The Sphere of Protection: Phase 8

[ecosophia]

By now, I hope those of you who are following along have been practicing the Opening and Closing of the SoP and the Callings of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Spirit Below, and Spirit Above, the last for a week and the others for longer. (If you're just joining us now, you can find those here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.) Now it's time to add in the final elemental phase, the Calling of Spirit Within. This comes after the six Callings you've learned already, and before the Closing. With it, the Sphere is complete. 

Where the earlier Callings use a divine name, this one can use a sacred word or syllable. Druids practicing this ritual use the word Awen, the Grand Word of the Druid Revival traditions; Christians typically use the name of Jesus, "the name which is above every other name;" in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, Om would be the appropriate syllable to use.  If you aren't using divine names in this working, don';t worry about a sacred name. The Calling of Spirit Within is done as described below: 

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First, perform the Opening phase of the Sphere of Protection, and then perform the complete Callings of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth including both the invoking and the banishing aspects, followed by the Callings of Spirit Below and Spirit Above, which are invoking only.  

Keep facing the same way you did at the opening. Visualize all six of the symbols you've traced around yourself, each in its proper color and place, and see yourself in the midst of them. 

Then say an appropriate invocation. Here's the one I use when I'm practicing this ritual in a Druid context: "By the six powers here invoked and here present, and in the Grand Word AWEN (pronounced AH-OO-EN), I invoke Spirit Within. May the powers of Spirit Within bless and protect me this day and always, and further my work. May they establish about me, now and always, a Sphere of Protection." (Yes, you can use this one as written; you can also come up with one of your own. The SoP is flexible that way. The name or word of power, if you use one, should of course be vibrated; see the explanation in the post on the Calling of Air if you need a reminder of how this is done.)

The moment you say the words "Sphere of Protection," go immediately to the Closing of the SoP, formulating the sphere around you. This completes the Sphere of Protection in its full form. 

A couple of notes may be useful here. You don't call upon gods, spirits, and powers in this seventh invocation, because Spirit Within is the small bright flame of the spirit in you -- no other beings need apply. You've called on the powers of the rest of the universe, now you add your own spiritual power to the mix. You also don't trace a symbol because you are the symbol.

Practice this daily for the rest of your life. Yes, I mean that! Combine it with ten to twenty minutes a day of discursive meditation, and a daily divination using the oracle of your choice, and you've got a set of esoteric practices that will take you very, very far along the Path.  

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I love practicing the sphere of protection. There really are tangible changes to the atmosphere and self as a result.

I was wondering if you could elaborate on what might be the result of calling upon Jesus at each of the elements, not simply spirit within? There is powerful imagery with Jesus and each of the elements so I thought it could be possible.

Thank you,
David

[ecosophia]

You could do that, but I'd suggest using a different name or title for him additionally at each of the stations. Here's a good list. The symbolism wouldn't be hard to work out, either: One possible set would go like this:

East/Air: the Word (John 1:1)
South/Fire: the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2)
West/Water: Emmanuel (Isaiah 7:14)
Earth/North: Son of David (Matthew 1:1)
Spirit Below: the Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
Spirit Above: the Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Spirit Within: the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)

Thus you might say something like "In the Name of Jesus the Word, I invoke the Air, its angels, its spirits and its powers..." changing the title with each direction. That helps you differentiate the energies and make the working richer.

[(Anonymous)]

That’s quite beautiful! Thank you JMG! I’ve wanted to express the SoP more clearly with Christian language. With 7 invocations, have you heard of any adaption that utilizes Father, Son, and Holy Spirit invocations?

[ecosophia]

You're welcome. With regard to the Trinity, you invoke the three Persons in the opening gesture, the Elemental Cross, and then invoke either the Hebrew names of God or the name of Jesus in the six directions; I've never encountered a Christian version that does anything else.

[(Anonymous)]

Umm
last line of first section - should that not read "Spirit Within" rather than "Spirit above?

[ecosophia]

Caught and corrected. Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for this! I reached a milestone this week in that I finished all Seven Gates of the SOP as described in the DMH. Took 5 months of daily practice, and I only missed 5 or 6 days in that period, according to my journal. It's interesting to compare this version to the version of the SOP as described in the DMH.

A question: someone on the Open Post last week wrote that he/she thought of a demon when invoking Earth (they apparently a Catholic background). Since I read that, everytime I invoke Earth, and Spirit Below, the thought 'demon' pops into my mind while doing it. I try very hard to concentrate on the ritual and ignore the thought, but it has become an automatic thing that happens every day when I do the SOP, and I'm worried about the effects. I wish I hadn't seen that person's post! I don't have a catholic background or that much knowledge about demons, aside from what you've written about them on MM. Am I under any threat, and if so, what can I do?

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it -- it's a good solid ritual, and now that you've worked through that stage of the DMH workings you can go on to even more interesting things.

With regard to intrusive thoughts, no, you're not under any threat. It's quite possible that someone's trying to mess with practitioners of this ritual -- my guess would be a Christian fundamentalist. Imagine the word being one of the things you banish with the help of the energies of Earth, and you'll be fine.

