Rufus Opus

The Red Work

Phase 3: The Green Work

Lesson 1: Introduction and

Overview
Including an introduction to the overall goals of the Green Work Phase, a guide to the spheres
we’ll be working with, and an overview of the format of coming lessons.

© 2010 Rufus Opus

All Rights Reserved

Rufus Opus ò The Red Work
Phase 3: The Green Work

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1
1.1 The Green Work Overview ............................................................................... 1
1.2 Course Outline .................................................................................................. 1
2 The Spheres ............................................................................................................. 4
3 The Powers of the Sphere and the Magician............................................................. 7
4 The Great Work ....................................................................................................... 8
5 The Spirits of the 7 Planetary Spheres .................................................................... 11
6 The System ............................................................................................................ 15
6.1 Initiation.......................................................................................................... 15
6.2 Contemplation ................................................................................................. 16
6.3 Practical Work ................................................................................................ 18
7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 20

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1 Introduction
Welcome to the first lesson of the third phase of the Red Work series of courses.
The goal of these courses is to walk students through the initiatory processes involved in
becoming a master magician in the Neo-platonic system of magic of the Western
Renaissance traditions. The process follows the initiatory pattern I went through myself,
and it has served me remarkably well in my efforts.

1.1 The Green Work Overview

In Phase 3, the Green Work, the magician undergoes a series of initiations into the
celestial spheres of the planets and fixed stars. You begin a technique of traveling
through the spheres, and receiving spiritual attunements that bring you into harmony with
the spheres around you. You’ll meet the Intelligences of the Planets, the Archangels of
the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, and you’ll be on speaking terms with spirits whose names
won’t be mentioned at this time. At the same time, you’ll be getting deeper into your
understanding of who you are in the grand scheme of things in the universe at large.

You’ll also be performing practical magic with these spirits, learning the ways
each of the Planetary legions of spirits manifest things here in the material realm. During
this stage of my Work, I began manifesting the kinds of abilities that normally get
classified as “psychic phenomenon” in the secular world, or the “Gifts of the Spirit” in
Charismatic Christian circles.

This is also the phase that involves a lot of crafty talisman making, strange tool
creation, and the fun stuff that looks a lot like Hoodoo and Pow Wow if you stare too
long. You’ll meet gods and goddesses, angels and spirits, and entities that exist at every
level consciously at the same time.

1.2 Course Outline

In Phase 3, the Green Work, the magician undergoes a series of initiations into the
celestial spheres of the planets and fixed stars. You begin a technique of traveling
through the spheres, and receiving spiritual attunements that bring you into harmony with
the spheres around you. You’ll meet the Intelligences of the Planets, the Archangels of
the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, and you’ll be on speaking terms with spirits whose names
won’t be mentioned at this time. At the same time, you’ll be getting deeper into your
understanding of who you are in the grand scheme of things in the universe at large.

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You’ll also be performing practical magic with these spirits, learning the ways
each of the Planetary legions of spirits manifest things here in the material realm. During
this stage of my Work, I began manifesting the kinds of abilities that normally get
classified as “psychic phenomenon” in the secular world, or the “Gifts of the Spirit” in
Charismatic Christian circles.

This is also the phase that involves a lot of crafty talisman making, strange tool
creation, and the fun stuff that looks a lot like Hoodoo and Pow Wow if you stare too
long. You’ll meet gods and goddesses, angels and spirits, and entities that exist at every
level consciously at the same time.

In this course, we'll be focusing on both the macrocosmic initiations and the
physical manifestations associated with each of the Archangels of the Planets and their
legions of Spirits.

We will be using the Modern Angelic Grimoire as the primary text book, and we
will progress upwards through the spheres based on Ptolemy's model of the cosmos. I'm
thinking we'll spend about two weeks on each planet, receiving the initiations into the
sphere, receiving attunements and instruction in accessing the powers of the spheres in
our daily lives, and actually getting stuff from each planet in our physical lives.

The course will include anecdotal insights I've gained about creating talismans,
and I'll detail the steps I take to create the planetary talismans in the appropriate metals,
or their equivalents. Heat, beat, repeat, and engrave sums it up nicely, but I'll go into
more detail in the course.

