Seal of Aratron courtesy of Asterion’s Occult Art
The Olympic Spirits are kind of hard to explain or to learn about. What you can find out from books, even Arbatel: Concerning the Magic of the Ancients, the definitive book on the subject, does not enlighten one much. From pages 27-29 of Joseph Peterson’s edition, linked to above at Amazon:
The spirits called Olympic are those who inhabit the firmament and the stars of the firmament, and their duty is to decide FATE, and to administer accidents of fate, inasmuch as God agrees and permits.
You can find plenty of opinions about them on the web, but no two seem to agree. So I’m not going to discuss them here. As far as I’m concerned the Olympic Spirits are similar to the planetary Spirits and Intelligences, but are entirely benign whereas the Spirits can work either good or bad. In other words, these spirits are benign like the planetary Intelligences, but are much closer to the material realm than the Intelligences, the way the planetary Spirits are close to the material realm. This makes them prime candidates for your first evocation, or summoning of a spirit to your physical location. —But what can they do for you, what use is summoning them? The Arbatel does make this abundantly clear. Here’s an example, the Arbatel’s description of Aratron, whose seal is above—
The Governor Aratron has in his power, whatever is naturally created, in the same manner as explained in (the book [probably by Paracelsus and now lost]) Astronomy of Grace, regarding the powers of Saturn.
Truly those those things which he creates with his own free will, are these:
1 He is able to turn anything you please to stone instantly, whether animal or plant, such that it retains its appearance.
2 He turns treasures into coal, and coal back into treasures.
3 He gives familiars with definite power.
4 He teaches alchemy, magic, and healing.
5 He unites pygmies [gnomes, Elementals of Earth] to people, the hairy men.
6 He makes one invisible.
7 He makes the infertile fertile, and gives longevity.
I can’t really provide any useful information to you about his powers except the teaching of magic. At this, Aratron is excellent, but he takes his time. He is the Olympic Spirit of Saturn after all. He can like, say, Tzaphqiel, archangel of Saturn, consecrate a talisman for you. And every sorcerer, sorceress, witch or magician needs good assistants (familiar spirits). But to me he’s given some good advice on the practice of magic. He doesn’t so much teach me magic in a literal way, as, first, tell me things that make my praxis more viable and flourishing and, second, provide opportunities such as when a friend gave me a box of magic books he no longer wanted for free. The point being, I still have to do all the work. If you summon Aratron and you ask him for it and he grants to teach you magic, he won’t zap you and presto! you’re suddenly Merlin. Ain’t gonna happen. I suspect the other powers are just as “unspectacular”.
About that word unspectacular. Is it really all that unspectacular for a spirit to facilitate your growth in magic? Personally I think it’s pretty cool. It’s just literally not a spectacle. I suspect his other powers are similarly not spectacles to the eye but since I’ve never asked him to turn anything to stone for example I can’t say for sure.
You can read the Arbatel for free online at http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel.htm. Read the whole book before attempting to summon any Olympic Spirit. You’ll find the book either a disappointment for its pious moral tone or a surprising departure from just about any other grimoire out there. Also the Arbatel is supposed to be part one of a nine book series. The other eight books do not exist. I suspect the Arbatel is complete as is, however, as it touches on all or most of the points that were to be covered in the remaining eight books, but that’s just my opinion and most people would probably disagree with me.
The best resource on the web, or anywhere really, besides Joseph Peterson’s excellent edition of the book linked to above, that concerns the Arbatel and the Olympic spirits is Everything Arbatel – Digest of Internet Links. There you can read others’ accounts of summoning the Olympic Spirits and two very interesting articles that may well point to the origin of the Arbatel.
Just for the record all seven Olympic Spirits are as follows, in descending order from Saturn to the Moon — in case you don’t know the so called Chaldean planets include the Sun and Moon. Saturn: Aratron. Jupiter: Bethor. Mars: Phaleg. The Sun: Och. Venus: Hagith. Mercury: Ophiel. The Moon: Phul. Some people claim these names are Greek, but that’s not possible. No Greek words end in gamma as would Phaleg if spelled out in Greek or chi as would Och, etc., etc. The origin of these names is unknown and will probably forever remain that way.
One final note before I get to the how-to part. The Arbatel states that the names of these spirits are only valid for 40 years. I’ve obtained alternate names from some of these spirits and I’ve also never bothered to do so with others. It seems to make no difference whatsoever.
