Triangle of the Art

The Triangle of the Art comes from the Grimoire tradition of magic.  Its function was to concentrate the spirit being invoked into one space so that it could be seen visibly.   It first appeared in the Lesser Key of Solomon the Goetia where its function was to constrain and force evil spirits to manifest.

We have very few accounts of Golden Dawn evocation magic and the most famous is the account published by Pat Zalewski in his Talismans and Evocations of the Golden Dawn.  That was a ritual which was written by Alan Bennett (Frater Iehi Aour "Let there be light") and was designed to get the nearly unpronounceable spirit of Mercury TAPHTHARTHARATH to physical manifestation.
 What was telling about this ritual was that it used a triangle of the art to manifest the spirit outside the circle. Bennett’s triangle of the art was not that used in the Goetia, in fact it was a simple triangle enclosed in a circle. The circle outside the triangle would help to constrain and concentrate the spirit by effectively placing it in another reality.  In the triangle, Bennett placed a sigil of TAPHTHARTHARATH to aid its manifestation. This is a key part of understanding the Golden Dawn Z2 instructions for evocation .
One of the areas that Bennett suggested that followed the Z documents, was that the triangle was placed in the point where Mercury was in the sky at the time of the ritual.  However, in the case of evil spirits he suggested it should be placed in the West because this was where the Qlippothic spirits should be.  This is pretty daft because it implies that spirits such as  TAPHTHARTHARATH were evil and needed to be treated as unbalanced demons.  It is fair to say that the last thing you want to do in an evocation is bring anything out of the lands of the West.  Then there is the small problem about what the magician does when you are invoking an Angelic force.  These are only some of the sorts of problems that the early Golden Dawn adepts had trying to fit the Z documents into the Key of Solomon texts.

Mathers’ Goetia translation was released unfinished by Aleister Crowley, who had financed it and wanted his money’s worth (he more or less claimed to have written it).  Since this happened a long time after the collapse of the Golden Dawn,  it took some time for the Golden Dawn community to realise that it was not a work of the Great Beast, but potentially a Mathers paper.  Copies of the “Crowley” Goetia ended up on the shelves of some Whare Ra members and it was this triangle of the art which was adopted in their private rituals.
This classical triangle of the art was the one I have used for many years without questioning it.  Then I started to wonder why the Goetia’s author used Greek names as these did not strike me as having the necessary cabbalistic power to do the job required.  In addition with the exception of Tetragrammaton the names did not make much sense – what was an Anaphaxeton?   It is fairly clear that the three are supposed to be names of God, but it was not clear which ones.
Tetragrammaton just means “four lettered name of God” and we know that is YHVH יהוה.   so it was possible that the other names were also Greek instructions for Hebrew names.
Primeumaton means literally “the first name”.  Indeed the Goetia says that the name means: “Thou who are the first and the last, let all spirits be subject to us and let the spirit be bound to this triangle which disturbs this place. In the first verse of Genesis the name of God mentioned was Elohim אלהים.  “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and earth.”

Traditional Triangle of the Art 

So far I was happy as the divine name of Binah was YHVH Elohim and this connection made sense given the function of the triangle was to bring something into manifestation.   But that still left the name Anaphaxeton to find meaning and ritual function.
Mathers' translation of the Goetia in the chapter on the Magical Triangle of Solomon said that “Anaphaxeton” is sometimes written “Anepheneton” but this is not much help either.
Mathers had written in the Key of Solomon Chapter VI that the name ARPHETON, and in the name ARPHETON, “by which the angels who are destined to that end will summon the Universe, in visible body and form, and will assemble (all people) together by the sound of the Trumpet at that terrible and awful Day of Judgment, when the memory of the wicked and ungodly shall perish”.   Then Mathers had written a footnote saying that this name was sometimes replaced by Anapheneton, or Anaphaxeton.
The name was connected with the more martial aspects of God, but its use is not complete until you consider the Goetic prayer that Anaphaxeton was supposed to represent:  “Thou great god of the entire heavenly host.”  The great god of the heavenly hosts was Tzabaoth ,  Tzabaoth  is the plural form of "host" or "army" and used as a divine name in its own right.  In the Golden Dawn it was part of the divine name of Hod and Netzach.
This would mean our triangle would be bounded by the divine name YHVH ELOHIM TSABOATH or the Lord the God of Hosts.
Using the name Elohim beginning with the letter Aleph and Tsaboath beginning with the letter Tsaboath you could read the meaning of the divine name around the triangle as:
YHVH the beginning and the end,
Lord for eternity
The Lord, the first and the last
Eternal God
God the Alpha and the Omega