Looks like it will be a 17-week course, altogether. The Lesson Plan is as follows:

• Lesson 1: Traveling the Spheres - The path of the Hermetic Magician's

ascent through the spheres is described in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes,
and detailed in the Corpus Hermeticum. The system I'm teaching in the
Green Work utilizes a relatively simple system of conjuration, initiation,
and contemplation to accomplish the Hermetic Great Work. This lesson
provides a detailed overview of the Great Work within the Hermetic
discipline, and the functional tools necessary to accomplish it using the
techniques of the Modern Angelic Grimoire.

• Lessons 2-8: The Planetary Spheres - One lesson for each of the seven
spheres of the planets. These will include a conjuration ritual for each

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Archangel of the Planet, a sample oration, and tips and tricks on receiving
initiations into the spheres. These lessons will include personal
experiences with the entities, the skill sets I've seen improved by working
with the specific entities, and suggestions of manifest things to ask for
from these spirits. Each lesson will have an initiatory piece and a practical
piece.
• Bonus Material: Making Planetary Talismans - An eBook summarizing
my experiences in creating talismans in the appropriate planetary metals or
other materials. Most of my techniques are crude and primitive, but there
will be no Sculpey. If you want to use plastic clay, go ahead, the spirits
don't care, but lately I've come to hate the stuff.

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2 The Spheres
To begin, let’s review the Neoplatonic Cosmology. First, you must understand the
neoplatonists held an idea like Buddhists that the physical realm was sort of like an
illusion, or a reflection of an Ideal realm. This Ideal Realm was logically and rationally
structured. It was in the Mind of God, or Nous, after all, and they assumed God’s mind
was logical. The Greeks placed a lot of value on being logical, thinking about things until
you could not only understand it, but also be able to explain it and defend it if necessary
in rigorous debate with other rational lovers of wisdom, or Philosophers.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato explains the role of the Philosophers.

Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their
lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things and
people passing in front of a fire behind them, [and hear only the echoes of their
movements,] and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the
shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the
philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that
the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true
form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners. – Wikipedia,
[Link]
The Hermetic Magician is much like these Philosophers. We believe there is an
invisible realm that is the “reality” of Plato’s Allegory, and this realm and our
experiences in it are the shadows on the wall, the echoes of the things in the unseen
realms.
These unseen realms are neatly divided. Ptolemy’s classic geocentric picture of
the universe reveals the detailed map of the invisible realm. It’s divided into four
elemental spheres, seven planetary spheres, plus three additional spheres, the sphere of
the Firmament, the sphere of the Zodiac, and the sphere of the Prime Mover.

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Figure 1. Ptolemy's Geocentric Cosmology

Note that the spheres are numbered from 1-10 in the image above. Spheres 1-7
have intelligences, Archangels, or governors assigned to manage the forces of their
spheres. They are also given spirit assistants, legions that are do the bidding of the lord of
their sphere. The Intelligences, Archangels, or Governors are, pretty much,
interchangeable terms in my practices, but they each refer to specific methods of
Working with these entities.
Spheres 8 and 10 … don’t have the same kinds of Intelligences as the lower
spheres. I mean, they are the same in some ways, but the assignment of entities to these
realms gets sort of tricky. Depending on what you’re aiming to do in these realms, the
entities you contact will be different, and there is no real limit to the forms they may take.

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The approach used to this sphere determines the spirits you’ll find. If you enter
using rituals to contact the Shemhamephoresh angels, you’ll end up seeing
Shemhamephoresh angels and being in a realm that has very … specific aspects to it.
Lots of Holiness. Pure, raw, powerful holiness. Like the spirit of God that touched the
Mountain when Moses got the Ten Commandments. It was so holy if anyone touched the
mountain they would die. These entities are directing their forces in all directions
simultaneously, but they are also directing it back to the Source in praise, celebration, and
honor of the Source. The 9th sphere seen through Shemhamephoresh rituals shows you
that aspect of the 9th sphere.
But if you go in through the Olympic Spirits of the Arbatel, the experience is
decidedly different. The same sphere feels more like a garden, or series of gardens, and
the entities you interact with are all focused on something specific. Being near them, you
begin to resonate with their focus and intent, and you begin to see things differently
where those things are concerned in the spheres below. It’s hard to put into words,
because the entities focus on a thought that manifests in the spheres below into forms.
There are no words or forms in this realm, but the thoughts are still condensed in a pre-
formed mass, sort of, with an entity directing it into the worlds of form below.
If you go in using rituals to commune with the Archangels of the Constellations,
you arrive in a sphere of crystalline purity, without the crystal. Everything is ordered and
structured and precise. It’s very clean and feels immaculately engineered. The spirits here
are polite and helpful, but at the same time as distant as the stars from any disorder. I, for
one, wasn’t particularly very well ordered when I started magic with the Archangels of
the Constellations, and it made the experiences disconcerting at first.
The door you enter the higher spheres through influences the experience of those
spheres that you receive. Yet when you’ve been there a few times, you see that the 8th
sphere is the 8th sphere, not the 9th or the 7th, no matter how it appeared to you. You know
you’ve been to the same place, even if you got there through the Seven Sisters of the
Pleiades. The 9th is the same way.
The 10th sphere, the sphere of the Prime Mover is pure Nous. It’s beyond the
beyond, and cannot be put into words. There are other realms within the light, behind the
light, but they are dark, and the One who resides there is literally beyond comprehension.

