You're probably aware that Crowley's '
' is just a variation of the 'Headless One' (PGM V.96—172). Ok, fine, why not rewrite a Graeco-Egyptian ritual that's 1,500 year old but his unforgivable mistake was changing the 'barbarous words'/
voces magicae which are what makes the ritual truly magic, in my opinion. I did it daily for about a year, and all I can say is that these 'barbarous words' are the spice of the whole rite. The way they roll off the tongue once you've learned the ritual by heart, they do something to you… I eventually had to stop, it all got too heavy for me (it might have also been the other daily exercises I did). I don't think the language you're doing the Headless One in matters, just leave the 'barbarous words' alone. What I used was the English version given in Jason Miller's 'Real Sorcery' because of its antiquated language (more poetic, IMHO) after checking the
for the correct 'barbarous words', they're absolutely crucial, I can't stress this enough.
The original PGM rite is said to have been an exorcism but that's really just one line:
Deliver him, NN., from the daimon that holds onto him
I left that out and replaced it with the DigitalAmbler's K&C HGA formula:
Send to me my neverborn friend and guardian, my supernatural assistant, my agathodaimon, my holy guardian angel! Send to me my guardian angel whose duty it is to guide, lead, assist, and protect me through this and all lives!
My reading is that it's a rite of empowerment that gets you pumped for any magic, so Matters (or Crowley?) was right in calling it the 'Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia' but it can be used as an introduction to any magic ritual you wish to perform, I'd say. It's aim is to become a god – not
invoking a god but actually
becoming one, in line with one of the core principles of Graeco-Egyptian magic, e.g.
I know you, Hermes, and you know me. I am you and you are me.
There have been all sorts of debates who the Headless One actually is but for my money, it's either the Demiurge or a generic god, like "Insert god name here". No fireworks and HGA so far but what it did was make me feel powerful, as if I was the Lord of all Creation. It's a different approach than in Abrahmic magic: in the PGM (and I think also in Egyptian magic), the gods are often bossed around, coerced or even blackmailed, there is none of that beseeching and supplicating, which I really found refreshing. The ritual has been designed to put you firmly into a position of power, and I loved that.