Suggested Triangle of the Art 

As is typical, in researching this article, I found someone on the internet who came up with similar conclusions, and gave me the breakthrough I needed.  Writing in his blog  Enoch Bowen pointed out that YHVH was often replaced in the Key of Solomon by the name Adonai. For example in Isaiah 6:3 in a description of the  Kerubim, the prophet wrote:
“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD (YHVH) of hosts (Tsaboath): the whole earth is full of his glory.”
But the Key of Solomon the King  Book 1, Chapter 5 there is a conjuration based on the same verse which says "… by the troops of Angels who cease not to cry day and night, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, QADOSCH, ADONAI ELOHIM TZABAOTH"
This means that the Key of Solomon used ADONAI as a replacement for YHVH.  This is fairly common as YHVH was considered unpronounceable and was often replaced by Adonai.  Adonai is still a four lettered name of God.   Replacing Tetragrammaton with Adonai makes more sense when you realise that the triangle of the art is closely connected to Isaiah 6:3.
It does not change my translations of the names around the triangle because YHVH was often interpreted as Lord.
The effect of this would be to turn the circle and its triangle of the art into a symbolic representation of the vision of Isaiah, which is exactly the sort of thing you want from an evocation.  But there is another clue here within the Bible text itself.
There were two important visionaries in the bible which were the inspiration for Ceremonial Magicians and mystics – Ezekiel and Isaiah.  Both of them had similar visions of the throne of God.
The difference was that Isaiah’s vision was of a static temple with God and his angels not moving.  This was because in Isaiah’s time the Jews were not in exile, whereas in Ezekiel’s time they were.  Using imagery of Isaiah’s vision is ideal if you want the spirits you summon to be connected to the divine and yet stay still.
In the middle of the triangle is the name of the Archangel Michael whose name means “like unto God.” Michael could be a method of bringing down the power of Almighty God so that it might protect the people of God.  Michael often appears as an advocate and protector of humanity.  His function is important when summoning demons.  Michael is often seen as killing the dragon of Evil.  The use of Michael at the centre of the triangle protects the operator while at the same time helping to provide a suitable medium of communication.
Mathers’ Goetia also gave colours for the Triangle of the Art.  He said that the triangle should be outlined in black with the three names written on the outside of the triangle in red.  The name of Michael should be written in black on a white background.  In the centre there should be a circle which is of dark green.
While the triangle is a symbol of Binah and creation, the circle within it is more problematic.  Traditionally a circle was seen as being the divine and spiritual, particularly compared to the geometric figure of the square, which represented matter. In the Golden Dawn green was the colour that represented the seventh path of the tree of life, Netzach in the Queen scale).  Given that the   Goetia was not written for the Golden Dawn, it is more sensible for the green to be seen as representing nature. A green circle would mean the spiritual side of matter, which is where you want the spirit to manifest.
Given that a triangle of the art was supposed to assist and constrain the spirit or angel, painting the circle green would be giving it a target to manifest within.  In  other words you do not want it to be solid, which would be pure nature, but the spiritual side of matter -- Nature.
According to Goetia the triangle of the art was three feet across, which is a curiously specific number.  Having used triangles of that size they create manifestation that are somewhat stretched and the triangle could be happier being bigger.  If you look the diagram that Mathers provided it would suggest that the triangle should be bigger than three feet.
The number three is attributed to Binah, but it had other meanings which were connected to the triangle’s function. According to Agrippa three was connected to the name  Shaddai שדי  which was the name of God with three letters. It means “Mighty” so the symbol that the triangle is a mighty force that holds everything together.
In the Golden Dawn Z documents the triangle of the art was placed outside the circle where ever the physical planet was in the sky at the time.  Since the Z documents create a temple, this means that the triangle is outside.  But the temple which is created in the Z2 documents is a 0=0 temple of Malkuth.  This symbolically means that anything which is evokes is not expected to appear in Malkuth and is supposed to be viewed on the astral nebulous matter which surrounds a magically empowered temple
At the same time it was expected amongst some Golden Dawn magicians that a “physical appearance” meant just that so the Z2 insistence that such an appearance was possible would appear to be a contradiction.  It might have been for this reason that the Bennett ritual was written using the Z2 formula, but ignored the rule which demanded that the temple had to be set up for a 0=0.
It could have been that Bennett wanted to get a physical manifestation and was removing everything that would have stood in his way. Given the ritual map of the Bennett ritual it is fairly clear he did not bother with the 0=0 godforms or set up his ritual within a 0=0 temple. What would be interesting is that if someone attempted the same ritual but more closer to Z2 and see if they repeated Bennett’s results.

