Happy Halloween!

Here's the actual Post. Those who subscribe to my blog got the title in an RSS feed with no post because I hit Enter after typing the title instead of Tab. Blogger happily published the post. Title. I hadn't even started writing yet. Sorry.

Now, for today's post:

Hopefully you finished yesterday's exercise. If not, do so before performing any of the following operations. It doesn't replace K&CHGA, but it at least prepares you for what's coming.

This being Halloween, the day of the year when the veil between the worlds is thinnest, it's a great day for Necromancy.

I'm going to be conjuring Bune to make spirits appear on their sepulchres. I have a favorite graveyard where I'd like to perform the rite, but it's out in the country, way the hell away from here. I'll likely settle on building an astral image of a spooky old graveyard and performing most of the communications with him there... Although, it might be fun to have a spirit pop up on Poe's grave while they're doing Pennies for Poe here in Baltimore. Hmmmmmm....

No, no, I'll keep it serious.

Ok, so here's the deal:

In the Lemegeton's Goetia, you're given the seals, circles, pentagrams, hexagrams, etc. that you need to perform the conjuration. The bad news is, you won't have time to make them if you don't have them. The good news is that you won't be needing them to conjure Bune.

Instead, you'll need to perform the exercise from yesterday. When you're done, read the descriptions of Bune from the Lemegeton's Goetia AND from the Pseudomonarchia. Meditate on it for a while, imagine how he might look as described in the grimoire. Next, draw out Bune's Seal.

When you're done, go back and read his description again. Draw the seal a couple more times. This time intone and vibrate his Name as you're drawing it. When you've got it down nicely (it took me a couple of tries to figure out how to draw it properly proportioned), get a fresh, clean, never-used piece of paper, and draw it again. Write his name above it, intoning and vibrating it.

On the opposite side, draw out the Pentagonal Seal of Solomon. Again, vibrate and intone the words as you write them in the corners of the pentagon, and as you draw the little seals. I start with "Abdia" and work around, then finish with "Soluzen" in the center. The last thing I do is write the Te-Tra-Gram-Ma-Ton around the Pentacle. I've speculated in the past that every time you see "Tetragramaton" in a ritual or on a seal, you should replace it with the actual "IHVH." This isn't possible for the Pentagonal Figure of Solomon. You need the Four-Lettered Name represented in Five syllables. It's an important key to the system, this Four-in-Five (imho). You might be able to use YHShVH as effectively, but I've never tried it.

Thread this paper and wear it as a lamen, with Bune's seal facing your chest and the Pentagonal Figure facing outwards. I thought this was weird at first, but it works well, and you don't really internalize the spirit, not any more than you do any other spirit when you conjure it. Having performed the exercise from yesterday, your sphere's vibration will be humming along nicely, and the more materialistic vibe of Bune's sphere won't bring you down too much.

Finally, use the Oration from the Pseudomonarchia to conjure Bune. Go on, go read it. I'll wait. Hmmm, hmm-hmm-hmmmm. Ok done? Back already? Too Christian for ya? (Picture Fr. R.O. laughing his ass off.)

Ok, for serious, it's almost too Christian for me. I get serious chills reading it. It's like Lon Milo DuQuette's chanting ceremony in Enochian Vision Magic, a long series of prayer and God Names, but with a lot more begging God to grant you the authority to conjure the Spirit. I've only ever said it all the way through aloud once, Vibrating and intoning the God names as I went along, and man, by the time I was finished, the air was humming with power.

The trouble is, I don't agree with the doctrine it represents in the slightest. I think the parts where it says the spirits were "cast down" or "thrown out of heaven" are misrepresentations entirely. The Divine Pymander explains that the "Evil Daimon" is sent to the impious to lead them into temptation and distraction from God to punish them for forgetting their source by making them slaves to their possessions. (In writing, that's called a run-on paraphrase, I think). Point is, the spirits are here, within the terrestrial realm like we are. The "Fall" is simply a reference to gaining more spiritual density as they approached the sphere of the Earth.

Instead of going through all that, I suggest you perform yesterday's exercise, draw the seal and the Pentagonal Figure as noted above, and then close your eyes and imagine yourself in a very detailed graveyard, standing within a circle containing the names and symbols from the exercise. Picture yourself standing before the grave of the person you want to speak with. See their name engraved upon the stone in your mind's eye. See the inscription of the date of birth and death, if you have that information, or simply know you are standing before the grave of the person you seek to contact.

Say something along the lines of the following:

"Bune, thou spirit of the Lemegeton and the Pseudomonarchia, I [your name/motto here] conjure you to this land of the Dead by the most holy names inscribed within this circle. Come now from whatever part of the earth, under the earth, or upon whatever wind you ride to appear before me now. I conjure you here by the name Adonay, and by Hagios, O Theos, Iscyros, Athanatos; Paracletus, Alpha and Omega, and by these three secret names: Agla, On, Tetragrammaton, that you at once fulfill what I desire."(1)

In your mind's eye, you should see him appear. If he doesn't, then picture his seal (good thing you drew it so many times) beaming out from the lamen around your neck (you are picturing yourself wearing it, yes?). See the seal projected between yourself and the grave of the person you are seeking to communicate with. Vibrate and intone (or SING! - that's for Mike) his Name, and as you do, see his Name form in flaming letters around his Seal. Really pump the Seal full of the power that resonates with his Name. Then repeat the conjuration, picturing the Seal transforming into Bune.

I don't think you'll need that much, frankly. When I conjured him into the Spirit Pot, I just said, "Bune, are you here?" and heard a solid "Yes" in response, a thought that originated from outside my head, sort of from behind my ears on both sides. Like he communicates through the hippocampus part of the brain.

When he's present, say something along the lines of:

"Bune, I have conjured you here to cause the spirit of [person's name] to appear before me upon their sepulchre (that's a grave). Will you do this for me now?"

Bune will likely say he will, because he likes to do that kind of thing.

Let him sort of fade into the background scenery, and look up on top of the sepulchre you've imagined. I see a little candle flame that grows in brightness, hovering above the stone. When it's finished growing to whatever size it grows to, begin speaking to the spirit. "Are you [name]?" is a good place to start. If you're a Christian, have it say "Jesus is Lord" to affirm it is who it says it is. Thelemites have success making the spirits say something out of the Book of the Law; Jews may have success having it swear by Tetragrammaton that it is who it claims to be. You can try banishing pentagrams, but I think they're hokey, and you'd likely banish the spirit. Invoking pentagrams seems like a really seriously bad idea when working with the Spirits. I'm not GD, so I dunno what to tell you if that's your thing.

Assuming it passes the test, begin to talk to it about whatever it is you've conjured it for. Ask where that will was stashed, or who your real father was, you bastard.(2) Ask what he meant when he wrote that confusing chapter in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy, if you're conjuring Agrippa. Ask who shot him if it's JFK. Ask whatever you want to know, about the after life, the present, the future, whatever you think this spirit would be able to answer knowledgeably. I wouldn't ask Marie Antoinette the finer points of calculus, but I might ask Poe to recite some of his more recent poetry, or ask Einstein what he thinks of Hawking's theories about black holes. Not that I'd understand it very well, but still.

When you're finished, thank the Spirit for their time, and bid them to go in Peace. Thank Bune for his help, and bid him go in peace, bringing no harm to any you know or love, and remind him I still need that $7 million.(3)

After you've done all this, take some time to ground yourself out. Perform that exercise again, to cleanse any death-vibes from your sphere that might be hanging around. Place the lamen somewhere and light a votive or tea light candle as a gesture of thanks to Bune. Take a bath. Brush your teeth. Play with your hematite, iron pyrite, steel blade, jet, obsidion, or amethyst. Roll them around between the palms of your hands, extending your awareness into them, picturing yourelf floating in the center of whatever stone you have.(4)

Then come back and post your experiences in the comments below, or send me an email. If I include this post as a chapter in a book that ever gets published, I'll throw your experiences in the "Anecdotes" appendix, with permission, of course.

(1) Adapted from the Heptameron, see Joe Peterson's notes on the Oration and Conjuration sections of the Lemegeton's Goetia. Really, you should be familiar with how the orations go anyway.
(2) Just Kiddin'! I'm sure you're not a bastard. Not that there's anything wrong with that if you are (you bastard)
(3) Ibid. If you mention me during this rite, I'll personally hex you so bad you'll be dead by dawn. Then I'll eat your soul.
(4) If you're using a steel blade, don't roll it between your palms; that would be stupid. As in all magical rites, DON'T BE STUPID.

More on Kinetic Meditation

In a previous post, I talked about how important it is to draw the seals of the spirits, and about how as I carved the seals of the different spirits, I would feel their presence in the room or within my sphere of influence.

