The Book of Solomon's Magick by Carroll "Poke" Runyon

[first_rocrider]

Hi everyone,
I'm so new to this really nice site but not so new to Magick and occult and ... .
Yet, I'm less than a beginner in Evocation. My main practical work was in Chaos Magick which hadn't so much real results unfortunately. Long story short I wanna start Evocation.
A friend told me not to start with Goetia and Crowley works or Enochian Magick and recommended me the book which I made the topic for.
The Book of Solomon's Magick by Carroll "poke" Runyon.
I searched the site but I didn't find any topic of post on the matter (the book).
so I had some questions I'd really appreciate if anyone can answer.
1 - Is it a good book for a beginner ?
2 - does it have practical results ? I'm really tired of really low possibilities and pretending to get results. I'm studying on the matter for like 8 years since I was 11 and yet really low results I'd rather call zero.
3 - If it is not best option for start, please tell me what book you'd consider as the best book for start.
One more thing is that I'm not in a real hurry for the highly practical result, but I'll need a great job to be done in 3 month. There is a great exam for going to university in my damned country and as I spent most of my time studying magic rather than normal school lessons I thought that really the magick should come to my help at last.
Thanks for your concern

[R. Eugene Laughlin]

Hi everyone,
I'm so new to this really nice site but not so new to Magick and occult and ... .
Yet, I'm less than a beginner in Evocation. My main practical work was in Chaos Magick which hadn't so much real results unfortunately. Long story short I wanna start Evocation.
A friend told me not to start with Goetia and Crowley works or Enochian Magick and recommended me the book which I made the topic for.
The Book of Solomon's Magick by Carroll "poke" Runyon.
I searched the site but I didn't find any topic of post on the matter (the book).
so I had some questions I'd really appreciate if anyone can answer.
1 - Is it a good book for a beginner ?
2 - does it have practical results ? I'm really tired of really low possibilities and pretending to get results. I'm studying on the matter for like 8 years since I was 11 and yet really low results I'd rather call zero.
3 - If it is not best option for start, please tell me what book you'd consider as the best book for start.
One more thing is that I'm not in a real hurry for the highly practical result, but I'll need a great job to be done in 3 month. There is a great exam for going to university in my damned country and as I spent most of my time studying magic rather than normal school lessons I thought that really the magick should come to my help at last.
Thanks for your concern

Uncle Poke is a controversial figure. He's credited for the black mirror facial reflection-distortion technique (which includes fostering a mild trance or hypnotic state) applied to CM-ish evocation. Others have advised using a black mirror within the traditional triangle (Bardon), and Poke's inspiration for the facial focus and hand-held candles comes from a book on Tantra published in the 60's which claimed that such a device has been used to review past lives within that tradition (though I've yet to find a source for that claim elsewhere). So he didn't create the technique from scratch. He more or less assembled it from other sources and applied it in an innovative way.

What he's teaching with that book is not traditional Solomonic magick by any means. It's an innovative approach developed for modern seekers, which some would argue is appropriate, while others will disagree. Regardless of the controversies, the black mirror technique has proven to be a highly useful tool for many applications, including evoking spirits of any sort to a level where two-way communication is possible or even likely. It's worth pointing out that the visual effects of his black mirror technique is not itself the magick; that is in effect nothing more than a tool we all possess by our very nature. Poke's technique, however, appears to be a highly reliable means of triggering that innate "tool."

There's an interesting back story surrounding publication of the facial reflection-distortion technique, if you're interested: http://www.arcane-archive.org/occultism/magic/ceremonial/evocation-and-dark-mirror-scrying-1.php

If you're not particularly interested in trying to act exactly like we imagine a Medieval magician might have acted, his techniques are worth a go.

As for doing magick to replace study and preparation so that you can pass your college entrance exams? Good luck, but I'm doubtful you'll get far with that. Magick and education do go together, but not really in that way. For example, I conducted a series of workings to get a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, and it worked perfectly: I have a Ph.D. in experimental psychology. It took 11 years, but I got it, so it worked.

[first_rocrider]

