Physical vs. Visible Evocation: Which is Better?

I received an email and the question was about which method of manifestation was better; physical or visible. Some would say it raises a valid point. Not really. Let’s define what each is below to get a better picture.

Physical Manifestation:

This is what the grimoires of old (The Goetia, Keys of Solomon, 6th & 7th Book of Moses, Grimoire of Armadel, etc) describe, how to bring the spirit to physical appearance. When evoking to physical appearance the spirit is physically in the room with you. Others in the room or in the near vicinity will be able to see it. If someone walks into the room where the evocation is taking place they too will be able to see the spirit.

Evoking a spirit to physical manifestation on our material plane is an extremely arduous task. Our plane is not habitable for them (another reason why demons don’t just go around randomly possessing people, but that’s a theme for another article ). In order to get a spirit to manifest on our plane, we need to make the ritual space more akin to their own sphere of habitation. We do this by using the energy of the ritual space within the circle. Things like an exorbitant amount of incense smoke, depleting or rising temperatures, etc.

Getting your ritual space to be sufficiently pleasant for the spirit to manifest physically is a daunting task. Many grimoires do not specify exactly how to do this which makes the process that much harder. It’s more of a trial & error process unless you can find one of the few modern grimoire titles that offer such instructions. If you are able to get your ritual space to mimic the spirits home plane and the spirit does manifest you then have to make sure your circle is the proper 9 feet in diameter and the Triangle of Art is another 3 feet away.  There are even several spirits who do not come alone when called, but with other spirits in their “spirit armies” such as generals and lieutenants. This would mean the Triangle of Art would have to be wide enough to contain two or more spirits.

Visible Manifestation:

This is the method most modern Demonolatry books on evocation describe and the method that I use. This is the method where the magician utilizes a scrying vessel, which is 9 times out of 10 a dark mirror. The dark mirror is placed within the Triangle of Art and the spirit manifests on the astral plane and the mirror acts as a window to view the spirit. This is much easier than physical as the spirit can easily manifest on the astral plane. Those with some training in the art of scrying should have no issues utilizing this method once they have perfected their evocation technique.

With this method, only those who are present during the evocation will be able to see it. Those who happen to walk in the room during it will only see you doing some weird ritual and talking to a mirror.  The spirit will not physically be there but can be seen, heard and spoken to through the mirror.

So which method is better? The answer is really neither. Both work equally well so long as your desires and wants/needs are met. The spirit can do its “job” whether it’s physically in the room with you or on the astral plane and communication is via the dark mirror. Some magicians even go as far as saying even if you have not trained yourself in the art of scrying and cannot see the spirit but can sense it’s presence you can still achieve results. I cannot say “yes or no” on this as when I would perform evocations and see no spirit I would consider it a failure and close out the ritual.

The bottom line is no matter which method you practice, physical or visible, so long as your goals are achieved then that is all that matters!