[1]There is no room in this article to explain this in detail. Generally, what happens in a GD evocation is that the adept initiates a pentacle which gives him control over the being. With a sigil in the triangle of the art, it means that what happens within the circle also has a resonance with what is happening in the triangle. As the ritual purifies and consecrates, and creates a simulacrum of the spirit within the “subjective” circle, it is having a direct effect on the “objective” spirit being evoked in the triangle. If the sigil was not there, it would make it difficult to get a physical manifestation because the triangle would be in a “different world” from the circle with no point of magical connection.

Hitting the spirits instead of psychology

A True and faithful relation of what passed between me and a bottle of spirits

Anyone who has read my books will know that I am a big fan of psychology.  Since the 1930s psychology has stopped a large number of magicians going nuts by making them realise that what they might be experiencing is not the anti-christ but by some repressed complex that they have not dealt with.

In my new  book Magical Imagination I look at psychological techniques which are now called “active imagination” but are better known in occult circles as pathworking or visualisation.  I do this so that people can master those aspects of themselves so that they can be more balanced when they come to do more serious magical work on both the physical and astral planes.

But like many things, the psychological approach in magic has gone too far.  Like many things lately I have to chant the mantra “I blame Regardie” but to that mix I have to also blame Francis King, who coloured his history of the Golden Dawn with Regardie’s bias.  Dion Fortune also inspired much of this approach, being one of the pioneers of lay psychology in her time.

Both men believed that inner states were psychological states and that the beings we encounter there were all aspects of our unconscious.   Thus when Dr Felkin, or Samuel Mathers channelled their secret chiefs they were just opening up a path to their repressed unconscious aspects.  To Regardie, the Book of the Law came straight from Crowley’s unconscious, rather than any spirit.

In many ways I agree with Regardie and King, you always have to interpret visions, or dreams psychologically first.  This is because any energy you encounter on the astral plane is going to be communicating through your unconscious.  If you encounter a Goddess then it is going to appear through the symbols you associate with your “significant mother archetype.”

Israel Regardie channelling Harry Potter

But where I differ with Regardie is that spirits, angels, and gods do have an objective reality which is separate from your own psyche.  When you work a ritual to a particular god or goddess, and you are lucky, you are going to pick up the real deal.

These spirits will appear to have a personality, a life and memories which are just as real as any being you meet on the material world.  They are going to have plans and needs which will go well beyond what you think that being would have or need.

In the cases of the bigger ones, such as gods and archangels, there will be a celestial version of it which acts very differently from the sub-lunar lower astral version.  The celestial version will be the highest and most abstract version of the god or archangel.  It will also be the most aloof from the needs of humanity and be more concerned with cosmic events, rather than helping you get a girlfriend.

The sub-lunar aspects of these beings are closer to earth and therefore understand humans more -- they have also been more anthropomorphized by humans.  It is more often these beings that we end up talking to the most.  But the downside of dealing with these sorts of beings is that they have a few of humanity’s negative traits and need to be handled with care.

Some entities, such as ancestral spirits, elementals, and the darker daemons (I am not convinced that demons exist but are just Christian corruptions of sub-lunar entities) remain sub-lunar.  This sub-lunar realm also encompasses the underworld and anything you find there.  These sub-lunar entities which lack a celestial component are the most risky to deal with.  However they are also the most rewarding, because contacts with these spirits teaches us more about ourselves.  They are also more likely to help us with some of the magical heavy lifting.

The point of this particular blog is to say:

“Spirits exist.  They are not aspects of your unconscious, but real living beings.”

When that particular card is pulled out of the house of psychological magic, then a whole lot of things comes tumbling down with it.  Psychology becomes a method of communication and self understanding rather than a complete philosophy which can be applied to magic.

Let the Underworld Sacrifice Begin

One of the reasons why magic does not work is because a person has not understood what they have to sacrifice for the rite to happen.

In different systems of magic, there is the concept of sacrifice – of giving something up to achieve a desire or receive something from the gods.  Usually this is symbolic; a person killed an animal, or poured wine into a trench to give something up to achieve a goal. 

Even in initiation, the concept of taking an oath can be considered a form of sacrifice where the “victim” is the person who is dying so that they can become something more.  They are narrowing their life and promising not to do something so that they can be more than human.

However, there might be something more behind these symbols than first appears, which could lead us to an area of experimental magic.