I've been reading Enochian Vision Magick by Lon Milo DuQuette. I hadn't read it before writing that post, and he couldn't have read my post and written about the same idea, but nevertheless, he talks about the same thing in the book regarding the Enochian Angels. He talks about how as you write out the Sigilum Dei Aemyth, you are building it into your sphere. He doesn't put it that way, but the same idea is reflected throughout the book. He talks about how making the tools of Enochian magic programs the magician, and prepares them to perform the magic. It's like an initiation into the system.(1)

But today I'd like to talk about the Magic Circle, specifically the names found in the one from the Lemegeton's Goetia.(2) It's possibly the most thorough protective circle I've ever seen. Understanding that circle is key to being able to work with the spirits of the Goetia. It builds around the magician a miniature representation of all the forces of all the spheres between here and the throne of God. It places the magician right smack dab in the center of the manifest and unmanifest universe. It represents the path of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes. It is key, in my opinion, to all the other forms of grimoire magic that are available.

The circle shown to the right is from Crowley-Mathers' The Goetia. I've made it as large as possible, but it's still hard to make out the details. Plus it's in Hebrew.

The names and planetary symbols in the outermost circle are taken from Agrippa's Scale of the Number Ten. Joe Peterson points this out in his notes on the Magic Circle. Prior to actually making a life-sized circle, I never bothered trying to read this information. I figured I had either read it before in Kraig's Modern Magic, or it wasn't that important. I assumed an LBRP would be fine for years. I had no idea what I was doing.

When I finally made the circle, I began to understand why this thing is so important. As I painstakingly painted each name or office, I went further into a sort of trance-like state. Lon talks about how he gets into a trance state by tapping the letters of the Table of Practice in the Enochian book while chanting the names of the letters aloud. I understand; this is a powerful technique. I wasn't even chanting the names or offices, I would simply say them aloud to myself while I was painting them so I wouldn't forget them and have to go back to my notes. (They were all the way across the floor on the other side of the garage, after all.)

By the time I was finished, I was in a zone unlike any other I had been in before. I ended up screwing up some of the names, and had to re-prime the circle and start over again, and I haven't finished it yet, but that's beside the point. The point is, it's a form of kinetic meditation.

So let's go over the names in the circle. As noted by Joe, the names and offices of the circle are taken from Agrippa's Scale of the Number Ten. The names included are:

• The Ten Names of God
• The Ten Names of the Sephiroth
• The Ten Orders of the Blessed According to the Traditions of Men
• The Ten Angels Ruling
• The Ten Spheres of the World

Only nine of each are listed; the Lemegeton specifies that they begin at Eheyeh and end at Lavanah.

I don't use the Tree of Life as my primary working model. I prefer the Ptolemaic geocentric model of concentric spheres centered on the earth. It doesn't really matter though, because I still have ten spheres to work with that match up to the ten Sephiroth pretty well. When I wrote out my circle, I kept the ten names of God, but eliminated the names of the sephiroth. I wrote the Names of God in Celestial Script, my favorite version of the Hebrew Alephbet.

The names of the Ten Orders of the Blessed (this refers to the Ranks of the angels in each sphere) that are used in the Crowley-Mathers Goetia are the Hebrew names. I used the names from Dionysius. (These names appear in the same row of the table on Agrippa's Scale of the Number Ten.) Dionysius helped me understand a lot about the celestial spheres, and how to work with them as a Christian. I believe they are translations of the Hebrew names of angelic ranks or orders, but I don't know for sure. If you look through the descriptions of the spirits of the Goetia though, you'll find they are sometimes referred to as being of the order of Powers, or Thrones, for example. These are Dionysius' terms, not the Hebrew terms. It sort of seems to be more appropriate to stick with the Dionysian terminology, at least to me.

For the Ten Angels Ruling, I left Metatron and Iophiel as the angelic rulers of the spheres of the Primum Mobile and Fixed Stars, respectively. I haven't worked with either before, and have mostly kept to thespheres of the planets in my Work. The rest of the angel names were fine, except for Michael and Raphael. I still use the Trithemian attributions, with Michael in the Sun, and Raphael in Mercury.

Between each sphere, you place a cross, represented here with a + sign. When I was finished, I should have had:

+ AHYH Seraphim Metatron Sphere of the Primum Mobile + YHVH Cherubim Jophiel Sphere of the Fixed Stars + YHVH ALHYM Thrones Tzaphqiel [Planetary Symbol of Saturn] + AL Dominations Tzadqiel [Planetary Symbol of Jupiter] + ALHYM GYBR Powers Kammael [Planetary Symbol of Mars] + ALVH Virtues Michael [Planetary Symbol of the Sun] + YHVH TzBAVTh  Principalities Haniel [Planetary Symbol of Venus] + ALHYM TzBAVTh Archangels Raphael [Planetary Symbol of Mercury] + ShDY Angels Gabriel [Planetary Symbol of the Moon +

I don't remember exactly what I had messed up now. I think I had put the Principalities on twice and skipped the Virtues, or something like that. I had also run out of room, and my font size was rapidly shrinking. While it would have remained usable, I wanted it to look better than that, so I let it dry and then had the kids paint it white again.

Now, based on this exercise and the resulting state of mind (even typing it now, I've entered into a different perspective than I normally operate from), I've come up with the following exercise. It's fairly simple, and it results in a harmonizing effect within your sphere of influence.

You'll need a compass and a blank piece of paper to do this all yourself. I'll throw together an image you can print too.

You want to draw 11 concentric circles, each a half-inch wider than the previous.

You'll be writing out the names of God, the Orders of Angelic hosts, the Rulers of the Angelic hosts, and the symbol of the sphere in each circle, once from the center moving outward, and again moving downward.

In addition, as you write out the names of the Angelic Rulers, for a little added umph, you can include the sigils of each angel of the Planetary Spheres.

In the next image, I've got the names of God, the Orders of Angels, the sigils of the Planetary Angels where available from the Magical Calendar (reproduced in PowerPoint to avoid copyright issues), the Angels' names, and the Planetary symbols for each sphere.

In the center sphere, write out your name or Magical Motto. As you write it out, vibrate the name in a low chanting voice. In the circle above, write out the God Name for the Sphere of the Moon, vibrating the name as you write it and picturing the letters in your mind's eye at the same time. Write out the Order of Angelic host next, and again, vibrate the name. It feels a little silly vibrating "Angels," or at least it does to me. If you prefer the Hebrew names of the orders, they're in Agrippa's Second Book of Occult Philosophy, Chapter 13. Next draw the seal of the Angel of the Sphere and his (her, its) name, again vibrating the name as you do. Finally draw in the symbol of the planet, or Sphere of the Zodiac/Prime Mover while vibrating "The sphere of [insert appropriate planet/sphere here]."

Do this going up from your name through each Sphere. When you get to the top, go back down, this time drawing a cross at the front of each list of the sphere's attributes as you vibrate all the names again. When you get back to the center, you should be feeling something pretty groovy.

There are a host of other ways to do this. This particular exercise harmonizes your sphere, and prepares you to work with the grimoires of the Lemegeton in general, and specifically the Goetia. I'm interested in how others experience this, if anyone tries it. Feel free to leave comments about your experiences below, or email them to me directly if you want them kept private.

(1) I think we're working within the same current on this kind of thing, he and I. I'm sure he's much further along than I am, as well he should be after practicing as long as he has. While it's neat to find the ideas I'm having and the foundation of my own magical practices reflected in his work, you know, like a confirmation that I'm doing something right, it's also frustrating. Eventually I'd like to be a published occult author, but the way things are going, it'll look like I'm parroting his work. I'm totally not. I swear I didn't read about this before, it's based on my experiences. So is his stuff. I guess that magicians that do similar work have similar results, reach similar conclusions about how the seals and circles work within the magician. Shocking, I know.

(2) I'd like to take a minute to thank Joe Peterson for putting all these old manuscripts on his site. They have helped me incredibly over the past two years, and whatever blessing I have to give I give to him in thanks.

On Geomancy

You may remember the Geomantic Tumblers I recently purchased from Witchdoctor Joe (lord don't let the check bounce [Edit: too late. Sending cash.]). I've been using them as single-roll indicators. Ask a question, roll, check the meaning, and go with that as an answer. It has worked well enough (100% accuracy on things I can prove), but it's not that different from flipping a coin.

The other day, talking to Fr. S.L., a brilliant man, prone to long monologues on political topics, but otherwise a decent fellow (for a liberal), the subject of the geomantic tumblers came up. He said I needed to make four rolls, get the Mothers, then get from them the neices and nephews and uncles and step-cousines twice removed... I didn't know what he was talking about, if you can't tell.

It seems there's an actual divination method associated with Geomancy that I had no idea about! Checking Joe's instructions, I found that I was supposed to be looking for more details on geomancy from certain sources. Ignoring my arcane Googlemancy techniques, I decided to simply go to the web sites Joe suggested.

