Want a short and fast empowerment ritual? How fortuitous, because here’s one for you to try out!
I got the idea after talking with Fr. Rufus Opus and getting a short Hermes contemplative ritual from him. It was his special kind of mashup between a Trithemius-style conjuration, invocation of a god, and contemplation, which turned out really well. At the beginning, the ritual uses the climactic line and descriptor of intent from the Headless Rite (PGM V.96) to solidify the magician’s power and authority in the cosmos. It’s basically a consolidation and concentration of the entire force of the Headless Rite into a short statement of intent, which works pretty awesomely. It’s not a substitute for the whole Headless Rite, but it works as a shorter version of the Preliminary Invocation. I’ve gotten into the habit of using it before any major ritual and incorporating it into my morning ritual schema.
If you have it, anoint your forehead and palms with Abramelin or similar solar/holy oil. Face north, and either raise both your arms up in a Y-formation (generic pose of power) or with the right hand extended in front of you and the left up and behind you (Egyptian fighting pose). and say the following words of power. Imagine them glowing across your forehead, with the beneficial sign in the middle. In Greek letters and in transliterated Roman:
ΑΩΘ ΑΒΡΑΩΘ ΒΑΣΥΜ ΙΣΑΚ ΣΑΒΑΩΘ ΙΑΩ
AŌTH ABRAŌTH BASYM ISAK SABAŌTH IAŌ
Extend the arms out to your sides, palms facing forward, and say the following incantation. While saying the incantation, feel the words vibrate throughout the cosmos, and feel yourself taking in and incorporating all of existence within you as a king would his kingdom. I’ve provided the incantation in four variations: Greek text, transliterated Roman, translated from the PGM, and the Liber Samekh variant translation:
ΥΠΟΤΑΞΟΝ ΜΟΙ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΤΑ ΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΑ ΙΝΑ ΜΟΙ ΗΙ ΥΠΗΚΟΟΣ ΠΑΣ ΔΑΙΜΩΝ ΟΥΡΑΝΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΙΘΕΡΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΓΕΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΥΠΟΓΕΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΧΕΡΣΑΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΝΥΔΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΣΑ ΕΠΙΠΟΜΠΗ ΚΑΙ ΜΑΣΤΙΞ ΘΕΟΥ.
Hypotaxon moi panta da daimonia hina moi ē hypēkoos pas daimōn ouranios kai aitherios kai epigeios kai hypogeios kai khersaios kai enhydros kai pasa epipompē kai mastix Theou.
Subject to me all spirits so that every spirit heavenly and ethereal, upon the earth and under the earth, and on dry land or in the water, and every aversion and scourge of God may be obedient to me.
Subject to me all spirits, so that every spirit whether heavenly or ethereal or upon the earth or under the earth, on dry land or in the water, of whirling air or rushing fire and every spell and scourge of God may be obedient to me.
A note on the translations: the Greek text says “…pasa epipompē kai mastix Theou” at the end, which I translated as “…every aversion and scourge of God” but which Liber Samekh reads “…every spell and scourge of God”. The difference lies in the word “epipompē”, literally “sending upon”. The term is one of two ways classical thinkers defined an exorcism or banishment. The first, “apopompē”, just means “sending away”, or a general GTFO to an evil spirit, curse, disease, demon, or harmful spirit. “Epipompē” is a specific kind of banishing where you redirect the evil influence to another target, e.g. “instead of harming me, go find some whore in the street who really deserves this” or “bring your blessings to me and send away all maladies to the ends of the earth”. This part about “every spell and scourge of God” means any harm or curse, intentional or accidental, that could possibly have supernatural causes, which a magician would also like to have control over in addition to any other spirit.
