How to Summon Spirits

The spiritual world has many inhabitants that we, residents of the physical world can connect with and invite into your lives. Summoning spirits can be a very rewarding experience, as you get to experience multiple dimensions of reality. Spirits can also help the summoner in various ways, whether that’s wealth, health, relationships, social status or some other issue.

To summon spirits find those that can help you with a specific problem. The spirit can be an angel, demon, fairy, familiar or some other entity. Find a summoning ritual for your spirit in a grimoire (books with magic spells and rituals) or design your own ritual. Rituals usually consist of three steps: 1. Creating a suitable atmosphere, 2. Entering a trance state, 3. Summoning and communicating with a spirit 

That’s the summarized answer on how to summon spirits. But if you want the nitty gritty details on which spirits to summon, how to get into a trance state and how to behave when a spirit appears here are your answers:

1. What spirits to summon

We’ve all seen the “Ouija Board gone wrong” scene too many times in movies and TV series. While this is a typical exaggeration of what magic is about, it still points to a real mistake that many beginners make, and that is summoning spirits out of pure curiosity.

Imagine if summon called you on the phone in the middle of the night just because they wanted to make sure they have the right number. You would be pretty angry with them, unless you’re on an insomniac and have nothing better to do than chat with an annoying person.

You should treat spirits as grumpy people who are sleeping and don’t want to be disturbed. So if you really want to summon them, have a really good reason to do so. I’m not saying it should be a life-or-death situation, but you should have a good excuse for bothering them.

Furthermore, keep in mind that spirits are individuals with different skills. You wouldn’t hire a policeman to fix your car. In the same way, it wouldn’t make sense to summon a wealth demon like Clauneck or Mammon to improve your dating life. That task would be better suited to a demon like Sitri or Zepar.

To summarize: Spirits should be summoned when you actually need assistance with a practical problem. Summon the spirit with the powers needed for the task.

2. Find spirits to summon

So where do you find the right spirits to get the job done? Well, did you know that spirits have their very own Craigslist? That’s almost exactly what many magic books, also known as grimoires provide. They contain lists of spirits along with their descriptions and instructions on how to summon them. Let’s make a silly demonstration along these lines:

Ghostwriter Joe

Skill: Writing biographies for celebrities too lazy to write for themselves

How to contact Joe: Call me on this number _______ or email me at _______

Demon Mammon

Skill: Can be of assistance with money and business in general

How to contact Mammon: _____________ (summoning instruction, too long to write, but you get the idea)

Best Grimoires

Now you’re wondering which grimoires are the best. Well, these have been the most popular for centuries and are available for free on the following links (note: some of these free versions are incomplete):

The Greater and Lesser Key of Solomon – The Lesser Key of Solomon is very popular as it contains 72 demons and instructions on how to summon them.

The Grimoire of Pope Honorius – Contains spirits that aren’t mentioned in the previous grimoire.

Grimorium Verum – Contains demons Beelzebuth, Clauneck, Klepoth and more

The Grand Grimoire – Another super popular grimoire with vast number of spirits and summoning instructions

Lucifer-Amaymon – This is a very unique modern grimoire for summoning Lucifer and performing dark alchemy. (not free, but great!)

There are of course many more grimoires from various time periods. Many modern magicians and witches have written their own grimoires which can be easily found on Amazon and other book selling websites. You will also find useful Wikipiedia articles such as this List of Demons in the Ars Goetia (Lesser Key of Solomon) that has pretty much the same info as the grimoire.

However, these grimoires typically provide very crude and basic descriptions of spirits and summoning instructions. They don’t provide real practical advice for beginners. Also, many of these grimoires are a bit outdated, as they rely on a Medieval or even older mentality that for the most part is nonexistant today.

For example, if you read the Ars Goetia, there is a lot of prayer and invocations of Adonai, the Judeo-Christian god. If you’re not really religious in that sense, it could be off-putting.

Remember that names and such formalities are there to support the magician to get in the right state of mind, and they’re not important in-and-of themselves. So just to give an example, you could easily swap Adonai for Universe, The Self or a deity of your choice so that it makes more sense to you.

In other words, don’t be dogmatic about ritual instructions. These are only symbols that point to reality, not reality itself. After all, there are so many languages and different words used to name the exact same things in reality and to say that the german word for a “chair” is better than an english version or vice-versa would be completely irrational.

