How Necessary is the License to Depart?

[MagiAwen]

Ehm. I don't know if this is a good idea or not...but I'm going to find out!

Early this morning we got into a short discussion about this on Facebook and then I did a post on it for my blog and now I'm going to post that post here to see if we can get a discussion going on it.

License to Depart - Necessary?
by MagiAwen

"An interesting conversation sparked up on my Facebook this morning and I thought it important enough to touch on it and also relate some of my experiences. As this site is mainly about my experiences it helps give me a little more content and puts into context some of my relations here.

David Rankine made a note this morning about the necessity of the License to Depart when within a traditional grimoire paradigm. And I find that correct within the traditional paradigm. It makes sense. When you are practicing ritual you are in effect, opening a gateway or you could say putting yourself into direct contact with whatever “stuff” is out there that can be reached, in the vein of energy/entity/spirit/etc. So it makes sense that if you open a door you should then shut it. If your paradigm goes upon the idea that there are actual entites/beings/creatures that you summon up and invite them in…and if those beings are considered “good”, “indifferent”, “happy”, “evil”, “mischevious” or “malicious” then it, again, makes good sense when you are done to say…alright, I invited you in now I am going to tell you to leave.

He also touched on something I find very important. And that is you do not ask. There is no, “please asmodeus, leave if you would like.” It’s more like, “I’m done with this conversation now, so get the hell out.” Possibly not that rude but the idea is that you don’t ASK, you are a magician, a director and conduit of magic (whatever you percieve that magic to be). As a director you are in charge of your mind, body, spirit and surroundings.

In any case my response was yes but also that I am not convinced that a license to depart is necessary in all instances all of the time. To be sure, if a novice or beginner or dabbler is garbing up to do ritual, decides to conjure up Amy (Goetia) and doesn’t put some sort of limit to their request/demand/requirements and also does not do something that closes the direct connection (leaving only an indirect connection), any amount of things can occur that have nastiness written all over it.

In Joseph Lisiewski’s book Ceremonial Magic and the Power of Evocation he mentions personal experiences of things like toilets exploding, knocks on walls, things shaking, lights flickering during an operation. I am of the opinion that in these cases not issuing a license to depart is a bit idiotic. Obviously something very strong is going on and intends for you to break down and not finish…which in the magical world we are in means they get let loose…upon you. You could say haunted in a way. After all you were the one that called them up.

I have been in situations where I have issued a license to depart. I end up doing operations for people. Not often but I have done it…and in that respect because I like to bring in elements of the other person’s belief system so that 1) They are more in tune with the ritual and 2) It seems to make sense to try to work within their paradigm as it relates to mine…in my experience the results seem better.

In any case one such operation I did do was one of very few experiences where I did feel there was a struggle between what I was working on getting rid of and myself. Things did keep happening to try to break me out of what I was doing, to break my focus/concentration. Those things were voices, physical sensations, knocks on walls and blinding lights while my eyes were closed. For this operation the goal was to actually get rid of something in the first place and I’ll be the first to say it really didn’t want to go..but finally did. I very much did do a license to depart…a few of them and other things.

You will see that I have started to relate my experiences with something that exposed itself as Abraxas to me. When I first did the conjuration of Ghob and “he” (self described Abraxas) showed up…and after my initial conversation, I did close the ceremony/ritual, however I did not do a license to depart. My reasoning on that was not that it seemed like a benign spirit/entity/manifestation…it just seemed not needed. And I think you get this instinct the more you practice.

I think that the more balanced you are emotionally/mentally/physically/spiritually/magically that issuing a departation may not be necessary all of the time. However, I still suggest people new to the Art do so when invoking/evoking entities.

Someone a little bit ago in the conversation on Facebook also posted something I agree with as being lacking. They mentioned attending rituals/operations where people don’t even bother doing a closing, they just sort of wander out of the circle…or worse (I think) saying something like “leave if it is your will”. That I disagree with wholeheartedly. But the whole thing of just sort of disintigrating a magical operation by trailing off without a closing doesn’t seem right and doesn’t seem very wise. I happen to delineate closing a ceremony with a license to depart. In a sense it is like when a person of Christian faith prays to God. They pray and then after they say Amen. Amen is basically the closing of the operation. But they aren’t all like, “Dear God (conjuration), please help me get through today and protect me and my loved ones.(request) Amen.(closing) Because thou hast-diligently answered unto my, demands, and hast been very ready and willing to come at my call, I do here license thee to depart unto thy proper place; without causing harm or danger unto man or beast. ”

Although…really…traditional grimoire peeps use God and angels typically for protection as their companion in controlling spirits that are not of God…and this and such. Which I have lots of opinions on anyway…and find it most interesting. To me God and angels are yet another entity to conjure as are the Goetia and etc. So..is Amen God’s license to depart or as I originally see it, simply a closing…an end to a request…a thanks…verily,verily…truly…sincerely. Amen is I’m sure another topic for another post. "

[Frater Yechidah]

Good post and points.

Personally I believe the License to Depart is necessary for good practice of ceremonial magic. Yes, ceremonies can still work without it, but I think they work better with it, and it's included in most grimoires and traditions for a very good reason.

I disagree with the idea that you're telling them to get the hell out (although I understand you were deliberately exaggerating to get the point across that the magician is in control, not the spirit). A License to Depart is the giving of permisison to leave (i.e. they are required to stay the length of your working for whatever your need is), not a command to leave. If they fail to leave (most genuine entities will not), then follows the banishing to remove them and anything else.

A Closing is essential for the sanity of the magician. To not close (in whatever fashion) means that the mental state and magical energy raised are being brought into one's everyday life. If a magician opens, then they should close. It would be like not removing one's robe after a working.

As for "amen", that is more of a closing thing than a License to Depart. It is affirming that the work is complete. It would be sufficient for small rites, but a larger working would require a bit more for its closing.

LLLSHJ,
Yechidah.

[MagiAwen]

Originally Posted by Frater Yechidah

Good post and points.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Frater Yechidah

I disagree with the idea that you're telling them to get the hell out (although I understand you were deliberately exaggerating to get the point across that the magician is in control, not the spirit).

Right. Well I sort of went off topic without going off topic. Your comment made me realize that. I have noticed the abuse of the word and sometimes the action of banishing. And I believe since that has been on my mind some of my emotional difficulty with the way that word and action is being handled by apparent modern day magicians leaked over into this post. My bad.

Originally Posted by Frater Yechidah

A License to Depart is the giving of permisison to leave (i.e. they are required to stay the length of your working for whatever your need is), not a command to leave. If they fail to leave (most genuine entities will not), then follows the banishing to remove them and anything else.

I quite agree.

[93rdcurrent]

I have always ended my ceremonies of conjurations with the License to Depart in one fashion or another. Some of them have been spur of the moment or off the cuff but they have all been there. There is only one time that I can think of where it needed to be a command. Most of the time it is just a formality like the Ring of Solomon.

[Caliban]

The license should generally be given whenever a spirit is conjured in a way that they are constrained to obedience. Often this includes a clause requiring future assistance, and another constraining the spirit to depart directly without making trouble. This is pretty much a fixture of what I think of as authoritarian evocation.

A conjuration that is phrased as an invitation can be closed in other ways, provided an end-point is established. In my personal practice, invited spirits are generally made welcome to stay or go, with the understanding that the visitation will end at sunrise if not before.

Good ritual requires a closure, but this can and should be in the same tone as the entire working.