For those many wonderful and totally blessed people buying my grimoires, THANKS! Just so you know, when I charge for the order, you should be receive a link to download the files. Google's supposed to be sending that out, and I think it's working great, but for folks looking for a file attached to an email like in the OLD DAYS... Those days have gone.
Now, Jason pointed out something that I should probably mention. As a substitute for Holy Water, I suggest using water that you've soaked asfoetida in it, for those heathen infidel pagans who are opposed to slipping into the Catholic Church lobby and filling up a flask with some holy water. Jason's erudite comment was along the lines of, "Dearest Frater, the odoriferous output of the herb aptly known as "Devil's Dung" is so strong that it would indeed banish spirits, yea, even the wife, kids, dogs, cats, and neighbors should one soak this pungent herb in water."
So if you choose to go that route, use a teensy, itsy bitsy, tiny little part of the herb or resin or whatever. Apparently, it's not a pleasant experience for the human or the spirits. But honestly, just go get Holy water from the Catholics. Catholics are about as close to pagan Roman traditions as you can come anyway, really. At least they adapted the pagan rites, instead of trying to reconstruct them based on archaeological digs and Ursula K. Leguin novels.
Which reminds me... Eh, I'll get to it in another post when I'm not so hot under the collar. I'm trying not to fuck up and go ballistic on ass hats. I had a humbling experience last weekend when I read in a couple of blog posts around the web that I had inspired or helped people by my own writing and stuff, so I'm all trying to be a decent inspiration and hierophantical and shit. But man, I'm TELLING you, there are some stupid motherfuckers on the planet. I'll leave it at that.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
It is really rare that I actually laugh out loud reading text from a computer monitor, but I was caught off guard by the line: "At least they adapted the pagan rites, instead of trying to reconstruct them based on archaeological digs and Ursula K. Leguin novels."
ReplyDeleteThank God I wasn't drinking coffee or my screen would have gotten sprayed.
Naughty, naughty!
There ARE other kinds of Catholic Priest, you know. You don't just have to go find a Roman one.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Catholic_Churches
Although, I'll admit the Roman ones are pretty ostentatious, and so easy to find.
Scott, how can there be more than one "Catholic" Church, really? ;)
ReplyDeleteOne of these days we'll get over denominationalism and just Love God. I predict the day after death for most of us humans, though. Damned shame too.
I know.. It's going to be wierd.. but the more you write, the more you speak, and the more you do, you are becomming an authority figure.
ReplyDeleteTake a deep breath and let it soak in.
Now relax, because though you have a temper, you're a good dad, a good husband, and a canny mage. You'll do fine, chico.
As one who has had the distinct displeasure of dealing with Asophedita, I will take the holy water. The little side note here is that it banishes everything. Very functional but not to be thrown around magickal spaces. You will reconsecrate them afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel like I am being bitten by the stuff when I have worked with it. It is really nasty crap, but good to cook with I have been told. I have it for emergencies, but I would prefer Holy Water with Hyssop. Just my taste. I went to Catholic School so it is not so bad for me. Though I blame the stained glass windows for my woes there :)
"Catholics are about as close to pagan Roman traditions as you can come anyway, really."
ReplyDeleteEh, from its inception, Christianity had far more in common with Greco-Roman polytheism and mystery cults than it ever did with an entirely mythological "monotheistic" Hellenized Judaism. These influences are apparent in the NT text and Christian kerygma. Therefore, one could make a fairly persuasive argument that all brands/flavors of Christianity have paganism in their DNA - not just Catholicism and Orthodoxy.