingers at each other than geniunely help. Unless you happen to be an influential figure with connections, the Average Joe is helpless against the wall of bureaucratic red tape. Lawyers will not even hear you unless your problem can potentially yield them a profit in the tens of thousands. Suffice to say I was in a situation where due to an accounting error I was wrongfully left with an outstanding debt of a hefty sum on my record. Of course any attempts to resolve this was met with apathy and shifting of blame and responsibility. I eventually obtained the name and contact info of the director in charge who had the authority to wipe my debt.Time for me to work. After some reflection I settled upon the demons Paimon and Seer. I was uncertain whether I was using too many spirits to handle one problem; like the old saying "Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen." But I felt that this was right: Paimon's task was to sway the director's mind into seeing that my debt was a mistake (which it indeed was) as well as awareness of rampant worker irresponsibility in the lower departments. But just because someone is persuaded in your favor doesn't always mean they'll act in your favor; there is a possibility that a person can decide to act contrary to your goal despite being convinced you are in the right. Not everyone does what is "right" for reasons too numerous to list, thus Seer's task was to bring about a prompt decision to clear my debt.I used the Ritual Two method for both Paimon and Seer. For the ritual with Paimon I got a faint chill immediately after calling forth his name which dissipated just as quickly. The only other aspect that was vaguely supernatural was a sudden odd sensation of an awareness focusing closely on my spoken petition and instructions. The ritual with Seer was a mixture of fleeting supernaturnal impressions with the majority of the ritual being mechanical. After stating my petition I listed two other clauses addressed to Seer in order to fine tune the magick, it was at this point a sudden thought pops in, "Demanding, aren't we?" A young man's 'voice' seeming more amused than anything angry. Whether it was geniune or not I brushed aside the comment.The rituals being completed, the challenge I faced was that I had to verbally interact with a stranger in order for the magick to take effect. I was confronted with self-doubt and anxiety on whether I could be persuasive enough. I knew better from experience that the magick will do most of the heavy lifting in assisting my effort in the "real world", but my particular case meant I couldn't just try to forget about the rituals to better aid in the manifestation of the result. I even procrastinated for days, but ultimately the conviction of my desire won over any fear. Feeling anxious like I was about to give a performance before a huge crowd, I called.. only for his secretary to answer! I seriously began to doubt whether she'd even connect me through, but she patched me through. As I explained my story to the director everything just seemed to flow in my favor. The director's reaction was surprisingly one of understanding and patience. I was just about to suggest he authorize to clear my debt when I was stunned to hear him say this exact thing before I even voiced it! He even warmly thanked me for making him aware of the worker incompetency in the lower departments.Amazing would be an understatement. Keep in mind that I essentially cold called a complete stranger and compelled him to side with me as well as clearing me of my debt. Paimon and Seer are powerful: they've delivered in spades despite my doubts. Yet again, the results were brought about word for word in accordance with the phrasing of my petitions; I continue to be surprised at how precise the demons are in aligning the result to be exactly what I've asked for. I've never encountered this level of precision in other forms of magick. Earlier I said that unless one is an influential figure with connections they will be mostly left at the mercy of the system, but the fact is putting the methods in this book into practice will allow you to become an influential figure with powerful connections yourself. If used with tact, wisdom, patience, and persistence (and I emphasize these qualities) the possibilities are endless as you take control in creating a life worth living. I only wish Gordon had written this book back when I first discovered magick: the subject on demons and the Goetia has so many pitfalls in the way of dogma and superstition that it'd have saved me precious time from listening to bad advice.This will likely be the last update due to the increasing length with each addition. I'll blog future experiences, perhaps.

