Open and Closed Systems: Magical Models

In Science class, I learned about open and closed systems when I learned about the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. Ok, maybe I learned about it from the link over there. Anyway, POS post reminded me of it. I liked his post, it was appealing. The last paragraph is what I wanted to draw your attention to:

It is important to know which tool to use for which type of magick. I saw little need to ask the universe to sacrifice to make this goal happen. Nor did I see a need for any other human to sacrifice anything financially for this. Frankly, it is only important to me. Sometimes practical magick can be purely internal.

I totally agree with the sentiment he expresses. Sometimes practical magic can be internal, and he's got a great methodology to deal with paying off debt by doing magic to make him responsible in his money management. I need to do similar magic to get the power to overcome the ongoing temptation to splurge when I can't afford it. Every character flaw we address using magic will have a huge reward in practical terms when we stop behaving in ways that sabotage our success. I couldn't agree more about that, and that's his main point, or at least the main point I took away from his post.

But in the paragraph, he uses the word "sacrifice" in a way that prompted me to write this post. I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the premise he's working from is that the universe is a "closed system," that is, the universe exists and all that is within it is all there is. Ergo, if you do a ritual for money, the money has to come from somewhere. Like the Universe has a bank account with limited funds, and taking a withdrawal for yourself results in there being less left over for anyone else to use. So the universe or someone else has to "sacrifice" some of its stuff to take care of your magical request.

In a closed system, entropy is always accumulating. Eventually, in a closed system, everything becomes a jumbled chaotic mess. There is a tendency for disorder to accumulate. It's like if you pour salt into a bag, and then pour pepper on top of it. When both are in the bag, it starts out neat and ordered. The pepper is all together on top of the salt. If you start shaking the bag, the pepper and salt mingle, and the more you shake it, the more mixed it will get. No amount of shaking will result in the pepper gathering together and the salt gathering together, statistically speaking. It's extremely improbable.

One of the arguments for Creationism is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics. People say that if the Earth is a closed system, life wouldn't have evolved on it because that's order accumulating, and not disorder. (I think an argument could be made that life is actually a manifestation of disorder, but it becomes moot when you consider the obvious.) The Earth is not a closed system. The Sun is constantly adding its radiation to the mix, asteroids crash into it, and comets bring water and hydrocarbons from the bowels of space to power our vehicles. (You don't REALLY think decaying carbon-based life forms turn into oil under pressure, do you? They don't. That's a theory from the 1700s. If that worked, we could produce oil. We can't. It comes from comets.)

So if the Universe were a closed system, magic done for money for me would potentially be magic that takes money from you. However, if we really look at "money" (for example) and where it comes from, we find out that it's completely created. The Federal Reserve just added a few billion dollars to the economy by simply printing it, inflation be damned. It's poor economics, but it reveals that there is no limit to the amount of "money" that can be conjured. It doesn't come from a closed system.

Now, before I go any further, I'd like to point out that the following parts are all theory, not fact. Belief, interpretation, conjecture, and opinion. I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just saying this is how I see it and it works for me. Your mileage may vary.

In my cosmology, the Universe is not a closed system. God created it, emanated it, extended it from his infinite self, and part of that infinite self is temporarily encased in denser parts of itself in the form of matter. I believe God is present and active in the universe. I speak with him and/or his agents on a regular basis. I think he's still pumping stuff into being in this universe at a constant rate, and that the moment of Creation never ended.

I see the relationship between the Sun and the Earth as a reflection of the relationship between God and his Creation. The Sun transmits power that is absorbed by plants and turned into oxygen and other useful things. The Sun is a finite source, so it's not a completely accurate analogy, but the snapshot of the Sun powering the Earth to offset entropy is a good representation of how I see God's influence on the Universe at large.

When things are requested by magicians, I don't think it comes from the "Universal Bank Account" that has a fixed sum. I think it just manifests out of thin air. It has to come down through the heavens following the chain of manifestation, of course, and by the time it reaches us, it looks like it came through from completely "natural" means, but it still started as an Idea in the Mind of God that manifested on our behalf when it was necessary.

The idea that it's a sacrifice for the universe to provide for us seems to me to be off. It's like we're saying, "God, you did all this, made the heavens and Earth and stars and planets, but now you're at Rest, and you don't do anything anymore." That's a popular belief, and there are a lot of Deists or near-Deists that believe basically that. There are Christian doctrines that teach that God isn't present and active anymore, except through his Holy Spirit as it operates through the human members of the Church. On the seventh day, God rested, and that's where he's been ever since (except for those thirty or so years in the flesh).

I disagree with them too.

I used to debate with a guy named Logan online in a lot of message boards. Those who had to suffer through our debates likely remember them with a shudder. We got evil with each other. It was fun, we managed to maintain mutual respect despite our sometimes vitriolic attacks on one anothers' characters.

He and I had the closed- vs. open-system debate, and there are valid pros and cons to both approaches. I personally see the closed-system magical model as restrictive to magicians. If you think your magic to bring you prosperity is going to leave a family in Indonesia poverty-stricken and homeless, you won't feel it's ethical to do prosperity magic. You can't really do healing rites for people either, because you're taking the healing that would go to someone else and applying it to whomever you love. You can't even pursue enlightenment, because that would be stealing someone else's enlightenment too, right?

When I look at the magical models we have to work with, eventually I see in all of them the point where we reach something akin to the Pleroma, or in kabbalistic terms, the "Ain Soph Aur." Light without limit. It is from this pool of limitless light that all things come and are manifest. If it were a pool of limited light, I could understand the assumption that there's only "so much" that is available for everyone to share, and that the Universe would be sacrificing some of its stuffness on behalf of POS to pay for his car.

But it's not. It's limitless. Infinite. Eternal. The Light is constantly flowing down through the Tree and its spheres, constantly washing through each, taking on characteristics from each and then ultimately manifesting in the patterns and structures we experience in this realm. Yes, there are rules, and there are limits, and there are Natural Laws that all magic has to operate within, but it all starts from an infinite pool.

I've come to use the Emerald Tablet of Hermes as the standard operating procedure for magicians performing the Great Work. We rise to the heights, tap into the Power, and bring it to Earth. Thinking of the pool magicians tap into as a closed system, in my opinion, is opposed to the revelations we have of the nature of the universe within our magical traditions.  Having seen the unlimited Light of God, I am not comfortable at all thinking that we're stuck with what we have on hand to work with.

And again, I'm not disagreeing with POS's approach to paying off his car. I think it's the most responsible use of magic I've seen in a long time, my own practice included. I just think it's also important for us to remember where we come from, and what our potential truly is.

Salvaged!

Ha! I totally got my computer. I have to fire it up (so to speak) and make sure the data's still there, but it looks fine from the outside. I also found all my course material in the original word documents stored on a thumb drive, thank the spirits. Life is good.

Courses!

All courses are still on track and on schedule to begin January 4th. Please sign up quickly for either the Supernatural Assistant or Hermetic Merkavah courses. The courses will begin Jan. 4th, 2010. If you wish to participate, the best thing to do is buy the course before January 4th.

If you need time to make the payment, and still want to start the course with everyone else, please email me at frredactumopus@gmail.com with the subject "Course!" and I'll see what I can do. Honestly though, speaking from a lot of painful experience, if you need a while to save up $75 for the course, you need to work on your money management skills first. Magic doesn't make you magically better at handling money, and most of my problems come from that.

And the furnace/water heater burning down the house. sigh.

Anyway, yeah, courses are on track for the 4th of January. Tonight I'll be setting up the yahoo groups and inviting those who have paid already...

Ah crap! I just remembered my software for the charts is on my other computer at home in the office that was destroyed by fire!

Shit shit shit. Hopefully the computer will be ok. It was off the floor when the water was flooding.

Shit.

Hmmm.

Well, in the worst case scenario, you'll be getting charts based on free software until I can get the good stuff working again. Man, what a freaking pain in the ASS.

Public Service Announcement: Don't have a fire in your house. Take some time and check your furnace and water heater, make sure there's nothing nearby that can catch on fire if they suddenly shoot out a flame. We don't know what started our fire, exactly, but we did have stuff in the room near the furnace. It was a foot or more away from the furnace, but if a flame shot out... yeah, it was a STUPID place to store shit.

Sorry for the tangent, my mind is in many places, and you're sort of stuck with a "screendump" at this point.

