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Greer's practice mostly consists of Golden Dawn work so expect a such filter, and take it with a grain of salt as always. These are all taken from his. Book Circles of Power.
Since they are long I will put them in spoiler tags. Hope they work.
Since they are long I will put them in spoiler tags. Hope they work.
The angels of magical tradition have little in common with the mass-marketed and rather saccharine winged beings so common in certain aspects of pop culture today. Angels, in magical philosophy, are expressions of the primal unity of the spiritual level of existence; in theological language, they can accurately be called the servants of God, while from another perspective they can be seen simply as personifications of the primary creative powers of the universe acting within space and time. Traditional lore has it that each individual angel has a specific, tightly defined purpose in the universe, and can be contacted by magical means in matters touching on this purpose. As expressions of primal creative power, though, they act in accordance with their own will, which is identical with the will of the absolute unity; they can be invoked, therefore, but they cannot be commanded or bound by any human power whatsoever.
This term is used for two related classes of spirits, both of whom function
principally as sources of information in magical workings. The first class
consists of the Intelligences of the seven traditional planets, who play an
important role in talismanic and evocatory magic. The second class is
composed of the Intelligences governing certain methods of divination,
who are thought to be the source of the information gathered through
divinatory means. Intelligences can be summoned by magical means, and
commanded within the limits of their nature.
principally as sources of information in magical workings. The first class
consists of the Intelligences of the seven traditional planets, who play an
important role in talismanic and evocatory magic. The second class is
composed of the Intelligences governing certain methods of divination,
who are thought to be the source of the information gathered through
divinatory means. Intelligences can be summoned by magical means, and
commanded within the limits of their nature.
The modern English language has a very poor vocabulary for nonphysical beings, and so this general term has had to be pressed into use for a particular class of beings as well. These are beings roughly comparable to humanity in their level of development, differing mainly in that they lack physical and, often, etheric bodies. The planetary and Olympic spirits of magical tradition belong to this class, as do the entities listed in many of the medieval grimoires. Spirits vary widely in their powers and their attitude toward human beings, just as human beings do, and they should be faced with the same qualities of courtesy and caution one would use in the company of human strangers. They can be commanded and bound by magic, and this can sometimes be a useful mode of magical working. By human standards, however, they are often evasive and dishonest, and information they provide should be checked and double-checked by ordinary and magical means before being taken at face value.
These are the living beings who inhabit and structure the four elements of
the physical world. They differ from spirits in that they have highly
developed etheric bodies, and can therefore act directly on physical matter.
They are traditionally divided into four classes, assigned to the four
elements: gnomes, corresponding to Earth; undines, to water; sylphs, to air,
and salamanders, to fire. (The last type shares its name with a class of small
cold-blooded animals, also known as newts, because the latter often live in
decaying logs and could be seen now and again crawling out from the midst
of burning wood.)
Elementals of each type are said to be ruled by a King, who is essentially
the collective consciousness of the element itself. They are somewhat less developed than human beings, approximating the level of the more
intelligent animals. Their relationship to humanity is complex, and the
subject of a great deal of rather odd theorizing in some of the tradition's
writings, but it's generally agreed that they welcome interaction with us
and, in some sense, benefit from it. They can be commanded and bound by
magic, and if their needs and natures are respected, they will follow simple
instructions willingly.
the physical world. They differ from spirits in that they have highly
developed etheric bodies, and can therefore act directly on physical matter.
They are traditionally divided into four classes, assigned to the four
elements: gnomes, corresponding to Earth; undines, to water; sylphs, to air,
and salamanders, to fire. (The last type shares its name with a class of small
cold-blooded animals, also known as newts, because the latter often live in
decaying logs and could be seen now and again crawling out from the midst
of burning wood.)
Elementals of each type are said to be ruled by a King, who is essentially
the collective consciousness of the element itself. They are somewhat less developed than human beings, approximating the level of the more
intelligent animals. Their relationship to humanity is complex, and the
subject of a great deal of rather odd theorizing in some of the tradition's
writings, but it's generally agreed that they welcome interaction with us
and, in some sense, benefit from it. They can be commanded and bound by
magic, and if their needs and natures are respected, they will follow simple
instructions willingly.
Far more ambivalent are those entities we can call nature spirits, nonphysical beings who have etheric bodies like those of elementals but have more specialized roles in the natural world. These include such entities as the dryads and oreads of ancient myth, as well as the complex beings described in the world's faery legends, which are called fays and arch-fays in the Golden Dawn material. It is critical to remember that these are not the prettified flower-fairies of Victorian sentimentality; authentic faery-lore, as well as the records of modern magicians who have dealt with these beings, makes it clear that nature spirits are potentially highly dangerous, especially to the arrogant. They can and, under the right circumstances, should be contacted by the magician, but attempts to bind or command them are likely to backfire in very unpleasant ways.
Much further down the scale of development are larvae, nearly mindless entities who function as scavengers on the etheric level. Under normal circumstances, they feed on the cast-off etheric bodies of dead humans and animals, and a range of other kinds of etheric debris. If the etheric body of a living person becomes weak or damaged, though, it can attract larvae, and this is said to play an important role in certain kinds of human illness. Larvae are of no valid use to the magician—there are methods of magical attack that involve sending larvae to feed on the etheric body of the victim, but like all forms of destructive magic these inevitably rebound on the sender-nevertheless, problems with larvae are not uncommon in the squalid etheric environment of modern cities.
This much-misused term is unfortunately the only word in modern English for nonphysical entities that are hostile or destructive to human beings. In the Cabalistic philosophy that underlies Golden Dawn magic, these are identified with the Qlippoth or Negative Powers, creatures of unbalanced force from the universe that preceded our own. Each of the Negative Powers is an expression of some aspect of the universe in a totally pure and totally unbalanced form, and although they are not evil in any absolute sense—they have a place and a necessary purpose in the scheme of things, and therefore a right to exist—their nature (and ours) makes them utterly inimical to human beings. They can be commanded or bound by magic, under certain circumstances, but it is almost always wisest simply to banish them and let matters rest there.