I've purchased both the physical and the kindle copy. I'll go into a bit of detail about the differences towards the end of this review.I first purchased this book about 2 years ago after becoming intrigued with the idea of connecting/communicating with demons. I honestly only started seriously using this book about a year ago. First off, the book is written in such a way that it is intentionally difficult to skim the steps required to even get a vague idea of going about summoning anything. He even states this in the book, saying that it is both important to fully grasp the steps required before ever beginning to attempt one of the three rituals described therein, and to do that, you need to write the steps out in your own words to better understand what's required. There's technically four rituals, with the first being the core ritual that's highly suggested before moving on to any of the other three. This core ritual helps you to relax and feel better connected to what you will be doing (and according to Gordon himself, power-up the following ritual you'll be conducting with the help of connecting to that particular demon's ruling angel). He notes that despite what you may think, connecting with the ruling Shem angels actually gives you a stronger connection, as well as stronger protection in the event you feel nervous or apprehensive about contacting the demon. After this, you go through the steps of the desired ritual to contact the demon directly and tell them your desire phrased in the past tense (as it has already occurred). You may elaborate with further details about the outcome you want. Finally, you then tell the demon what you offer in return. The simplest offering (and most recommended by Gordon), is simply public praise. This can be done by telling people you know personally about your positive experience, writing your account on a forum, or (what you've no doubt seen countless times before coming across this review), praising the demons you've worked with in the review for the book itself.The first ritual is called "Petition for Results". This entails writing out your request in a cipher (using the provided "demonic" alphabet), then rolling the note up and burning it (usually with a candle). I went with this ritual the first 3 or so times I tried to make contact a few months after I got the book. This method felt just okay to me. As I stated in the beginning of this review, I didn't *really* start using this book until about a year ago, I'd say I was moreso just playing around with it when I first got it, not very serious about achieving contact or getting results, so it goes without saying that neither of the things I requested during these "attempts" came to be. I think my lack of seriousness (and to be fully honest, lack of certainty about what I wanted I truly wanted at the time) was picked up by the demons I was trying to contact and they (rightfully) waived my requests off. I didn't feel any connection or anything even vaguely supernatural until I tried these half-hearted attempts for a 3rd and final time. Gordon mentions in the 3rd ritual (that we'll get to later) that after performing the most connective ritual in the book, you'll feel a presence "that is absolutely not of this world", and this is exactly what I felt even using the most basic, disconnected ritual provided that I wasn't even serious about. My back was to the wall and about 2 or so minutes after summoning the requested demon, as I was going over my desire, I suddenly felt something huge (like 8 or so feet tall) almost directly behind me (I'd say it was about a foot more to my right), even though my back was literally touching the wall. The closest description I can give of this feeling is when you're out camping, deep in the woods at night (or in the middle of the desert) and you suddenly feel what is absolutely a predator staring at you. The hair on the back of your neck stands up and you know something is very intently looking at you. The closest thing I've experienced to this feeling was being out in the middle of the desert at night and suddenly feeling a mountain lion looking down on me off in the short distance. It was this exact feeling combined with the aforementioned "not of this world" sensation. It lasted only about 10 or so seconds, then completely disappeared all at once. I haven't actually felt this particular feeling since, instead only feeling a presence suddenly appear in the room with me, watching seemingly disinterested for about 30 seconds to a minute.The second ritual, "connective evocation" entails starting with the core ritual (as is always recommended), then stopping 80% of the way through to put yourself into a sort-of meditative state. Now, I'm someone who unfortunately cannot meditate. I've been diagnosed in the past with ADD, and I'm assuming this is why meditation is impossible for me because it requires focusing on one thing only, mindlessly repeating it until you're in a different state. Gordon mentions that if you truly cannot reach a meditative state, follow the steps anyway and just try your best. Once you feel you've genuinely made an attempt, you're free to move onto the next steps, summoning the demon and hopefully making verbal contact, i.e. hearing the demon's thoughts in your head. I've never actually gotten any verbal communication doing this (I assume this is because of my trouble with meditation), but have felt a presence with me in the room and gotten real results from my requests, which I'll go into greater detail at the end of this review.The third ritual "full evocation" is the most involved one. It requires you to either hang up black tapestries/blankets on the walls of the room you'll be doing the evocation in, or being outside in an isolated area with no light pollution where you won't be interrupted or spied upon (such as a property you own). Obviously, the first option is the most doable for 99% of people, so he continues on assuming you'll be doing this indoors. I haven't actually tried this one because I don't want to: buy 3 or more black tapestries, figure out how to hang them on the wall in such a way that they