Original post: pAmphAge
First of all, that HGA link posted above is truly an excellent little essay.
At any rate, I found this thread and forum because I wanted to find more people's experience with actually using Abramelin Squares (one of those arcane subjects that more people talk about than do.) And now I find myself compelled to log in and yap it up.
Regarding some of things about first meeting one's HGA to use the squares, I don't disagree, per se, however what if one comes from a different magickal background than High Magick where such a term doesn't easily apply. What about someone who grew up in a very loose Shamanistic system, but was well-adept within their own belief system? I have no doubt, that should they be inclined, could use the squares with utter impunity. This holds true for anyone who has mastered their own system of spirituality, whatever it may be. I'll even take it to the extreme and say that someone well-accomplished in the way of the Tao, and with no previous magickal training could use the squares. Why? Because they are so in tune with the natural flow of the universe, that nary anything would be able to push them off course.
Also, I wanted to comment on how limited the ways of attaining one's HGA are being thrown out here. "must take 6 months" etc...blah blah. Personally, I think the Abramelin method is ridiculously out of date, and not at all suitable to the vast majority of modern magicians. I can think off the top of my head a dozen other more interesting ways to transcend, and I'll give one example to the original poster of this thread:
Arm yourself with the Book of the Law. Study it assiduously. (I'm not really the world's biggest Crowley fan, but there is no way in Babalon's Bloody Butt I can deny the power of it. Even mouthing a few verses will straighten up even the most unruly spirits! And adding some vesicles to your Talismans is a wonder to behold!). While are you doing this, take a lot of hallucinogens like LSD, mushrooms, or (the legal) Salvia Divinorum, and practice WHATEVER magick turns you on. That will not only get you in touch with your guardian angel PDQ, it will also get you ready for the Abyss, which I will discuss in the next paragraph of this windy post.
Before one can 100% safely and efficiently use magick of any sort, especially working with spirits, I don't even believe that just meeting one's HGA is going nearly far enough. One should have crossed the Abyss. At that point, one is safe to do whatever the fuck they want and mistakes will be minimal, and the dangers light. So I'm a huge advocate of people taking the Oath of the Abyss (which can be found by searching on Google) as soon as they feel comfortable. Yes, I know the horror stories perpetuated by Crowley and others about how it can take terrible lifetimes to get through the Abyss, but that was then. The 93 current is much stronger now, and if the magician constantly weans himself on the Book of the Law, there is no reason he can't come through the ordeal within a few years. (This of course varies on one's Karma, but duh, you knew that.)
At any rate. Does anyone have an actual working experience with the Squares? I'd love to hear some. I've been working with the Goetia for years, and I recently started working with the squares. They are...odd...in comparison. At first seemingly perfectly innocuous, and then...almost like the one guy said above...they seem to unlock in my head. This is using a Saliva Divinorum method I currently use for all spirit workings (a very brief rundown of which can be found at
http://www.neurotique.com/izabael.html ...it's a pretty intense experience I might warn, as it tends to be more evocatory than invocational...Izabael has taken control of my hand before to write things, for example, therefore it's a very different trip than looking at Goetics in a magick mirror, but truer--as you get a much better sense of their real essence. IMHO, their visual appearances are inconsequential.)
My initial impression was that the squares didn't feel quite as powerful and immediate as the Goetic spirits, and I wonder why it's common practice for newer practicioners to play with the Goetia, but are so mortally afraid of 'melin squares? I think it's probably nonsense started by Crowley who, of course, would have had an extra intense experience with everything Abramelin since that's how he personally attained his HGA. My first impressions, however, are that the squares are no more or less powerful than the Goetic spirits, who are extremely powerful indeed and can just as easily confound a fragile mind as anything in Abramelin. (As a side note for those looking for "kinder, gentler" spirits to work with, I reccomend the ones in Lemegeton Book 2. From my experience they aren't nearly as intense as Goetic ones, who can be overwhelming--the mouth on King Beleth for example is something to behold!!!)
Hope to hear some experiences. The one with the guy's house burning down was certainly interesting, but those seem to be the more familiar type of story 'melin squares. I'd rather hear some, "Yeah I used a square for ________, and the material results of which was great!"
pAmphAge