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A lot of people get confused as to what they are actually trying to do when calling forth a spirit. This may be due to a lack of understanding as to the difference between what 'evocation' and 'invocation' actually is. The following definition was arrived at through discussion on another occult themed forum. This isn't solely my definition, it is a combination of definitions created by a group of people, and is how I personally view the difference now myself.

In a magickal context, the definitions are as such:

'Evocation' : The act of evoking : summoning - as in 'the summoning of a spirit'.

Evocation means to evoke, to manifest something, figuratively or literally. it could be done by summoning (external) or by channelling (internal). You can also evoke an emotion in others though, the term is not limited to spiritualism. Evoke is very synonymous with 'inspire'.

'Invocation' : The act or process of petitioning for help or support; a humble prayer, usually performed at the beginning of a service of worship. Invocation can also mean 'calling upon an authority (supernatural force, in this instance) for justification'.

Invocation means 'to invoke', which is a slightly less out of date word. You can invoke a clause of a contract, for example. it means to insist upon something by way of inferred authority. It might be used in summoning or channelling, if your method is 'forceful' or supported by pre-established rules or agreements, rather than being congenial.

When an exorcist says something like "the power of Christ compels you", like in Hollywood, that would be Invocation - invoking inferred authority. When a spiritualist in a seance says "we invite the spirit of this house to come to us"; that would be evocation. When you tell a joke to a friend to make them laugh, evocation. When you insist someone move their car out of the no parking zone, invocation.

If you are performing an invocation, you are not expecting the spirit to turn up, you are instead requesting assistance. If you are performing an evocation, then you are wanting the spirit to manifest for you. An invoked entity could still manifest, but would do so as a result of it deciding to do so itself - an evoked entity must manifest in some form, otherwise it's simply been invoked.

In a purely technical sense, the two words mean the same thing. The whole evocation means this and invocation means that is relatively new, and was popularised by Crowley. In some magical texts there is little distinction between the act of "prayer" and the act of calling a spirit - you are in a sense doing the same thing.

Hope this clears things up, if you were confused [grin]

Okay, sooo it should be possible to evoke some specific quality right?

In a sense that one could evoke Ares, for example before going to war to be in some sort of ecstatic berserkergang sort of state. Or evoke certain quality, like boldness for example before going to say, job interview. Or evoke something that could help someone in some specific situation.

My question is directed towards qualities/energies/whatever that can help you in some way, without interfering with gods or spirits or demons. The best example would be evoking self-confidence before talking to a girl. That sort of thing.

Could it be done?

EternalReturn wrote: Okay, sooo it should be possible to evoke some specific quality right?

Absolutely.

EternalReturn wrote: In a sense that one could evoke Ares, for example before going to war to be in some sort of ecstatic berserkergang sort of state. Or evoke certain quality, like boldness for example before going to say, job interview. Or evoke something that could help someone in some specific situation.

Spot on. [thumbup]

EternalReturn wrote: My question is directed towards qualities/energies/whatever that can help you in some way, without interfering with gods or spirits or demons. The best example would be evoking self-confidence before talking to a girl. That sort of thing.

Could it be done?

Under the parameters of what 'evocation' is, and assuming you could tap directly in to a 'self confidence' current without having to go through a third party, then sure - fully possible. You could theoretically evoke your own self confidence through meditation, as evocation could be said to involve the channelling of aspects of the super-ego into the id through use of the ego. To be evocation in the true sense of the word it would require either some form of inspiration to build from, or belief that the superego and id weren't part and parcel of the same thing however.

The Ancient Greeks believed that their emotions were given to them by their gods, so evoking self confidence was 100% possible. These days such things are thought to be a part of our selves, and as evocation requires that something be brought into being, or manifested, then you would require your self confidence to not actually be there prior to your evocation.

Anyway, that's how I see it...

So destruction-creation cycle again?

I don't know if there's any paradigm like this, but you reminded me of an idea I had. I was reading Poimandres, and he represented himself as a Reason, so that would be like an entity. If I'm remembering it correctly, various paradigms saw these forms, beings or whatever in a different way, for example as spirits or as a part of some collective consciousness. Nonetheless I figured that this could be seen from different angles. Poimanders is manifested in reason, and if I remember correctly he said that he is with the one who is using Reason. Evocation as an inherent ability?

You just described "self confidence" as a current which associated me with river. So let's say that these qualities were behaving like a river, and basically what you're doing is willingly swimming in this river as deep as you want to go - if you catch my metaphor - by means of evocation.

So it is not a part of superego, id but rather a manifestation of some metaphysical current.

To be clear, I'm just curious. I have a line of thought and I want to see where it would lead me [grin]