Observations placeholder

from Agrouchada-Parikchai

After preparing himself for this important ceremony, he should thoughtfully enter the room in his house re- served for the domestic spirits which he is accustomed to evoke, and should engage in the ceremonies preparatory to evocation.

Evocation in the First Degree.

After darkening a part of the room he should deposit in that portion of it a vase full of water, a lamp, and some powdered sandal-wood, boiled rice, and incense.

Snapping his fingers together, and turning around upon his heels he should trace before the door the magic circles as taught him by the superior Guru, in order to prevent the entrance of any bad spirits from the outside and to confine within it any which have already penetrated to the sanctuary of the Pitris.

With earth, water, and fire, breathed upon three times, he should compose a new body for himself, and with a part of his, should form a body for the spirits which he intends to evoke for the sacrifice.

He should then compress the right nostril with his thumb and pronounce the monosyllable Djom! sixteen times. Breathing in strongly by his left nostril he should by degrees separate the particles of which his body is composed.

With the thumb and fore-finger he should then press both nostrils and pronounce the word Rom! six times. He should stop breathing and summon fire to his aid in order to disperse his body.

He should pronounce the word Lom! thirty-two times, when his soul will escape from his body, and his body will disappear and the soul of the spirits he has evoked will animate the new body he prepared for it.

His soul will then return to his body, the subtile parts of which will unite anew, after forming an aërial body for the spirits which he has evoked.

Pronouncing the sacred word Aum! three times and the magic syllable Djom! nine times, he should impose his hands above the lamp and throw a pinch of incense upon the flame, saying:

O sublime Pitri! O illustrious penitent narada! whom I have evoked and for whom I have formed a subtile body from the constituent particles of my own, are you present? Appear in the smoke of incense and take part in the sacrifice that I offer to the shades of my ancestors.

When he has received a suitable answer and the aërial body of the spirit evoked has appeared in the smoke ofthe incense, he should then proceed to perform the oblations and sacrifices as prescribed.

The sacrifices having been offered, he should hold converse with the souls of his ancestors concerning the mysteries of being and the transformations of the imperishable.

Having extinguished his lamp, in darkness and silence he should then listen to the conversation of the spirits with each other, and should be present at the manifestations by which they reveal their presence.

Lighting his lamp, he should then set at liberty the evil spirits confined in the magic circles, after which he should leave the asylum of the Pitris. It is lawful for him then to take his repast.

As soon as he has finished it, he should wash his hands, rinse his mouth twelve times, and eat nine leaves of basil, in order to facilitate his digestion.

He should distribute betel and cashew nuts to the poor whom he has invited to his table, and when they are gone he should engage for a time in the perusal of the sacred scriptures.