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3 The Powers of the Sphere and the Magician

Each of the planetary spheres has an aspect to it. There’s a quality, a force shared
in common between the different materials that are assigned to a certain planet. We say
the things that correspond to a planet are in sympathy with the planet, in harmony. The
here is a Venusian flavor to the things of Venus that is purely Venus. The things
attributed to Venus are an extension of Venus itself. Romantic Love, Natural Magic,
procreation fruitfulness, growth: all that stuff is Venus. There is One Venus Spirit, and all
the things of Venus we encounter are manifestations of that One spirit, the same way
everything that exists is a manifestation of The Good, the Monad, the First Father.

As Man descended through the heavens before we came to the Earth, we spent
time with each of the Planetary Governors. We lived with them, loved with them, learned
from them, and received from each a portion of their power. Ok? Let that sink in for a
second. Before mankind became flesh and was manifest as many, we were One spirit,
one Human, and we were given the power of the planetary governors. It’s part of us. We
still have that.
Right now as you sit there, all the seven planetary powers are lying in wait for
you to tap into them and use them for whatever it is you’re working on. You already do
use these powers, every day, in everything you do. Everything you touch and make and
plan and do receives the powers of the spheres through you. This is going on for
everyone in the world. The powers of the planets are ours, and we use them in everything
we do.
As we work with the spirits of the planets, these planetary powers that create the
world are purified, cleansed, focused, and increased. Blockages to the flow get removed.
Skills in managing each force improve. You learn new ways to do things with the powers
of the planets. You learn to use herbs of the planet in new ways, and metals, and you
create talismans of greater effect. Your practical magic improves, and your results
become refined and subtle. You gain familiar spirits of the sphere, and see the world’s
manifestation of that power more clearly than ever.
Those spiritual gifts from the Planetary Governors before we were incarnated are
activated and cleansed as we travel through the spheres and do the integration work we
receive from the spirits.

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4 The Great Work

The basic model of magic that I follow is perhaps best called “Hermetic.” The
process is based entirely on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, and the cosmology I use
draws largely from the Corpus Hermeticum. The system I follow is a practical application
of the information found in the grimoires generally, and the excellent resource that is
Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy specifically. The core of the system (and all
Western Occult Practical Traditions) is the Neo-Platonic cosmology developed in the 3rd
century AD. The overall process is The Great Work.
The goal of the Great Work is to be consciously applying the process outlined in
the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.
0) When I entered into the cave, I received the tablet Zaradi, which was
inscribed, from between the hands of Hermes, in which I discovered these
words:
1) True, without falsehood, certain, most certain.
2) What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like that which
is above. To make the miracle of the one thing.
3) And as all things were made from contemplation of one, so all things
were born from one adaptation.
Verses 0-3 discuss the understanding of the Universe as a whole that must be held
by the magician. It sums up the cosmology of everything in whatever emanationist model
of magic you may practice. Neo-Platonists believed the One or True Father existed as the
Monad, and then created the universe through a series of emanations. At each Emanation
point there were formed Gods, Intelligences, and Spirits assigned to the frequency or
harmony of that particular emanation point. Thus were formed the spheres of the Divine
Darkness, the Sphere of Infinite Light, and the Celestial Spheres of the Fixed stars and
Planets. Matter, consisting of the interplay of the Four elemental spheres came into being
under the authority of the other spheres and Planets, thus all things in the manifest realm
can be classified by their celestial natures that manifest through them.
The Hebrew mystics adapted this into what became the Kabala, which became
quickly assimilated into Western thought, and popularized most recently by the Golden
Dawn in the modern occult realm. Thanks to the publishing of the Golden Dawn
materials, most modern magicians are aware of the basic concepts of an “emanationist”
model of the universe, and it is easy to comprehend that everything is One Thing,

