Conceptualising the Daemon/HGA

[Wintruz]

I'm generally dismissive of those who conceive of their Daemon/HGA in frames that have been drawn from lazy places. What I mean is that someone buys "Radiant Rainbow Hawaiian Angel Cards" (or a "LHP" equivalent), draws a card, once, at random and then proceeds to identify their Daemon, their highest, most sublime Secret Self, with what they've randomly drawn. Sometimes this occurs in less obviously self-deceptive ways: I remember hearing an elderly relative describe a presence in their life that was manifestly their Daemon. They then proceeded to call this presence "Jessica" because a "psychic" (a known charlatan) in 1960s Leicester Square told this relative that they could see a Victorian nurse called Jessica following them around. I'm not saying a lecture on Neoplatonic theology was needed but "your Higher Self is guiding you" might have allowed the conscious mind to engage with things in a more open and powerful way.

In a certain sense, those who project a transparent need onto their Daemon are closer to things. Those who claim that their Daemon is Cleopatra or Satan himself might be unwittingly revealing what they lack, what they hope will enter their lives through contact with their Daemon. If it's powerful enough, that need may well actually draw their Daemon closer to them, the mask of Cleopatra/Satan dismissed the closer a "Knowledge and Conversation"-type encounter comes (for wise people at least, I'm sure there are fifty-five year old maniacs who claim that Satan is their personal Daemon).

I too do this at times: I conceptualise my Daemon as a historical personality who so utterly encapsulates the atmospheres and qualities that I've glimpsed when I've made breakthrough contacts with my Daemon/HGA. Because this is all so personal, I'll keep the historical figure to myself (no Xenophon, it's not Hitler) and I'm almost certain that it is a mask, merely a means by which the Daemon and I communicate with each other (at this stage though, the synchronicities are getting so ridiculous that I'm not sure I can dismiss out of hand that I've cottoned onto something by giving it this face and name). The Daemon doesn't mind what they're called, they will work with whatever rope we throw to them if it's done with sincerity.

Does anyone have any thoughts to offer on this? Any experiences? I know there are traditional and Cabalstic methods for deciphering names and so on but I'm more interested here in personal ways of conceptualising the HGA.

 

[Xenophon]

I'm generally dismissive of those who conceive of their Daemon/HGA in frames that have been drawn from lazy places. What I mean is that someone buys "Radiant Rainbow Hawaiian Angel Cards" (or a "LHP" equivalent), draws a card, once, at random and then proceeds to identify their Daemon, their highest, most sublime Secret Self, with what they've randomly drawn. Sometimes this occurs in less obviously self-deceptive ways: I remember hearing an elderly relative describe a presence in their life that was manifestly their Daemon. They then proceeded to call this presence "Jessica" because a "psychic" (a known charlatan) in 1960s Leicester Square told this relative that they could see a Victorian nurse called Jessica following them around. I'm not saying a lecture on Neoplatonic theology was needed but "your Higher Self is guiding you" might have allowed the conscious mind to engage with things in a more open and powerful way.

In a certain sense, those who project a transparent need onto their Daemon are closer to things. Those who claim that their Daemon is Cleopatra or Satan himself might be unwittingly revealing what they lack, what they hope will enter their lives through contact with their Daemon. If it's powerful enough, that need may well actually draw their Daemon closer to them, the mask of Cleopatra/Satan dismissed the closer a "Knowledge and Conversation"-type encounter comes (for wise people at least, I'm sure there are fifty-five year old maniacs who claim that Satan is their personal Daemon).

I too do this at times: I conceptualise my Daemon as a historical personality who so utterly encapsulates the atmospheres and qualities that I've glimpsed when I've made breakthrough contacts with my Daemon/HGA. Because this is all so personal, I'll keep the historical figure to myself (no Xenophon, it's not Hitler) and I'm almost certain that it is a mask, merely a means by which the Daemon and I communicate with each other (at this stage though, the synchronicities are getting so ridiculous that I'm not sure I can dismiss out of hand that I've cottoned onto something by giving it this face and name). The Daemon doesn't mind what they're called, they will work with whatever rope we throw to them if it's done with sincerity.