From one of them, I think it was Greer's site, I found a link that generates all the family members you need to do a reading (like Agrippa details in his On Geomancy book) based on the values of the four mothers you put into the program. You throw the tumblers four times while thinking of the question, recording the results of each throw. Put the values of each row into the sixteen blanks, and click "Generate Points" and wha bam! Instant results, witnesses and Judge included!

So, having learned this technique for getting more detailed readings, I have already employed it to my advantage. Asking questions about various topics covered lately, I found the Arbatel spirits are Celestial and Terrestrial combined, a bit of both; I found that today's job searches can generate new work in the price range I'm looking for, but it depends on meeting with the right people. (I did some Mercury Work with the Box to ensure I met the right people.)

Anyway, it's a nifty addition to this magician's tool kit, and I can't thank Joe enough. Buy lots from him.

Arbatel Spirits

In recent conversations with Fr. POS and Optimystic, the subject of where in the cosmology the Arbatel spirits belong has come up. They both place the spirits in the celestial or super-celestial realms. Personally, I think they're more like the Spirits of the planetary tables, that is, terrestrial reflections of the celestial governors.

Opti pointed out the Arbatel says: "They are called Olympick spirits, which do inhabit in the firmament, and in the stars of the firmament..." (from aphorism 15). He also pointed to Aphorism 16, which says:

There are seven different governments of the Spirits of Olympus, by whom God hath appointed the whole frame and universe of this world to be governed: and their visible stars are ARATRON, BETHOR, PHALEG, OCH, HAGITH, OPHIEL, PHUL, after the Olympick speech. Every one of these hath under him a mighty Militia in the firmament.
   
[...]

So that there are 186 [196]7 Olympick Provinces in the whole Universe. wherein the seven Governours do exercise their power: all which are elegantly set forth in Astronomy.

(From Joe Peterson's Twilit Grotto, The Arbatel.)

So the question remaining to my mind is "What is the Firmament?" Aphorism fifteen identifies their inhabitation as being both in the firmament and in the stars of the firmament. Why do both have to be mentioned? Opti interprets it as the super-celestial heavens. He could be right. He provided a dictionary definition that seemed to say the heavens. In Old Astronomy, the term meant "The orb of the fixed stars; the most remote of the celestial spheres."(1)  That would place these spirits clearly in the super celestial realm, thus ending the debate.

I'm stubbon though. I looked up the meaning of the word in more detail, and found from Easton's Bible dictionary this(2):

from the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew _raki'a_. This word means simply "expansion." It denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing immediately above us. They who rendered _raki'a_ by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. The language of Scripture is not scientific but popular, and hence we read of the sun rising and setting, and also here the use of this particular word. It is plain that it was used to denote solidity as well as expansion. It formed a division between the waters above and the waters below (Gen. 1:7). The _raki'a_ supported the upper reservoir (Ps. 148:4). It was the support also of the heavenly bodies (Gen. 1:14), and is spoken of as having "windows" and "doors" (Gen. 7:11; Isa. 24:18; Mal. 3:10) through which the rain and snow might descend.

Based on this, and the very Biblical tone of the Arbatel, I believed the Arbatel spirits are within the realm of matter primarily. The physical planets and sphere of the physical stars is certainly not what is referenced by the spiritual spheres of the neoplatonists. If we travel to Mars for colonization, the martian settlers won't be considered to be in the sphere of the wandering stars, will they? All matter is within the sublunar realms, and the planets and stars serve as signifiers of their relative positionings in the divine or ideal realm. The actual spheres of the planets and fixed stars do not manifest physically.

Knowing I could be wrong, I performed some divinations that indicated I was partially right and partially wrong. The Arbatel spirits have qualities that make them both Super-Celestial entities, and terrestrial entities. They seem to be, based on divination, a combination of the Spirits and the Intelligences from the Kameas of the Planets in Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

So, based on the research, conversation, divination and meditation, I've decided I won't be ordering the spirits of the Arbatel around like servants. Instead, I'll keep my approach formal, as if  it were one Vice-President speaking to another within a corporation. By divine right, magicians are granted the abiltity to petition the spirits of the Arbatel, but there's no real authority over them provided in the grimoire. Instead, the only authority they are answerable to is God himself.

This rather helps explain why so much of the Arbatel focuses on your behavior. As a Christian saved by Grace, this behavioral thou-shaltism smacks of righteousness by works rather than by grace. That is, you do nice things and you get rewarded. I'm in Martin Luther's camp, that salvation is by grace through faith alone. Works, good deeds, being nice to animals and not splashing panhandlers in the rain while cackling gleefully at their misfortune... that's not going to get you anywhere with God, who says the righteousness of man is as menstrual rags before him. (mmmm, tasty.)

But we aren't talking about salvation, atonement or being in a right relationship with God. We're talking about magic petitions to spirits for direct intervention. Maybe you do have to be all righteous and pure to get anything out of the Arbatel spirits, and they don't see the Cross when they're measuring up whether you deserve their blessings or not.

hmmm. Well, it's something to think about, anyway. But like I said, I'll stick with the Goetic spirits for now. They recognize your position with God via the sacrifice of Christ readily enough.

Notes:
1. "firmament." Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 29 Oct. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/firmament>.
2. "firmament." Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. 29 Oct. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/firmament>.

Administrative stuff

See that Email the Author link below? If you've ever used it, please note that it hasn't worked the whole time it's been there until now. So if you sent me any emails, I wasn't ignoring you, or too busy. I never got them. Thanks to Fr. POS, I found this out and addressed the issue. Feel free to contact me about any posts, comments, or whatever. I made a couple of friends I IM with now through that very process.

Oh and another thing, if you leave a comment on my posts, chances are I'll answer them in the comments below. There's an option for you to subscribe to follow-up posts, so if you want to see my response, check that box. Otherwise you'll forget for months and when you get back to it, you'll want to carry on the conversation and I'll have no idea what you're talking about.

I think that's everything for now.

Happy camping.

Oh, P.S. I've been getting a lot of "I admire your work" emails. Please do not feed the ego. It's large and takes manly steps while walking already. The fact is most of my stuff is fun and utilitarian, but there are artists out there that deserve more credit.

Heading for the Red?

Words words words. I just deleted a huge old long post about how I've slipped in my Work, and replaced the Great Work with Working for money. After a lengthy discussion on sin, repentance, and how that works as a magician, after detailing out plans to get right with God through magic and balancing out my spheres with rituals, I had to face something uncomfortable. The only reason I wanted to get right with God was still so that I could get the money.

What a pain in the ass.

How do you kill the Golden Calf? How do you stop lusting for results, if you're only trying to stop lusting for results to get the results you lust after?

It's totally absurd. I can't stop wanting money. It's good stuff. It buys good stuff. It solves a myraid of problems. Instead of turning away from wanting money, I've got to find a way to focus instead on the Great Work and getting money. I have to get in harmony. Integrate the passions for payola with the passions for God. To celebrate God in money, because it is, after all, an emanation from him as much as anything else is. It is what it is.

So, fuck it. Back to Bune. He's always pulled my fat out of the fire. I'll let him take care of the money, and I'll just go back to focusing on the Great Work. I'll just quit spending the money I get from my magic on stupid shit. Be fiscally responsible. I'll Work with Tzadqiel on that aspect of my spheres, because as long as I'm being irresponsible, no amount of funding that irresponsibility will result in Wealth. But I still need the money to get out of the hole I'm in. Ignoring that would be pretty stupid. Sure, I'll start by cutting back expenses, going through the steps that all the financial gurus say to do (which is basically spend less than you earn, frickin' duh), but when it comes to generating the wealth, I'm still going to stick with the spirits.

Path of the Psychic

I got the most polite spam ever this morning. I moderate with Frater AVAD the yahoo group RealMagick. It's a slow list lately, but it's fun. The membership is broad, and topics include anything related to the practice of some form of magic, no matter what form that might be.

The email I got was polite and to the point. Guy said we might find his site interesting, so I checked it out. It's a basic introduction to being a psychic. The information is presented clearly and concisely. It's well written. It doesn't get too deep, but it covers things in a general way that give the readers what they need to do further research if interested. I haven't looked at all the pages, ut the ones I saw were impressive to me. Not that they were detailed, but that they were simple. It's a brilliant study in minimalism, in a way.

The link is here:

http://www.pathofthepsychic.com/

If you've ever wondered if you're a psychic, you might benefit from it. I'm definitely going to adopt some of the techniques he used to present the information. Speaking as a technical writer, this is how you should present introductory material.

Lessons on Losing

After losing to Fr. POS in a friendly game of chess last night, I tried basking in the warm glow of Tiphareth to soothe my wounded ego. Actually, I was intending to do some Solar Work anyway. Before talking to him, I had felt downright suicidal for no apparent reason. It was totally against how I normally feel, so I figured some Solar Work would clean me out and do me some good.

