Kathy, a long time friend and the original inspiration that got me doing the Work in the first place*, lo those many years ago, brought up a good point in the comments on my last post.
Kathy pointed out that abandoning all forms of terrestrial, or sub-lunar spirits would leave a gaping hole in my practice, leaving me all unbalanced and ready to topple over. Toppling sucks.
But for the record, I'm not abandoning sub-lunar spirit work, nor is my core philosophy changing all that much, really. I'm just achieving some goals I had aimed for and lost sight of, and getting rid of one set of tools in favor of others. I'm de-energising the Lemegeton's Goetia, but there are a myriad of other spirits that are available without the bite.
At my core, I am above all else a practical magician. I know lately I may have seemed sort of flighty, but there's a lot going on up above and down below. As it stabilizes, things will return to a more normal flow, and all these neat little tricks I'm seeing so easily now will likely fade, and I'll have to work my ass off to reclaim this post-initiatic high I'm on. If it's anything like what I've been through before.
But the point of all my magic and striving towards reclaiming my full potential, the point of becoming a Power if possible is not to ascend and be beyond all this pesky material reality, oh no, the point, the freaking essence of what I do is all about being fully me, to the most, for the highest purposes of all: to do what I want, when I want, and have the world be a better place as a result. To do as I see fit and have that be the Right Thing to do, and not just for me, but for everyone.
The goal of making the Philosopher's Stone is to reach the phase of Projection, where you grind it up and use it and make lead into gold, sick into health, mortal into ... well, still mortal, but with longevity, long life. And that's still my goal.
I want to make the world a better place. Cheesey, eh? I don't care, I just want to tend my garden, and to have all who pass through feel at peace and at rest.
And have some good conversations along the way.
* Kathy was a single mom who had gotten the shit end of the stick for many years. She had limited resources, but a strong calling to the Occult. She singlehandedly figured out the Ars Paulina, pretty much, with a little help from Chris Warnock and Aaron Letich and a couple others, and started making traditional magical equipment in her home. She lived 40 miles from civilization, if I remember right, and she still managed to overcome all kinds of hardships and achieve an amazing amount of success with her Natal Angel. Seeing how much one person could accomplish in this art of ours inspired me to get out of the arm chair and start doing real magic per the grimoires. Her inspiration of me also resulted in this blog you're reading. I figured if it was possible for her, it was possible for me, and then I wanted more people to be encouraged by seeing my success, so I went public. You're reading this because of her. It's all her fault. Pretty much. :D
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
What a small world! She gave me the .pdf of her work eons ago and I was reading through the notes a couple of days ago. She certainly is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLOL! You cant blame it on me, after all, you DID the work ;) The inspiration, of course, very much flowed both ways :)
ReplyDelete"But the point of all my magic and striving towards reclaiming my full potential,..."
Remember back to around the time when we first started chatting. Were things better then? More simple maybe...the weird shit was more subtle and we really had to strain to 'get' something. You really have come so far, talking to you now is a lot different than talking to you back then. The world keeps turning and in essence it does not change. We do though, it looks different now.
I am happier now, busier (really must have a chat to Time about adding a few more hours into the day...) but happier. I am doing what I want and I am really enjoying it.
Did I get to this point on my own? Not by a long shot. The change from where I was to where I am now (and still continuing...) was made, not only with a lot of help from my imaginiary spirit friends, but also my magician friends (yourself included) who both inspired and informed me and also kept me grounded.
Life is not all roses now, there is so much more to it than that and I can appreciate it more now for what it is.
Love Kathy
Well, then, many thanks to Kathy for helping to inspire RO in his work.
ReplyDeleteI remember talking to you, RO and others when I first joined TheGreatWork forum. I had so many misconceptions (as I still do in ways, I am sure), and I had lots of deprogramming to go through.. Lots of questions. I was a seeker groping around in the dark -- and you two in particular really helped set me straight on a few things and got me onto the path I was really being called to.