Invoking/Evoking... What?

[One and Only...]

I've noticed that several people on this forum think of invocation/evocation as regarding conscious entities. I tend not to see it that way: I think of the mental images of angels and demons as gateways to manipulating "energy", which is just a catch-all phrase for the tendency of mind and matter to give way to willpower. Images are like monitors to a computer - they allow you to do your task but don't tell you much about the underlying hardware responsible. My understanding is that this is the Crowley/Regardie line of thought.

I've put up a poll to get some takes. Please feel free to explain your view and your reasons for it. I'm curious to see who is in the majority.

EDIT: I've done some thinking. The conscious entity view seems to be the best explanation of certain phenomena. I revoke my earlier comment.

[Nairn]

I personally do not have much experience in invocation/evocation but my belief is that God's and spirits are separate and yet joined to the human psyche... God's exist whether humans think of them as real or false... but a God's influence is greatly expanded or shrank based on whether the person allows them to enter their life and exert their power... so i voted that they're separate... but i also think theres a massive amount of grey area, even in my own beliefs... :p good idea for a poll One and only...

[ninfan]

Krowley has said that "The spirits of the goetia are portions of the human brain", however I don't take this quite literally. To me it merely means that we have sort of an inbuilt gateway (in our subconscious mind) through which we can communicate or manipulate the spirits.