So now you know where to find spirits to summon. So after you find the correct spirit for your task, how do you summon it into your life? Well, now we come to the most complex and creative part of a summoning ritual – getting into a trance state.

Pro tip: Here’s my list of 13 best demons to summon for different tasks

3. Get into a trance state to conjure spirits

Have you ever wondered why magicians wear silly robes, use wands, swords, daggers, candles, incense, magic circles and similar items? Why does a ritual always look somewhat scary and sinister?

Well, you should ask the same thing about other activities. Why do cathedrals look imposing and priests also wear their own version of magic robes? Why do soldiers, policemen and bureaucrats dress in uniforms? Or why do business people wear suits?

It’s ALL about creating a certain atmosphere in a given area, and a desired mindset in the participants. I hope we can agree that you can’t really have a disciplined army wearing colorful dresses. It doesn’t create the mindset of discipline, uniformity and self-sacrifice. Likewise, you can’t summon spirits in flip flops and a dirty t-shirt.

So what type of atmosphere are you trying to achieve with these various magic, ritual items and methods? A magic, ritual atmosphere, one that seperates you from everyday, mundane reality and transports you into a more spiritual state of mind.

Why do some colors, sounds, patterns, objects produce a connection with a spiritual side of our nature, while others do just the opposite? That’s a very philosophical question that I won’t get into in this aricle. But it’s obviously the case that we humans have a sense for such differences and this is very useful for getting into a trance state.

When I say trance state, I don’t mean a full trance where you completely lose sense of reality. The trance state that we are going for is a theta brainwave state that we typically enter as we’re about to fall asleep. It’s that subtle area between wakefulness and dreams. This is the most suitable state of mind for conjurations and casting spells as well.

Here are just a few tools and methods that can be used alone or in various combinations to enter this theta brainwave state:

Sigils – Visual symbols of different spirits. They have been used for centuries, usually by gazing at the sigil or visualizing it with eyes closed. Drawing a sigil can be a very trance-inducing experience itself.

Enns – Demonic enns (here’s a list) are sound frequenices used to connect with demons. Every demon has a different enn, which can be chanted, used as a silent mantra or used in other ways

Candles – Gazing at the candle flame can also create a theta state as you focus all your attention at the flame while staying relaxed at the same time. You can also visualize the spirit you want to summon manifesting in the flame.

Wand, Dagger, Sword – These pointy objects are used as an extension of ones hand. Why would you extend your hand? To more effectively channel energy. The same would be true if you were hitting someone with these objects. But instead of using for combat, you are sending magical energy into a particular space or an object in order to charge it with this energy. You could charge a magical circle, a sigil, scrying mirror, any other object that represents a spirit you wish to summon or a space in which you want it to appear.

Magic circle – This is an area usually marked on the floor in which you want to “trap” the spirit. Alternatively you can use the circle as a protective barrier in which you sit or stand while the spirit is on the outside. Typically, two magic circles are created. One for yourself and another for the spirit. Circles are useful to create this separation, because spirits can interfere with energies within an area (cursed houses) and within people (possessions). Keep in mind that this is pretty rare, and most summoner don’t use magic circles at all, at least not for that purpose.

Meditation – Meditation is the simplest, minimalistic way of entering the trance state as it doesn’t require any ritual items. All you need is your mind and concentration. Meditation is recommended for 30 minutes or so before any of these other trance-inducing activities because it can cleanse the mind of unnecessary thoughts. However, if you meditate for long enough it will create a trance state by itself.

So why don’t all magicians just meditate instead of using these elaborate tools and methods? Well, becauase tools are useful.. and fun. Why wouldn’t you use all of these majestic items if you have the opportunity? The more you can get into the ritual, the better results you will have, and for most people meditation alone is not as fun, so it’s not enough to create the desired atmosphere. But there are exceptions and you are free to experiment.

There are many other items such as a scrying mirror, crystal ball, gemstones, magic robes etc. There are also differences in color. For example, the color red is best suited for warlike spirits (Mars, Belial..), the gold for spirits of wealth (Clauneck, Mammon, Pluto..), white for angelic and healing spirits (archangel Raphael, demon Buer..).