[(Anonymous)]

OK, thank you. I tried that this morning and banishing the thought seemed to work. I'm looking forward to continuing with the next stages of the DMH!

[(Anonymous)]

...If I may interject, that was my post on the other blog. Sorry about that! I did wonder if posting could raise issues for others. For what it's worth, since our host's reassurance I have had no problem, and I'm sure you'll also be fine.

Regards,
Morfran.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks! I did indeed try out JMG's suggestion, and it seemed to work. Glad to hear that you since have not had any problems!

[alexandermarcus]

Two probable copy-paste errors:

At the end of the second paragraph, I believe "Spirit Above" should read "Spirit Within"

Also, the first sentence of the fifth paragraph instructs us to "point at the center of the symbol," but we don't draw a symbol for Spirit Within.

I'm excited to see this (slightly) different version of the SoP! are you stopping here, or are there more entries to come?

[ecosophia]

Yes, those are errors, and have been corrected. Thank you!

In a bit I'll be giving instructions for a temple opening and closing ceremony that can be combined with this (or any other) version of the SoP, and then probably going on to talk about discursive meditation. Still, we'll see.

[(Anonymous)]

Didn't you also say some breathing exercises were forthcoming?

[ecosophia]

Yes. Those are necessary preparation for discursive meditation, so we'll get there fairly soon.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for fully explaining this. I got the SoP from the AODA website but this fleshes it out.

I did the SoP on Bride's mound in Glastonbury yesterday. Result!

[ecosophia]

You're most welcome. I envy you the chance to do the working there! Glastonbury's one of my favorite places in the world, and it's a minor source of grief that circumstances don't permit me to spend more time there.

[(Anonymous)]

When you say "Point up to the center of the symbol and say an appropriate invocation." Does this mean whatever symbol happens to be in front of you when you did the opening? So Air if you face East or Fire if you face South?

[ecosophia]

Ah, you've caught one of the two copy-and-paste errors in the text (both of them now fixed). You don't point anywhere, since you are the symbol. You just say the invocation.

Awen pronunciation

[(Anonymous)]

Just to clarify, it's "oo" as in "food"?

Re: Awen pronunciation

[ecosophia]

That's correct.

[(Anonymous)]

"Practice this daily for the rest of your life. Yes, I mean that! Combine it with ten to twenty minutes a day of discursive meditation, and a daily divination using the oracle of your choice, and you've got a set of esoteric practices that will take you very, very far along the Path."

Is this really all we need to go along the Path?

[ecosophia]

There are plenty of other things you can do to build on that foundation, but yes, those are the core practices of the way of the initiate. Put thirty to forty minutes a day into those disciplines, and even if that's all you ever have time to do -- well, as a certain ritual puts it, "portal after portal will open before you."

A bit of clarification may be useful here. There are many different sets of disciplines that can be used to follow the Path. Some of them are dangerous; some require pretty much all your waking hours; some involve giving up a lot of things that most people prefer to include in their lives -- and if you do these things, assuming you don't crash and burn, you can make a great deal of progress on the Path relatively quickly.

Then there are the methods that are relatively safe, take only a certain amount of time each day, and can be done while leading something close to an ordinary life. These are much more suitable for the vast majority of aspirants, and the set of practices I'm teaching is one of those more suitable paths. They move at a less rapid pace, but the result is that you don't run anything like the same risk. You have all of eternity to accomplish the work, so there's no need to rush -- and as already noted, there are additional practices you can add in, once you have the basic foundation established as a daily discipline, to proceed a little more quickly and develop some practical skills.

[(Anonymous)]

Can more temporarily intensive disciplines be sometimes incorporated into this set of practices (say, nearly all waking hours but only for a week)? If so, what would that look like? Have you ever done such things or do you always go for slow and steady?

[ecosophia]

Of course -- and yes, I do that kind of thing fairly often, cycling in more intensive workings for specific purposes. As for what it looks like, that depends very much on what kind of practices you have in mind. I favor intensive ritual workings, and usually that works out to an hour or two once a week of really focused work, in addition to the daily practices.

[(Anonymous)]

What sort of things do you use intensive ritual work for?

[ecosophia]

Many (as in well upwards of a hundred) different things -- intensive ritual is very flexible and can be used to orient consciousness and focus subtle energies for a galaxy of purposes. If you have access to it, my book Circles of Power covers some of the possibilities.

[(Anonymous)]

Just to make sure I understand this correctly, we could attain Gwynfudd with just these practices and nothing more, given enough lifetimes?

[ecosophia]

You're going to attain Gwynfydd anyway, unless you go out of your way to screw up really spectacularly. This work makes it happen a lot faster.

[(Anonymous)]

And I assume that it would take multiple lifetimes of effort to screw up that badly? What would you have to do to mess up that much?

[ecosophia]

Many, many lifetimes of supreme cluelessness. Basically you have to become so obsessed with your own ego and its cravings that you're not willing to allow anything in the cosmos to be greater or more important than it...including your own higher self. A person who pursues that path ends up rejecting the basis of his or her own existence -- because your higher self, after all, is who you actually are -- and so stops existing.

