A Godly Reminder, and a Definition

Screw That Guy Encouraging
Abusing EA's Family

With the news that E.A. Koetting was busted on drug and gun charges, the occult community reacted with a weird mix of support from his fans and contemptuous self-righteous snerkery from his detractors. I was disgusted by the folks posting links to his girlfriend's father's facebook page, and especially the guy that posted the contact information of his daughter suggesting people write her about what a shame it is that her dad is a meth-head.

Screw that guy.

Aaron Leitch has posted a mixed response, calling out Koetting on some of the things he's done and how he's done them. I have been blissfully unaware of some of the more outrageous stuff he's done to make a name and a few dollars. I understand better where some of the "he brought it on himself" stuff is coming from.

The first I really started hearing about Koetting's writings was when I started expressing that the point of the Hermetic Great Work is to make you a living god. I thought that was awesome, and accurate, and totally in keeping with Iamblichus, Plotinus, and a lot of the Greek Magical Papyri and the art of Goetia. I thought it was just perfect, and then people started comparing me to Koetting. Because he already used the term, and made similar claims, but he was "a complete and total toolbox" about it, to quote a friend.

I don't know what he thought or taught the phrase "becoming a living God" meant, or how he feels about it today, but I'm pretty sure I meant something else. In the Corpus Hermeticum, it's taught that we are already the image of God, and that when we incarnated we forgot our divine nature. Through Hermetic pursuits, we remember who we are, where we came from, and what we incarnated for in the first place (hint: it's to have fun). That's what the Great Work is all about, remembering that you are, in fact, a living god.

Since Koetting's arrest, I've seen a few smug posts mocking his deity claims, or something to similar effect. "Not much of a god if he got caught, eh? Not much of a powerful magician if he can't avoid a simple traffic stop, eh?*"

Even Aaron's post is titled, "The Fall of a Living God," which is artful, entertaining, and a very good selection of a title for a blog post... But I would like to suggest that it is premature,** and perhaps inaccurate as well.

First off, the presupposition is that Gods are all-powerful and never have a shitty day with the law. That's some really seriously terribly wrong information, brothers and sisters. What makes you think gods don't have to put up with any bullshit ever? Let me share a gentle reminder about being gods:

• Jesus Christ had a pretty shitty Friday afternoon that you might have forgotten about when he was 33 (incidently, the same age as Koetting).
• Remember Osiris? He, ahem, did not have a great time of things. Even after his sister-wife got him all stitched up, he still ended up with an eternal strap-on.
• Inanna spent a lot more time hanging up as a sack of skin on a wall than Koetting spent in jail.
• Loki's immortal-snake-venom-dripping-on-him-while-he's-tied-in-his-son's-guts-torment is not an ongoing rave with flashing lights and limitless hookers and blow until Ragnarok comes.
• Prometheus*** getting his liver et daily for all eternity ain't all that grand either.

Dionysus, Hephaestus, arguably Hera, these gods are not having it great all the time either. They go to prison, they have unhealed limps, they are cheated on and degraded by their husbands, they are kicked out of cities. They travel grave paths, and suffer unspeakable things.

Who can look at the gods and think you're actually going to have it perfect all the time, that you are immune to machinations and manipulations, that the temporal authorities of the Earth are not going to be able to give you a bad day?

But a fallen god, as the stories show, is pretty hard to keep down.

Maybe Koetting talked a lot of shit before this, and I can relate. There was a time when I talked a lot of shit until things went sour and my magic worked all too well. I honestly expect him to bounce back and turn this to his advantage. It would be neat if he were to take another approach to magic that leads him to the same expression of "Deus est Homo" that he made prior to this, but with more meaning and understanding, a little less hubris and a little more pride. I might even have a suggestion or two from my own experiences that he might find useful, if he's interested (cough cough cough SEVEN SPHERES cough cough cough).

But maybe he won't bounce back. Maybe this is it for him, Maybe he's going to burn out and be a loser, and we'll never hear from him again.

Whatever, he can do what he wants, just like any other god can. I ain't gonna judge. I'm going to carry on being god-emperor of my own world, king of my kingdom, experiencing my experiences in style and joy, and I'm going to create and maintain it as I see fit. I'll work with him in the future if it's profitable to us both, or I won't if it's not interesting.

I'll go my way, and he will, I swear to all of you right now, go his, and what he does is his will, his joy, and also his problem, just like any other god.

Because the thing is, he is a god. Not because of any of the magic he did, but because we all are, intrinsically, and we just forgot. That's what Hermetics says, guys. Gods and humans are cousins, and the power of the Gods is not bestowed upon us by magic, it is simply revealed, remembered, and understood through the magic we do. Some approaches may be more effective than others, but the conclusion he reached that I heard, "Magic teaches you to become a living god" is still accurate, and not in the slightest disproven because he had a run in with Johnny Law.

Every one of us has the "divine" potential to change the world, if we want to badly enough, if we're willing to do what it takes, and we don't necessarily need anything supernatural to make it happen. Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Aleister Crowley, Jesus Christ, they all had terrible farts at some point in their lives, and they all had some shitty days in court over bullshit.

Human, god, whatever you want to call yourself in your time on Earth, you can do what you want, and deal with what happens as a result. Magic doesn't make you immune to stress, bullets, the police, snitches, or anything else that entities have to deal with in the manifest world, whether they are gods or humans. It can help you influence things, but it doesn't give you control over anything but yourself, the only thing that can change anything in your life.

So yeah, while I'm not surprised that a black magic occult rock star is doing drugs (the shock, the horror!) or that a "living god" is still subject to the laws and influences of the worldly powers, I don't think we've seen the "Fall" of anyone this week. Just some life happening.

We'll see how long it takes before he shuffles out of the tomb.

* By the way, he was pulled over and arrested by the Washington County Drug Task force as a result of a tip they got a week before. It wasn't some routine traffic stop, they were after his ass.

** Premature because there's no such thing as bad press. I have thought of a few different ways he can turn this event into a gold mine. If he's really just after cash, I hope he sees the value of the reverse Sam Kinnison, also known as the Mike Warnke schtick. He's set himself up to actually be the Satanic black magic magician Mike Warnke claimed to be, and if he concocts a convincing "Come to Jesus" moment in jail, he will have a lifetime of free money touring pentecostal gatherings, talking about how he was living in sin with a woman, addicted to drugs, worshipping satan and having the gall to call himself a living God, until that moment when the REAL living God struck him down in his pride, but had mercy and grace to save a sinner, halleluiah! and shit.

But he can also get off using magic, and court cases aren't that hard to influence. He can totally turn this around to his advantage Charlie Sheen style, even if he goes to prison. Tiger's blood will out.

*** Thanks to +Craig 'VI' Slee for the correction to my shitty memory.