After losing to the good Frater, I only had a couple of minutes left in the hour of the Sun, so I decided instead of a luxurious soak in the Rays of Father Sun, I'd conjure up Och instead, from the Arbatel. I engraved his seal on the inside of my wedding band a week or so ago, with the intent of never having my "purse" be without the jingle of gold. I had meant my bank accounts, but all I got was a wallet that hasn't quite finished being depleted of funds in spite of hungry kids who outgrow their clothes at the worst possible times, and many bills.

Concern with those many bills had me conjuring the spirit Och, and when he showed up, he gave me all kinds of side-stepping issues, saying he couldn't give me gold in a moment because there were "other things" going on that were interfering. I said, "Yes, there are other things going on, and that's why I conjured you to get me the gold. You can do it. It's in your office. Now, go do it." Then I felt the spirit leave, and a sense of peace fell over me. I looked at the planetary hour, and it had shifted to Venus, the ruler of my Sun Sign.

I'd like to say a pile of gold appeared at my feet today. It didn't. I got a couple of job opportunities today, but none within my area of experience or geographic location.I got notice that a job I'm waiting to be approved should be given a green light in early November, pushed back from late October.

Personally, I think Och is giving me the run-around. I don't appreciate it much at all. I plan on having words with him about it later. Then again, I haven't actually conjured him using the techniques of the Arbatel, specifically. Probably should, I suppose. I have used my Box and have had communications with him, though, placing my ring across the electrodes. I'm just not convinced he's doing anything. Hmmmm... Just rolled the Geomantic Tumblers, and they say "Carcer: Restriction, limitation, and binding."

I'll think on that; confirmation of the spirit's message is something I can't readily ignore.

In the mean time, a closing quote:

But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down
Tra la la la la bomba dear this
is the pilot speaking
And I've got some news for you
It seems my ship still stands
no matter what you drop
And there ain't a whole lot that you can do
Oh sure the banner may be torn and
the wind's gotten colder
Perhaps I've grown a little cynical
But I know no matter what the waitress brings
I shall drink in and always be full
My cup shall always be full


-Run Around, by Blues Traveler

A chance to make a difference in MA

Hey folks, I got an email request for a signature on a petition. The state of MA is moving retarded people (I'm sure there's a better term for it, but I'm tired) to a terrible institution without the consent of their caregivers. For more details and to consider signing this petition, please visit:

http://avertrollandtragedy.org/

This is one aspect of the role of the Invisible College. However, to make it an official Invisible College kind of thing, you should also petition the Higher Authorities that control or influence the way things manifest. Call upon whatever aspects of God you Work with to get them to change their minds and give the people who love these institutionalized folks control over where these people will be sent and cared for.

Taking care of the innocent or those who can't take care of themselves is part of the Great work, imo. What's going on in MA just ain't right.

Tonight's Work

First, before I forget, the Geomantic Tumblers have been right on so far. They said my daughter would get a B, and she got a B+ on that math test.

Ok, back to tonight's Work. I just spent a long time making something really ... primitive. But I likes it.

In the hour of Mercury, on the day of Mercury, I conjured Raphael, Archangel of Mercury to help me with this work. I was trying to make a simple round talisman to the Archangel to use with my Box, but then I got an inspiration. I looked over and saw the huge plaster brick I'd made for the Pentagonal Seal of Solomon, the project that had failed miserably, and thought about how easy it would be to carve using a grinding bit on my dremel tool.

So I carved out a rough figure of the symbol of Mercury, and melted up some pewter, some silver, and a dash of more tin. The mixture of metals, per Aaron Leitch, makes it a mercurial metal when it solidifies. The pewter came from my daughter, who had broken a cheaply soldered fairy's wings right off. I tried to fix it, but I failed, and she said I could have it. I told her what I wanted to do with it, and she said "Cool." That works for me. I just realized it was an Arial spirit that it had been molded into, and Mercury is associated with the element of Air. "Cool."

I melted the metals, and poured them into the rough mold, cleaned up the edges as best as I could, and engraved it with the name Raphael, RPAL in Celestial Script, the Archangel seal of Mercury from the Magical Calendar, and the Sigil of the Planet Mercury, also from the Magical Calendar. Some parts are prettier than others.

Now, I've said before that "ugly works." It's a good thing. This isn't fine art, by any means. It shows two things about me. One, I'm an amateur metallurgist. Two, I don't let that stop me; my passion for communing with the spirits far outweighs any worries I have about how I look while doing so. It's the communion that counts.

Now I wanted to test it out on my Box, but it's now the hour of the Moon. No time, no time. It took far longer than anticipated. The next Mercury hour isn't until 4:08 AM my time, and man, that's frickin' early. Or late. I don't think I'll be using it this week, unless ... Well, I'll check Trithemius and see what he says.

Goetic Dreams?

So after last night's rituals, I expected some kind of weird, post apocalyptic dreams.

I got the mayor of New Orleans, the Dem and the Rep Presidential Candidates, in my house instead. Ok, still weird dreams, but nothing apocalyptic. McCain seemed like he had Alzheimers. Obama was just too eager to please, and generally disgusted that I wouldn't fall under his sway. Mayor Nagen was trying to get money by contracting out repairs on our house without our consent. He was using a law that had recently passed, intended to bail out the housing slump, to push federally mandated repairs on the house, but my spouse had all the paperwork to prove we were exempt, and the mayor wouldn't listen. He wouldn't make eye contact, he talked too fast, and seemed really ... slimy.

Obama wouldn't stop making eye contact, like those paintings where the eyes are painted looking directly forward that look like they're always following you around. And McCain was surrounded by too many bustling "flappers," that he couldn't have maintained a train of thought, let alone eye contact.

Then I was riding a girl's bike with high handlebars. I had to pedal really fast up hill to get anywhere, and there was no gear shift. The handlebars were like chopper handlebars, but they went straight up so my arms were really uncomfortable. And of course, I was too big for it. Then I went around the block and came down the hill on the street parallel, and almost ran into this bitchy neighbor that was a conglomeration of several bitchy moms that I know of at our real-life elemetary school, and she said something snide, and I was like, "Do you REALLY think I want to be on this bike?" She got offended and ended up taking her too-many kids in the house.

It was weird, alright, but not really post-apocalyptic. After last night's dream, I think I actually trust Obama more. He at least seemed sincere in his desire to want my vote. Not that he represents me, my values, or my goals in life, necessarily, just that at least he came across as honestly wanting me to like him. McCain was just out of it. Lost, befuddled. I felt sorry for him. He seemed like he was on some kind of drug, like the Ism from that video Mike Rock posted the other day. His retainers kept him dopey and distracted enough so he wouldn't be able to pay attention to me, but they didn't want him to have enough time to really see where he was at either. Bah. Political dreams. Weird shit. At least there were no scary clowns or three-foot Santas.

But it wasn't particularly Goetic. I had conjured Ga'ap, alias Tap, and had a good conversation with him. The rite went really well, and I asked him to send me a dream if I needed more information. Either I forgot a dream, or I didn't need more information.

Proud of my Son

So tonight my son, who is turning seven next month, expressed his concern that in his school's winter program, they are singing songs about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and some other stuff about winter, but there are no Christian or traditional Christmas songs celebrating Christmas specifically. I didn't bring it up, his mother didn't bring it up, he did. He figured it out on his own that his beliefs and experiences weren't being represented. He feels cheated. He doesn't want to participate.

He's got a strong sense of justice and righteousness. He's a Scorpio, and a little genius. He's not opposed to singing the other songs, he just wants his beliefs represented too. He wants it to be fair.

As a Christian Magician, I know how he feels. Most of my friends and colleagues are pagan liberals. I'm a moderate Christian, with decidedly non-mainstream interpretations of what it means to be a Christian, but I get the blow-off from other magicians more frequently than I should. I understand why; Christianity has done wrongs in the name of Christ for thousands of years, and is chock full of disgusting loud-mouthed opinionated bigoted hypocrites. People have been hurt by people in the name of Christ, and it didn't just happen hundreds of years ago, it's happening right now as I type this, somewhere in the middle of America.

It's not fair though. People desperately demanding equal rights don't give them. People demanding "justice" don't want the scales even, they want them in their favor. They don't see their own hypocrisy. No one ever does.I want people to overlook the wrongs other people have done in the name of Christ and see what I'm saying and judge it on its own merits. I try to do that with others. I fail sometimes, but I at least try.

I want $7 Million Dollars, too.

I expect to get the money before I see non-Christians treat Christians with the respect they expect.

So my son wants to opt out of the Winter Holiday recital. We sent an email to the music teacher to get a list of the songs being sung, so that we can see if there's something in there that represents his beliefs that he doesn't recognize as traditionally Christian or Christmas-ey. We haven't been to church in a year or so, he might just not recognize the songs as Christian. I'll feel pretty lousy if that's the case. I want him to participate with his friends and not to feel like an outcast because of his beliefs, if possible.

If the school is presenting religious songs and excluding Christianity, I'll stamp my feet and raise a stink. If it's a secular Program, then I'll explain the separation of Church and State to my son as best I can, and see if he wants to participate. If he still feels morally, ethically, or just plain old conscientiously unable to perform in it, then I'll support him in his determination. Hell, he's so stubborn he'd probably go but just stand there and not sing if I tried to make him anyway. He's nobody's fool.

But I do expect to find out that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are represented while Christianity is left out. I expect that all mention of the word "Christmas" will be verboten because it dares to have "Christ" in it. I expect my son to learn that his beliefs will, at times, leave him ostracized, pushed to the side, and treated disrespectfully. That saddens me, but I'm pragmatic and know he'll learn it anyway.

But I am totally and completely proud that he is willing to take the ostracism and stand by his convictions. That rocks.

The Sun Comes Up, It's Tiw's Day Mourning

If your'e not a Cowboy Junkies fan, the blog title might not be as entertaining as it was for me.

This morning was picture day at school. Lots of hubbub, not a lot of time for Work around daybreak. I don't know why, but I'm attracted to Martial work in general lately. I've been barely resisting the urge to curse people on principle. There's a ... I don't know, a violence about things in my life, not like a destructive violence, but a strong urge to wage war for the things I think are right. Politics, work, my Great Work, I just want to DO stuff, there's a pressing urgency to DO stuff.

Like the Box, and the Bune Radio. I want to create, empower, direct, and dominate my world. Not yours, mine.

The song I stole the title for today's post is about a woman going through that emotional stage of missing her ex-lover, but at the same time, enjoying the new-found freedom she had forgotten about. I was mostly looking for a song that had Tuesday in the title. (Tuesday comes from Tiw's Day, the Norse God of War, which of course was Martial in nature. You prolly knew that.) There's also a connection to Fall, leaves falling, the season changing, and although I'm going to miss Summer, I'm finding things about this season that I'd forgotten about, and that I like.

Like Tiw's Day. It's Tiw's Day, Mars Day, and I'm ready for some action. Mars plays an important role with Saturn in the Goetia, and I had a strange apocalyptic dream the other night that I'm beginning to suspect was a Goetic spirit trying to get my attention. The build-up of whatever's trying to get my attention is getting so thick I can feel it in the air around me. It's almost like a frustration, but it's like a palm's width outside of my body.

So tonight, the Sun's coming up and it's going to be a Tiw's Day Mourning. For something, or someone. Might be some part of my self that has to die, or be subjugated to my "True Will;" it might be something else. I'm definitely going to be Working some Goetic spirits, regardless. Maybe Tap into some forces and see what's been going on and what's to come.

Muahahahaaa.

Desperately Important

Mike Rock's recent blog post is a must-see.

http://blog.mike-rock.com/2008/10/make-mine-freedom.html

Wow, a recession... no s*** Sherlock

In a couple of places, I've seen people complaining a lot about the economy. Magicians even, who should know better.

Gee, we've got bad financial times while Jupiter's in Capricorn? Wow! Absolutely shocking.

Gee, it's affecting homes while Saturn's in Virgo? Holy cow! That's amazing!!

Come on, people, get your heads out of your anal cavities. We're magicians. The state of the world is not frightening to those in the know, it's expected. We navigate behind the scenes. You can turn this generally bad time around for your benefit with a little planning and magic.

I suggest talking to Tzaphqiel, or some other manifestation of the Intelligence of Saturn, since that's where this is all coming from (Capricorn holding Jupiter hostage is ruled by Saturn, Saturn's in Virgo Maleficently influencing things). Throw in Tzadqiel of Jupiter, and Michael of the Sun (he cushions the Saturn landing). Talk to Hanael and Hamaliel, Archangels of Capricorn and Virgo respectively as well.

"They aren't going to move where the planets are, what difference would it make?"

The planets are still where they are, yes, but the planets are indicators of general influences at large. Like the label on the back of a plug you plug into the wall that tells you, "120VAC in, 9VDC out." They tell you what the natural state of things are, but they don't tell you how that will manifest in detail within your own life, within your own Sphere of Influence. You can run a clock radio off the plug, if it's 9VDC, or you can run a flashlight, or whatever ... as long as it's got the right receptacle and runs on 9VDC.

How the astrological influences manifest depends on a few million variables that are different for most people.Even people born in the same place at the same time will be raised by different parents, influenced by different teachers, or move to different parts of the world where their spheres of influence are shaped and molded uniquely. Twins are different, and it's hard to get much closer than twins.

Magicians get to do a lot more consciously than mundane folks with no interest in the occult. We get to say, ok, that's a 9VDC output there, so I can run it through an oscillator to step it down to 4VDC to get it to light this here LED without burning it out. We get to do a lot that way.

I don't care if you're a magician like Jason Miller with his roots and prajna, or St. Faust with his sigils and whatever, or even Fr. POS with his GD initiate ways and means. Heck, you can even be a Wastewater Consultant wth an epicurean garden and multiple OTO initations like the author of My Gal. It doesn't matter, you've got techniques at your disposal to rewire the output and put it to use the way you want.

Hop to it. No one's going to sit around and do it for you.

However, if you're new at all this, here's a talisman for you to print off and color. Silver-grey (the color of Lead, Dark Blues, and Dark Greens would be appropriate, per the Golden Dawn color scheme (colors are from the Assiah Scale becauise this is supposed to affecrt the manifest world).

Write out how you want things to go for you in your life in the form of a prayer or petition on the back where Money and Home Life are concerned, and consecrate it by running it through incense, praying over it, anointing it with oils or holy water, and repeating the prayer you write on the back for seven days.

Feel free to post your results in the comments area below (expect results to begin manifesting within 2 weeks, but sometimes earlier, rarely later).

Haniel: Archangel of Venus

Last Friday, I performed a conjuration of Haniel.

It went fairly well, and I went through the usual process; I asked if it liked the Spirit Box thing I made, and it said it did. I asked if there was anything I needed to be aware of within my own Sphere of Venus that needed to be addressed, and it pointed out a couple of things. I asked a few specific favors for myself and my friends, and it indicated it would be able to address them. As usual, I asked for any money that it could send my way through its sphere of influence, and it agreed to. I asked to be taken on a tour of the sphere of Venus in a vision, and it complied.

When I asked if there was anything in my own Sphere of influence related to Venus that I needed to address, I saw in the crystal a bunch of little points of light appear. It was like watching a night sky; first you know there are stars there, and you can see the brightest, but then you become aware of even more stars that were there the whole time, and as I watched, they twinkled. I knew as they appeared that each point of light represented a friend of mine, and as I went to each point of light in the crystal, I asked for favors for friends. Healing of a wounded heart here and there, creativity and passion for their art there, and purity and cleansing in other places.

When I asked for money, it was sort of an afterthought, towards the end of the session. The next day my spouse sold a wedding dress (we have managed to accumulate three altogether over the years) for $100. I thought that was pretty neat.

When I asked for a tour of the Venusian realm, I was taken to a park in my imagination. The park is a local Christian gathering place. The lad that owned the farm left it to a bunch of caretakers with the stipulation that the grounds be used for Christian activities. There's a little pond they keep stocked with fish, there's a Christian private school on the premises, and in the summer they have a huge Christian day camp that meets there. Weather permitting, every Friday night they show family-friendly movies on a big screen they set up by the pond, and they have a huge pool. They also have acres of corn fields and these beautiful rolling hills. It's a nice spot. Not what I'd think of as Venusian, of course.

But Haniel appeared beside me, and showed me around. I usually see the archangels as androgynous faces in the crystal. This was different. She was definitely a she, and she showed me around the area. As she did, I saw life abundant. I saw nature in her beauty. Everything was charged and pulsating, flowing through the plants and animals and all the elements like green lightning. Everything was charged, crisp and clear. She smiled at me, and asked if I understood. In that moment, I did.

Failures and Successes

Well, yesterday I learned that I can't always do things perfectly the first time I try them. I know, I should know by now, but still, I tend to think everything I do should work the first time, just because I'm me. Fr. POS assures me that's too much to ask.

Specifically, I tried to make a Pentagonal Figure of Solomon. I carved a beautiful one out of beeswax, no easy task I assure you. I measured the angles of the star, had each at a nearly-perfect 72 degrees, had all the names in and the symbols, and the Tetragrammaton... It was nice, it was really really nice.

I poured plaster over it to make a mold for the silver. That sort of worked, well enough, but there were some bubbles because I poured it too thick too fast, and just did it ... wrong. But when the plaster had dried, I put it in the oven for a couple of hours upside down over a pie pan to catch the wax, which melted out. The mold was close enough to let me get a decent seal and then have a little clean up to do with the dremel tool.

