| 143 | 144 | 145 | 146 | 147 |
| 1 | 46 | 93 | 139 | 185 |
|
wheresoever it may be, and warning thee —."
The rod went back into the fire. Instantly, the palazzo rocked as though the earth had moved under it.
"
Stand fast!" Ware said hoarsely.
Something Else said:
HUSH, I AM HERE. WHAT DOST THOU SEEK OF ME? WHY DOST THOU DISTURB MY
"
REPOSE? LET MY FATHER REST, AND HOLD THY ROD."
Never had Baines heard a voice like that before. It seemed to speak in syllables of burning ashes.
"Hadst thou appeared when first I invoked thee, I had by no means smitten thee, nor called thy father,"
Ware said. "Remember, if the request I make of thee be refused, I shall thrust again my rod into the
fire."
"THINK AND SEE!"
The palazzo shuddered again. Then, from the middle of the triangle to the northwest, a slow cloud of
yellow fumes went up toward the ceiling, making them all cough, even Ware. As it spread and
thinned, Baines could see a shape forming under it; but he found it impossible to believe. It was - it
was something like a she-wolf, gray and immense, with green and glistening eyes. A wave of coldness
was coming from it.
The cloud continued to dissipate. The she-wolf glared at them, slowly spreading her griffin's wings.
Her serpent's tail lashed gently, scalily ...'
So runs James Blish's description (2) of an evocation of Marchosias undertaken by Theron Ware. The
basic elements of this ritual are taken from the Goetia, a relatively straightforward grimoire which
catalogues a full seventy-two spirits (reputedly those sealed up by Solomon) and the technique for
evoking them.
Evocation has been touched upon at the beginning of the previous chapter mainly by way of contrast
with invocation. However evocation is a very important part of the magician's repertory. In fact if you
relied entirely upon the grimoires of the fourteenth to the nineteenth century for your sources of
information, you could be forgiven for thinking that it was the major part of magic. Of course over the
same period, other works such as the works of Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, Dee or Francis Barrett
put it into perspective with the rest of traditional magic.
----
[2] James Blish, Black Easter, or Faust Aleph-Null. Faber and Faber, London, 1968.
Page
Quick Jump
|