Anyway, courses are on track, and things should be back to "as normal as they get" soon enough.

Just an Update

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the outpouring of well-wishes. I really appreciate my friends. I mentioned to Joe that I have to drop "online" from "online friends," because apparently the friendships we've established amongst our disparate community are stronger than I tend to think. You guys are friends in every sense of the word.

For those thinking about this in terms of attack or other occult influence, I honestly don't know what's going on. My tarot cards are in the house, covered in toxic smoke residue. I've talked to my HGA, and he assures me this is indeed all under control and not out of the Will of God. Whatever that means.

In terms of it being a magician attacking me, the only occultist that I've had any kind of trouble with lately was Lon DuQuette, but that was just me venting my spleen over his bad attitude about Christianity. He never responded to any of my comments, and I suspect he's either totally unaware of my existence, or just not bothered by it at all. I strongly doubt this has anything to do with him. Maybe one of his fans got mad at some posts I made on the youtube page or something. I dunno. I doubt it. There are very few magicians online that I would credit the ability to do something like this, and of those few, I haven't really pissed anyone off lately that I know of.

Regardless, the shields have been raised, so to speak.

What I strongly suspect is that my weekly rites to Bune for specific amounts are manifesting in a way that keeps everyone in my family and home safe from any harm, as specifically directed, but still provides a venue for a fresh start with a little left over.

My first reaction to the whole mess was "Oh shit!" but it quickly became apparent that this isn't a bad situation at all. It's uncomfortable, to be sure, annoying, and the stress is running high. But overall, in a year we'll likely look back at this and see it as a blessing in disguise. Who knows what disaster was averted by this catastrophe? I mean, things could have been so much worse. We were home, smelled the smoke, tried to put the fire out, failed, and called 911 within minutes of the fire starting. Everyone is safe, and the house has little real damage done to it. The basement will need to be refinished, a couple of joyces will need to be replaced, and the floor above them will be replaced. 13 of the house's 19 windows were broken out by the fire department.

I just saw Jow's comment, about setting up a fund to help out with stuff between now and when the insurance gets in gear and starts paying for things. My first urge is to tell everyone I'm fine and I don't need anything, but I'm going to sit on that for a while and think about it. We don't really know much about what we need or will need in the immediate future. Getting through the next couple of weeks will be dicey.

Above all else, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm truly humbled by the outpouring of support. The offers of money, shelter, food, clothing, etc. have been amazing. Thanks, it means a lot.

And then the house caught on fire...

We had a great Christmas, and many thanks to all the well-wishers who wished us well through the holidays. We opened presents, visited grandparents, saw a movie, and went to bed. A great Christmas day was had by all.

Then, this morning, the house caught on fire. We don't know what started the fire, but it was probably the furnace or water heater, as that was the room with the flames and smoke. I ran in to put it out, and ran out coughing and yelling "call 911!!!"

Everyone got out ok, and we're all healthy and happy to be alive in our pleasant hotel room. The fire was bad, but not so bad that the house needs to be condemned. The fire department broke out every window in the house but three to ventilate the smoke. It was bizarre. Totally surreal.

My hair is singed. Everything in the house is covered in a layer of toxic ash.

Disaster? Catastrophe? Huge heaping pile of shit?

Honestly, I don't think so. This whole thing seems like it's been ordained from above. I'll talk more about it as things unfold. It's just very ... interesting.

Merry Christmas Eve!

May your holidays be filled with love and laughter, and lots of loot.

In case I don't get back to the blog before the holiday is over...

Merry Christmas!

(Yeah, it's a blink tag. Cause blink is festive! :D)

Cool Stuff about the Supernatural Assistant

Hey everyone!

Man, I just wrote a bunch of posts to the Supernatural Assistant Course yahoo group about the things you can get using the Supernatural Assistant. I forget how cool it is sometimes. Here are some quick reminders for anyone else who forgot, or who might need a reason or two to Acquire a Supernatural Assistant.

From the PGM:

• When you go abroad, he will go abroad with you; when you are destitute, he will give you money.  
• He will tell you what things will happen both when and at what time of the night or day.  
• If anyone asks you "What do I have in mind?" or "What has happened to me?" or even "What is going to happen?," question the angel, and he will tell you in silence.  But you speak to the one who questions you as if from yourself.  
• When you are dead, he will wrap [up] your body as befits a god, but he will take your spirit and carry it into the air with him. For no aerial spirit which is joined with a mighty assistant will go into Hades, for to him all things are subject.  
• Whenever you wish to do something, speak his name alone into the air and say, "Come!" and you will see him actually standing near you.  And say to him, "Perform this task," and he does it at once, and after doing it he will say to you, "What else do you want?  For I am eager for heaven."  If you do not  have immediate orders, say to him, "Go, lord," and he will depart.  In this fashion, then, the god will be seen by you alone, nor will anyone ever hear the sound of his speaking, just you yourself alone.  
• And he will tell you about the illness of a man, whether he will live or die, even on what day and at what hour of night.  
• And he will also give [you both] wild herbs and the power to cure, and you will be [worshipped] as a god since you have a god as a friend.  

These things the mighty assistant will perform competently.

Pretty handy, eh?

As you likely know, I'm especially interested in the part that happens after death. I suspect it's a transformation akin to the Rainbow Body. I could be wrong, of course. It may just be a spiritual transformation the Ruach goes through that empowers it to become a member of the Angelic Choir of "Powers." If so, that would be pretty cool too. After I die, feel free to petition me for aid in your own endeavors, and if I'm a Power, I'll do whatever I can to help you.

Another cool thing about the list is how it reminds the magician that the SA is invisible to others. See my post from the other day on physical manifestations.

It ties into the urge new members of the group of people with this "mighty assistant" feel to tell everyone everything about everything that Crowley warns about too. Even magicians from the first centuries AD had to struggle with acting like what they experience is true and valid for all mankind. Their mentors back then made sure their students weren't acting like fruitcakes in public. "But you speak to the one who questions you as if from yourself" indeed.

Warnings

Members of the first Red Work Course 1: Acquiring a Supernatural Assistant are seeing success in their efforts, and I recently posted some of Crowley's notes on Liber Samekh to the yahoo group that helped me integrate the experience while I was going through it.

I haven't read Crowley's notes on Samekh in years. Great stuff. I especially like this part:

In the same way the Adept almost always begins by torrential lyrics painting out
mystical extravagances about "ineffable love", "unimaginable bliss",
"inexpressible infinities of illimitable utterness". He usually loses his
sense of proportion, of humour, of reality, and of sound judgment. His ego is
often inflated to the bursting point, till he would be abjectly ridiculous if he
were not so pitifully dangerous to himself and others. He also tends to take his
new-found "truths of illumination" for the entire body of truth, and insists
that they must be as valid and vital for all men as they happen to be for
himself.

It is wise to keep silence about those things "unlawful to utter" which one may
have heard "in the seventh heaven". This may not apply to the sixth.

It's funny, I go through this with every deeper level of initiation I experience. I think I've mellowed out some with this whole thing, I rarely post "The Key to All Power in the Universe!1!!1!" posts over my revelations these days, but once in a while it still bubbles up and over. I can't help it, and honestly, I think it serves a purpose. Reading through other people's Revelations of the Key to Everything has helped me a great deal, so maybe it will help others as well. My Keys to Everything may be different than yours, but seeing the doors mine open may make you see a door you missed, and urge you to find your own Key to open it. I know that happens to me a lot. Like POS doing Jason's daily exercises reminded me to do my own. It helps.

So I disagree with Crowley, whimper and sob when you feel your HGA, there's nothing "unmanly" about expressing the pleasure and pain of being with Purity. And don't be afraid to go on about "ineffable love" and "inexpressible infinities of illimitable utterness." It's important to remind people that this is what it feels like when they forget, or inspire them to feel it for themselves if they haven't yet.

But do be careful to remember that it's not necessarily as valid and vital for all as it happens to be for yourself.

I try, really I do. But if I can do this and get the results I do, so can you! Just try it, it's freaking brilliant. Gushing chakras, revelations of knowledge, and worlds of practical techniques await you! It's all right there.

On Physical Manifestation

A potential course member wrote to me asking if the magic I teach in the course results in visible manifestations. He had read Lisiewski and others who claim physical manifestations are not only possible, but also necessary for the magic to be successful.

I've heard the siren call of that level of fundamentalism. I tend to think of the new Hermetic Fundamentalists as Grimoire Thumpers, with all the zeal and common sense you find in extremists of any belief system.

Look, when the spirits are present, yeah, you sense them. You might see something in your "astral" vision. You might smell them, hear them, or feel them press against you as they perform an initiation on you, tracing out seals on your forehead or whatever. you might even see them physically open the door, sit down next to you and spark up a bowl of fine imported tobacco. That doesn't mean that anyone else sitting next to you in the room will experience the same thing, nor does it mean that your ritual will be any more or less successful.

I've seen spirits. I look over and see darker or lighter "orbs" floating above the altar. Bune sits on the floor where my baseboard heater runs along the wall, with his long skinny knees up. I see angel faces appear in my crystal ball. I don't pretend any of this is something anyone else would physically see if they were present.

That said, my spouse sees stuff when I do magic. But it's not always what I see.

I've had magician friends tell me they followed the steps of the grimoires exactly, Lion Skin Belt and all, and they tell me they saw the spirits visibly. Great, but what about the results? No different than my own.

Personally, I suspect they had a stronger psychic image of the spirits as a result of the increased initiatory vibration attained through the creation of the Belt. I don't think a mundane person who hadn't been through the process of creating the talismans would see it. That's just my opinion. I don't think something that can't be photographed can be seen by the naked eye.

As far as I know, the historic accounts of magicians conjuring a spirits using the techniques of Reanaissance grimoires don't mention physical or visual manifestations, unless they used a skryer to see the spirits as Dee and Kelley did. Dee didn't see the visions Kelley saw. Benvenuto Cellini, a 16th century goldsmith and magician performed the magic of the grimoires of his time to conjure up spirits in the Colosseum. No one but the skryer saw anything. The other witnesses literally and figuratively shat themselves in fear when they felt the spirits arrive, but no one but the skryer saw anything.

So, since my own results don't indicate physical manifestation is possible, or more importantly even necessary, and historic accounts of magicians of the time of the grimoires I use don't mention physical manifestation, my stance is that sure, you may see something, but don't expect anyone else to. And don't worry if you don't see anything; results are the only proof that matters.

Groan... Regularly Scheduled Pain in the ...

Man, I remember now why I "forget" to do regularly scheduled meditations. Last night I stayed up too late, and by the time I was ready for bed, I was exhausted. I kept losing focus and drifting towards sleep. I felt like Dexter in the boxing ring in Season 4, falling asleep during one of the most important things I do in life. I was wishing I had some smelling salts.

But Perdurabo, as they say. I made myself do it all the way through, up and back down. I had interesting visions, but how much of that was sleep and how much was magic, I couldn't tell you. I'm not entirely thrilled about how things worked out last night.

I'm only posting this as a goad to myself. Making myself publicly accountable will make it a matter of pride, and while my pride can get in my way, I've learned to use it to my advantage.

Regularly Scheduled Meditations

POS has been talking about how great his life is since he started doing the regularly scheduled meditations Jason Miller advises in Sorcerer's Secrets and in his year-long course. Nothing gets on my nerves more than seeing another magician doing magic and having good results when I'm not doing magic and suffering through it. I know, it's not noble or anything, but there it is. Annoyance is one of the prime motivators in my life.

Now, long-time readers will remember when I started doing nightly meditative/contemplative astral rituals traveling up and back down through the Planetary Spheres. It's been a while since I've done that regularly. seeing POS basking in his deserved results irked me enough that I started doing it again last night. Plus I knew I needed to be in good resonance before January 4th when the next Courses start. So I started the Merkavah process again.

Well, I tried to.

For those who don't know about it, I basically get relaxed, conjure the Archangel of the Planet, go to their sphere, get a good sphere-cleansing, and move on to the next, all the way up through the spheres and all the way back down. I look for themes in the process. It takes about a half an hour to forty-five minutes to do the whole thing.

Last night, I started with Raphael because I had some issues yesterday communicating, and when Mercury goes retro, I tend to have more frustration in trying to communicate anyway.* I didn't want to get any lying spirits, either, so I figured I'd get the communication sphere taken care of first. When Raphael appeared, I authenticated him and then began asking that he fix whatever was wrong in my sphere that was resulting in such poor communication skills. I felt a "zing" shoot down through the core of my astral body, like silver fire that was cold instead of hot. I felt it all the way down my legs to my knees. There was a moment of feeling like a soap bubble stretched too thin, and then a "Pop" as my sphere went back into the proper shape. It was like popping out a dent from the inside.

I felt him continue to do some work on me, but I got the feeling it would take a while, so I went back to the Moon and conjured Gabriel, and began actually going through the spheres. At each planet, the Archangels had something to do to me to get things cleaned up. Over the last few months, there's been a steady accretion of disharmony and other kloogy things. The daily prayer and nightly conjurations of the Supernatural Assistant have been loosening up the garbage for a while, and heating it up, making it more and more apparent that I needed to make some drastic changes to my life. Going through each of the spheres and getting a "tune-up" to my sphere was exactly what I needed, even though I wasn't aware of that until afterward.

What a workout, man. By the time I had gone through the seven classical planets, I was humming. I felt stretched out and released at the same time. It was like being pleasantly sore after working out all your major muscle groups when you haven't in a while, and then taking a hot sauna.

I conjured the Archangels Iophiel and Metatron to take care of the super-celestial spheres, but I can't really remember much of what happened after Saturn. It always gets hazy. I wasn't asleep though, I was experiencing things and learning things, I just don't have the symbols to express it in conscious thought.

The next thing I knew, I was aware of my body, feeling great, and ready to head back down through the spheres. I could still feel the spirits at work on different parts of my sphere, so I simply thanked them and let them do their work. I did some chakra cleansing, more out of habit than any particular knowledge of the chakra system that I trust.**

Due to the blizzard, I get to work from home today. I was sorely tempted to go right back to sleep since I didn't have to drie in to work this morning. By sorely tempted, I mean I closed my eyes and started to go to sleep, half-awake thinking, "Meh, I'll call when I wake up and see what I need to do." All of a sudden, I felt this wave of responsibility wash over me, and a strong urge to get up and do what I needed to do. That might not seem like a big deal, and it probably shouldn't be a big deal, but it was. I haven't been exactly eager to do what needs to be done lately. I've been downright unmotivated to do anything. Everything I've had to do has seemed like a terrible chore.

But something changed last night after doing the Work. I got up, called in, got some work to do, and started doing it. Because I want to. It's weird how fast the attitude shifted, and how little effort was involved. I forget, when I'm not doing internal magic regularly, how just hanging out with the spirits makes you a better person. I'm cleaning up my office as I work now, something I haven't felt any compulsion to do in months. And yes, there are months worth of debris sitting here now that I have to sort through. Half-finished projects, notes, mail, incense sticks, tarot cards, wood glue, various tools, and lots of incense ash coating everything. My god, I actually want to dust!

Anyway, I've said it before, and I'll likely forget and wind up saying it again, regularly scheduled meditation is key. If anyone else knew about it and forgot, today's a good day to get started doing it again.


*Retro's not as big of a deal as I used to think. Chris Warnock is setting me straight little by little about it, but it's still an affliction that seems to hit me where I'm the most vulnerable.

**Everything I do with chakras is based on Leadbetter's work. It serves my purposes, but I wouldn't try to teach anyone what I do because they may think it's actually grounded in the traditions that "own" chakras. It's not traditional, I just don't have anything else to call what I do besides "chakra work."

Post removed

I took down the On the Human Condition post due to it being more complicated and deeper than I'm equipped to handle well. I didn't realize the depths stirred. Sorry if I offended, it wasn't intended.

Hermetic Merkavah Course Announcement

The Hermetic Merkavah Course that was tentatively scheduled to start Dec. 15th has been moved to January 4th, currently. I may have to extend the start date yet again.

Please note that you do not have to have completed the Supernatural Assistant Course to take the Hermetic Merkavah course, though it would help a great deal if you haven't already established a relationship with your HGA, Agathosdaimon, Genius, or Supernatural Assistant. I would make it a requirement, but I have too many friends who I know have attained K&CHGA already, and don't need to take the course.

Furthermore, the Archangels of the Planets have relatively low risk associated with them. Don't get me wrong, they can (and do) cause catastrophic events on a regular basis, but they are still eager to Work with magicians regardless of their initiatory status. They confer upon people the powers of their spheres with or without the assistance of the Supernatural... uhm. Assistant. (I hate when I use words like that, but I just shoveled the sidewalk and driveway and don't feel quite up to rewriting.)

So, if you've used the Modern Angelic Grimoire before, and want to participate in a series of initiations into the Spheres of the Planets, do feel free to participate.

Also, if you've read the Modern Goetic Grimoire, you know I advocate initiation into each of the spheres represented in the Magic Circle. This course is designed to accomplish that very thing. It's exactly what I went through prior to having the significant success I found when I began Working with the Spirits of the Lemegeton's Goetia, the Dead, and the Spirits of Place (Genii Loci). When we get to the Goety course, we'll be doing some un-traditional conjurations of the spirits. It's entirely reliant on the initiations and empowerments of the Archangels of the Spheres, and the Supernatural Assistant. I don't want anyone taking the Goety Course who hasn't 1) been through initiations into the ten Spheres and 2) attained something like K&CHGA. I'll be taking your word for it because there's no way to tell, and if you would lie about something like that, you deserve the torment you'll likely be calling down on yourself.

But someone like St. B. or Brother Stolowitz, people who have already performed extensive conjure magic are totally qualified and welcome to take the Goety Course. The spirits we'll be conjuring in the Goety course are all Terrestrial. If you know what I mean, and are confident that Terrestrial Spirits aren't any threat to you because you've worked with them before, then I'm not at all worried about you.

But if you're not comfortable cavorting with the demons of the Goetia, chances are good that the Hermetic Merkavah Course will give you the experience you need to feel at home conjuring and directing the forces of the Sublunar Realm. After you've stood in the presence of Archangels and receive the empowerments they offer, you'll see the so-called "Demons" for what they are in the overall scheme of things.

The Hermetic Merkavah Course is also the most spiritually transformative Course I'll be offering. This is the Course that takes us through the Green Phase of the Work. We'll be receiving intimate instruction in the subtle and gross manifestations of each Sphere in our lives. Weaknesses become strengths, emotional scars are healed, and the prime material of the Self undergoes extensive growth, crystallization, and passes through many shimmering colors as it realigns to the currents of the Spheres.

This is the phase that brings the side-effects of the Work that manifest as the "Fruits of the Spirit," or the "Gifts (Kerygma) of the Spirit" in the Bible. You may be more familiar with terms like "Psychometry," or "Remote Viewing." These are tricks that the spirits teach you directly, techniques of awareness-shifting that allow you to sense the hidden bits of creation directly.

It's going to be a fun course, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it manifests in people's lives.

I always feel like...

Hee hee!

Thanks Fin!

Follow up on Bune Rite for the Unemployed

Last week's rite worked out great for me. I don't know if anyone's found a job yet that got mentioned during the rite (there were 32 people altogether), but I asked that Bune would assign one of his legion to each of the names, and specifically tasked them with getting people jobs. If you sent in any names late, don't worry, I'm mentioning them tonight.

This is the kind of thing I want everyone to be able to do. I don't expect everyone to actually do it, but if half the people on the blog's Followers list were to start doing something like this, it certainly would help out a lot of people.

Holy Crap! I'm Undercharging like a MOFO!

I was talking to one of my course members today about his experience with Santeria practitioners in Texas. To get a "Santo" they charge $9000(USD). Holy hell! The Supernatural Assistant (SA) Course is only $75, and by the standards of the Greek Magical Papyri, the Abramelin text, and my own experience, the spirit you end up with from the SA Course does everything a Santo does and then some.

$9000!

Shit.

The difference, of course, is that if you have a Santeria initiation, get the $9000 Santo, get the $4000-$5000 "collars" that come with additional initiations, and have a lineage that you can trace back to a real life babalawo, you can charge big bucks to curse, bless, and un-curse people, getting back all the money you spent in the first place. It's like getting a Microsoft Certification from Microsoft itself. It's a recognized standard of performance. People are going to pay someone with a lot of collars more than they will someone like me or a graduate of my course because they've never heard of a Supernatural Assistant. If you call it the HGA, people might have heard of it, but due to the cultural bullshit around the HGA, they would expect anyone with K&C to give away their services out of some obligation to perform magic for free.

Feh.

I'm so jealous.

But for the record, I'd pit any of my course members who have attained their Supernatural Assistant against any equally-experienced Santero in a magical fight and expect my course graduate to not only win, but have their opponent offering them money for the secret to their power when all was said and done. Especially if the course graduate has also gone through the Hermetic Merkavah and Goetia parts of the Red Work Course.

My graduates are going to be Super-Neo-Platonic-Magi, capable of doing all the stuff a Palo, Santero, or any other modern practicing sorcerer can do, plus travel up through the celestial spheres and accomplish the Great Work at the same time.

Hopefully we'll be able to fade away like Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars too, when we die. Or something similar to the Rainbow Body. I haven't had enough time to work on the 8th or 9th spheres this year as much as I wanted to. man.

Anyway, I'm totally undercharging for the courses. I can't believe it's like that. I'm not raising the prices or anything, but damn. $9,000. Freaking Merry Christmas on a silver platter.

So... Tired...

Man, what a grueling season. It's a good thing Christmas only comes once a year. Something happened somewhere along the line that made Christmas less fun than it used to be. I think it's called "adulthood." My parents aren't footing the bill, and the bill can get pretty big. With the recession and having been unemployed, it's a toned-down Christmas this year, but we're all having a lot of fun anyway. Books are cheaper than video games, and the kids are finally old enough to prefer books to the electronic devices. I'm thrilled about that.

Since I've been back to work, I've had more crises than I had the whole time I was unemployed. I actually look back on that period now and wonder why I didn't enjoy myself more. Probably the desperate terror of being homeless with my family. I'm just guessing.

But we've faced and made it through the worst. The mortgage is all caught up and modified to save us a couple hundred a month, the utilities are paid, and I don't have to send my kids to my in-laws to keep them warm when the power gets cut off, because the power won't be cut off. I did a Bune rite to take care of these things, and he did, by the skin of our collective teeth, and I'd just like to say THANKS BUNE.

The way he manifested the money was annoying. I ended up with a loan, from an in-law, and a pissed off one at that. That's not what I had in mind when I showed him the bill and asked that he provide enough money by the turn off date to keep the power on. Once again I get to learn how NOT to ask for money. Sigh.

One big thing I've learned is that you can't think straight under pressure. You need to be as prepared as possible, with as many options available to you that you can turn to when the emergencies come. Not if, but when. That's the big lesson I'm walking away with from this series of unfortunate decisions and results. Have a lot of backup. Be proactive. Think ahead. Plan for the worst.

I think I'll work an all-points plan of attack into the Hermetic Merkavah course, something that weaves together the different spirits and their legions to avoid the traps I fell into.

The biggest thing of all to remember is that you can't get lazy, like I did, when your magic starts working. You can't just sit back and drop all the magic and expect to keep what you've built with it. Magic is a way of life, and it takes maintenance work to keep things going well.

Just like everything else in life. SHOCKING!!!

Anyway, I'd like to close by giving POS a bit of shit about his post that he probably shouldn't have posted:

Fuck you, man! Posting that crap just to get a rise out of me! (Because it is, really, it is all about me.) ;-)

I'm not playing that game anymore. I've stopped the wheel of karma on that front.

For now. Next month may have different results. Depends on what I'm working through.

New book idea...

When I have the time for it, I've decided on the next book I'll write. It won't be occult-focused. Instead, it's going to be about Christianity, and written for the Christian audience. They're always buying "How to be a good christian man" books for each other, but they're all written by pastors towing the fundy line.

I'm going to write one for the rest of us Christians. You Don't Have to be a Dick to be a Christian is the working title for now. I think it will make a difference.

Paranormal Investigators Ghost Hunters Psychic Research Haunting

No, I'm not seeding the title of my blog post paranormal with keywords investigator. I wouldn't ghost hunter do something that psychic research blatant haunted house.

Really.

