Book of Shadows

Evocation 101

While invocation is welcoming a spirit into your own mind, evocation is projecting a spirit into an external space. It's what people are thinking of when they speak of "summoning" spirits. Evocation allows you to communicate with an entity without putting it inside your own mind and body, but in a lot of ways, it's actually more difficult than invocation.

It is always easier to interact with physical things than non-physical things, so if you're going to evoke a spirit, you're going to need a focus point. A focus point is like a containment field that gives you somewhere to project the energy into. This can be a triangle or pentagram made of chalk, candles (real or electric) or stones arranged into a triangle, a statue or image of the entity, the center of your altar, a particular object, a sheet of paper with symbols on it, etc. As usual with sympathetic magic, manipulating the internal space of the containment field can help you manipulate the external environment. Depending on the situation and the nature of the entity, this containment field could just be a place for the spirit to "sit," or it can be a barrier separating you from the spirit so that its energy cannot overwhelm or hurt you. In addition to the containment field, you also need a protective circle or barrier around yourself. When evoking a spirit, especially one you are unfamiliar with, you should always use some protective method to keep you separated from the spirit. This is probably the biggest difference between evocation and invocation; evocation leaves the spirit fully separated from you. Remember that the protection comes not from the geometric shape of a circle or a triangle, but the power that you pour into them. The protective circle also doesn't need to be physical; it can be an imagined "forcefield" of white or purple light.

Now what? Before you conduct the evocation, you should have researched the entity as much as possible. As with invocation, it's helpful to have sympathetic links to the entity present, such as sacred objects, offerings, a sigil or other correspondences. The objective is to go into trance and command the entity to manifest itself, with authority. Talk to the spirit with that authority, but don't be disrespectful to it. Reciting a long incantation might help you feel like you have that authority, but it's up to you how you do it. Ideally, you should be able to "see" the entity in the containment field, but it's okay if you can't. I'm much more auditory than visual, so I usually "hear" spirits but do not "see" them. Once you're done with the entity, tell it that it can go (and say thank you—I made that mistake), and then banish! You never want to summon anything you don't know how to banish. Don't take down the circle until you can feel that the entity is gone.

You can evoke anything. Gods, angels, demons, even fictional characters! Ever wanted to talk to your favorite fictional character from anything? Well, now you can! It works the same way.

(Source: Hands-On Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus)