There are evocations of negative beings and such not liking being transferred into our physical world. For these beings the magician will use, should the magic wand not suffice, the magic sword, providing he insists on their manifestation. The magic sword has several symbolic meanings, but generally it serves as the symbol of absolute obedience of a being or a power to the magician. It is also the symbol of victory and superiority over any power or being.
The Magic Sword
The sword is analogous to the light, it is an aspect of the fire and of the word. Already the bible says: “In the beginning was the word – light – and the word was with God”. He who is somewhat acquainted with symbolism will remember that, as an example, Archangel Michael, the killer of the dragon, is symbolized with a burning sword; the dragon, in this case, is the symbol of the hostile, the negative principle. Adam and Eve, too, were driven out of paradise by an angel with a burning sword. The symbolic meaning is also in this case quite clear and unequivocal.
The magic sword usually serves as an implement in those cases where the magician wishes to exert a certain compulsory or forceable influence on a power or being, usually quite against its will. It is an indispensable implement for magicians dealing exclusively with demonology and who therefore would never get any positive results unless they were using a magic sword. The true magician will usually get satisfactory results with his magic wand, but in spite of this he will not fail to manufacture for himself an implement such as the magic sword, in order to have it handy in case of emergencies. Such a magic sword means more safety for the magician and will strengthen his authority. But when working, he will only use the sword for operations, especially for evocations, if a being were to oppose him strongly or to refuse to obey him.
The Magic Dagger
Some grimoires call such an instrument as the sword a dagger, yet the magic dagger is nothing else but a diminished sword with the same kind of symbolism. A magic dagger is manufactured the same way as a magic sword.
When evoking demons and lower spirits, the sword or dagger may be replaced by a trident which has to be mounted on a long wooden shaft, similar to a wooden fork. The trident, like the sword or dagger, is a means of coercion. Grimoires, on top of that, recommend ornamenting the trident with engravings of divine names. This is left to the magician’s individual taste and depends on the purpose of the evocation and the magician’s attitude.
The Trident
The trident is also an enlarged symbol of the magic sword: the three points symbolize our three-dimensional world, and the magician can force the beings to fulfill his desire not only in the mental or astral world, but also in this physical world, or, if the magician likes, in all three planes. Regarding this, the fact that demons usually turn up with a trident and are pictured with a trident, should be mentioned. This does not mean that they run this trident through the souls in hell, as is sometimes wrongly assumed by foolish people, but that their influence works on all three worlds: the mental, astral and physical.
The points of magic swords, daggers or tridents may also be employed for breaking or killing unevoked and unwanted beings like phantoms, larvae, elementals, elementaries, and the like, which may try to hinder the magician in his work. And yet another way of using these implements must be mentioned here since it is hardly known to anybody: a magic sword or dagger, not so much a trident, may do good service as a magical lightningconductor.
After having ended his evocations, especially after evocations of higher negative beings, principals of demons and the like, the magician who intends to go to rest but who is uncertain whether these spirits will let him sleep unmolested, may furnish his bed with a magic lightning-conductor. Such a lightning-conductor can be manufactured by winding a copper or iron wire round the legs of the bed, both ends of which have to be connected with the sword or dagger. Then the sword or dagger must be stuck into the floor. The wires form a closed circle around the bed even if it has a square shape. The function of the sword or dagger is to conduct the influence directed towards the magician into the earth.
Of course, the wire has to be drawn with the wish in the magician’s mind, that it will form a circle and that no being or any unfavourable influence will be able to get inside the bed and that every influence, no matter from which being it may come, will be conducted into the earth. In such a magically sheltered bed provided with a magic lightning-conductor the magician will sleep undisturbed, and he may rest assured that no influence, no matter from which sphere it may come, will never have any effect upon him, or will ever be able to surprise and overwhelm him.
If the magician has no sword or dagger handy at the moment, or if he has to use it for other purposes, a new knife which, in this case, must not be used for any other purposes, will fulfill the same function. This magic lightning conductor will also protect the magician against influences of black magic, especially during the hours of sleep. A well-trained, fully developed magician may be able to do without this implement, for he may draw a magic circle around his bed by force of imagination, mentally or astrally, thereby using his wand, sword or dagger. This will also give him full protection against any unwanted influences.
The way in which a magic sword is manufactured depends on the magician’s individuality. Several books instruct the magician to use a sword which has formerly been used for cutting off a man’s head. This is obviously suggested to raise, in the heart of the magician, a certain feeling of awe, or a certain stress as soon as he takes hold of the sword.
Usually those magicians who make use of such a sword are those who need such superficialities to get into the right state of mind. From the hermetic point of view such or similar pre-conditions are not necessary, providing that all other faculties necessarily exist. A sword made of the best kind of steel (refined steel) will fully serve its purpose. If the magician cannot produce such a sword himself he may have it made by a smith or another metal expert. The length of the sword may vary between two or three feet depending on the magician’s height. The handle of the sword may be made of copper, since copper is a very good conductor of fluids.
The shape of the sword does not play an essential role. It need only be sharpened on one side, but, of course, in can also be sharpened on both sides. Its point, however, must be well sharpened. It depends on the individual taste of the magician, if he has the handle ornamented or provided with suitable symbols. So much about the manufacturing of a magic sword.
The charge of the sword is done by transferring upon it, by the help of the imagination, the qualities belonging to it, such as the power over all beings, the absolute victory and the respect due to it as the symbol of combat, life etc. These qualities have to be dynamically intensified in the sword by repeated charging. The magician may also accumulate the light-fluid in the sword in such a way that it will look like the shining sun or like a flaming sword, similar to that one which Archangel Michael holds in his hand in his symbolic pictures.
The main point is the attitude of the magician towards the magic sword accompanied by an unbreakable belief in his absolute victory in all planes, which will give the sword the necessary force so that every power, every being will fear and respect it under any circumstance. After each use the sword has to be wrapped up in a piece of white or black silk and put away safely like the other magic implements.
The magician may, by practising mental wandering, transfer the spiritual form of the sword into the mental plane and visit the planetary spheres taking his magic sword as well as his magic wand with him. There, according to his wish, he can make use of his magic power with the help of his magic implements. That every being will have to obey him in these spheres is clearly evident by what has been said before.
The magician is able, during his magical operations and evocations, to transfer his mental sword with his mental hand into the relevant sphere by force of imagination, and there he can make the being carry out his wishes. Such a force, however, can only be exerted without danger by a magician who has a clean heart and a noble soul. If a sorcerer tried to do the like he would only make the being hate him and would soon become a victim of them and their influence. The history of occult science has given many examples of the tragic fate and even more tragic end of such sorcerers.
