Night of the Demons

LON MILO DUQUETTE SYDNEY LECTURE - Monday 2nd November 2009

INTRODUCTION TO SOLOMONIC MAGICK

(No, not the fabulously schlocky movie starring Amelia Kinkade, sorry folks) 

I proudly brought along my Triangle of Art to this lecture for Lon to display as a prop. He was graciously impressed (although I'm sure he's seen much more beautifully constructed things of that ilk in his extensive travels).

The night opened with probably my favourite quote from Lon the whole time: "The Lesser Key of Solomon deals with spirits we might refer to as infernal. And the reason we might refer to them as infernal is because they come from Hell."

For those who quail at the very thought of invoking a demon from hell, the point was made that sometimes the esoteric is just the opposite of what the exoteric would have us believe (this is the essence of Qabalistic interpretation). Lon sees demons as the heavy machinery of the universe, like massive construction vehicles which are very useful - if you know how to use them safely. If you don't they will quickly become demolition equipment. They are wild forces, but the method of dealing with and controlling them follows a certain formula.Essentially the lecture took the form of Lon relating different stories from his own experience (and one or two from others) which were vastly different in their make-up, but still conformed to this Solomonic formula.

He first related in great detail the story of his first Goetic evocation of Orobas which he relates in My Life With the Spirits and Angels Demons and Gods of the New Millennium (I think). Buy those books for the story - it's fucking hilarious. Especially considering he had to use his child's bedroom to perform the operation: "Now son I'm gonne be in your room for a while, don't come in no matter what you hear."
"What're ya gonna do in there Papa?"
"Papa's gonna evoke a demon in there sport, hopefully he'll be gone by bedtime."

The big lesson in this experience of his for the likes of everyone else is that these demons may be in your head, or they may be external forces, but when you whip up a demon to deal with a problem it IS that problem, and you may have been fighting that demon your entire life - it is essentially creating a now or never, sink or swim situation where the fear and the anguish is confronted head on.

He makes a good point about "barbarous names" in that they have some value in terms of shifting you into a trance state, but using them in the construction of your Circle and/or Triangle may not be the best. The Divine Names you use should be particular to you. As shoudl the Invokation of Supereme Divinity. The prayers and invokations given in the Key of Solomon are not only long-winded and obtuse, but they are a little contradictory. They are basically the magician calling out to God and saying how worthless they are. "I'm pitiful, I'm dirt, I'm so so worthless, I'm not even worthy to lick the spittle dribbling from a slug that is worthy to lick the corner of your toenail, I'm so so shit, I can't do anything right, I'm a sinner, and I can't control myself, Gawd I'm so fucking tragic, I'm just nothing, I'm nothing BUT I WANT TO KNOW THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!" Basically all you need to do is call upon that which is Most Divine to you, align yourself with that Divinity, and fill yourself with it. Lon calls it plugging in to upstairs. Essentially, if you trying opening the door to downstairs without having plugged in to upstairs you're going to have one Hell of a fight on your hands.

Lon's invokation is just the most brilliant and astoundingly individual innovation I've encountered in modern magick. On the mundane level, he sings the name of Ganesh 108 to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel" (no, really). But on a deeper level, there is the intense affection and love for the hindu god Ganesh that Lon feels. There is the act of expanding your universe and filling it with divinity until there is no space left but it is filled with God. This is followed by pulling all that back into yourself so there is No Thing but your universe, and you in it.

Little tidbits were useful - things the grimoires don't usuallyt explain very well, or do so in such an obtuse and roundabout manner that you're not sure what you're being told to do. For example, when the spirit arrives, you first show it the Pentagram, which binds them, and then show them their sigil on the reverse of the Pentagram - showing them you have bound them. Then you show the Hexagram if need be. Also something Lon has done on occasion when a spirit is being difficult is saying that he won't leave the circle until the spirit complies. As his circle is nothing more than a length of string laid around him, he simply picks this up and tie it around his waist and then go about his business. His innovative methods for threatening spirits were also greatly inspiring.

He related the story of a Catholic girls' school in Los Angeles he performed an exorcism on which was an astounding story probably too long to relate here. He related the sotry of the efficacy of the Goetic spirit Andromalius who is good at finding lost things - and in Lon's experience, specifically cars. My favourite example of this was Lon simple telling a woman who's ex-husband had run off with the car to draw a circle and triangle, call up the spirit with it's sigil and ask it to help. She took this further and drew the circle and triangle in the empty garage, drank and entire bottle of tequila while hurling abuse at the triangle as though it were her ex-husband. The car was miraculously back in her driveway the next morning.

In any case, this lecture made Solomonic evokation seem something I could actually one day perform. It's a question of needing to do it, and I'd still be shit-scared, but I now feel I understand the whole process better. I'm now looking for a perfect way to invoke Divinity for myself. Lon's method is so particular to him, and I can see how powerful it is simply because of that specificity. It excites and inspires me - much like the whole lecture series has done.

Wrapping the whole experience up, I feel invigorated beyond words - as though my world has changed, I've changed, and my magical practice can now never be the same, just like I can't nor can my world.

After the masses had gone I got Lon to sign some books. He drew an hilarious little cartoon of "Baba Lon" in my copy of Ordinary Oracles - after correcting a little editorial mistake he straightaway turned to. I'm now raring to get into some ENochian exploration. We have a group ready to go now - more than the small cabal of four of us from before. Now we have to get it off the ground!

I'll finish with my other favourite quote from Lon which was more serious than humorous was this: "The real magic is becoming Solomon, not doing the Magic."