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This is how I summon the spirits. I go by the book. The procedure could not be simpler despite the tendency of magicians to make it as complicated as possible. I only add one thing to the instructions — I first create sacred space for the Spirit.
So that’s my first step, I create sacred space according to a method taught in the Strategic Sorcery tradition. Feel free to either skip this step or to create sacred space as taught in your own tradition.
Second, I have prepared a carefully drawn and large copy of the seal of the spirit. I use colors associated with the planets. Purple or black would be good for Aratron, him being the spirit of Saturn.
Third, do the summoning on the day and during an hour of the planet concerned — Saturday for Aratron, for example, and you have four hours of Saturn to choose from beginning at sunrise Saturday morning and ending at sunrise Sunday morning. The planetary, astrological, and magical days begin at sunrise, not at midnight hours before sunrise. You can find the planetary hours for your location here or here.
Fourth, say the words of summoning as found in the Arbatel. I’m not going to provide them here as I want you to Read The Fine Manual — RTFM!
Fifth, stare at the seal you’ve drawn and allow yourself to go into a light trance. If you don’t know how to enter a trance state, please learn how to before attempting my method of summoning the Spirits.
Sixth, the Spirit should begin to manifest. For me this means I get quick flashes of relevant imagery in my mind’s eye. At this point close your eyes and allow yourself to enter a deeper trance.
Seventh, the Spirit should manifest to you in your imagination. Do not underestimate your imagination. It’s perhaps the most powerful tool you have at your disposal in all of magic. It is an organ, so to speak, both of perception and of creation. Use it well and often. —Allow the Spirit to manifest as he or she desires. Have no expectations. You may find yourself swept away to another place and speaking to a human looking individual, you may find the spirit actually manifests in your sacred space (there is, in my opinion, no need for protection against the Olympics) or you may hear a voice or you may only perceive colors or geometrical shapes. —The Olympics are unpredictable as to how they appear to different individuals. I suspect they appear to no two individuals the same way.
Eighth, make any requests you may have for the Spirit. In my humble opinion these are grand, lofty Spirits, and do not require an offering or a reward. If however, contrary to what I say, the Spirit requests a reward and the request is reasonable, by all means give the Spirit his or her reward. They will earn it. Or reward the Spirit after they’ve delivered, it’s up to you. If the reward is unreasonable, bargain. Tell the Spirit what you can give and ask if that’s acceptable. If it’s not acceptable, skip to the last step, the words of dismissal. —This by the way has never happened to me.
Ninth, say the words of dismissal as found in the Arbatel. Again I’m not going to provide them to ensure you get them from the book.
At this point the Spirit will be gone. The rite is done. That’s all there is to the way I go about summoning them.
A word of warning. You may find praying to the Christian God — the words of summoning and dismissal as I’ve called them are pious Christian prayers — distasteful to you. I suggest you get over it. If you just can’t get over it, you’ll have to find your own way. I can’t help you. I’m not a Christian yet I have no trouble saying the prayers. I would equally have no trouble calling upon another God, if the prayers of summoning and dismissal were written that way. A God is a God, as far as I’m concerned.
No doubt your mileage will vary. If any of you try this out I’d love it if you left a comment as to how it went for you.
Good luck and good evoking of these fascinating Spirits.
Seal of Hagith courtesy of Asterion’s Occult Art
The Way of the Transgressor is Hard 
Not sure when I will try this- I will read what you suggest. I need to start making a list. However- I will do this. But I need to delve into it and get comfy before. Fascinating! Thanks for all the great information!
hi Rachael, how do you put yourself in a trance state of mind exactly? I also want to know, what does it feel like when the spirit reveals himself.
One more thing, would you happen to know the days that are used to call specific Olympian spirits from the arbatel? All it says is Saturday sunrise for aratron
How do I put myself into a trance? There are probably hundreds of different ways. Some pagan “purists” say that the best way is via drumming or dancing to exhaustion or sensory deprivation, etc., etc. I’m no “purist” — tho’ I’ve nothing against people who practice that way —, I just do whatever works. So what follows is how I learned. I speak for no one else.
I first learned to enter trance from a hypnotherapist. He taught me to combine a deep meditative state with deep relaxation. An easier method is to get quite relaxed in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and count backwards slowly and silently from 20, 100, whatever it takes. Make sure you’re sitting in a very comfortable position. An even easier way to enter trance is with a recording of hypnotic, monotonous drumming that you listen to with headphones or earbuds.
