I wanted to address this too;
" What Tanga described seemed to be more cerebral than ecstatic; inviting the god into the circle as a kind of benign, benevolent potency that lends its endorsement to the magical proceedings. "
Taking the point that Tanga cleared up the differences ... there are further differences in this approach ... it can be 'ecstatic' or 'cerebral' or other methods ... of course a deity will lend itself to a 'flavor' (ecstatic could be Venus and cerebral could be Mercury) , but generally, there are various ways to approach or use the 'technology'
One reason why I think a 'Postcard note for beginners' is helpful (
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Different approaches ; Gnana - Raja - Bhakta - Hatha - Mantra - Karma : Knowledge ( 'cerebral') - Will - Love ( 'ecstatic' ) - Courage - Speech - 'works' : ( and their failures , or dangers ... Like your great uncle * ) insanity- obsession - fanaticism - paralysis and death - addiction to gossip (or insane babbling ) - incurable idleness
http://hermetic.com/crowley/equinox/i/ii/eqi02016.html
So, the Goddess (as an example) could be 'invoked' by ; Gaining knowledge of her, reading her mythologies, understanding her function , through an act of Will, through devotion ( like making offerings to her statue or image ), through mantra, by doing works that please her, etc.
IMO this applies to evocation as well , as in the past and mostly all the time, I see the approach with it far to saturnian and martial .... it need not be. To continually call up unknown forces from one's own psyche and bind them and demand they conform to what, much of the time is the magicians ego, and then punish them or eliminate and banish them for non compliance , may not be psychologically healthy . A little love and understanding might not go astray there . . . . IF one is competent in such methods.
They are parts of us after all .... to give them too much validity as a separate entity , or their own 'personality' , one might end up dealing with a 'demon' .
To somehow try and turn this back to tarot cards
... the equivalent would be to remove some cards from your deck you felt uneasy about - a thing I have heard suggested on this very forum (by beginners , I assume ) . Of course, the more experienced here advised them to learn more about those cards and how to use them and why there are in the deck
* couldnt help thinking here about your great uncle and his difficulty in getting up
.... a friend joined the Masons to check out things... they were mostly ancient old men and he caused a kerfuffle being the only young one to join in X amount of years ... very popular. he told me, during his raising, when he was lying on the floor and surrounded by 'advanced members' pointing their swords at him , he saw a bunch of frail old men, dressed up pointing thin swords in wobbly hands .... his first instinct was to jump up and land in front of them spreadeagled and go - YAAAA! - at them
.... and watch them keel over ... but he didnt .
~ Just as well, as I get older, I have become more of a Daoist shaman hermit ..... and NO ! that is not idleness (its my karma
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