almak

So if I’m going to be talking about my experiences skrying my way up the Tree I should explain what I did.
The process changed over time, as I gained confidence, experience, and allies along the way. When I first approached the Sphere of Earth it was through overwhelming myself with correspondences. I had ten candles burning, Earthy incense burning, sitting in the lowest point of my basement on the unfinished floor. Even though I was trying to “break out” of the Judeo-Christian I felt I had to use it to gain access to the Spheres.
Sitting in the glow of the candles, my skrying mirror set before with the Glyph of the Earth drawn on it in brown, I called to Metatron (מטטרונ, not מיטטרונ) to guide me. After the evocation I began to skry and in an inky blackness I met Metatron, he told me I still had to build this Sphere of Earth, to fill it with the Names of its Form. Intoning Metatron’s Name, as well as Uriel, Sandlephon, and the Godnames and Angel classes associated with Earth slowly a cave was born around us, and he took me to a stone door and led me into his temple.
In the centre of this temple was a rippling, like a heat mirage, and he told me it was the veil I must cross to find the Sphere of Earth behind this set of masks. So I walked through it, and nothing happened, I turned around and tried again, I tried Rending the Veil, but not happened. He told me the masks infuse everything; they are everywhere and in everything, to cross the veil I must step away from everything. I stood in the centre of the rippling, and did just that, I willed myself away from everything, turned at a right angle to everything and was again in darkness, this time without a guide.
I called, and my response was the clacking of shoes on a hard floor. Slowly the darkness condensed into a man. He was, in the manner that only spirits can, both wearing a black three piece suit, and black robes adorned with feathers or perhaps made up of them. I asked if he was the Spirit, the Angel, I had come to look for, and was told that he was, and he would be willing to submit to testing. When asked his Name he told me it was Sh’miral, the Sh is pronounced almost like the za in pizza. As we talked the world formed around us, it wasn’t the dead dark cave of Metatron, but a living breathing subterranean temple, with rocks and moss and flowers the glowed in their own light.
I confessed that I generally worked with the Angels of the planets used in astrology, so I didn’t know what “use” he would have. “I am the first, and the last, the highest, and the lowest. I am where you start from, and I guard the Gates of Earth, and the Gates from Earth. It is I who will open the Tree to you. It is I who will open the ways in your life.” When asked if he would open the Gates, and the ways in my life, he agreed, but explained that it would not be comfortable, I accepted anyways. I asked for three more Names; the Name of his Sphere, the Name of the class of Spirit/Angels he rules, and the Name of God that empowers him. After I received the Names, I left his temple and returned to myself.

My initial plans to test the Names would be evocations a few days later, as well as giving the Seals and Names to friends to try to work with (having provided no information other than it is a spirit I want their impression on), and compare results. On a whim I decided to check the Gematria of the Names I was given. Sh’miral has the same value as “Lord of Earth” and “Mount Zion.” Needless to say Lord of Earth was a shocking coincidence, and Mount Zion certainly had an Earthy appeal. The Name of his Sphere, Almak, had three spellings, the preferred spelling had the same value as “Mountains of Zion” and I was very surprised to see the Mount/ains of Zion come up again. One other spelling had the same value as “the heel” and “the end,” which are appropriate for the Sphere of Earth being the bottom and last of the Tree. The final spelling had the same value as “Original Seed” and “Root” which are appropriate as the starting point up the Tree. I had not expected Gematria to help, but it was one of the ways I knew to traditionally test spirits and thought it couldn’t hurt. The Angel classification, Chomal, had the same value as “Troops” but also “Enoch” which while less conclusive is still interesting for his role as the Angel of Malkuth. Lastly the God Name Meltar was the same value as “The Gate” which I found out was a title of Malkuth.
As said I wasn’t expecting anything conclusive or helpful from gematria, but not only was there a theme with the Names, but they all tied specifically back to Malkuth as the Earth Sphere. I created the Seal as I was told, gave the Seal and Names to so friends, and waited for their responses. While I waited I lost my job. Deciding to test Sh’miral I asked him to help me find a job, but he explained “I have opened the way like you asked, it is not my job to walk your path from there.” That was the last time I ever worked as a social worker. Then the responses came in, my friends had encountered a similar spirit, dark and earthy, eager to help, but detached emotionally, able to bring order and patterns, and clear the road.
I considered my first skrying experiment a great success. I was nervous about being unemployed, but the Names checked out better than I expected they could, and all the results from friends pointed to Sh’miral being legit. I’ve worked with him many times throughout the years.
He functions in a lot of ways similar to Papa Legba and Ganesh in the sense that he is called to open the ways, to initiate journeys, to begin rituals, and open communication. He controls the functions of the Earth element, and terrestrial/land based magick.
Once contact has been forged Sh’miral and all the angels are easy enough to connect with, the pattern is the same, and while the words occasionally different it’s of little to no consequence. When I need to call Sh’miral I give him a very short summons. “Hail unto thee, Sh’miral, ruler of Almak, commander of the Chomal, in the Name of Meltar I call you here to work with me, and walk with me.”
As always I encourage people to try contact Sh’miral, give him a call and see what you get, I’m always interested with people’s experiences with these Angels, even four years after the experiment began.