I melted the silver, and poured it into the mold. I don't have a smelter, so I used a MAP gas torch to melt it. It wasn't a good, even melt, and I ended up oxidizing a lot of the silver (it turns to powder). Then when I tried to pour it into the mold, it solidified on the way, so I got lumps of silver drops in the mold. It sucked royally.The places where the silver actually landed on the mold didn't even get a decent impression of the symbols. It really sucked.

Lessons learned: I need more heat, a crucible, and a centrifuge. I need to do the stupid lost-wax thing the right way. And I need to not think I can do everything perfect the first time.

Today, things went much better. I made a talisman for Haniel out of copper. In the hour of Venus, on the Day of Venus, I cut a copper tube, opened it up, and hit it with the MAP torch until it had begun to melt. I like to melt it a bit so that it's actually solidifying in the appropriate planetary hour, and freezing the "energies" of the moment into the metals.

I put a patina on it using the MAP torch and a quenching process, and then sanded the back of it using a dremel tool flap-sander bit. that was so it would rest on the electrodes of my Conjure Box and make a solid circuit.

I engraved it with the Venus seal from the Magical Calendar (I figure Haniel and Anael are different spellings from different sources, but the same general spirit). I also wrote "his" name in Celestial Script on the seal. I conjured him using the Box and had a good experience. I'll post about that next.

A Correction

In the Bune Radio post, I attributed the inspirational idea to Fr. POS. In reality, it wasn't him at all, it was his Gal. I'll go back and edit it, but I figured a public apology and correction was in order. She doesn't get nearly enough credit for her Work.

Strange Days

Nothing interesting popped up in the Mercury work yesterday. I didn't get around to it. :sigh: Excrement occurs.

We're living in strange days, friends and compatriots. I went off on Dude that wanted to do the apocalypse rite, and I think he's plannig on doing it this Saturday from the posts he's made since then. Or he's going to off himself. He's been vague enough to let it be interpreted either way.

To him, I say: Don't kill yourself, you've got a lot of potential, and you'll be wasting it by offing yourself. Prove you're an Adept by facing life on its own terms from a position of authority, not as a victim. Don't be a bitch.

Now, assuming he's going to go through with the Enochian-Goetic working to bring about Revelations' series of events... Time to come clean. Years ago, I wrote my own Enochian Apocalypse ritual. I didn't know shit about Enochian or Apocalypse at the time. It looked pretty bad ass though. I tried to get other people to do it, just in case it worked, but no one was interested. Years later, I know what would have happened if I'd gone through with it: I would have gone through my own apocalypse. The rest of the world would be fine.

I know I'm not the only magician to go through that phase. It seems to hit when you're around 25-27, coinciding with the Saturn Return, when Saturn returns to the same place in the heavens that it was when you were born. Your old boundaries of life are shaken away, and you set the stage for the next 25 years or so of your life. It can be emotionally violent. It's a death and rebirth of sorts, but in a spiritual way.

You realize that mommy and daddy, or whoever raised you, aren't going to be there for you forever, and you have to face the fact that your life, for the rest of your life, is what you make of it. All you can control is your own actions, and how you react to others. Faced with this awareness of our own relative powerlessness, some folks decide to end the world as we know it. Kinda selfish, in my opinion, but I was there.

It doesn't work. Most folks who do this have nothing happen. Some folks go insane, I've been told. I don't know anyone personally that went over the edge, but people I trust assure me that they know folks who ended up in the looney bin after this kind of thing. I'm sure a bit of googlemancy could turn up a couple hundred examples of people who are convinced they've ended the world, started the apocalypse, or done some kind of insane crap. One guy on OccultForums was convinced he was literally killing the archangels of the spheres of the Sephiroth, and literally destroying the "real" Tree of Life.

Anyway, what's likely going to happen to Dude is he's going to instigate more fallout from his Saturn Return, and will end up going through his own personal apocalypse. Which might be good for him, I don't know. I know the introduction to the HGA can be a lot like that, so maybe his HGA is getting him ready for the next level.

Regardless, if he kills himself, I WILL bind his spirit into a little pot (shown right; your spirit's home for at least the rest of my life, and I'll likely pass you on to some other magician when I die too) and roast it slowly over coals for not listening to me. And then I'll use him as a spirit bitch and force him to do really nasty stuff, like clean out Cthulhu's fat rolls.

(Note, I got that badass picture up there from this web site: http://civilizer.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/yet-another-award-for-bill-belichick/)

The Bune Radio

Ok, so Fr. POS wrote about playing rock music for his Goetic compatriots as a reward. [Edit: It wasn't his idea, I don't think, it was HIS GAL's idea; she gets a lot of groovy ideas. It was a conversation wtih her that resulted in the Box I made.]

Since I'm on a bit of a Mad Scientist binge lately, and because I had a clock radio that no longer clocked but still radioed, I took his idea and made a Bune Radio.

I took apart the clock and removed all the components related to the clock part that didn't work anymore. (I found residue of spilled something in the terminals and a lot of corrosion, and instead of cleaning it, I fried the clock trying to figure out how the LEDs worked; lesson learned: don't use a 9V battery to test lights that run on 4VAC. Sigh.)

Left with just the radio, I wired a copper Bune seal in line with the wires going to the speakers. I tuned it to a rock station, and played it for a while. Then I explained that when he gets me a specific dollar amount, I'd play it as a reward for a specific period of time.

I'm also thinking I could use it as an audio-scrying device. I can tune it between stations and get some good white noise going on, and observe what I "hear" coming through.

Coping with Difficult Times

Times can tough. Mercury is retrograde, and will be until tomorrow. He's still going to be "slow" until November 1st. I've found that Mercury Retrograde seems to affect my communications negatively, specifically at the very beginning and very ending of the retrograde motion.

To mitigate the effects of Mercury Retrograde, as with any other astrological influence, you as a magician can appeal to the Intelligence or Archangel of the Sphere. You can also make a talisman for the planet when it is favorably situated in the heavens, and then tap into that power when the planet goes retro, or is combust, or whatever.

Last week, when I needed to communicate clearly with multiple Intelligences of multiple spheres, I took advantage of the placement of Mercury in the heart of the Sun. The boost of the solar forces overcame any negatives caused by Mercury's retrograde motion, and as a result, the communications were clear and crisp. I was fortunate in the timing there, it wasn't planned out or anything.

Another way to mitigate negative influences is through communion with the Intelligence of the Sphere. I use the Archangels of the Spheres as assigned by Trithemius in the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. Today is Wednesday, Mercury Day, and in the hour of Mercury I will be using a talisman I made last year when he was dignified. I'll be conjuring Raphael here in a couple minutes, mostly to get the effects of Mercury's transition from Retro to Direct smoothed out. I'll also ask what might be going on in my own sphere of influence under the influence of Mercury that needs to be checked into. Sort of a Status Report from the VP in charge of Mercury.

I'd use the Box I made, but I don't have a metal Mercury Talisman. I need to make one. It should be made out of Pewter, since pewter is a mercurial blend of metals. It's also soft and easy to work with, and has a low melting point. Brass, bronze, or other mixed metals take on the properties of Mercury as well, according to Aaron Leitch. I trust him, he's a veritable gold mine of information.

If they're interesting, I'll post the results later.

Fun stuff

I like this video down below. I'm planning on adapting it to some Mars in Scorpio Work I have planned for later this month. I have a vase I can use, and some glass-etching material. I'm thinking I'll etch the glass with a martial seal, and consecrate it in the microwave with plasma during the appropriate hour.

How To Make Plasma In Your Microwave - Click here for another funny movie.

I've got a couple of old microwaves to risk, and I'll be doing it in the garage.

Mess with the bull...

I swear to god, I'm sick of the ones that are convinced that they are ready, able, and willing to do the Work, but on their terms.

IF you are redefining a system of Conjuration revealed to magicians in the 15th century, AND IF you have NEVER conjured any of the spirits from said system using the system as defined, not even to the best of your abilities:

Your Work is a Work of PRIDE. You're off your rocker. Get a clue.

IF you are redefining a system of Initation and Attainment developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, yet have NEVER been initiated into either the line you're "reforming" or its offshoot that rhymes with BoTeeOh, THEN you too are full of shit.

If in order for you to begin to explain the merits of your system, you must first make up lies about initiations into ceremonies that you have not participated in, your system is worthless.

But not only that, you fucking idiot, you've put yourself in the running with people who actually know what they're doing. You think Crowley's sitting in the City of Pyramids next to Christ and Buddha, and now all of a sudden he's beyond sending the Spirit of the Planet Mercury to confound and conflagrat you? Bullshit! He's got a better line with him.