Does anyone have any thoughts to offer on this? Any experiences? I know there are traditional and Cabalstic methods for deciphering names and so on but I'm more interested here in personal ways of conceptualising the HGA.

The historical personages gambit can be used a number of ways. One rite I perform involves reference to the coming Cakravartin. I have found it helpful to identify this one with a succession of historical personages who strike me as exemplifying some of that one's needed virtues. Personages of lesser fame than Cleopatra or Satan or Caesar. Say, recipients of the "Knight's Crossed Garters Order awarded by the Duchy of Elbonia in their National War of Self-Immolation."* Genuine heroes all, but not perhaps commonly thought to have attained apotheosis.

Likewise where you use the non-Fuehrer, I draw on a historical figure who represents a folk whose history has been less than sterling (and which ones peed in my gene pool), who caught between a rock and a hard place stayed stubborn and got squished. This less out of personal masochism than the notion that one has to distill aether out of the unlikely stuff that one was born.

(* not being snide---I have a list of such ones, all historical, but drawn from a source I do not wish to name. Surprise, these were all in a conflict that did NOT befall 1939-45.)

 

[HoldAll]

Does anyone have any thoughts to offer on this? Any experiences? I know there are traditional and Cabalstic methods for deciphering names and so on but I'm more interested here in personal ways of conceptualising the HGA.

Here is a quote from Peter J. Carroll's "Liber Null & Psychonaut" (chapter "Augoeides"):

If any unnecessary or imbalanced scraps of ego become identified with the genius by mistake, then disaster awaits. The life force flows directly into these complexes and bloats them into grotesque monsters, one of which is the demon Choronzon.

Borrowing Crowley's favourite bogeyman is of course a scare tactic and not to be taken literally but I think it's true, and it's especially true when one inadvertently endeavours to squeeze a basically ineffable being into a familiar shape, at worst into an an idealized version of oneself which one then calls one's Higher Self because that road invariably leads to narcissism. From my own personal experience (I'm still in the early stages) I've found that it's best for practical reasons to follow the lore that the HGA gets assigned to us at birth as an objectively separate entitiy, which means ditching the psychological model altogether in favour of the spirit one; there is less of a temptation to project one's own egotistic notions into an 'alien' being than into a supposedly 'higher' aspect of one's own mind. In this way, the HGA remains an unknown quantity instead of just an exalted instance of myself that I'm free to explore (and mould) at leisure.

It's enough for me to sense a presence. I don't insist on any visuals. If that means speaking to thin air as Carroll and Brand recommends, which I briefly do several times a day, so be it, after all that's what I do every time I make a phone call. I've made a few attempts to have the angel answer back in the beginning but all I got was the voices of people familiar to me in real life telling me what I expected to hear (LARP country, in a word), so I immediately stopped. On the other hand, that presence I've begun feeling recently expresses itself in an unusual and unexpected way which I consider enough evidence that the experience is really genuine and I'm not busy creating a tulpa, thoughtform or whatever.

That's my personal approach. I want my HGA to be an otherwordly mystery, something that surprises me and defies expectation, something beyond the range of my imagination. As a result, I strive to conceptualize it as little as possible. Should I encounter a visual construct genuinely created by my HGA at some later stages, I'd assume it wants to tell or show me something, not because it is its genuine appearance. As of now I don't receive any visual or auditory input, and that's fine with me.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2025

Right now I'm following Damon Brands "Magickal Destiny", very down-to-earth and commonsensical. Abramelinasque ordeals are unnecessary to attain the HGA, IMHO.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2025

Sustained consistent effort is, I wanted to add.

 

[The God-King]

This seems to be a phenomenon by New Agers or novices. Smh.