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manifesting separately as unique Things in the material realm for the sake of experience
itself.
4) Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon.
5) The wind carried it in its womb, the earth breast fed it.
6) It is the father of all ‘works of wonder' (Telesmi) in the world.
6a) Its power is complete (integra).
7) If cast to (turned towards- versa fuerit) earth,
7a) it will separate earth from fire, the subtile from the gross.
Verses 4-7a describe the focus of The White Work. Obtaining the supernatural
Assistant initiates the abilities of the magician to begin the Work of magic. The
relationship with this spirit is the “Father of Telesmi,” the root source of your abilities to
make wonders in the Earth, to perform magical operations and have the results you’re
going to receive.
It’s power is complete, that means there is nothing more in terms of power that
you will ever need to accomplish the Great Work. It’s completely there. The Supernatural
Assistant unlocks this power, releases it into your sphere to be directed as you deem fit. It
performs changes on your subtle bodies, it cleanses the solar plexus energy center, and it
makes everything you do (with intent) succeed. It takes a while to integrate all this, and
the process is amazing and wonderful, and at times painful and boring. But that’s just part
of the adventure too.
Now, note that the Supernatural Assistant is not the maker of talismans, it’s the
father. It engenders, or plants a seed of the power to do magic within you. It opens the
paths to power to make your talismans effective, and makes your magic work. Better.
8) With great capacity it ascends from earth to heaven. Again it descends
to earth, and takes back the power of the above and the below.
9) Thus you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the world. All
obscurity will flee from you.
Once you have obtained your Supernatural Assistant, you’ll be entering the phase
of the Green Work described by verses 8 through 9. This section discusses the initiatory
aspects of the Green Work, the methods that we’ll be using to fully activate the powers
released through your relationship with the Supernatural Assistant. You’ll be able to
make higher contacts within the spheres through your Supernatural Assistant, and as you

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receive attunements to your sphere directly from the Intelligences of the spheres, the SA
will help you integrate these powers in your daily life.
You’ll be able to find spirits to Work with that are specific to your task at hand,
and you’ll be gaining the skills to make the talismans referenced in verse 6.
9) Thus you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the world. All
obscurity will flee from you.
10) This is the whole most strong strength of all strength, for it overcomes
all subtle things, and penetrates all solid things.
11a) Thus was the world created.
12) From this comes marvelous adaptations of which this is the procedure.
13) Therefore I am called Hermes, because I have three parts of the
wisdom of the whole world.
14) And complete is what I had to say about the work of the Sun, from the
book of Galieni Alfachimi.
[From Latin in Steele and Singer 1928: 492.]

Verses 9-12 discuss the Red Work, the state of being achieved at through the sum
of the processes performed during the green Work, and represents the attainment of the
Philosopher’s Stone. The final verses, 11-14, describe the magician in the Projection
phase of the Work, fully empowered as the fulcrum between the manifest and unmanifest
realms.

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5 The Spirits of the 7 Planetary Spheres

In the system we’ll be using in this course, we’ll be Working with the Planetary
Intelligences in the forms of the Archangels of the Spheres as assigned in The Art of
Drawing Spirits into Crystals, and using the seals from the Magical Calendar. These
symbols and the rites used are found in the Modern Angelic Grimoire.
We’ll be performing conjurations, receiving initiations, and performing
contemplative exercises that will release the powers of the spheres into our lives, and
help us to integrate these forces to create the world as we see fit.
As the powers are released, we’ll work with the material manifestations of the
planets to create talismans and other artifacts. As we work the base, manifest parts of the
powers of the planets, we’ll be getting in touch with the whole spectrum of manifestation
of the current we’re Working.
When we consecrate and activate the talisman, we’ll also be working with the
Spirit of the planet, the material reflection of the Governor we’re receiving the initiations
from, or we may request an angel or member of the planetary intelligence’s legion of
spirits to watch over, or actively work on manifesting the powers of the talisman itself.
As we progress, we’ll be learning ways to refine our techniques and continue to
advance our understanding of the role of the magician and the context we’ve manifested
within. We’ll learn more about who we are, where we are, and what we’re supposed to do
about it.
The actual spirits we’ll be working with are going to be the Archangels of the
Spheres as listed in Agrippa’s Scale of the Number 10, in Book 2, chapter 13 of the three
Books of Occult Philosophy, with a slight modification. The positions of Michael and
Raphael given in this table are switched. This is because Trithemius puts Michael in
Tiphareth, associated with the Sun. I’ve had personal confirmation from Raphael and
Michael that this is the “correct” placement. I’m sure others have had the opposite
confirmed as well, and it’s really whatever the angels tell you that matters.