If any of this shit above describes you, you're nothing but a bald monkey jumping in the middle of a stampede. And I'd like to take a moment to remind bald monkeys what the fuck happens when you fucking jump in the middle of a fucking stampede. See below. And if you're interrupting magicians that have a couple tons of momentum behind them barreling their way towards a goal you can't imagine, expect at LEAST what this guy got as you're tossed to the side.

Ohhhhh, the Drrraaaammmmaaaa

Oh, for Christ's sake.

Remember dude I mentioned that wanted to be a Moonchild? I got that all wrong. He corrected me. Seems they weren't trying to be Moonchildren at all. Oh no, nothing so puerile, he assured me. No, these two geniuses were trying to start the Apocalypse!!! The end of the WORLD!!! For Serious.

Because, you know, they were bored.

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

Give me a fucking break! "I'm bored, let's end the world." Where's my clue by four? Of all the spoiled, self-centered, obnoxious, stupid, conceited, childish... no, not even childish, just damned bratty things I've ever seen... This takes the fucking cake. Hell, it takes the whole party.

We were talking on a list about how omnipotence would lead to boredom. I mentioned that when I get bored, I meditate on the axiom "Only boring people get bored." I also mentioned that any being that didn't have the power to have entertain themselves wasn't omnipotent.

This is a beautiful world, full of beautiful things and beautiful people, and it's a great awesome expanse of things to do. The world is your oyster. There's nothing you can imagine that you can't accomplish.

Want to throw fireballs? Kathy, physics major, wastewater engineer, and author of the "My Gal" blog has the trick. It involves explosives, spark plugs, and pumpkins. Cheating? Yeah, that's what I said, but frickin' fun.

Want to own your own island? Get a job, save money, get your credit fixed, buy cheap properties in the slummy parts of town, rent them out, use the rental as income to qualify for more loans, get more properties, sit on them for a while, and then sell them when you've got them all paid half off or so. Move to Florida. There are Keys that no one lives on. Build a house. Include a Hurricane Shelter. Don't forget a boat for supplies.

Want to be Donald Trump? Do what he did. Want to be a famous occult author like Jason Miller, Lon DuQuette, Sam Webster, or MacGregor Mathers? Do it. It's your life. You get what you work for. You start where you're at, you plan a path to what you want, and you do it. Fuck. It ain't rocket science.

"I'm Bored." Fuck you. Get some fucking balls. Grow the fuck up. The world ain't going to sit around and come up with things to entertain you, you self-centered piece of shit. Get off your ass and do something. Get a fucking job already. And brush your god damned teeth. Your breath fucking stinks.

Stop the Presses!

This Just In!!!

To the right you'll see my awesome Superman keyboard. In front of it is a set of Geomantic Tumblers, received just today from Witch Doctor Joe.

I've used them about fifty times already. Ok, maybe 15, but still, they rock. Now, did anyone notice that in my previous post today, I mentioned that ideally I'd be doing more divinations? Huh? That was totally before the Geomantic Tumblers arrived.

I was dreading using the Tarot cards again. I can't stand them. For one thing, I have a five and a six year old. They love cards, and the Tarot cards have cartoons on 'em! And are so brightly colored! And so for the last five years, I haven't been able to keep a complete Tarot deck in the house. For another, they're annoying. If I'm gonna shuffle cards, I don't want to stretch my fingers to the breaking point (I use a mini-Rider-Waite deck because of this, and they're still as thick as a regular tarot deck, pleah).

These tumblers, however, are ideal. Even if the kids play with them, they can't be ruined the way a set of cards can be. and they fit right in the palm of your hand! AND the money goes to help a Pagan be a better Christian than any Christian I know. It doesn't get better than this. I love supporting a causethat will result in Jesus standing in front of all the Christians, telling a Wiccan, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," and telling the self-righteous embarrassing nominal Christians that hate gays and convicts to "Fuck off, you said Lord Lord, but I never knew you, be-atch, now burn with those nut-jobs from Colorado Springs."

(I don't think that's literally what's gonna happen, but figuratively, aw yeah!)

We just asked whether my daughter got an A on her previous math test. It came up "Fortuna Minor," which indicated an unfavorable response because she didn't rush through the test. We asked if she got a B on the previous math test, and it came up Acquisitia, favorable if you want to gain something. She wants to gain a higher GPA, and a B would help towards that goal. So the Tumblers indicate she got a B.

This is a set of questions that is perfect for ascertaining the accuracy of the divination. It's based on work already done, but the results won't be known for a while. The answer can be proven false. I'll let everyone know how it turns out in the comments section.

They've got a slight "hum" about them too. While using them, I started sweating a bit. Like I'm in a sauna. Or a sweat lodge.

An Astral Ritual

So last Tuesday I was dealing with some annoying crap in my life. Finances were sucking. My job, my beautiful job, was in trouble. The gov't contract has to be reviewed and funds reallocated at the end of each fiscal year. (That's Sept. 30 for you civilians that don't know.) My company subcontracted renegotiations out to the locals, and they totally dropped the ball. I should have known this would happen, but you know, I was distracted by other things.

I got a call saying I would lose half my hours and all my benefits. Oh boy, was I thrilled.

Since I had failed to proactively magick up a good contract ahead of time, as I should have, I ended up having to do damage control magic instead. Reactionary rather than Proactionary magic is not the preferred modus operendi, but it would have to do.

Tuesday, what a wonderful day for doing wealth magic, eh? I checked my Current Astrological Weather, and found that Mercury was Cazimi (within 17 minutes of the Sun). Cazimi is supposed to be like plugging the planet into a tesla coil or something. According to some, and I believe it. I figured the Cazimi effect would overpower the retrograde sufficiently to get some clear communications with the spirit world, plus I needed help in business.

The Moon was also right on Jupiter's ass, in the Second House. I mean, they were overlapping one another. I found this gem on an astrology site about the Second House: "Specific possessions covered by the Second House include earned income and our ability to influence it."

The Moon is waxing, and I had been reading in Agrippa that day about how the Moon has power over all growth and decrease (Book 2, chapter something or other). Since Jupiter is health and prosperity, and I needed both of these things for various other reasons, I thought, hey, that's great!

The other issue was Saturn hanging out in Virgo. As you may know, this can bring strife and discomfort into the hearth and home. My spouse was ill and dealing with a great deal of pain since Saturn wandered into Virgo. She's a Capricorn, so I suspect that wherever Saturn wanders, she gets hit especially hard in that aspect of her life. This job issue was affecting our house and home and family, and knowing what I know about Saturn, I figured out that I would need to include this planet in the rite to get the boundaries moved.

Since I was going to be trying to move the boundaries, I knew I'd need to go through the Sun to get to the proper part of Saturn's sphere. The Solar Gate to Saturn provides the best landing pads, in my opinion. The Mars Gate sucks.

So if you've been keeping track, by this time I had figured out I needed to work with the Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, and the Moon. And it was a Tuesday. I looked at what I was thinking about, and laughed. Five of the Seven Governors working together to get me out of a mess on a day that none of them ruled. So what the hell, says I, I'll throw Mars in too. I should probably have included Venus anyway, but it didn't seem to make sense at the time. Looking back, it could have helped with the Hearth/Home issues too.

So I had analyzed my situation and identified what some of the contributing factors were. I looked to the stars and found what was looking good and what wasn't. I identified the key players, and figured out how each could be used magically to turn around my situation.

So, in the hour of the Moon (because I was primarily trying to expand Jupiter's influence to overcome the slow-but-steady aspect of financial growth that controls him while he's in Capricorn), I conjured the following Archangels of the Planets:

• Gabriel - Moon, to increase Jupiter's influence
• Tzadqiel - To increase Jupiter's influence, bringing health and prosperity to the situation
• Michael - To work with Tzaphqiel in a nice smooth manner to loosen bonds and move the boundaries that were constricting hearth and home, and to turn the boundaries from being walls of confinement into walls of protection
• Tzaphqiel - To actually move the boundaries that were keeping our family poor and ill outwards, providing more space for the Jupiter-Moon effect to fill up the new gap, and to strengthen our defenses of our house and home
• Raphael - To specifically aid in inter-communications between the other planetary governors, and to provide a focus on business to the rite
• Kammael - Because it was Tuesday, at first, but as I was conjuring him I realized that he could add a certain "violence" to the rite, making its effects happen more quickly, and to turn it into a military campaign of sorts, like the Delta Force of Archangelic Powers

I didn't have time to set up a full ritual with all the incenses and lamens and seals and what have you. Astrologically, the clock was ticking, and I had about six minutes left in the Hour of the Moon, if I remember right. So I decided to go the Astral Temple route.