 

[HoldAll]

One of the best pieces about the HGA I've ever read is tellingly called "Never Again Alone" by Rufus Opus in "The Holy Guardian Angel" anthology:

The Holy Guardian Angel is your Holy Guardian Angel, and it will be what it will be whatever you need it to be, whatever is necessary for you to become what you are supposed to be. It is an agent of your attainment. It brings you spirits, it connects you to wisdom, it teaches you, it provides for your needs, it gets you favorable attention and hides you from unwanted attention. It is your guide, your servant, your teacher, your informant, your mentor, your butler, your trainer, drill sergeant, Mother, Father, and Cool Uncle rolled into one.

Above all else, it is your friend.

Damon Brand takes the same line: the HGA is your friend. People tend to forget all about the future relationship between them and their Guardian Angel; they see it as a hard-won prize they feel entitled to after all those hoops various gruelling methods made them jump through. How would you wish to be things between you and your HGA? Although I don't think it will lend itself readily to the figure of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from "Full Metal Jacket", even if it gives you a well-deserved kick in the ass from time to time, but that's just me - call me naive and sappy but I like the idea of the HGA as my friend. I can't think of any character to conceptualize this notion right now but Lee Ermey's definitely not going to be it.

 

[Faria]

Does anyone have any thoughts to offer on this? Any experiences? I know there are traditional and Cabalstic methods for deciphering names and so on but I'm more interested here in personal ways of conceptualising the HGA.

Abramelin introduces the angel as the way to bind the four demon princes and their underlings, to have guidance and protection, and to execute some of the more benevolent and personal conjurations from Book 3. Since He is otherwise absent, this version of the angel looks a lot like a stand-in for Jesus Christ. If you're a 16th century Jewish mystic, it's understandable to want to exclude that fellow from the book, but from my perspective it looks very similar in tone and substance to people going off on a pilgrimage to find the Lord.

Crowley emphasizes the pilgrimage as well, and begins Magick with comparisons to Moses, Buddha, and Mohammed who all go off on their own and return as a prophet. He builds the whole system of Magick around this idea, to find your real self and its principles, to become a personification of the Will of God, much more than identifying a spirit assigned to be your buddy. Nonetheless it confused him throughout his life and at one point he even identified his HGA as a physical person he met by chance.

I believe that the True Will is whatever you actually end up doing. My True Will might be something awesome, but in reality I'm typing here, so that is my True Will. I think a lot of people really are looking for meaning and purpose in life more than just a spirit contact point, which they expect will be unveiled after a retreat from society and a determined effort to expose it. Unless I have completely misunderstood the majority of Thelemic literature, this is expected to be something more profound than a servient or protective spirit. I don't think it's something you can find or attain, and certainly not a separate entity, just a way of life that recognizes spiritual power in every person.

 

[zagan]

That's my personal approach. I want my HGA to be an otherwordly mystery, something that surprises me and defies expectation, something beyond the range of my imagination. As a result, I strive to conceptualize it as little as possible. Should I encounter a visual construct genuinely created by my HGA at some later stages, I'd assume it wants to tell or show me something, not because it is its genuine appearance. As of now I don't receive any visual or auditory input, and that's fine with me.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2025

Right now I'm following Damon Brands "Magickal Destiny", very down-to-earth and commonsensical. Abramelinasque ordeals are unnecessary to attain the HGA, IMHO.

Post automatically merged: Jan 6, 2025

Sustained consistent effort is, I wanted to add.

Damon's book is great and his protocols will help you make contact but it will be soft contact vs the more dedicated process following the Abramelin that culminates in hard contact. side note: The sigils he include in Magickal Destiny are great too, i do box breathing with their energy and helps you build up energy.

Its hard to compare reaching a level of purity needed to bind with your angel to then be able to force demons to submit vs just casually following the protocols. Either way the main thing is just acknowledging they are around and involved in your life and figuring out when they are trying to relay a message.

As for the OP's question about methods for the name, i found using the Agrippa method based on birthday and astrological placements to be pretty decent, and confirmed the name via divination.

But its also important to heed warnings from people like Josephine McCarthy and just refer to beings by their "office".
Also there's the idea there are multiple "Daimons" as agrippas method provide the good and bad daimons names, and there's a part where if your moon falls in the 12th house you an "evil" daimon.