The names of the spirits of each sphere are shown in the following table.

Planet God Name Archangel Name

Saturn YHVH Elohim Tzaphqiel

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Planet God Name Archangel Name

Jupiter El Tzadqiel

Mars Elohim Gebura Camael

The Sun Eloah Michael

Venus YHVH Tzabaoth Anael

Mercury Elohim Tzabaoth Raphael

The Moon Shadai Gabriel

The following image provides a handy reference guide to the names of God, the
Seals of the spirits, the names of the spirits, and the spheres they are associated with for
making talismans. I strongly urge you to create a copy of this for quick reference by
hand. This will begin to release the powers the seals represent in subtle ways throughout
your sphere. As you learn the seals and the names and how to write them in celestial
script, you will be integrating the forces through a connection to the intelligences the
symbols and names refer to.
Also, as you create Lamens and Talismans for the spirits, this chart comes in
really handy as you’re sitting there trying to engrave a talisman and the laptop with the
images is all the way across the room.

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Figure 2. The Spirits of the Planets

As you can see, there are nine spheres represented in the image above. If you’ve
got a copy of Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, take a look at Book 2,
Chapter 13. The scale of the Number Ten is based on the ten spheres of manifestation
you’ll likely recognize from the Tree of Life if you’ve run into any Golden Dawn studies
in your career. The tenth sphere in that scale is Malkuth.
Look back at Ptolemy’s map of the cosmos. There are ten spheres shown above
the physical realm, which would correspond to Malkuth. Two of the top three heavens in
Ptolomy’s image, spheres 8 and 9, are the spheres of the Zodiac in Agrippa’s Scale of the
number 10. Because these spheres are beyond Saturn, they exist before the nature of
“form” has been manifest, and it makes sense that there would be differences of
interpretation of what exists before this sphere. Kabbalah mentions the “three negative
veils” that exist beyond Keter, while some Gnostics taught of the Pleroma, the Land of
Lights existing before the Prime Emanation point.
Within a Hermetic context, that is, the context of the Hermetic creation myth
covered in the Black Work, I work with the nine spheres shown in the image above.
When you get to the 8th and 9th spheres, things are so different that it doesn’t really matter
how they’re represented in the images for now. Consider them placeholders that serve to
maintain cognitive resonance.
By the time we’ve gone through the 7 planetary spheres and received the

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initiations in each and learned to integrate the forces they represent, we will have a
different set of senses to experience the higher spheres through, changing the meaning
and understanding of the forces they represent greatly. For now, think of the spheres
above the planets as being the realms from which the rays of the planets originate.

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6 The System
The Work of this Course will consist of initiations, contemplative exercises, and
practical application. Each aspect of the course work will require conjuration in one form
or another. The formal initiations and practical applications will require a full conjuration
ritual performed according to the process detailed in the Modern Angelic Grimoire.
Contemplation rituals will take place primarily in the sphere of the Moon, using your
astral temple.

6.1 Initiation
Initiations activate the powers of the sphere. It’s like turning on the faucet. It
opens a valve that controls how much of the planet’s forces are pumping through your
sphere at any given time. When you open the valve up more, more of the force pumps
through. As the forces accumulate and increase, the increased pressure of the force
pumping through your system pushes out blockages that might have formed. You go
through a process of transformation, and it can be a little rocky at times. This is normal,
and to be expected.
Initiation literally means “beginning.” When you initiate a process, you’re
basically taking the first step. If the process is booting up a computer, you initiate the
process by turning it on. A spiritual initiation is like turning on the power of the planetary
sphere within the sphere of the magician.
It’s only the beginning of the work though. When you turn on a computer, you’re
completing a circuit, sending power to a whole slew of other systems and electronics.
Each component inside a computer has to operate correctly, dividing up the power
released and using it in appropriate amounts to perform specific calculations. A computer
basically works by speeding up and slowing down the flow of electricity in a way that
creates the results we want to experience.
It took scientists and engineers and programmers a long time and a lot of money
to make it so that when you turn on the switch, your computer boots and you can write,
email, communicate, and play with the rest of the world through your monitor. Before
you can fully communicate the powers of the planets, you’ll need to go through a similar
research and development process that builds the components and cleans out dusty
connections inside your sphere. As this happens, you’ll find yourself integrating the
forces more and more. You’ll gain abilities that relate to the spirits and the planets that

