Grigorolatry

Grigorolatry, also called Watcher worship or Watcher work, is the practice of worshipping, working with, or praying to the Watchers (also called the Grigori). While it is most notably practiced by the Grigorist Temple of Satanael as part of its codified religion, Satano-Grigorism, grigorolatry also exists outside GToS as part of some independent practitioners' personal religious systems.

A practice does not have to involve all 200 Grigori to be considered grigorolatry. Worship of even one Watcher is grigorolatry, just as worship of one Goetic demon is demonolatry. Grigorolatry does not necessarily need to be combined with Satanism. Those who practice grigorolatry outside of Satano-Grigorism are known as independent grigorolators.

In Satano-Grigorism

Grigorolatry is central to the organized religion of Satano-Grigorism, which is practiced by the Grigorist Temple of Satanael, a theistic Satanist organization devoted to Satanael and the Watchers. Satano-Grigorists worship the Watchers in a systematic manner, contacting individual Watchers as well as praising all 200 Watchers as a whole.

Outside Satano-Grigorism

Examples of grigorolatry outside of Satano-Grigorism are rare, but existent. A handful of known occult authors have written about the Grigori to some degree of depth. Grigorolatry outside Satano-Grigorism is typically associated with other Left-Hand Path systems of belief and practice, which tend to work with a few of the Watchers alongside other spirits in an eclectic manner rather than focusing primarily on them as a pantheon. These traditions' coverage of the Watchers is less comprehensive than that of Satano-Grigorism, but they are nevertheless noteworthy as examples of religious beliefs with a positive view of the Watchers.

Michael W. Ford

Michael W. Ford, the former co-president of the Greater Church of Lucifer (which has since been rebranded to the Assembly of Light Bearers), is a well-known Luciferian occultist author who has written on the Watchers. Ford's version of Luciferianism is heavily influenced by the theology of the Order of the Nine Angles, a decentralized Left-Hand Path group that has been designated as a terrorist or extremist organization in multiple countries. This influence likely comes from his time as leader of a nexion (branch or chapter) of the O9A from 1996 to 1998. His version of Luciferianism has a soft polytheist framework, viewing various LHP-aligned spirits as "deific masks" representing human-accessible gates to dark primordial forces. His complex magical system involves the Watchers somewhat prominently.

Prior to the establishment of the Grigorist Temple of Satanael, Michael W. Ford's work was the most comprehensive modern source on the Watchers from a positive Left-Hand Path point of view. His book Adversarial Light: Magick of the Nephilim introduces Samyaza and Azazel (whom he conflates with Asael and considers a Watcher) to his system of Luciferian belief and ritual. In it, he associates the Watchers' forbidden teachings with the "Black Flame," a concept found in multiple different schools of Satanic thought that usually represents spiritual power, free thinking, acquisition of knowledge, and adversarial passion. After Adversarial Light, Ford subsequently published Fallen Angels, Watchers and the Witches' Sabbat, a grimoire devoted extensively to the Watchers and Nephilim, complete with sigils, invocations, planetary correspondences, and rituals for specific Watchers that are meant to promote "Luciferian apotheosis."

Like all other deities with any humanlike attributes, the Watchers in Ford's work are not presented as objectively existent individual beings with their own wills, goals, and personalities, but rather as "deific masks" of impersonal cosmic powers. Ford's approach essentially reduces individual gods to mere tools utilized by humans to gain access to cosmic powers. For this reason, his work is often heavily criticized by other practitioners who prefer a more personal understanding of their deities.

Satano-Grigorists may take offense at Ford's portrayal of the Watchers as "masks" of an abstract transcendental dark force, because they feel it disrespects the individuality and independence of the Watchers, whom they understand as highly personal finite gods who physically incarnated to teach mankind their knowledge and pursue their sexual desires.

Baal Kadmon

Occultist Baal Kadmon has written a Watcher-focused grimoire entitled The Watchers and Their Ways.

🛠

This article needs other work. It needs maintenance that does not fit a more specific category.
Specific issue: Further analysis of Baal Kadmon's work on the Watchers.