But I was just watching Bourne Identity again, and there was a commercial on for some paranormal investigator show that's going to where the Hindenberg crashed. They said something about standing on the site of one of the worst catastrophes in American history. Let's see, thumbing through my handy wikipedia... that was 72 years ago. The average lifespan of a nephesh is about 6 weeks. If there's some geomagnetic force, or if we postulate there was some massive psychic bio-power released at the site that stuck around to keep them "alive," they might get a couple of nephesh voices. Maybe. But 72 years is a long time.

They should be going to the World Trade Center in New York. It's politically charged, and socially unacceptable, but they'll get better results if they'd go there.

Regarding the postulated bio-power release, I've been to Gettysberg, walked the fields where thousands died, and I know there's a blanket of oppressive spiritual weight there. The air is heavy, the wind carries voices, and there's a smell of old blood that coats your throat with a coppery brackishness that your bottled water doesn't wash away. I expect there's something similar in New York at ground zero. It's been a little over 8 years, but I bet it's still fresh enough to keep some nepheshim "alive." And the emotions generated by the visitors, the power focused and released by the memorial are active sources of food. Hell, I bet they've attracted nephesh that weren't even killed on 9/11.

I would expect there to be a strong opposition to such a thing being aired. Controversy. Still, for those who are into the paranormal and are looking for hot spots, that would be one. Locally, anywhere a murder or suicide, or even a natural death occurred in the last month and a half would be a better place to go than some place decades or centuries old.

Just stop...

I'm totally annoyed with myself. I hate the way I've been acting over this Lon thing. I hate it. Everything that stems from it has been discord and strife, warning signs that my sphere is out of harmony with existence. Painful it is to admit that. It will be addressed.

Excellent! Truly Excellent!

"The thing is people - we were fooled. We were led to believe that these degrees are highly elite and almost never attained by mere mortals. Its just not true." - David Stolowitz, Jew in the Jungle (Here be Dragons)

David's pointed out one of those secrets that needs to be trumpeted from the rooftops of every house in the occult community.

Some guy on youtube posted this video about how the OTO hasn't produced any "Adeptus Exemptus" in 30 years and the leadership should step down already. I think he's just another disillusioned seeker who believed the hype. The truth is, the OTO probably has produced them, but like David says, we were fooled, lead to believe these degrees are highly elite. The truth is a lot less exciting. Exempt Adepts still take shits in the morning that stink.

I met a guy who had attained K&CHGA in the OTO, and after some time at that stage, decided it was all self-delusion. I don't know what it was that lead him to that conclusion, specifically, but I suspect it was the usual suff you go through when you reach certain levels within any organization and discover that people, regardless of their degrees, still make mistakes, say mean things, and are generally disappointingly human.

In Christianity it happens all the time. The church has failed its membership for too long to have any credibility by mingling in politics, by accepting the hatred of the Bible as Divinely Inspired when it's really just justification for hatred of anything different, by using the sanctuary of the Church to protect pedophiles, murderers, and other criminals.

Disillusionment. I went through a period of that after getting K&CHGA too. I thought I'd be walking on water and turning water into wine. It didn't happen. I was still addicted to nicotine and got headaches if I didn't drink coffee every morning. I still overslept in the morning and was late to work where people were depending on me. I still got mad and took my anger out on my family. I wasn't perfect.

But I could do a lot more things as a result. I still had to do a lot of work to overcome a lot of basic character flaws, but I had access to help in that regard. I had to reassess what K&C meant. I had it, by all the standards I could find. The smell alone proved it to me beyond a shadow of a doubt. If my experiences were legit by Abramelin's standards, then I had to reassess what everyone else had written about K&C. I researched the hype, and discovered that most of it was from Crowley, who is never understood. I read his presentation of the HGA, and found that he told exactly the truth about what I experienced, yet in a way that could be misconstrued and misrepresented. I discovered that most of the people talking about how K&C was enlightenment and transcendence hadn't done the rituals yet. It was all conjecture without experience.

It's time to lift the veil and reveal that the Great and Powerful Oz is a little man behind a curtain susceptible to the same temptations as everyone else. The Adeptus Exemptus will still eat beans and fart.

Perspective

"...you know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective. Can you suggest a good wine to go with that?" - Anton Ego, Ratatouille

For those of you who aren't parents, Ratatouille is a Pixar film.You want quotes from Citizen Kane, read a blog by a guy with no kids.

The good witchdoctor advised me to quit whining. I deserved it. I had gotten a little emotional over the attack on Christianity by Lon. Joe pointed out a lot of shit he goes through, putting up with shit outta Christians, and basically said if I have to put up with this level of bullshit, you can handle Lon calling Christianity a few names.

I agree.

However... It's still major fucking bullshit, whether they're Christians attacking Joe and his family or Thelemites attacking Christians in song. The bullshit has to end. I see all the "Coexist" bumper stickers out there, and it wasn't even a week ago that I posted an article that indicated a quarter to a third of Christians are incorporating beliefs and practices from other religions here in America. There are people out there, a lot of us, who are trying to change the world and make it better. Hate, from any source, just makes it worse.

My own heart is hate-filled. I have a deep and abiding hatred that evil should be done within the world, regardless of its source. I don't hate the perpetrator, I hate the evil itself. I expect more from humanity than we usually give. I'm not perfect, I do things I later hate too. I apologize and try to make it right when I slip up and make the world a darker place instead of a lighter one.

Lon said on the page where the song can be purchased, "I hope no one is too offended. This is all in good fun." I suppose I'm in the "too offended" crowd, and I don't think lumping all of Christianity together based on the actions of some of its adherents is acceptable from someone who's doing the Great Work. I don't think that we who have been through the Black Phase of the Work should think this is "in good fun." I have higher expectations from people who want to sell the world an 8-hour DVD series that will take them "Beyond the Secret" by teaching the Great Work.

I've got perspective on the scene. Lon's hatred of Christianity is really a reflection of the hatred many Christians show Joe and many others by telling them they're going to hell. It's intolerance. It's hate. It's human. He doesn't like that Christianity has been used to perpetuate hatred, yet he's ok doing it himself.

Do I get as pissed about people who use Christianity to spread hatred? No, I do not. I get more pissed. They're a fucking embarrassment. They inspire the kind of bullshit Lon posted. Christians like that are just asking to be taken out by their counterparts of other beliefs. Their counterparts are equally ignorant, unilluminated, spiritually dense humans who justify their hatred instead of seeking to expunge it from their hearts.

And I know I'm probably a hypocrite. I generally try to live up to my standards, but I fail like everyone else. That doesn't mean the standards are wrong, it just means I failed to live up to them.

Thanks

Today was interesting. I got all pissed at Lon for singing a song, I got all pissy with my friends over it, and then I went to a birthday party for my daughter at an indoor swim club. It was 25 degrees outside. The pool was 90 degrees. Freaking wonderful. I had to get in with her, at least one parent must and it was my duty. Lovely.

I relaxed a lot. Me and twenty of my 7-year-old daughter's closest friends. They swam and played, I sat and soaked. So. Good. Mmm. Loved it. Highly recommend it to all my parent friends. Birthday party at the kids' swim club in the winter. With pizza.

Anyway, when I got home I read some more comments, read my own rant about it, and then listened again to the song. Frankly, I'm ashamed of myself. One of these days, I'll learn to shut up when I get pissed off.

In the mean time, thanks, for those who understood or didn't, who agreed or didn't. I learned a lot about myself today. I'm totally keeping all my Lon Milo DuQuette stuff. As POS said, "I do not dismiss a man for a single fault. There would be no one left."

Pissed, but I get it.

This morning, I woke up and saw the post Jason made about Lon DuQuette's "If we believed" youtube video.As a Christian, I'm deeply offended. As a magician, I'm sorely disappointed. As a man, I'm incredibly pissed off.

But I get it. I understand why people like Lon have such a deep hatred for all things "Christian." They're spiritually retarded. They can't help it. They see all the evils men have done in the name of Christianity, and ignoring the fact that man has done exactly the same in the name of pagan gods for millenia, they blame the belief system.

Sure, that would be the same as saying all Sufis are terrorists, all Runar folk are nazis, all Thelemites are woman-beating heroin addicts. But they don't care. They're so wrapped up in their disfunction that they can't see it. Maybe some priest or pastor molested them or something. I don't know. Whatever it is, I'm sick of it, disgusted by it, and generally displeased. Grow up already.

