The Tepaphone!

The Tepaphone!

Yes, I read about in Jason's Blog. It's a device used by a black lodge to kill people no matter where they are. It was described in a Bardon work of fiction. Can't remember the name right now, the Magician Something That Starts With an F. Frabato! (I looked it up.) It's a ... well, it's ... Ok, it sucked, Bardon was ashamed of having written it, it reads a LOT like Crowley's Simon Iff mysteries...

But that's not the point!

The POINT is that he describes a nifty fluid condenser in the story. There are a lot of descriptions on the internet of what it is, but you can't trust the internet descriptions. Some folks say it had a current going through it, others say it has copper coils, others say it definitely had a lens. Crap, now I can't remember whether it had a lens or not. I have a copy though, and it starts being described on page 34.

It was the lodge's most strictly guarded secret: a magical vibratory instrument which could emit fatal vibrations across any distance and constituted the deadliest weapon in the arsenal of the lodge.

If the picture or mumia of any human being or animal were placed at the focal point of the tepaphone's vibrations, both the astral and physical bodies of that entity would be affected. Substances of any kind could be destroyed by this instrument from any distance. Furthermore, it served as a wireless transmitter of energy - something modern science could only dream about.Any kind of thought could be transmitted by the tepaphone as well. Finally, the device made it possible to cause nervous diseases and poisonings which puzzled the medical establishment. Typically, a picture or personal object was sufficient to establish contact with the intended victim - And remember, distance was of no consequence.

[... snip ...]

The Grand Master now secured Frabato's photo to the focal point of the tepaphone's ray and ignited the fuel, a specially prepared mixture of high-percentage alcohol. At the same time, the other brethren formed a magic circle around the apparatus to begin combat telepathy by condensing the element of fire to the physical plane.

After this, Fabrato experiences the attack. He gets supernaturally heated, and is about to be cooked when he calls out to The Good and gets a messsage to avert with Water. He lives.

Again, not the point. From the description, there are no mentions of copper tubes, wires, electricity, or lenses. It is merely a device that includes a fuel source, and a focal point for the "vibrations" that could hold some form of sympathetic link to the victim. Later in the story, we learn that the tepaphone always worked because of a pact made with the King of Hell, no entity less than SATAN!!! (Duhn duhn duhn!)

So anyway, the tepaphone is your basic radionics box. I built The Box based on a vision I'd had of the Goetic seals being something like circuits, and the knowledge that spirits feed on electro-magnetic forces of some kind. Haunted places often exhibit geo-magnetic anomalies, and the things that would feed spirits who cause discomfort in their victims are usually triggered by the electromagnetic fluctuations of the amygdala. At least, these were the things that fed into the theory at the time. A conversation with an engineer friend confirmed my suspicions, and from there I built The Box.

Rather than having a group of magicians channeling the element of fire into the device, I use a metal seal, through which passes a small current on its way to light up a little LED. Rather than making a pact with the KING OF HELL (Duhn Duhn DUHN!), I just use the seals of the angels or goetic spirits, placing them across the electrodes and letting them temporarily power the LED. The LED projects upwards through a Magic Circle burned into the cover, in which I usually have my Crystal Ball. The other day I used it for other purposes.

I have a mini-cabal of would-be magicians I work with. Some are learning the basics of Hermetic occultism (Pre-Golden Dawn), others I'm initiating using Goetic entities (think of it as the Saturn initiation between Malkuth and Yesod on the Kircher tree). This second group was meeting and requested some magical support for an operation they were working on, but they were doing it well after I planned on being asleep. I set up The Box with an appropriate spirit, the Archangel of the Sun for this rite, placed a photo of the guy that was leading the rites over the LED, and left it there. Reports from the rites were very positive.

Overall after reading up on the Tepaphone and understanding what it is that it's designed to do, I think my Box is at least in keeping with the spirit of the device. Space doesn't seem to be an issue. In a way, passing the current through the seal is sort of like the pact between the Grand Master of the black Lodge and Satan in the story.

I'm thinking of a new version of the Box. I'm thinking of creating a copper coil that the current would pass through, and have the magnetic field going up through the focus point, and the light down below passing up through a lens to the subject plate. Any item could be placed on the plate to be "charged" with the "fluid" of the spirit. For the Venusian Spirit Bottles, I'm "charging" the herbs using Haniel of Venus. Then when we place them in the spirit bottle assigned to the Goetic Duke, they have an added incentive to work with the magician.

Time to wrap this rambling thing up. I've been writing it off and on throughout the afternoon, and it's headin' home time.