Frater Barrabbas

Ceremonial magician and Alexandrian witch Frater Barrabbas has written a grimoire dedicated to the Watchers, entitled Liber Nephilim: A Grimoire of Fallen Angels. He refers to the Watchers themselves as Nephilim, which can lead to confusion in terminology.

🛠

This article needs other work. It needs maintenance that does not fit a more specific category.
Specific issue: Further analysis of Frater Barrabbas' work on the Watchers.

V.K. Jehannum

Internet-based occultist V.K. Jehannum has a short two-part series, "Invoking the Grigori," on his blog. Jehannum's work is heavily influenced by Qliphothic concepts and the theology of infamous anti-cosmic Satanic sects, including the Order of the Nine Angles and the Misanthropic Luciferian Order, also known as the Temple of the Black Light; he frequently cites O9A works on his blog. "Invoking the Grigori" contains short invocations that he claims can be used to invoke and be "possessed by" some of the Dekadarchs (Arakiel, Kokabiel, Sariel, Harmoniel, Yomiel, and Turiel), along with brief explanations of the benefits of being possessed by them. These invocations are peppered with references to Kabbalistic concepts, as well as nonsense words.

He has sometimes posted about the Watchers outside of his "Invoking the Grigori" series. He consistently states that the Watchers have three leaders, whom he calls the Archgrigori: Azazel, Asael (whom he calls Azael), and Samyaza. However, it is unclear what his definition of a Watcher actually is, or what exactly he believes about them. It appears that he finds it possible for a spirit to be only partially a Watcher. He describes one spirit recorded only from his own experience as "a cross between a Qliphothic succubus and a Watcher," and in an article about a previously unrecorded demon called Tonzoral, he notes, "Unlike Azazel, who is part Watcher, part demon, and more, Tonzoral is purely demonic." He also claims that a "dark goddess" originally mentioned in an O9A text, Darkat, is "the mother of Azazel, and while she rules over the Watchers as empress, the Watchers are only some of the spirits she rules." He again mentions the notion of an Empress of the Watchers on a page describing the types of rituals he sells; the description of a rite called "The Rite of the Veil-Gods," which costs $300, opens with "In this ritual, I will call upon the Watchers and their Empress to empower the witch in numerous ways and subject her to various alchemies." He presents one of the O9A "Dark Gods," named Gaubni, as being both a Watcher and an aspect of a "metagod" he calls "Death Itself," explaining that "the Nephilimic Undead are the priesthood of Gaubni." In a post called "A Rite to Consecrate a Ouija Board," he provides a spell that invokes Samyaza as "the Lord of the Stars" alongside several Goetic demons. In "Magickal Hymn to the Raviasamin," he mentions that one of his "four leviathans," powerful primordial dragon spirits, is also a Watcher: "The third levithan [sic] is Rahab, a Watcher and Demon-Prince of the Sea. His other names include Ramuel and Rahab Seriel." He also presents a claim about the dwellings of the descendants of the Watchers in his post "Behemoth," where a footnote says, "There are five kingdoms within the Qlipha of the Black Earth, and each kingdom is the dwelling of one of the generations of entities descended from the Watchers’ copulation with humankind (the Nephilim reside in one of these kingdoms)."

Erasalya is an interesting archfiend. It’s [sic] male aspect, Ashurmpa, is a Qliphothic incubus. On the other hand, it’s [sic] female aspect, Claytern, is a cross between a Qliphothic succubus and a Watcher.

— V.K. Jehannum, "Satanic Gnosis of Various Fiends Pt. VII"

Armaros’s [sic] possession will beget dark alchemical transmogrification, fortification of the soul against the second death, and resistance to psychic vampyrism and spiritual attack. The mantra is Yildorren Kia’ar Ilnorgoth Shialloth.

— V.K. Jehannum, "Invoking the Grigori Pt. II"

See also

• Demonolatry
• Satanism
• Watchers

References

🛠

This article needs expansion. You can help Grigoripedia by adding relevant information.