Thanks a lot for your enlightening answer.
I studied a lot of magical systems and occult schools. some shamanism, some yoga, some golden dawn some Wicca and a lot of Chaos magick but I haven't done so much of a practical work and that is what makes me suffer. The thing is that I spent almost half of my life studying magic and at the end when 9 months ago I wanted someone so bad, I couldn't do a thing. Well, I made a Sigil (as I can call sigil works the most useful magic I can preform) and I could have that girl for some time, but after a short time I became so desperate and I went through a really hard and painful path which almost was leading me to suicide.
The problem wasn't only losing a girl, but it was that my ego was damaged so hard too, because it was so hard for me to believe I couldn't preform only a simple love magic after all these years. I almost left the magic for like 4-5 months but in the last 2 weeks signs kept showing up and leading me to the magic path again. I started having promising dreams about magic and alike. Signs, The world, my own works and actions led me to a magic I was always afraid of preforming and always thought it is so hard and it doesn't worth the hard work it need for the result. Anyway I'm here now, with a great hope I never had in myself about magick and I want to preform Evocation. even though I lost 95% of my faith in magic when I had such a bad lose, I feel like I "know" this gonna work. Dunno how, but I feel I know it. but this time, it is only an exam, I'm not desperate, I have studied all the last 7 years of my school life in special schools in my country called "National Organisation for Development of Exceptional Talents" (NODET), so I see that is not such a hard thing for me to pass the entrance exam. But as I said, I ran out of time and there is only 3 month left for me. That is where I wish magic come to my help.
Maybe some invocation to make me study hard enough in a short time, and maybe at best, some powerful evocation to give miraculous results.
I wish this time I don't disappoint myself of magic.
Again, I ask for anyone who can help me. I ask for any help anyone can give me.
I'd be so thankful

P.S. to Eugene : What is your opinion about Carl Jung ? I only ask because I read some of his works, I wanted to know, a new age PH.D 's opinion

[R. Eugene Laughlin]

P.S. to Eugene : What is your opinion about Carl Jung ? I only ask because I read some of his works, I wanted to know, a new age PH.D 's opinion

Jung was a great thinking/philosopher. He was also a terrible clinician and no kind of scientist; that is, his patients never recovered from their illnesses and he made no attempt of any kind to systematically test out his ideas. If you want to discuss Jung in any detail, you should start another thread in a more appropriate forum.

[first_rocrider]

"We can imagine nothing as great or greater than God's conceptions, therefore our
God-given ideas of soul transmigration, reincarnation and magick
must exist for those of us who believe in such concepts because if such
were not true it would mean that humankind had conceived a master plan of spiritual evolution beyond God's power to grant. "
What came above is from The Book of Solomon's Magick, page 12, page 19 of pdf.
I just wanted to ask, if this seem acceptable to you guys ? I mean if we can think of something, really doesn't mean "we" can do it. What god may do and what we "can" do are so different things even if we believe in god.
Please tell me your opinions. Peter Carroll's books have much much much more powerful bases and theories and yet, The magick itself seem not to be so useful in the material plane and this time I hope more people with helping attitude find this topic and share their ideas about this book and the paragraph .

[philodox]

I just finished reading this book and quite enjoyed it. Though I doubt I will apply all of the 'innovations' that Poke Runyon outlines, he does have some interesting ideas. I like the idea of using Phoenician, though admittedly part of this affinity comes from the fact that I am having a hell of a time with writing hebrew characters. I'm not sure that I fully agree with his sorting of the spirits or the drastic changes that he has made to the Almadel, but both provide food for thought. I doubt that I will use his new tetragrammaton, but again his argument gives you something to think about. I really appreciate the fact that he has gone his own way with the Goetia and really made it his own and if I take anything from the book it is the intention to take a similar approach myself.

Well worth the read in my opinion, even if you don't like any of his ideas.

PS. Does anyone know the source for the sigil on page 105? Is this of his own design or is it taken from one of the grimoires? If it is not of his own design, this lends some credance to the Ba'al/Astarte mythos that he puts forward as it is a mingling of the sigils of Bael and Astaroth.

[Asterion]

I believe this would fit better in the Book Section.

[philodox]

Ok, it's been moved.

[Asterion]

PS. Does anyone know the source for the sigil on page 105? Is this of his own design or is it taken from one of the grimoires? If it is not of his own design, this lends some credance to the Ba'al/Astarte mythos that he puts forward as it is a mingling of the sigils of Bael and Astaroth.

this little bugger?

Yeah, it s made up....

I appreciate the effort of smudging it to make it look old, but the writing is obviously new and the seals are clearly copied from the Crowly Goetia...

With all do respect to Master Thabion and all he did, but his system is pure fantasy and theater.

[Bluefirephoenix]

This book's on my list to read. The facial distortion technique is older than dirt though. ... just hasn't been used in a CM setting and that was a unique application. As far as Carl Jung is concerned. He was a man of his times. He was trying to put spirituality into a scientific light in hopes that it might be more vogue and acceptable to people. I am fairly sure that spirits have an independent existance. However, the interaction part with humans there may be a grain of truth to what he says. The spirit has to join with our astral body in order to communicate. I've seen this done, and realized this is how communication is done there. The thing is because it has to filter through so much to get to our conscious mind a lot of distortion occurs along the way. The spirit takes on what we believe it should say because We cannot directly or easily access the levels where communication occurs while in the physical body. I think astral projection may alievate some of these issues with some practice. So in part the foriegn spirit has to become part of us in order to interact, and would give the impression that htey are a part of our own spiritual make up. But this is only temporary for the interaction. The process of learning to quiet the monkey mind and constant mind chatter we experience is perhaps one of the primary keys to minimizing distortion.