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are pretty cool, when you think about it. But at the same time, you’ll be learning when
and how to use it all appropriately.
Remember though, it all starts with the initiation. The Initiation is the beginning.
Like turning on a computer, it doesn’t take very long at all. You just conjure the spirit
and ask for the initiation. The ritual itself will take a half an hour if it lasts for a while, but
most likely will take a lot less time. As you get used to the ritual and your HGA
continues to make contacts for you in the higher spheres, a ten minute ritual will end up
changing your life and the world you experience daily.
But the booting up period, the time it takes between when you turn on the
computer and can actually use it to do work can take a while longer.

6.2 Contemplation
After you’ve done the initializing conjuration, you will begin doing contemplation
exercises. I call these exercises “contemplation rites” because contemplation is the
method neoplatonist philosophers said is the key to reclaiming your divine race and
eternal value. They also look like meditation from the outside, and use the processes of
meditation taught in the Black Work course.
However, they are also astral conjuration rituals that take place in an astral
temple. You conjure the Supernatural Assistant and have him take you to the Gate of the
Planet. You conjure the Intelligence of the planet, and then you go on a guided
meditation of sorts, only the guide is the Intelligence of the planet.
The process is a lot like pathworking, and it can take an hour or two to finish a
session. Sometimes the sessions go on all night in your dreams. During these sessions,
you’ll be interacting directly with the intelligences of the planets. Their resonance is
harmonized in your sphere as you spend time with them, further opening the forces of the
planet in your life.
They take you on journeys, provide direct teachings and revelations, and
everything you see in the exercise is symbolic of something you need to be aware of,
something you need to learn. As you do these contemplative exercises, the powers are
further integrated into your mind, and you begin to acquire conscious control over the
things represented physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually by the planet.
During this work, I began experiencing what the mundane world calls “psychic

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phenomenon.” I began getting visions of people doing things far away simply by clearing
my mind and thinking about them. I began reading people’s intention in the tones of the
voices and body language. I began to catch snippets of their thoughts between their
words. I also began to be able to speak words of wisdom into their lives in matters that I
didn’t know much about at all I could feel things about objects by holding them in my
hands, and I began to converse regularly with the dead.
While there was no single ritual that resulted in any of these talents emerging, as
the forces of the planets were integrated, they simply began to manifest. I don’t know
how to classify these particular abilities. They are not “always on” and they don’t always
respond when I want them to. I have to be in the right frame of mind, and neglecting the
daily Work results in the abilities fading away. It takes mental control to be able to enter
the right state of mind to access these abilities, and the only way I’ve found to maintain
the skill and mental control is through strict discipline and consistent exercise.
These powers are, I think, mental powers, and they seem to interact closely with
the physical realm. Psychometry, or what AMORC calls Vibrology, the ability to sense
something about a person by handling a physical object they have held is a good
example. You’re tuning your mind to a residue left on the physical object, using the
object itself as a link to the person so you can interpret the symbols that come to mind as
they pertain to that person. It’s a mental state that is linked to a physical object.
Reading people’s intentions in their body language is not a new idea at all, but the
interpretations people generally have about body language are usually just general
indicators. To really pick up on what a person means when they itch their nose or look
left while talking takes more than a chart based on one person’s experiences. It takes a
finely tuned radar, an extra sensory perception to understand what personally is
motivating a movement or posture within a person. But again, it’s linked to the physical;
it’s reading a physical object, in this case the body of a person, to get an impression of
their mental or psychic state of being.
These abilities really come to the foreground as you’re performing the mental,
contemplative exercises that integrate the planetary forces into your sphere. I’ll be talking
about a method I use to rise through the spheres nightly before going to bed that is
excellent for this purpose. It turns something you do every day into a magical ritual that
brings about awesome spiritual results.