I'm getting rid of all my Lon Milo DuQuette stuff in protest of his public airing of hate-filled intolerance, his wanton attack on a belief system that is, if you really look at Thelema, the core of his own system. I forgive him, but I will not support him or any other person who perpetuates the inter-religious warfare that fuels ignorance and pushes people further apart.

I think it was Kenneth Grant who was walking beside Crowley one day and accosted a priest. Crowley berrated him, and was mortified when Grant took his writings seriously and actually attacked some guy in the street because of his beliefs. Crowely knew better.

Intolerant bigotry has no place in a magician's world view. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Paganism, and Zoroastrianism have all played active roles in forming the system of magic we use. Attacking one is retarded.

Yahoo...

Yahoo needs to start propitiating the spirits of Mercury already. They've got terrible communications problems.

Yahoo execs: I suggest the virgin daughter of your CEO offered to the Kraken.

(Yes, I am looking forward to the release of Clash of the Titans, why do you ask?)

Because I'm an American, that's Why!

A title like that could be applied to any number of topics, and some of them could be really fun.

But for now I'm talking about religion. Have you noticed I'm a Christian, but the things I believe would have gotten me burned as a heretic in the age of the grimoires I cherish so much?  I mean honestly, my ass would be on the stake faster than a witch's because I believe my Christianity is the real deal, and it happens to clash somewhat with popular hermeneutics, theology, and doctrine from any of the Renaissance (and modern) self-proclaimed keepers of the faith.

I figured it was because I'm smarter than most people, but shockingly, I was wrong. Come to find out, it's popular to be like me, looking at God first, then picking and choosing aspects of how God manifests himself in different cultures that resonate most with my own experiences. According to this article, nearly a third of us Americans are hip enough to mix and match from the belief buffet to come up with something that aligns with what we actually experience.

There's a danger of only picking the things you want to be true, and ignoring the things that are inconvenient. Americans aren't well known for taking on uncomfortable realities, after all. The Transcendental Meditation (TM) movement's popularity here is a good example. They teach all happiness and bliss if you chant their mantra, but they don't teach that the path to the happiness and bliss goes through the stages of pain many of the people in the Supernatural Assistance class are going through as I type. When the troubles that arise with initiation come, many people drop TM like a hot potato. A few even SUED TM for failing to deliver the promised benefits of mantra-chanting.

Whatever. TANSTAAFL.

But anyway, I'm NORMAL. I believe a lot of freaky stuff from different cultures, but so do a lot of other people. America's a melting pot for religions, and we're pretty famous for taking things and making something individual out of it. It's kind of weird that I consider myself a traditionalist, since most of what I do is adapted. But I suppose there's room for cognitive dissonance too.

Reminder

Tomorrow is the day I do a ritual to help the jobless. I spent the summer unemployed, and I'm digging my way out, and it fucking sucks. I'd like to do my part to help anyone in a similar situation. Unemployment is right around 10%, and I heard the "real" value is closer to 17% on NPR last night. That's almost 2 out of every 10 people you know.

I've had two people ask to be mentioned in the rite. Either you don't think it's going to help, or everyone who reads my blog is employed and is only friends with employed people. I know it's not going to hurt to be mentioned, Bune's really good at getting people jobs that pay a decent amount. I landed this job two weeks after conjuring Bune.

Email me your name or anyone you know who needs the help, it's totally free.

I Really LOVE it.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love being a magician? I've talked about it, I'm sure. I don't know. It's a freakin' blast. It's a fabulous trip.

Ideally, one day, this is all I'll do for a living. I mean, I'll have made enough to live without having to work all the time, and I'll be able to just do magic all the time. I really like writing about magic too, because to do the research, I have to do magic. It's awesome stuff.

Last weekend, I started playing with directing specific forces through the different spirits. I usually ask God to grant Michael power to accomplish the task at hand, for example, but this weekend, the task at hand was empowering Bune to take care of some things for me. The idea to do weekly "riches maintenance" rites came shortly after doing that.

This Thursday's rite is going to be the Power of God flowing into Sachiel, and then flowing into Bune on behalf of the jobless.  I suppose eventually I'll start including the different Archangels of the constellations too. God-Constellation-Planet-Terrestrial Spirit. Makes sense, follows that whole chain of manifestation I'm always going on about.

It's good strong magic, too. Come to think of it, I've been getting a pretty strong buzz off my rites for the last few weeks. Ever since I started the daily prayers and the ... oh. Yeah.

I've been doing the Supernatural Assistant Course along with my students. I guess that would explain it.

Table of Practice Sold and Other Business

That was quick.

If anyone has a desire for such handcrafted items to go along with the courses, I'm open for taking commissions. Next year I may start offering a Modern Angelic Grimoire Kit, if there's any interest. Those Tables of Practice are fun to make.

In other news, I'll be doing a Bune ritual Thursday and Friday. Thursday's ritual is for anyone who is unemployed to get a job. I'll be conjuring Sachiel of Jupiter to empower Bune to bring a job that pays all the bills "plus some left over" as Moloch says. If you or anyone you know is currently unemployed, email me their name, and I'll mention them during the rite.

I prefer to mention people to spirits during rituals using their name and their mother's maiden name, as in "David Thomas, son of Maria Angelos" the way the Sefer Raziel recommends. The Sefer Raziel does it this way (I suspect) because you always know who a person's mother is, even when you can't be sure of their paternal ancestry. You might think your dad is your real dad, but secretly be the son of an affair with the mail man. The mother, on the other hand, is harder to be wrong about. I understand in this day and age that people would be hesitant to give out their mother's maiden name to a complete stranger, so I'll settle for the full name of the person. This is free for the unemployed.

Friday's ritual will be a "riches maintenance" rite. I've found that Bune, being what he is, will gladly bless me with riches, usually within two weeks after conjuring for it. Unfortunately, being what I am, I will do a ritual, get some riches, spend them, then when I'm flat broke do another ritual and have to wait two weeks for the windfall. To be a bit more proactive, I'm going to begin performing a weekly riches maintenance rite that keeps the money coming in. I don't know what the results will be, but it's going to be a fun experiment.

If you want me to mention you during this rite, click the "Mention me to Bune" buy now button over on the right on the blog under the "RO Miscellany" category. I'll be charging $26 (because Bune's the 26th Spirit of the Lemegeton's Goetia) for this piece of the scheduled rite. This is what you'd click if you're already employed and want a better job.


And remember, all monies earned between now and December 25th go directly to the "MERRY CHRISTMAS, RUFUS OPUS" fund, which will be spent on making this a Merry Christmas for me and my family. It's totally going for a good cause.*

*Not tax deductible.

Acquiring a Supernatural Assistant:

Registration for the next Acquiring a Supernatural Assistant Course is now open. The next course will begin January 4, 2010. Registration is open for this course from now until Dec. 31, 2009. That will give me plenty of time to put together everyone's Genius names and to generate the natal charts and stuff. Each session will have its own yahoo group set up for it.

Note: If anyone's buying courses for someone else as a gift, please make sure they have email and internet access.
 
See a lot of stuff going up for sale on the RO blog lately? And right before Christmas?

That's called "coincidence." ;-)

MAG Table of Practice and Scrying Stone Stand

A while ago, I burned a Table of Practice into a piece of craft wood and stained it a nice pale oak color. It turned out nice, but I never got around to actually using it. I tend to use The Box mostly these days. Seems a waste to just keep it around, so it's up for sale if you'd like to have it. Some of you may recognize it from the pictures in the Modern Goetic Grimoire.

It would come in handy for the Hermetic Merkavah course too.

It measures 5.5 or 6 inches across, I can't remember and the ruler is ALL THE WAY in the other room. I'm including the crystal ball stand I made with it, but you'll have to supply your own spherical stone to put on it. The pic below shows MY stone on it, and you totally can't have it.

$45 buys this Table of Practice and scrying stone stand for your very own. If you're interested, drop me a line. I've only got one, so it's first come, first served.

 There's a Star of David with a Yod in it, a Pentagram, a Maltese Cross, and IHVH inside the stand, and the names of the four Archangels around the outside in Celestial Script.

(Coca-Cola, protractor, and keyboard not included.)

