THE 72 KEYS
OF THE GLOAMING
Hold the Intention. Will the Force.
Turn the Key.
For more than 35 years I have studied, practised, tested, pulled apart and rebuilt the way I approach magical workings. Over time, that practice became a framework for understanding not simply what we use in magic, but why we use it.
I call it The 72 Keys of the Gloaming.
ENTER THE GLOAMINGMagic needs direction.
And it needs will.
Before the candle is lit, before the herb is chosen, before the crystal is placed upon the altar, there are two things I need to understand.
INTENTION
The Intention is what I hold at the centre of the working. It gives the work its direction and keeps clear what I am actually trying to affect, understand, protect or change.
FORCE
The Force is what I deliberately do upon that Intention. It gives the work movement: Ward, Draw, Grow, Receive, Move, Reveal, Act or Release.
Between Intention and Force lies the Gloaming.
It is not another ingredient in the working. It is the threshold created when the Intention is held steady while the Force is deliberately willed upon it.
Hold them together.That is the Gloaming.
Find Your Key
There are Nine Intentions and Eight Forces. Where each Intention meets each Force, a Key is formed.
What do you need?
Choose the Intention you will hold at the centre of the work.
How will you work upon it?
Choose the Force you will bring to the Intention.
Breathe Life Into the Key
Finding the Key is not the working.
Choose an Intention and a Force above. When you turn the Key, this section will become the working for the Key you selected.
Choose an Intention and a Force above, then turn the Key to open its working.
Set the Field
Before working the Key, establish the place in which the working will occur. Clear enough physical space that you can work without distraction. Decide where the centre of the working will be: an altar, candle, bowl, stone, sigil, cloth or simply a marked place before you.
Then deliberately mark the transition from ordinary activity into magical work. Cast a circle, light a working candle, sound a bell, asperge or cense the space, trace a boundary, speak an opening declaration, or use the method already established within your practice.
You are telling your attention that the work begins here. This is the space in which you will hold the Gloaming.
I leave ordinary space behind.
I enter the place of the working.
Call the Elements
The Elements are not simply another list of correspondences. They establish the mechanics of the field in which the Key will be held.
Bring the Intention clearly into thought. Strip away the surrounding story until you can name what the working is actually about.
Give this working direction.Find the decision beneath the working. Not simply what you hope happens, but the Force you are prepared to deliberately exert.
Give this working will.Feel the relationships through which the working must move: between yourself, the Intention and everything connected to it.
Give this working flow.Feel the physical reality of the working: your body, your tools, the ground beneath you and the circumstances in which the work exists.
Give this working form.Bring the other Elements into relationship and recognise them as parts of one working rather than separate powers.
Make this working whole.Use the directions, invocations and forms of elemental calling that belong to your own practice. The words matter less than knowing what you are asking each Element to do.
Hold
Will
Build
Choose deliberately. These things help you hold the Intention, keep the Force clear and remain inside the particular Gloaming you are creating.
Breathe Life Into
The field is established. The Elements are present. The Intention is clear. The Force has been chosen. The anchors of the Key are before you.
Now bring Intention and Force into the same moment.
Gather the Intention. Let it become steady rather than urgent.
Hold Intention and Force together. Do not abandon one in order to concentrate upon the other.
Direct the Force through the field and the anchors you have chosen.
Repeat the breath slowly. At first you may feel yourself moving mentally between Intention and Force. Continue until the Intention can remain held while the Force moves through it.
The Key is no longer simply understood. It has been given breath, attention and will.
Turn
The final act should express the Force you have chosen.
Perform that act while continuing to hold the Intention. Do not allow the physical action to replace the Gloaming.
Hold the Intention.
Will the Force.
Perform the act.
Close the Field
When the working is complete, deliberately return the space to ordinary use. Thank and release any deity, spirit, ancestor or other presence specifically invited into the work. Release the Elements according to your practice. Close or dismantle the boundary you established at the beginning.
Ground yourself. Drink water. Eat something if useful. Record what you did, what you noticed and anything that changed in the course of the working.
You do not need to keep turning it simply because you are anxious about whether the first turn was enough.
THE CORRESPONDENCES
DO NOT TURN THE KEY.
YOU DO.
A crystal can anchor your attention. A herb can lend its nature to the work. A colour can reinforce the field. A planetary current can give the working another rhythm. A goddess, god or spirit may become part of the relationship you establish.
But none of them replaces understanding what you are trying to do.
They help you hold the Intention.
They help you direct the Force.
The will remains yours.