Evocation

Evocation is the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, god or other supernatural agent, in the Western mystery tradition. Comparable practices exist in many religions and magical traditions and may employ the use of mind-altering substances with and without uttered word formulas.

Evocation in the Western mystery tradition

The Latin word evocatio was the "calling forth" or "summoning away" of a city's tutelary deity. The ritual was conducted in a military setting either as a threat during a siege or as a result of surrender, and aimed at diverting the god's favor from the opposing city to the Roman side, customarily with a promise of a better-endowed cult or a more lavish temple.Evocatio was thus a kind of ritual dodge to mitigate looting of sacred objects or images from shrines that would otherwise be sacrilegious or impious.

The calling forth of spirits was a relatively common practice in Neoplatonism, theurgy and other esoteric systems of antiquity. In contemporary western esotericism, the magic of the grimoires is frequently seen as the classical example of this idea. Manuals such as the Greater Key of Solomon the King, The Lesser Key of Solomon (or Lemegeton), the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage and many others provided instructions that combined intense devotion to the divine with the summoning of a personal cadre of spiritual advisers and familiars.

Conjurer (film)

Conjurer is a 2008 supernatural horror film directed by Clint Hutchison and written by Hutchison and David Yarbrough. The film had its world premiere on 11 September 2008 at the SoCal Independent Film Festival and was released to DVD on 25 November of the same year. It stars Andrew Bowen as a photographer caught up in a haunting.

Plot

For the past year photographer Shawn Burnett (Andrew Bowen) and his wife Helen (Maxine Bahns) have been grieving the loss of their first child, which died in Helen's womb before it could be carried to term. They're hoping that a move to the country will help them both heal and move on with their lives. Shawn is somewhat irritated that the move involves him taking charity from Helen's brother Frank (John Schneider), but he's willing to do whatever he can if it will give Helen solace. Frank promises that he'll build the two of them a brand new house, but until the construction is done they must stay in an older house with a decrepit cabin in the back yard. Shortly after they move in, Helen becomes pregnant again.