don't fall down while still being removable, or just straight up painting the walls in the room you'll be using black. Neither of these options appeal to me and I (like most people who'll be reading this) don't have access to a private secluded piece of property. The reason he gives for the blackness required is that you'll be making a small circle of light around in your immediate work area with candles, and summoning the demon to physically appear to you just outside of your circle of light, in the darkness beyond. Gordon states that he feels this ritual is not really worth all of the effort for 99% of the things you'll be requesting. He suggests this method more for advanced users just to work towards to witness for yourself at least once and makes it clear that you'll not be getting better results just because this ritual is more involved. This method requires even more meditation and chanting than method two and as such, it doesn't greatly appeal to me. I'll definitely try this one someday, and will update this review when I do.As for whether I'd recommend the kindle or physical copy, I greatly prefer the actual book because you'll be needing to flip back and forth to different sections during evocation and this is made much more easy by using physical bookmarks marking where you'll be flipping to. Whereas with the kindle, you'll have to screenshot some pages to pull up and go between them, or open the kindle version on both your reading device of choice and a PC, which is what I've done for most of the rituals I've done while I haven't had access to the book. Obviously, with the real book being so pricey, I can absolutely understand going with the kindle edition if you're even slightly unsure if this book is what you're looking for. Just be prepared for a very fiddly, annoying and distracting experience.RESULTS: I'm actually going to go into much more detail than most of the reviews on here because I found the vaguery of everybody's results unhelpful and annoying. No where in the book does Gordon mention not sharing details of your results, so I don't know if everyone is just superstitious or overly paranoid about someone coming across their review and connecting the dots. The most common way Gordon recommends offering something to the demons is public praise. As mentioned earlier in this review, this can be told to people you know in person, on an online forum or even in a review for this book, which is why you'll see all of these reviews end in "hail ___" after a vague description of their experience. I'll start with the first 100% result I've gotten which is literally everything I asked for. About a year ago, I became involved in someone elses legal issue and the other party was refusing to come to an agreement, stretching the matter out for over a year, just to wrack up legal fees out of spite. About 2 weeks before I was called to testify to the other party's character, I was threatened by them to not do so or they would do everything in their power to ruin my relationship with the party I'd sided with. The next day I chose to do the second ritual, asking for the demon to make this other party feel overcome with guilt and if they didn't stop what they were planning immediately, and to suffer greatly if they did not. 3 days after doing the ritual, I received a call from the party I was assisting in the lawsuit and was told they just got word from their lawyer that the other party had suddenly dropped the suit and made it very clear they weren't interested in pursuing the matter any further. This was especially odd as I mentioned earlier, that I'd been threatened as recently as 6 days ago and was told they were going to pursue this matter as far as possible. This was all done to the thanks of the great and powerful Alloces. I couldn't believe how quickly he handled this issue and put to bed any stress I or the other person was feeling over the upcoming suit. I told him I'd write a thorough review about my experience in return for his services. Hail Alloces.The other things I've requested always tend to be long term and as such, are difficult to say if it only helped improve things slightly over time or was able to only do so much. I've requested a deeper more serious relationship to happen at a quicker rate. This has definitely had results and I've noticed things suddenly developed much more quickly than they had previously. So I will also give acknowledgment towards Zepar and Ose for their efforts and ongoing work to this end. **UPDATE** This has had slow but steady results that are now nearly exactly what I asked for. Hail Zepar, Hail Ose!**UPDATE** I have another full result all thanks to the amazing Orias! In June of last year I was at my wits end with someone close to me in regards to their addiction. they had previously stopped cold turkey around 2 years ago for about 4 months, then as soon as 2023 started (literally almost to the day, it was Jan 2nd) they relapsed for a couple of days, apologized and said they were extremely regretful and would stop again. This lasted about 3 days and they went right back to it, becoming extremely defensive when I reminded them about what they'd said just a matter of days ago, justifying that it wasn't a problem and they could just do it occasionally. This turned out exactly as you'd expect, and made the year a living hell. when I'd reached my absolute limit, I turned to Orias. In late June, I asked Orias to help free them of their addiction and to lose any interest in ever picking it up again. Over the next few weeks, the addiction came to such a head that even the neighbors were noticing and complaining. Then, at around 5 weeks after the ritual, they suddenly told me one day they were finally done with it and wouldn't be touching it again. They've now been nearly 8 months free of it and, most interestingly, has seemingly lost their addictive personality trait they had previously possessed all their life, showing a much more healthy level of interest in things while not being obsessive. Hail Orias!Overall, I absolutely recommend this book if you have any interest in communicating or working with demons.