Hermetic Merkavah Update

After talking it over a bit, I've changed the price of the Hermetic Merkavah course to $65. I was thinking that after 12 weeks, I'd be wishing I'd charged more when I priced it at $85, but in retrospect, it was probably just greed. Refunds will be issued to anyone who already purchased the course at the higher price. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The "Buy Now" button on the right of the blog under  "RO Courses" has been updated and will now charge the appropriate amount.

Lesson 1 is about ready to go, and I'm really itching to get started on the course as soon as possible. This one is going to be a lot of fun. We'll be fleshing out the process I covered in the Modern Goetic Grimoire of receiving the initiations into each of the planetary spheres represented in the Magic Circle of the Lemegeton's Goetia.

On "Stupid Shit"

Is there, when you really think about it, any other kind?

Red Work Course 2: Hermetic Merkavah

The Acquiring the Supernatural Assistant Course is coming along nicely, and I'm very happy with the results many of the members are seeing. And so far there hasn't been much of the shit storm I was concerned about. Of course, this is still pretty preliminary, but I've found that the majority of the students have been called to the course at a time in their life where this kind of ritual would be most effective. Many have already been through the Dark Night of the Soul, faced their Gethsemene, and are ready to receive the Solar Helper.

But it's time to start taking orders for the next course in the series, Hermetic Merkavah. Where Course 1 takes the student through the Alchemical Black Phase of the Work and the White Phase, the Hermetic Merkavah Course begins the Green.

In this course, we'll be focusing on both the macrocosmic initiations and the physical manifestations associated with each of the Archangels of the Planets and their legions of Spirits.

We will be using the Modern Angelic Grimoire as the primary text book, and we will progress upwards through the spheres based on Ptolemy's model of the cosmos. I'm thinking we'll spend about two weeks on each planet, receiving the initiations into the sphere, receiving attunements and instruction in accessing the powers of the spheres in our daily lives, and actually getting stuff from each planet in our physical lives.

The course will include anecdotal insights I've gained about creating talismans, and I'll detail the steps I take to create the planetary talismans in the appropriate metals, or their equivalents. Heat, beat, repeat, and engrave sums it up nicely, but I'll go into more detail in the course.


Looks like it will be a 17-week course, altogether. The Lesson Plan is as follows:

Lesson 1: Hermetic Merkavah - The path of the Hermetic Magician's ascent through the spheres is described in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes, and detailed in the Corpus Hermeticum. The system I'm calling Hermetic Merkavah utilizes a relatively simple system of conjuration, initiation, and contemplation to accomplish the Hermetic Great Work. This lesson provides a detailed overview of the Great Work within the Hermetic discipline, and the functional tools necessary to accomplish it using the techniques of the Modern Angelic Grimoire.

Lessons 2-8: The Planetary Spheres - One lesson for each of the seven spheres of the planets. These will include a conjuration ritual for each Archangel of the Planet, a sample oration, and tips and tricks on receiving initiations into the spheres. These lessons will include personal experiences with the entities, the skill sets I've seen improved by working with the specific entities, and suggestions of manifest things to ask for from these spirits. Each lesson will have an initiatory piece and a practical piece.

Lesson 9: On the 8th and the 9th Spheres - This lesson addresses the Sphere of the Zodiac, and the Sphere of the Prime Mover.

Making Planetary Talismans - An eBook summarizing my experiences in creating talismans in the appropriate planetary metals or other materials. Most of my techniques are crude and primitive, but there will be no sculpey. If you want to use plastic clay, go ahead, the spirits don't care, but lately I've come to hate the stuff.

The Course launch date is tentatively set for December 15, 2009, depending on the response I get. Being the holiday season, I know there's a lot going on for many of us, and starting a course when most sane institutions of learning are going on vacation or break is maybe a little bit unrealistic. It will start no later than January 1, 2010. I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year.

I will create a Yahoo Group for this course as well, but it will be mainly for questions and answers, and a forum to discuss our results.

This course will provide all the initiations I advocate in the Modern Goetic Grimoire. I expect to launch the Modern Goetic Grimoire course in January, if not sooner as well. If you have already received initiation into the spheres represented in the Magic Circle, you're already ready to begin the Goetic Work. However, taking this course will provide you with practical experience that will aid you immensely in Working with the more materialistic aspects of the spirits of Goety. Working with the Angels gave me the skills and talents that I needed to efectively Work the "demons" of the Lemegeton's Goetia, and provided instruction and guidance in contacting and working with spirits of the dead and spirits of location.

Due to the amount of work involved, the duration of the course, and the overall potential for results received, the course will be $65 for each student. Graduates of this course will receive a discount on Course 3: Goety. None of the courses are prerequisites for the next, because I simply don't know what you've been through in your path and can't say that you haven't attained the initiations to be successful in the next course. However, I can use monetary incentives to guide you to the initiations I've been through that I credit with my success.

Students currently in the Supernatural Assistant Course should abstain from this round of the Hermetic Merkavah Course, as you should be conjuring the SA nightly right about now, and not worrying much about any other spirit than Michael or your Genius. And of course, the students of the Supernatural Assistant Course receive a discount on the Hermetic Merkavah Course. It'll be here when you're finished with your current Work.

After due consideration, it is with a heavy heart...

After due consideration, it is with a heavy heart that we must come to the inevitable conclusion. While they have provided a level of amusement, and potentially furthered some few of our overall goals, we must weigh their meager contributions against the fundamental discord brought by their practices.

When they first appeared on the scene with their "chaos magick," they presented themselves as an enemy of the conformist traditional approaches to the occult that most of us represent. Over the years they tried to gain respectability, and have come to be almost accepted, or at least tolerated as co-representatives of the Great Work by most of us. However, the inherent cognitive dissonance demanded by their approach to occult manipulation of events has always left them weakened in actual practice. Their internal schisms have left them splintered. Their comparatively weak results have left many of their own adherents disillusioned. The Ice Magic wars and the split between RAW/Timothy Leary Immortalists and the IOT/Peter Carroll Pact over the "immortality pill" has left them without even a cohesive front. There isn't even a single figurehead bearing their standard.

These so-called "Justified Ancients of Mumu" were brought into the fold in hopes that they would reach the conclusion that their approach is juvenile and ineffective. I believe that those who will learn from their mistakes have, and the remaining adherents have already attained the degree of wisdom and insight that they are capable of attaining. It is time for those who have moved beyond the limits of belief system shuffling and have found the true power of magic in their personal Work to join the traditionalists among us and leave behind forever their affiliation with these miscreants.

I accept the "Information Model" as a valid representation of "Truth," and hereby move that adherents to that approach be exempt from the disaffiliation.

For the rest of them, there is little hope of transcendence. Their crippled spheres of influence are too small to be of much use to us overall. In recent months, I've personally spent as much time breaking false programming resulting from their influence as I have furthering the transcendent enlightenment of humankind. I find that more and more students have come to me using the vocabulary of egregore and servitor, and have even found their viral memes retroactively manifesting in traditional tomes. John Greer, who has done us all a great service in translating the Picatrix with Christopher Warnock, recently demonstrated the degree of infection they have brought by weaving their philosophical tenets into his dissemination of the Alternate View we have crafted. His reference to "Hagbard's Law" will, unfortunately, lead more people to read the diseased harmonic tome they used to infiltrate our culture. Another crop of magicians will inevitably be infected by their crude and ignorant approach to the forces of chaos and order, resulting in more loud-mouthed inexperienced chaoates muddying the streams and causing more distraction.

It is a dangerous weakening of the potent forces we represent in this plane.

Continued sanction of their practices by traditionalists will result in a repeat of the 1990s. Do any of us want to face that mindset at this stage of our Work? We know the 30-year cycle is repeating, as it always does, and the 1980s have about run their course. We can't afford to have that degree of potential Workers distracted by the infectious madness of Discordia. While it is inevitable that the repetitious cycle will result in some renewed interest, we must make a concentrated effort to limit this madness.

While they claim to not want to upset the apple cart, and while they pretend not to want to cause any harm, they are clear in their actions that if one doesn't like what they're going to do, one had better watch out because they are coming through. We are left with but one option.

It's time to kick out the JAMs.

Political Post

You were warned, it totally says "Political Post" right up there.

Why would an anti-war president, one whose personal convictions lead him to want to end the war entirely, today, send more troops to Afghanistan in a near mirror-image of the surge policy used by his predecessor, who everyone hated?

Because he's GOT TO.