Post automatically merged: Jan 9, 2025

Unless I have completely misunderstood the majority of Thelemic literature, this is expected to be something more profound than a servient or protective spirit. I don't think it's something you can find or attain, and certainly not a separate entity, just a way of life that recognizes spiritual power in every person.

I subscribe more to Josephine McCarthy's take on these matters. If it was not a separate entity i dont think people would struggle to contact them, considering how many groups have some form or understanding of them is something i take into consideration.

The HGA is an angelic being that is a separate and independent consciousness-and most certainly is not your higher self-yet the HGA is around and within you. The majority of people are not aware of this being, but it is there nevertheless. Not every culture has a concept of a guardian or companion angel: working within a culture which has a sense of balance, like Ma'at in Egypt for instance, voids the need for a conscious awareness of such a being.

The HGA more or less operates on the dynamic of necessity-not only as far as its actions are concerned, but also whether or not its human needs to interact with it: most humans do not. In certain circumstances the monarch, high priest, and suchlike could benefit widely from interacting with their HGA. I am sure they had many different names for this being, and differing ideas of what it actually was.

The HGA is a companion on the Path. As an angel of Malkuth, the physical and human kingdom, this being, like every other being of the Earth, has combinations of qualities and powers. Angels whose roots are deeper in the realm of creation have very specific powers, elements, actions, and roles. But angelic beings rooted in the physical world are like us in that they are combinations of elements, powers, etc. The HGA has elements of the Sandalphon, the Companion. It also has the power of bridging, as well as wielding a dynamic that you have come across in your lessons where it has been described by the term Sword of Damocles.

They also have elements of the Light Bearer, the Grindstone, and Restriction, all of which are angelic components of creation. We too have all these power dynamics within us as created physical beings, and in reflection of that, so too does the HGA. They are with us from conception until death, and one of the roles of a magician, if they are ever to tread the paths of the Deep Mysteries, is to know the presence of this being and to be able to listen to it.

 

[Wintruz]

Right now I'm following Damon Brands "Magickal Destiny", very down-to-earth and commonsensical. Abramelinasque ordeals are unnecessary to attain the HGA, IMHO.

I've just read through this. I was surprised to find that it is a solid little work with common sense at its centre and esoteric superfluity kept to a minimum. Because I avoid the "Love and LVX" mafia, I was unaware of just how vicious many had become towards others' method of contact. Some preliminary research and it seems that Brand underplays the one-up-manship.

Like the Abramelin itself, I cannot use the symbols in Brand's book given my hostility to the worldview they arise from. However, as a guide to strengthening what I conceptualise to be a Future Self of totally purified consciousness, the protocol technique he lays out is well-thought through and I wouldn't rule out adapting.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[HoldAll]

I've just read through this. I was surprised to find that it is a solid little work with common sense at its centre and esoteric superfluity kept to a minimum. Because I avoid the "Love and LVX" mafia, I was unaware of just how vicious many had become towards others' method of contact. Some preliminary research and it seems that Brand underplays the one-up-manship.

Like the Abramelin itself, I cannot use the symbols in Brand's book given my hostility to the worldview they arise from. However, as a guide to strengthening what I conceptualise to be a Future Self of totally purified consciousness, the protocol technique he lays out is well-thought through and I wouldn't rule out adapting.

Thank you for sharing!

I currently use his First Sigil of Contact as a screensaver, maybe that was what started things rolling for me... I'm joking, of course, it was the daily practice with the Protocol and wouldn't have happend without meditation (or was it the 'Headless Rite'?).

In some ways, "Magickal Destiny" is a soft-Abramelin for the 21st centure. You don't confess your 'sins', you release pain (Prot. 4); you don't pray, instead you talk to the angel from your heart (which is still difficult for me); I love the Active Intention bit (Prot. 3), I do it everytime I go for a walk. Prot. 5 is pure genius, you get to know the angel by becoming it, which is a bit similar to the Headless Rite.