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Phase 3: The Green Work

6.3 Practical Work

As the powers released through initiation rites are integrated through
contemplation rites, we’ll be doing the physical rituals that teach us to Work with the
planets and their spirits in the material realms.
We’ll also be directly obtaining the services of the planetary governors’ lower,
terrestrial legionnaires in our pursuits. We will be obtaining familiars from the planets, in
a way, who will teach us the properties of the things that harmonize with each of the
planets’ influence. We’ll be working with them as a manager or supervisor, assigning
specific manifestation tasks that line up with what we want. We’ll start with simple
rituals, things that are easy to measure and see in the mundane world, and as we get used
to seeing the results of the spirits, we’ll refine our techniques.
With each planetary lesson, we’ll also make a talisman for the planet. Paper
talismans are easiest for most people to make, but I will be including instructions on
creating the talismans out of the appropriate planetary metals. Most talismans for the
planets can be made with a steel pot, a propane torch, a three pound sledge hammer and a
bucket of water, assuming you have a place where you can use all these things without
burning down your apartment complex.
You’ll also find that I refer to a dremel tool a great deal. There is no tool as
helpful to a magician as a dremel tool. Whether you’re working in metals, stones, or
wood, a dremel tool has an attachment that will make the creation of your magical
talismans ever so much easier.
With each planet, I plan on going over the most common herbs, metals, minerals,
and other mundane manifestations of the planets. In my daily Work, I don’t have instant
access to obscure items that can only be ordered on the internet. I have access to my spice
rack and the things at the local grocery stores and farmer’s markets. I have stones from
river beds, and piles of copper coil from a refrigerator that broke. I have silver coins from
the local coin shop, and tin obtained from lead free solder. I have lead from fishing
weights and steel from whatever piece of pressed steel I happened to have handy when I
needed it. I’ve got gold and silver paint pens and sketch pad paper, the kinds of things I
can find at the local Walmart or Target, not the kinds of things mentioned in grimoires.
Fortunately, these items are also manifestations of the powers of the spheres.
Agrippa teaches the ways to identify the things of the planets, and the successful

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Phase 3: The Green Work

Hermetic Magician will have the added benefit of having a spirit guiding their feet and
hands to the appropriate materials along the way.
If you’ve ever seen the kinds of charms and talismans root doctors and hoodoo
practitioners create, mojo bags, or the financial hands that Jason Miller sells on his blog
once in a while, you’ll know what kind of things we’ll be making. I’ve made solar
talismans that were a shiny yellow metal box filled with herbs, incense, and crystals with
a solar nature, and consecrated to the Sphere, Intelligence, and had its own angel assigned
to manifest the intent of the talisman. I’ve had cloth bags of stones, and even carved
crystals using that ever-present dremel tool to meet the specifications of the spirits I’m
working with.
The angels and spirits of the spheres guide us in our practical work, and
sometimes what we’re doing looks strange. I’ve found over time that the stranger things
the spirits have asked me to do turned out to line up with practices found in the Greek
Magical Papyri, American Pow Wow, or traditional hoodoo techniques for the same
results. It’s strange confirmation, but it has consistently demonstrated its efficacy.

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Phase 3: The Green Work

7 Conclusion
The goal of this lesson was to prepare you for the process we’ll be going through
in each of the spheres and to talk a bit about why we’ll be doing things. I wanted to
provide you with some expectations, and I think I’ve managed to touch on all the
important things in this first lesson.
The next lessons will focus on each of the planets, beginning with the Sphere of
the Moon. These lessons will likely be much shorter in length, but will be more packed
with content. Each lesson will include an overview of the planetary attributes of the
Sphere, an overview of the entities of the Sphere, and some of the material
representations of the Sphere. No correspondence table can be complete, but I’ll be
listing the things from Agrippa that I can source clearly.
Each planetary lesson will include the initiation rite, the contemplation rite, and a
practical application exercise. Each will also include the steps in creating a planetary
talisman for your altar, and to use when you are Working with the planet specifically in
other rites.
As we go forward, please direct all questions or comments about the content to
the message board. I’d like to expand and improve the courses as we continue, and
sometimes I leave out information that’s important that I don’t realize I’m leaving out. If
something doesn’t make sense, it might very well be that I’ve forgotten to mention
something that needs to be mentioned, and by asking that question you’ll save yourselves
and others a great deal of wasted time.

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