I sat here in me leather chair before the computer monitor, closed me eyes and breathed. Focusing on the breath stills my mind, like the Qabalistic Cross used to back in the day when I practiced the GD-style magic. As my mind cleared, I began intoning the name of my HGA. At the same time, I visualized my Astral Temple around me. I basically placed myself at the center of the Altar setup I have, with the Four Angelic Kings surrounded by the Seven Planetary Seals. I felt my HGA's presence in the room with me, and the golden light descended into my astral temple, bringing the seven planetary seals representing their spheres around me into sharp relief.

As each of the Planetary Seals began to pulse with light and life, indicating to me that the Intelligences represented by each were at least listening, I began conjuring the Archangels. Each seemed to materialize around the seals that represented them, sort of. When I got to Raphael, the other Archangels seemed to clear up, and it was like putting on your glasses in the morning, or when the weather changes and a haze you didn't realize was there just goes away.

When I had all the Archangels present, I outlined why I had conjured them. I explained what had happened at work, and how it was affecting me. I then went through each of the Archangels mentioned above, and went over what it was I wanted them to do. I felt this warmth and this tingling in my body, which I had mostly forgotten about by then, and had to focus again on the temple. Can't get distracted when the magic starts working.

The Archangels all understood what it was I was trying to accomplish. Each agreed that they would do their part to make what I wanted manifest. It was a lot like a corporate meeting. they "talked" amongst themselves, and I sort of sensed what they were doing as different parts of my "Sphere" would resonate to each angel's influence as they wove together the fabric of reality to accomplish what it was I was looking for.

I thanked them, and my HGA, and God in Jesus name, and returned my awareness to my body. I felt completely different. Before beginning the rite, I was stressed, and felt a lot like a cornered, caged animal. The stress was like a heavy, humid heat wave on my soul. After the rite, it was jsut gone. Instead, I felt alive, healthy, and optimistic. That's a big thing for me, because when I get going down the depression road that stess usually puts me on, optimism is the furthest thing from my mind.

That day I got a call from the Vice President of the company I work for, and he went over everything that was going on with the contract in detail with me. He explained how things had happened, and what they were doing about it. He assured me that he would reissue a new contract that would work things out in my favor.

My thoughts: "Yeah fucking right. You'll say anything to keep me on your payroll, I'm making you money. No way I'm staying with a place that cut my paycheck in half and cut my benefits. Get fuct."

The next day, I got the contract. I got a raise, I got my benefits, and I was able to work out a 32-hour work schedule with the local sub-contractor that's managing the project. I'm still losing money, but not half, and not the benefits. With a five-person family, you've got to hae benefits. That day, I also got multiple other job leads that would double my income for a couple of months, which was as long as the company expected me to be on reduced hours. I will be able to hold both jobs simultaneously by a stroke of luck.

Now, ideally, I would have been performing divinations regularly enough to know what was coming. I would have seen this heading my way and done some proactive magic to eradicate the stress. I blame no one but myself. I've got to get a grasp on my life, and do all the things I mentioned in the Invisible College post so that I'm no longer left in a position of climbing back up the side of a cliff after I've run off like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner.

The Power Within

Once upon a time, deep within the sea, The Flying Dutchman, ghost extraordinaire, believed he had lost his ability to scare people. He grew extremely clinically depressed, and was finally brought around by a friendly sea-sponge, who showed him this inspirational video:

That's the inspiration for this post. For those of you "too enlightened" for Spongebob, I pity you. But bear in mind, I have kids, and we spend a lot of time talking about things with Spongebob on in the background. And I personally love the show, except when his voice is done by that annoying fellow.

The Power Within. In the video, there's not much more than that phrase repeated. Oddly enough, I've seen inspirational videos that are just like that. It doesn't really say anything, but somehow manages to inspire you. Like Poke Runyon's conjuration of Vassago that's on YouTube somewhere. I'd never do that kind of hodge-podge ritual, but seeing him do it made me want to do other things.

So, following up on the Invisible College post, this is about finding your own Power Within. You can't very well be the master of your sphere of influence without having some form of Power source.

The trick to finding it is not about growing it, or implanting it. I have an acquaintence who reads the blog steadily. He'll know I'm talking about him. He and a friend designed a ritual that was, from my understanding, designed to turn he and his friend into Moon Children. Like the one Aleister Crowley wrote about, and the one Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard tried to make (Babalon). He was planning on conjuring the Enochian Entities on one side, and the Goetic entities on the other side, and he and his friend would be in the center, receiving the forces radiated by both camps, hoping to somehow create within themselves a new being comprised of the powers of the Angels and the Demons.

Ok, now lets not get hasty. We all know, have met, or once were people like him. When it was me, I was doing a chaos magick rite that was based on the Malkavian Clan of Vampires from the White Wolf role playing game "Vampire: The Masquerade." It involved a hand mirror, a camp fire somewhere between Colorado and Texas, and a dedication to infectious madness for the purpose of enlightenment.

It didn't work. I stayed sane, couldn't lose control the way I wanted to. Shrooms, LSD, and massive amounts of pot wouldn't do it either. The closest I came was a brief addiction to cocaine. It wasn't until years later that I discovered to my horror that alcohol was the only thing that could really get me to lose all rational control and operate solely from the Insane Nephesh. But that really wasn't the goal. I was looking to operate from the hyper-sane Neschemah, even though I had no idea what either the Nephesh or the Neschemah were at the time.

I wanted to touch and channel the Divine Madness.

I think that's what the mage mentioned above is going for in his magical work at the moment. I don't think he performed said rite with Enochian and Goetic entities, fortunately enough. He's already obsessed with numbers, like in the movie The Number 23. I can't remember what his numbers are, at least they aren't (obviously) 23. I'm sure it could be turned into 23 with a little imagination.

Anyway, if you're not there yet, you probably will be some day, at least for a while. People do some crazy shit to get the Power Within.

Crowley called it the "True Will." At least he had the wisdom to know that it's not something that needs to be implanted. He taught that it had to be discovered, and proposed the method to be a system of initiations that removed veils until you get to the point where you see and understand that your True Will was there all along. He had you develop prana energy flows as you went along too.

I follow a similar regimen. For me, the "Power Within" is a part of every man, woman, and child. It's part of being "Human." We were made in God's image, and were made to be the tenders of the Garden, co-creators with God. We were his reflection, in a way. Our race is divine. We are manifestations of God-ness.

But we forgot, and get distracted by the bright and shiny things of this world. It happens. The point of the Great Work is to return to our status as co-creators with God. (Note: not to unify with God; we weren't created to be part of God, we were emmanated to be a companion to him. Important difference.)

To function effectively, we have to begin by understanding what it is about ourselves that gives us the Power Within. I found that by studying the Neo-Platonic philosophies. I think you can get it that way too, if you haven't gotten it yet by some other means. Start with the Timaeus dialogue by Plato. Go on to the Corpus Hermeticum, look for Divine Pymander. That gives you the cosmology to understand that you already have the Power Within. Then you can start developing it.

To develop it, you have to remove the things that block its flow from the Divine realm we are from to the material realm we live in. Do this in two ways. First get in touch with your HGA. It's not as hard as people make it out to be in the modern occult realm. I think it needed that much heaviness and emphasis to get it through people's thick skulls that it's important and that you can't really do much without it, but some folks think that's all there is to magic(k). Truth is, that's just the first step, and it doesn't ahve to take long.

At the same time, or soon after, you start cleansing your own sphere. You do this by conjuring the Intelligences of the planetary spheres. Just being in their presence creates a harmonious vibe in your own sphere, and as that happens, your sphere gets more pure. You, just like the earth you live on, are the center of planetary spheres. To get the divine Power Within through you have to get rid of the corrosion on the shells of your spheres.

It's like in electronics. Before you solder two wires together, you have to make sure the copper at the end of the wires is nice and clean. You can either use steel wool to rub it clean, or a sulfuric acid. either way, you get the corrosion off the tips so the electrons flow smoothly. On the Box I made, I have to use sand paper on occasion to clean the electrodes or the backs of the seals so that the light will come on.

Working with the Archangels or Intelligences of the planets has a similar effect on your spheres. Their presence cleanses your sphere and brings peace where there is conflict in your manifestation of "planetary" forces. Like if you have anger management issues, Working with Kammael, archangel of the sphere of Mars can help. It can also push you over the edge if you're trying to hold on to the anger.

The only way to be sure that you won't get pushed over the edge is to work with or through your HGA. The trouble is, when you get in contact with your HGA it can be a bit of an uncomfortable experience. It makes you better, but you have to face some aspects of yourself that you might think are just fine, but are secretly totally fucked up.

As you work with your HGA and the Planetary Archangels, you'll have visions and wonders and miracles begin. After a while, they sort of fade away into the background of your life. This is normal. At this stage, you're supposed to start doing stuff on your own. Your HGA will let you know when it's time, and what to do if things seem to be stagnating.

But remember, the Power Within... the Power Within... The Power Within!!!