Online Reference For Body, Mind & Spirit

Term: License to Depart

DEFINITION:
In the magickal practice of spirit evocation, the oration given to dismiss the entity summoned. An example might be, “O thou spirit ______________, because thou has diligently answered unto my demands and hast been very ready and willing to come at my call, I do here license thee to depart unto they proper place. Go now in peace to thy abodes and habitations, causing neither harm nor danger unto humans or beasts. Depart, then, I say, and be thou very ready to come at my call, when duly conjured by the sacred rites of magick. I charge thee to withdraw peaceably and quietly, and may the peace of God be ever continued between thee and me! So mote it be!”

In the space the magicians would name the spirit who had been evoked. Variations of this occur in both the Greater and Lesser Keys of Solomon. Gerald Gardner, popularizer of Wicca, was familiar with ceremonial magick, and may have adapted some parts of this for the dismissal used in Wiccan rites.
SOURCE:  The Truth About Evocation of Spirits, by Donald Michael Kraig (Llewellyn Publications)