Invocation
The Myths are warnings
It is incredibly obvious to anyone who has even the slightest sensitivity to things outside of their five senses that the world is full of various nonhuman incorporeal entities. Call them what you will - angels, demons, spirits, whatever you like best. You will also encounter the occasional trapped spirit that has been unable or unwilling to move on to the next life for whatever reason, but these are far, far rarer than what horror fiction would lead you to believe.
Above these sit the various major and minor entities, with the one overarching figure that is commonly referred to as “God”. We shall call these other entities little g gods, and the father figure Big G God.
God created all: the heavens, the earth, and all that is above and below them. He also created a bunch of other lower deities to serve his will. Some of these do, some of them don’t. Many are given free will to do as they please. Entire countries and continents are given over to these deities to rule over as they wish, with the stipulation that they will be judged over the fruits of their labor once the final counts are tallied.
One may consider the Greek and Roman pantheon of ever-warring gods who constantly meddle in the affairs of humanity, and you will get a reasonably accurate image of what is actually going on.
As such, a large portion of magic involved the invocation of these deities with supplications for their assistance. It is well known that God will not help those who ask with evil intent, but many of the minor gods have no such stipulation and are willing to assist you in your goals. To simplify the matter: yes, prayer to Hera works. So does supplication to Hermes or a few other gods. The bigger figures like Zeus or Odin do not seem to care, while others like Baal are more than willing to grant you their strength for their evil purposes.
As such, one would be foolish to ignore the efforts of a magician who invokes one of these deities for assistance. They are very real, and they are far more responsive than you would expect. The catch is that they always want something in return.
Many, of not most of the magicians who operate within the constraints of the left-hand path do not realize that the power they draw from the entities they invoke is always paid back in triplicate. Not only are they drained back for twice the amount they use, they allow the entity they invoke access to their bloodline for further payments.
There is only one deity that does not do this - God. Instead of drawing on your life force and that of your descendants, God demands your submission to His will and your rejection of other deities. Personally, that seems like a far better deal to me, but there are many whose will does not align with that of God.
One popular invocation amongst Christians is “Give me strength”. Many have reported that they were imbued with the ability to do supernatural things after this invocation. Others have reported similar happenings when invoking other gods.
The point of this post is simple - many of the old gods are real, and they may be willing to fulfill requests made of them by a practitioner. One must always be wary of such people, as they may have more power or assistance than you would expect simply by looking at them. I very strongly advise against participating in this practice, as calling upon them gives them the legal right to meddle in your life as they wish. This usually ends incredibly poorly for the person.
The Myths are warnings.
All the best,
Stove