All of these elements can be utilized for ritualistic atmosphere and trance-induction purposes. So that when you finally call forth the spirit and it arrives you will be able to either to see and/or hear it, or simply feel its presence in the ritual space.

3. Evoke or Invoke the Spirit

So once you are in a trance state, you can finally connect with spirits as your consciousness is more receptive to these influences. Now the question is whether you want to invoke or evoke a spirit. Invocation is when you summon a spirit into your body, so that you take up its traits. Evocation is summoning a spirit outside of yourself, so that it assists you but you don’t share a body so-to-speak.

Don’t mistake invocation for possession because they’re not the same thing. Possession means that a spirit controls you, while with invocation you are still in control, but your personality will change according to the spirit’s traits.

So as an example, if you invoked Clauneck, the demon of wealth, you would become very motivated and skilled at making money. If you evoked Clauneck, you wouldn’t necessarily change personality wise, but new opportunities would open for making money in the external world.

4. Call forth your spirit!

All that is left is for you to call forth the spirit of your choice. This can be done through formal incantations found in grimoires. You can write your own incantation or rely on inspiration that comes to you in the moment.

Either of these methods work just fine in my experience. I personally believe that spirits like when you put creativity into your rituals and communication with them, instead of just reciting someone elses words.

Make it a personal and unique experience, enjoy it and be natural in your communication. After all, you wouldn’t like if somone treated you like you were a machine, typing in various commands to control you. You don’t want to behave in such a way with spirits either. Simply say what you want, receive feedback and have a nice conversation.

5. How spirits appear

As mentioned before, spirits can manifest in our reality in various ways. It’s all connected to your state of consciousness. For example, you can talk to a spirit but no one else will hear it. Or it could be standing right there in front of you, but no one else sees it. Why? Because they are not on the same frequency.

Religious apparitions and loonies in psych wards are a good example of this, although that’s not what we’re trying to do here of course. We want to remain sane and in control. Religious apparitions for example are moments when a spirit decides to contact someone out of its own will, not because it was summoned on purpose. People in psych wards speaking with themselves are probably haunted by spirits, again without their own consent. The difference is that magicians summon spirits on purpose, using their own will and staying in control of the process at all times.

However, in most cases magicians are not able to manifest spirits visually or auditorily. Instead, it will manifest as moment of great mental clarity, inspiration, change of energy in the ritual space etc. In other words, it will be a more subtle experience. This doesn’t make it any less real. And always keep in mind that what happens in the ritual is not as important as what happens outside of it.

Remember that you are summoning spirits in order to do your bidding, to create change in the outside world or within yourself. If this happens, your ritual worked! It doesn’t matter if there are fireworks or not, although “supernatural” phenomena is rewarding when it happens and something to be treasured.

6. Command the spirit

The biggest mistake you can make when summoning a spirit is to humble yourself too much. You don’t want to act like a slave or a servant when communicating your desire. You should command, because you are the conjurer, in some sense a god/creator of this entity in this plane of reality.

You created the spirit and forced it to come into the circle, so don’t act like you are below it in any way. Humbling yourself after all you’ve done would be the greatest insult.

This doesn’t mean that you should be disrespectful. It’s best to act with respect to yourself and to the spirit as if you were on the same level in dignity or as if you were a king addressing a knight in your service, giving him a task to wage war on your behalf.

Final Word: How to Summon Spirits

I hope this guide to conjuring spirits helps you. Remember that there are three steps to summoning a spirit, you can call it a blueprint:

1. Find the right spirit for your problem in magic grimoires 
2. Get into a trance state using various ritual methods and items
3. Evoke or invoke the spirit and ask it for assistance

Once you are done with communication, simply end the ritual by saying something along these lines: “Thank you _____ (name of the spirit) for acknowleding this ritual with your presence. Go forth as we’ve discussed and do my bidding.”

You can then remove all the ritual items that were used from the room and store them in a safe space until further use. If you used a sigil or any other visual symbol for a spirit, store it in a safe space until you are satisfied with the help from the spirit and no longer need its assistance. Then, as a symbolic end to your connection, you may destroy the sigil by burning it or using a similar method.

Want to receive the benefits of a ritual faster and more effectively? Consider hiring me to perform it for you. I perform rituals for clients based on their unique circumstances and goals. If you’re interested I look forward to hearing from you!