Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Air

MAGICAL INVOCATION OF THE SPIRITS OF AIR

A L S O B Y T H E A U T H O R Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Earth Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Fire Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Air

MAGICAL INVOCATION OF THE SPIRITS OF AIR A Practical Grimoire for Invoking Wisdom, Clarity, Communication, Inspiration, Freedom and Swift Messages EMMANUEL OLUWASEGUN TAIWO A F R I K D P

For everyone who has ever been told to keep quiet, and spoke the true word anyway.

AUTHOR'S NOTE On the Fourth Book Every Yoruba child knows that a name is not just a label. When a child is born, the family gathers, and names are given — not one, but several. The names say where the child came from, what the family hoped for, what was happening in the world when the child arrived. And for the rest of that person’s life, when someone wants to honour them, they do not simply say the name. They sing it. They recite the praise-names, the oríkì, until the person being praised stands a little taller, and sometimes weeps. A word, spoken aloud, changes something in the person who hears it. That is air. And that is what this book is about. The first book, Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Earth, was about the ground: patience, foundation, the slow and certain return. The second, Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Fire, was about will: courage, purification, the nerve to begin. The third, Magical Invocation of the Spirits of Water, was about feeling: love, healing, dreams, and letting go. Readers of all three asked the same final question. I have the ground, the fire and the water. So why can I still not say what I mean? Why can I not think clearly? Why do my messages go unanswered? Why is my head so full of noise? Those are air questions. Air is the element of breath, word, thought, communication, learning, news, travel, freedom and inspiration. It is the one element you cannot see. You know it only by what it moves — a leaf, a flag, a flame, a mind. Earth gives you a floor. Fire gives you an engine. Water gives you a heart. Air gives you a voice — and the clear head to use it well. A few things to say plainly before you begin. Air is the fourth discipline, and it completes the square. Earth work is done kneeling, facing north, slow and heavy, nine times. Fire work is done standing, facing south, fast and bright, seven times. Water work is done sitting, facing west, soft and sung, eight times. Air work is done standing with the arms open, facing east, toward the sunrise, with a voice that moves from whisper to clear speech and back again, four times — once for each of the four winds. And 1

M A G I C A L I N V O C A T I O N O F T H E S P I R I T S O F A I R air answers fast: in words, messages, ideas and conversations, usually within three days. Air is the element of words, and words are the most underestimated power there is. A lie can ruin a life. Gossip can destroy a family. A curse spoken in anger can stay in a person’s mind for forty years. That is why the first law of this book is about the mouth, the way the first law of the fire book was about anger and the first law of the water book was about despair. There is no working in this book to harm anyone with words, and Chapter 16 explains why. Air is gentle on the body, but it is not without danger. Breathing exercises can make you faint. Incense and charcoal can fill a closed room with smoke and carbon monoxide. Rooftops, cliff edges and open windows are not places to perform rites. Chapter 4 is a safety chapter, written seriously, as in every book in this series. And it is still not a replacement for a doctor. Air governs the breath and the mind, and so this book touches anxiety, overthinking, grief and breathing under stress. Every one of those workings stands beside proper care. If you are struggling to breathe, get medical help first. If your thoughts are racing and will not stop, or you are hearing things other people do not hear, speak to a doctor. Then come to the window. What is here: fifty spirits of air — the king of the sylphs, the archangel of the east, the four winds of the Greeks, the lords of wind and sky from Egypt, India, Japan, Mexico, Aotearoa and the Akan lands, the keepers of the written and spoken word, the sacred birds, and the one feather you will keep on your own altar. Forty-five solutions for forty-five matters of word and mind. A master rite that fits them all. Twenty-one laws that will keep you safe and honest. And a final chapter that brings earth, fire, water and air together at last, as one complete practice. Open a window. Stand facing the morning. Breathe in. Let us begin. — E. O. Taiwo 2

P A R T O N E THE FOUNDATION OF AIR Breath, wind and sky: the three levels of air. 3

M A G I C A L I N V O C A T I O N O F T H E S P I R I T S O F A I R C H A P T E R 1 AIR IS THE ONE ELEMENT YOU CANNOT SEE Start with the strangest thing about air: you have never seen it. You have seen earth, and fire, and water. You have never once seen air. You have seen dust moving in it, and smoke, and clouds, and leaves shaking, and your own breath on a cold morning. But air itself is invisible. You know it only by what it does. That is the entire secret of this element. Earth is. Fire happens. Water receives. Air moves other things. It is the carrier, the messenger, the go-between. Every rite in this book works through that principle. Air does not build, burn or soften. It carries — words, seeds, scents, sounds, news, ideas — from where they are to where they need to be. What air governs Strip away the romance and air governs seven things. Breath. The first thing you did when you were born and the last thing you will do before you die. Every other thing in this book depends on it. Word. Speech, writing, names, promises, lies, praise, stories — everything that passes from one mind to another in language. Thought. Clarity, reasoning, memory, learning, planning, the ability to see a problem from above. Communication. Messages sent and received, conversations, negotiations, news, being understood. Travel. Journeys, especially by air. Movement. Change of place. Freedom. Space to breathe. Release from what confines you — physically, mentally, socially. Inspiration. The word itself means breathing in. The idea that arrives from nowhere. The song that comes whole. 4

T H E F O U N D A T I O N O F A I R If your problem is on that list, you are in the right book. If it is not — if you need a foundation, go to earth; if you need courage and action, go to fire; if you need to feel or to heal, go to water. The three levels Every spirit in this book lives at one of three levels, and you must know which you are addressing. The Breath. Air inside you and just around you: your own breathing, the air of your room, a whisper, a sigh, a single word. Near, personal, safe. Calm, clarity, small messages, peace of mind. This is where a beginner starts — and almost nobody does, because it is not dramatic. The Wind. Air in motion across the land: the four winds, weather, the movement of news and people and ideas. Change, travel, communication, reputation, the spread of anything. Most of the serious work of this book happens here. The Sky. The vast heights: the heavens, the high air where the great birds fly, the sky-gods who see everything. Truth, justice, perspective, the big picture, the wisdom that sees the whole. These are approached with respect and never for small things. Match the level to the matter. Do not take a small message to the sky. Do not take a question about your whole life to a single breath. The single most important sentence in this book Air does not give you what you want. Air carries your word to where it can be answered — and carries back whatever you were not listening to. The second half of that sentence matters as much as the first. Air workings very often produce, in the first days, messages you did not expect: a conversation you had been avoiding, a truth someone finally says to you, an idea that changes your plan. That is not the working failing. That is the working starting. Air carries in both directions. If you are not prepared to hear something, do not open the window. 5

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