Most magicians believe that magic can be used to create a change in their lives or environment.  They do rituals because they want something to be different.  In many ways they are creating a new universe in which certain undesirable components are not there.  Effectively they are taking the role of the mind of god, Thoth, and speaking a new universe into being.  Having made their last utterance, and cleared up the wax, which has stuck to the carpet, they wait for the new universe to unfold around them.

Magic seems to create four “effects”: the first and least noticeable is that it does not work at all.  The ritual is said to be a failure and often others are tried.  The next is that something happens but it does not quite manage to achieve its goals.  The third effect is that it works but things do not work as intended and, while the primary goal is achieved, other unexpected events happen.  Lastly, the ritual works and the new universe replaces the old one.

Recently I have come to believe that the reason that some rituals do not work is something to do with the strength of the old universe and the desire on the part of the magician (or outside forces) to maintain it.

Give your old stuff to the Baron at the Crossroads

Ask yourself, for this ritual to work, how much change will be required.  Some rituals require cosmetic changes to the existing universe and should be more likely to be successful. 

It makes little odds to the universe that you get to a certain destination on time without the aircraft developing turbulence and you having to be anally probed by US customs and immigration when you arrive.  A travel ritual to protect against this will probably succeed.  But a much more considerable aspect of your life would change if you won a huge sum on the lottery.  You would also be doing “black magic” to prevent another person’s universe changing as result of your win.

Let’s look at another area of “low magic” to explain the problem.  You had a problematic relationship with a person and you were always fighting.  One day you both worked out this was self-destructive and ended it.  You find yourself alone and do a ritual to find a new partner.  Nothing happens.   The answer might be that the old destructive relationship is still in your life.  You can’t ask the gods to create you a new universe with a new one until you have a space to put a new person inside it.

This idea of “having the space” to roll out the new universe is vital. What appears to happen is that when the creator gods of magic unfold your new shiny universe, there have to be holes cut inside the design for all the things you want to remain.  After all, if you invoke for a new job you do not want your relationship to pack in, or your dog to suddenly vanish overnight.  The problem is that if something in your life is central and antagonistic to your ultimate goal remains, then the new universe will end up exactly like the old one.

While the creation of a new universe is one idea, with its own set of gods, we have to ask the important question “what happened to the old one?” and “what needs to be chopped out of my universe to make this work?”  It is these things that need to be sacrificed for us to make sure our magic works.

This god of sacrifice is a variation of one of the many underworld death gods within religion.  They are Satan, Set, Baron LaCross, Typhon, Pluto, Dis Pater and Saturn.  Before any creation ritual they must be unleashed onto your existing universe, removing those things which stand in the way of what you want.

The first thing many of you must be thinking is “hang on, allowing the destruction of my existing universe by letting this lot make merry with it is insane.”  In some ways you are right.  But equally does that really mean that you don’t want something enough to make the sacrifice?  Is it possible to say that something is your True Will if you are not prepared to sacrifice something else to obtain it?

This attempting to hold on to a large chunk of your universe while at the same time hanging onto your old one is simply not possible.  One change should create other dramatic ones and when you do your invocation, you unconsciously know what each one is.

In fact when you do an invocation you will find yourself putting riders on what you want, which could ultimately kill off any potential universe unfolding correctly.  “I invoke for a magical order which is suitable for me, but has to meet within walking distance of my house, have a pub nearby, have no fees and will recognise my magical genius.”

St Expeditus

So how can we find out what impact our magic will have?  How can we find out what we have to give up, to obtain what we want?

If we invoke gods like Thoth, or our spirit guides, or who (or whatever) to help us create a universe, we have to invoke the death gods to help us discover what our sacrifices will need to be.

This might be the reason that Dis Pater, the roman Hades, was called the father of all riches.  It was because he let the old bad things die so new wealth could come into a life. 

Before you do any invocation which would lead to the creation of a new universe, you should invoke one of the death gods to ask their permission and to request that they tell you what the sacrifice will be.  They will probably tell you and once that sacrifice is made you can invoke for your new life (if you still want to go ahead with it).  

It might be that to get what you want you really have to break up with your girlfriend, who is holding you back.  You might have to leave your mother’s basement and start taking some responsibility for your life.  You might really need to leave the country before the police knock down the door, or give up that person who you are convinced is the love of your life.  It will be the underworld death gods which will arrange that for you so the good work can begin.

It sounds curiously inverted, invoking a death god to ask for a new life, but this is exactly the principle behind a Voodoo magician invoking , who was connected to the king of the dead Baron LaCross.  Expeditus, as his name suggests was called upon to make things happen today rather than tomorrow.  What better way to make something happen quickly than if all the obstacles to your new universe are sacrificed.

Magic has a price... you have to give up your old life to get the new