The best way to ensure you don't even begin to head down that road is to cultivate the habit of admiration. Learn to enjoy the fact that there are countless things in the cosmos greater and wiser and more important than you are, and some of them are disposed to help you out if asked in an appropriately respectful manner. As long as you can conceive of things greater than yourself, you'll be fine.

Lunar Current?

[candace_k]

Since this one doesn’t mention the lunar current I’m guessing that it is not necessary to the sphere?

Does that play a stronger role in meditation and divination?

Thank you for all your help on this!

Candace

Re: Lunar Current?

[ecosophia]

The Lunar Current isn't mentioned but it's there -- it corresponds to Spirit Within. In basic practices such as this one, focusing on the lunar current isn't a good idea, since you need to cover a lot of ground before generating the lunar current becomes a useful option.

[(Anonymous)]

Which Egyptian Deity s would you suggest for use in the SOP ?

[ecosophia]

For the opening, that depends on your patron deity, if you have one -- use the patron deity's father first, the patron's mother second, and the patron himself or herself third. For example, if your patron deity is the cat goddess Bastet, you invoke Ra first, Isis second, and Bastet third (because Bastet is a child of Ra and Isis).

In terms of the directions, I'd use this set, derived from the Ennead of Heliopolis (the set of Egyptian deities most responsive to Western magical invocation):

East/Air: Horus (the elder Horus, called Aroueris by the Greeks)
South/Fire: Isis
West/Water: Osiris
North/Earth: Nepthys
Spirit Below: Atum
Spirit Above: Ra

[(Anonymous)]

my patreon deity ive had he most affinity with is Ptah and seeing he is self-created or un-created what suggestions would you have for the paternal/maternal connection or how to work this in . Much appreciation for any help in advance . an thank you for the above answer as well..

[ecosophia]

In that case you would use deities or divine names associated with him. A quick look online turns up Tatenen, which is the form of Ptah associated with the solar disk; Sokar, the form of Ptah associated with burial and the dead; and Atum, the creative manifestation of Ptah according to the Memphite theology. So I'd suggest:

(touching your head with both hands) TATENEN
(touching your womb center with both hands) SOKAR
(bringing your hands up and out to the sides) ATUM
(crossing your hands over your chest) All are one in PTAH.

Of course you vibrate each of the names given in capitals.

[(Anonymous)]

spectacular... this resonates perfectly with me . with using the above variations of Ptah in the opening of the SOP . but in regards to the 7 gates would this require some juggling of god-names such as Atum if it is used as spirit below ?any recommendations for this . besides using them twice which i would assume wouldn't be such a bad no-no. again thank you in advance

[ecosophia]

You can use deities more than once. Alternatively, use Nut the star goddess for Spirit Above and Geb the earth god for Spirit Below, and you're good.

[(Anonymous)]

outstanding... thank you ..

Irish Below and Above

[(Anonymous)]

I'm only up to practicing Earth this week, but looking to the next two stages, I was hoping you might have a suggestion for the Spirits Above and Below from an Irish context. I'm not sure I'm grokking exactly how these are distinct from sky and earth, so I'm hoping an example might help me.

Thank you for walking us all through this. The LBRP never sang for me, and this seems much more complete than the Heptasphere.

Grace

Re: Irish Below and Above

[ecosophia]

Who are you using for your other Irish deities?

Re: Irish Below and Above

[(Anonymous)]

Anu for Air, Dagda for Earth, Brig for Fire, and Manannan for water.

Grace

A Rationalist response...

[(Anonymous)]

I may be an engineer, who knows that matter obeys the rules of matter to many decimal places, but if you say this little ritual helps with our mind-work, who am I to argue? In fact, I'll even imagine walking through the steps in my imagination, in a really very minimal, mainstream Protestant way, just to humor ya'. In fact, I've even done this a time or three.

And T. S. W! I've stumbled into three amazing new mentor-ship relationships in the last three weeks, and I still can't figure out how they happened.

I'm almost afraid of what could happen if I actually followed all of the directions.

Lathechuck

Re: A Rationalist response...

[ecosophia]

You'd have even more wonderful things happen to you. Consider, O mainstream Protestant, taking up the version of it that invokes Jesus in all six directions, and do it just once a week. See where it takes you...

Lunar current?

[(Anonymous)]

I have been using this wording from the AODA.

"By the six powers here invoked and here present, and by the grand word by which the worlds were made — AWEN (chanting this word Ah-Oh-En, stretching out the vowels) — I invoke Spirit Within. May a ray of the lunar current bless and protect this Grove, and further its work."

Is it wrong to invoke the lunar current?

[moondog79]

As I'm wanting to establish a practice of ritual/meditation/divination, I'm curious if the SoP is a ritual replacement for the LRoP. Also, if one were to also place prayer in the mix, is there a traditional time that has been added? Before? After?

God names

[(Anonymous)]

What Cherokee gods ,An spirits etc would be proper to use in the SOP Any suggestions for the Opening closing an elemental callings ,

Re: God names

[ecosophia]

You'd have to ask someone who knows their way around Cherokee spirituality, which I don't.