But unless you’re planning on doing some astral projection, the above methods are just for getting your brain familiar with the trance state. Specifically for magic and conjuring spirits you don’t want to be in a deep trance, just a light one. I got so familiar with the way trance feels that I can just relax and remember that feeling and be in a light trance. Another way to do that is using what Neuro-Linguistic Programming calls an anchor — once you’re in trance associate in your mind a word, a hand movement, anything really, with the trance state. With a little practice just using your anchor can then induce a light trance immediately.
What does it feel like when an Olympic Spirit starts to manifest? The Olympics are easy spirits to summon. Unlike with a demon there’s no strong change in the atmospherics in the room. When one of the Olympics starts to manifest I start seeing odd images in my mind’s eye. It will seem as if the spirit is deciding on what form to take, but I believe it’s one’s imagination attempting to make sense of a sudden new input (and the imagination is very much a sensory “organ”). Eventually the images will stabilize and I enter what I personally call “scry-mind”. If I close my eyes I can be in a different landscape with the spirit. If I open my eyes it’s like double vision — I can see the room I’m in but I’m also still looking at whatever (symbolic) landscape the spirit is filling my mind with, still looking at the spirit, and hearing his/her voice. None of the Olympics have manifested at all materially for me.
As for what days to summon them on, you summon them on the days associated with their planetary spheres. So Sunday, Och; Monday, Phul; Tuesday, Phaleg; Wednesday, Ophiel; Thursday, Bethor; Friday, Hagith; Saturday, Aratron. But not only the planetary day is important, it’s also necessary to summon them at their proper planetary hour. So e.g. you’d summon Aratron on Saturday (Saturn’s day) during one of the four planetary hours of Saturn. I use the following website to find out the planetary hours for any particular day: http://www.astrology.com.tr/planetary-hours.asp. Put in your own city, click whether or not you’re currently on Daylight Savings Time and click calculate and the planetary hours for that day and for your location will be displayed.
Hope that helps! Much love. —Rachel Izabella
Please which particular book or books are very good on the subject of olympic spirits summonings. Thank you
Hi Peter —
THE book about the Olympic Spirits is the “Arbatel: Concerning the Magic of the Ancients”. The best edition by far is that of Joseph Peterson, which is available on Amazon. It’s a strange little book, but enjoyable despite all the Bible quotes.
You can also read the original Latin version and Robert Turner’s 1675 English translation for free at The Twilit Grotto: http://esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel.htm
Much love — Rachel Izabella
Ey rachael am a guy here in South Africa I read your blog on summoning the spirit aratron and because I work with him regularly for my magic and “illusions” (walking through walls, levitation, teleportation etc) I thought I would experiment and try to convey a message to you through him if he would let me and (as he said) because he is familiar with you he’ll tell you what I said if you brought it up and asked so if ever you summon him again (for your work perhaps) ask him ” what did the african guy ask you to tell me” and hear what he says. Ask him to reveal my secret to you! Breaking boundaries!!!
Moving away from that… Have you ever teleported before and if not then you should try it (if you believe in that kind of magic) maybe you could come visit south africa for an hour no plane no passport you know it would be fun! Oh maybe (with your permission) I could visit you. BREAKING BOUNDARIES!!!
TATUEI O FULL OCH E HAGITH E ME SINTO OTIMA COMO SE TIVESSE NUM CONTO DE FADAS E MARAVILHOSO
I REALY APRECIATE UR WORKS TNKS
Hi, i dreamt of a being called aratron recently, and imagine my surprise when i googled his name. In my dream he was a little boy, and was giving me an invitation. We appeared to be at the bottom of the ocean or something. Idk what this means but i hope i find out soon enough. I’ve always been interested in mystical stuff.
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for providing us with this wonderful information on summoning the Olympick spirits. Could you provide me with a list of the powers of each of these spirits?
Mobius — thank you for the high praise. As for the powers of the Olympic Spirits you should consult the beautiful little grimoire in which they are described and in which the method for summoning them is found. It’s called the Arbatel and is available online for free at esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel. Read it carefully even though the Christianity of it may be distasteful, or not. It is a goldmine of information. In general, the Olympic Spirits rule whatever is in the power of the sphere of the classical planet they are associated with. The Arbatel or especially Agrippa can clue you in on what those powers are far better than I. I hope this helps.
–Rachel Izabella