I couldn't do the Abramelin either. All those purifications... maybe I've read too many books on Tantra but who says I'm 'dirty' and this in need of purification? My 'spiritual self' or whatever isn't dirty, it maybe has been warped by life but definitely not 'sullied'.

 

[zagan]

I couldn't do the Abramelin either. All those purifications... maybe I've read too many books on Tantra but who says I'm 'dirty' and this in need of purification? My 'spiritual self' or whatever isn't dirty, it maybe has been warped by life but definitely not 'sullied'.

The purification aspect is to help the daimon bind to you during the actual ritual that takes place on the last week and to give you an additional shield to get the demons to submit. you're basically freeing your mind from their influences and showing you understand what you're seeking. People get caught up on the organized religions aspects.
Jason Millers Black school with St Cyprian also has a method to get demon kings to put their seal in a book you make and to have demons below them ready to serve you. but also requires devotion, various prayers, holy water, anointing oils etc.

Post automatically merged: Jan 9, 2025

In some ways, "Magickal Destiny" is a soft-Abramelin for the 21st centure. You don't confess your 'sins', you release pain (Prot. 4); you don't pray, instead you talk to the angel from your heart (which is still difficult for me); I love the Active Intention bit (Prot. 3), I do it everytime I go for a walk. Prot. 5 is pure genius, you get to know the angel by becoming it, which is a bit similar to the Headless Rite.

You can also just work with Raziel and get soft contact with your daimon right away, you dont really need to go through all the protocols for soft contact.

 

[Wintruz]

I couldn't do the Abramelin either. All those purifications... maybe I've read too many books on Tantra but who says I'm 'dirty' and this in need of purification? My 'spiritual self' or whatever isn't dirty, it maybe has been warped by life but definitely not 'sullied'.

My antipathy to all things Abrahamic probably doesn't need expansion.

I am interested though in the practicals of how the daemon fits into healthier mystical traditions like Neoplatonism and Sufism. When we perceive the gods, are we perceiving them through the daemon (like looking at Kether through Tiphareth)? Is there, then, a connection between the daemon and the nous? Is it, in fact, the "imprint" of the gods on the daemon that we're seeing? These are the questions that I'm presently trying to think my way through.

Iamblichus seems to think that the daemon, though allocated to each individual, is independent of the human being and so our perceptions of the gods are our own. The daemon, naturally, wants us to have these perceptions though so it will guide us towards yoking our mind to the authority of the nous. In other words, the daemon is there to help us in the process of seeing and then ascending to the gods, but the idea of uniting with the daemon, as in Abramelin/Thelema, would seem foreign to this approach. The daemon in Neoplatonism is more a guide for the mind (or our "day to day" consciousness) than the nous. Those very close to the gods, may, theoretically, have no need for the daemon other than for it to provide practical guidance in particular situations (as happens with Socrates).

This all started (in fact all of my serious magic started) from an experience of perception. I lacked the language to explain it at the time but in hindsight, this was a noetic experience of an extremely powerful force, a god. Not in the least "warm and fuzzy", this was like looking at pure consciousness itself, unfiltered through emotion. It was "cold" and detached and utterly awe-inspiring. It had the effect of an enormous acceleration of my intelligence, my memory increased, self-discipline seemed a doddle, etc. etc. One of the downsides of having such an experience at a young age is that when we go out to make sense of such things we can be led into thoughts which serve other peoples' interests but which don't clarify truth. Religious types would tell me that I had seen God or the Devil (I believed both at various stages), atheists would say it was a biological aberration (though experimenting with drugs and privations could not replicate the experience - William James knew nothing!), Crowleyites that it was the "Angel" because, in their Cabala-addled thoughts, we cannot see divine beings outside of the intermediary of the Angel.

With time I have come more and more to rely on the ancient pagan approaches, especially the Greek and Germanic but I'm interested in others too, especially the Middle East and Japan. The more Abrahamism comes into the picture, the more distorted things become.