summoning vs evocation

I honk you should actually read both the lesser and greater key before talking about them. What you said isn't true at all.

Evoking (invoking): Calling upon a creature, entity, or being for their aid, willing or otherwise (sometimes best to NOT give demons the option to help. most of them will make your spell go haywire), in a working of some type.

Summoning: Forcing an entity to come to you and do your biding, either on the astral or the physical plane. Realize, though, that if you call ANYTHING to this plane, you better have enough power to control it or something it wants as it's price for doing your bidding.
Because if you can't make a deal (somethings don't even want to make a deal, they just want your face. in their stomach) or overcome it's will, you're up fecal creek with out a paddle. Even if it's NOT an evil being your summoning, they still tend to get a bit... miffed and, to quote Bob the Skull, "Self defense you to death".
Miffed as in like Palenstine is 'miffed' with Israel. As in, even an angel will still kill you. I imagine a flaming sword through the gut would hurt about as much as a claw through the gut, so effectively the same end result. I suggest against summoning.

Evoking and invoking are two separate things. Evoking is calling forth, invoking is drawing into you.

From my understanding, summoning is just a synonym of evoking. There are various ways they can be done. Some are calling out and inviting, others are demanding, and still others forcefully drag an energy, force or spirit.

Summoning usually implies a spirit is being forced to serve, never invoke any spirit unfamiliar to you. Demons are what everyone seems paranoid enough to mention repeatedly, yet that word comes from the latin or greek daemon. Plato describes these ancient entities as the inbetween from the gods and us, the daemones would take mans prayers to the gods, and the gods will to man. They were of both manevolent and benevolent intent and temperences. Jason Miller has a great book on protection magick that has a design for a ward like spirit trap. That would come in handy if one were to invoke the darker side of the spectrum.

Im not going to summon, that sounds rude to me. But Im going to read up on evocation first, I dont want to rush into anything and mess it up.

i understand vaguely invoking and evoking, but what is exactly the difference? and i apologize for my terrible spelling...

simply put, a summoning involves a certain amount of force behind the spell, and usually an attempt to control the entity called, while an evocation is usually more along the lines of calling a dog to you, coaxing rather than forcing. Either one can also involve a certain amount of bargaining

I agree with corvix, the d word is being chucked around a lot but when people think of the word demon, what pops into your head, are we talking about the goetia, servants of the devil or just malevolent spirits because there is a difference between all these things. A malevolent spirit will never help you, they are bad to the core and you will need powerful protection when dealing with these, whereas christian demons may willingly help you depending on where your allegiances lie, or so ive been told and as with the goetia, i no clue what they are all about

It is worth noting that the Goetia and the Key of Solomon stem from the Hygromanteia, a greek work on evocation. While, admittedly, I'm not as familiar with this original work as I should be the very fact the entire piece is rooted in working with demons while also working within original language from which the word Demon comes from, it is worth considering that such ritual summoning is not only to work with nefarious or evil beings. You will find that many of these connections derive their "evil" descriptor from the Hebrew fear and loathing of the Romans, and Persian Zoroastrianism's depiction of Deva worship and similar practice as evil.

It is also worth noting that while to the modern mind Summoning (calling, binding, and making demands of a spirit as it is most commonly perceived) is "rude" or cruel, many spiritual entities are decidedly not modern. It is foolish to assume that because you summon an entity you have summoned it's entire being, will, and attention. It is my belief that such entities frequently send but an aspect of themselves to such a call, much like you might just pay a bit more attention if you hear your name in a crowd. Further, while it is traditional to bind the demon or other such entity, and make demands of it and perhaps even bind it to an oath, nowhere does it suggest that you deal with it in a way that is lacking courtesy or respect. In the old world, a summons was a call. You might be summoned before your lord. You might be summoned before the merchant who employs you. But this does not mean that they were going to treat you rudely. If you served them well, they would often reward you in turn, and indeed being "summoned" was often an opportunity to rise in station and improve your lot in life. It is often much the same with any such spirit.

Within this practice, binding them with oaths and seals is merely an "old school" method that both displays respect and caution of the entities power, and creates a contract of sorts to achieve your aims.

But back to the original question: evocation is essentially summoning, when dealing with spirits/demons. Consider it wisely, and deal with it with respect.

When you evoke you are bringing the entity to you whether it likes it or not which tends to make the entity usually angry at you. When you summon you are calling and asking the entity to come to you. It can come if it wants or not. Evocation brings results faster but summoning is more respectful.