Conjure up Michael and the Prince of Persia, if you don't believe me. They'll tell you.

Is Obama an idiot, or a highly intelligent man? Based on what I know about him, he's not an idiot. If he's reaching the same conclusions Bush reached about fighting wars over there, then there's probably a reason for it.

That said, I still think he should start bringing the troops back home now. Doesn't anyone else remember the role Afghanistan played in bringing down the USSR? It's a death trap, a money pit. Fuck that shit.

[Edit: Ok, so he was for the war in Afghanistan. I hope he wants out now.]

"Raising Energy"

Ack! Even typing it makes my fingers curl into claws in search of a neck to throttle.

"Energy" is a quick and easy term to use on the fly to talk about some of the things we experience as magicians, but it just drives me nuts. It's sloppy, inaccurate, and leads to erroneous conclusions. I hate the term "energy."

Am I a semantic nazi about this? Jason and Fr. POS used the term recently on their blogs. I know Jason uses it in his book, too. I even use it on occasion, but only when I'm being lazy. Today on Augoeides, it got mentioned yet again.

Let me explain what I mean, and you can decide if I'm just being a dick about this.

First, here's the definition of Energy from Wikipedia:

In physics, energy (from the Greek ἐνέργεια - energeia, "activity, operation", from ἐνεργός - energos, "active, working"[1]) is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of work that can be performed by a force, an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law. Different forms of energy include kinetic, potential, thermal, gravitational, sound, light, elastic, and electromagnetic energy. The forms of energy are often named after a related force.

Any form of energy can be transformed into another form, but the total energy always remains the same. This principle, the conservation of energy, was first postulated in the early 19th century, and applies to any isolated system. According to Noether's theorem, the conservation of energy is a consequence of the fact that the laws of physics do not change over time.[2]

Although the total energy of a system does not change with time, its value may depend on the frame of reference. For example, a seated passenger in a moving airplane has zero kinetic energy relative to the airplane, but non-zero kinetic energy relative to the Earth.

"But RO," you may say, "that's Energy in physics, not Energy in metaphysics! I'm not talking about that."

Yeah, I know. That's my point. The idea of energy as it gets used in metaphysical discussions is based on a misunderstanding of what energy is in physics.

It's a measure of potential work or force. It's like volume, or length, or depth. It's a quality of an equation. It's not real until it acts, and when it acts, it becomes a force, or power. Would you say you were "raising depth" or "raising volume" when you did something magical? Of course not.

In metaphysics, people talk about energy flowing. Energy doesn't flow, it is transferred by becoming a force. They talk about it as if it were an invisible astral liquid that somehow powers things, in a way, like electricity, sorta, but without any measurable particles moving. But electricity is the movement of electrons, it is work being performed. What is moving in trance states? No one knows. Calling it "energy" works, but it doesn't really say anything about anything.

If you can create a force, the energy was already there, you just hadn't done the math. If you're talking about the exchange of energy between two interacting systems, you're talking about power and force. Energy only "exists" on paper, it's a measurement, a pattern that is useful for predicting results.


And that's my biggest beef with the use of the term Energy in magical operations. It implies that there is somehow less or more available to you after you've done something magical. It simply isn't true. You have the same amount of "energy" to tap into and channel wherever you go. It is neither created nor destroyed, it simply changes form. Trance states of consciousness may aid in the ability to turn that energy into a power or force that can be felt and experienced, but it doesn't add to or take away from the resting amount of potential Work that can be performed.

Personally, I advocate the use of "power" or "force," or especially "current." Like for the Druid that POS mentioned, when he says he raised Telluric Energy from the Earth, I'd say he channeled the telluric current from the Earth to whatever he aimed it at. When POS talks about raising energy by entering ecstatic states, I'd say he was altering his awareness so that he could consciously channel the forces harmonious to the type of ecstatic state he is entering. (Although grimoire magic ritual is not ecstatic, I don't care what he says.) When Jason says he mixes blue and white energy at a ratio of 80-20%, I'd say he ...

Well, honestly, I have no clue how I'd say that. Is he just thinking blue and white thoughts while he holds his hands over someone? Is he visualizing a force generated in his throat and crown mingling proportionally and then extending through his palms?

I dunno.

Still, he's activating a power, or channeling a current, or directing a force. The Energy to do so is everywhere, everywhen, but his magical activation and utilization of that energy is what matters (or what affects matter, anyway). There's got to be a better way to say it.*



*I just told my wife what I was writing about and she called me an "Energy-Power Snob." Jason totally called me a dick too. Maybe I am a vocabulary czar about this. Maybe I am the premier of patois. Maybe I am the Imperator of Idiom, or the Emperor of Elocution.

Maybe I am a dick about it.

Fine, then. I mean, I don't care, be sloppy, use the word wrong. I won't keep going on about it anymore. You can misrepresent a concept with the wrong symbol. I'll just sit here and watch the disharmonic resonance spread through your sphere, and I won't say a word, oh no, I'll just sit here not being a Sultan of Semantics, and your whole entire approach to manipulating reality using magic can be fundamentally flawed because you use the word wrong for all I care. Spend yet another incarnation missing out on Enlightenment by || this much, all because you use "Energy" wrong, I mean, really, it's your life and your choice of symbol sets, and the universe has plenty of room for everything, and you can relax, I won't be writing long-winded over-adjectived hyperbolic threats of eternal damnation because using "Energy" the way you do is REALLY the unpardonable sin that even Christ's blood can't atone for or anything like that here on this blog.**

** Honest. No, REALLY. I won't even mention that spiders will eat your brains if you use "Energy" wrong. Won't breathe a whisper about how everyone who ever died of cancer also happened to use the word wrong. Nope. I'm not going to tell you about the Illuminati cabal that powers their curses using the forces released when people use the word "Energy" wrong in metaphysical discussions, either, because you probably wouldn't believe it. There's little point in any such revelations coming into your sphere, since it's all twisted and warped because you used it wrong. So I won't bother.***

*** But don't come crawling to me when you're dead by dawn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for a lot of things, but at the top of the list where the blog is concerned are my readers and the personal friends I've made through this medium and other online forums. You guys are a constant source of inspiration in my life. Thanks for everything.

I sit in the basement office with no windows, often not even aware of whether it's day or night, especially since daylight savings time changed. It's usually while the kids are asleep or are playing with friends, and I'm relatively free of interruptions. I sit in here reading magical tomes, reading blogs and emails, doing magic, and writing out my thoughts and experiences as I go along performing the Great Work.

Yet I'm not alone; I have a plurality, a social network of magicians also performing the Work a few keystrokes away. I understand about us being a family unit, brothers and sisters spread throughout every continent on the planet, except Antarctica. No one practices magic in Antarctica. It's too freakin' cold. Seriously.

So, it's to readers, writers, and to all my brothers and sisters of the Work that I offer my thanks. May your days be as fulfilled as you make mine.

What you should do about it...

Martialis asked what we should do about the Christian extremists like the ones praying death on Obama...

Magic. We should do magic.

Gaap to release the spirits they've bound to their missions, Michael to enlighten them with the true message of Christ and to defend their victims, Cassiel to bind the bastards, Sammael to strengthen the warriors on the front line and to bring swift and just victory, Raphael to heal and to confuse their minds, to disrupt their communication network, and to bring a permanent Merc. Retro effect into their lives so they're too busy trying to figure out why nothing works right to pray, Anael to keep their prayers from reaching fruition, Gabriel to enshroud them in harmless fantasies.

Conjure Purson to reveal any local hotspots of prayer warriors, conjure Paimon, Aimon, Oriens, and Egyn to confound their lives, call upon their daimons to drive them into the true presence of God where they will see their actions for what they really are.

Ideally you'll be healing them so they not only stop what they're doing, but begin to help instead. Ideally you'll be in a position to love them completely and take responsibility for aiding in their enlightenment.

But it's better to do something than nothing, so just do something.

Thanks, Ron!

There are 100 people following the blog now. Woohoo! That's only counting the people with Google accounts.

Whether you "follow" or not, may your holidays be blessed with peace, enlightenment, and joy. And no stupid relatives making inappropriate conversation at the dinner table.

Oh, and may Bune bring you many riches, plus some left over! I'll light a candle this weekend for you.

Thanks!

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Today's blog title comes from the Roman poet Juvenal, who, bemoaning an unfaithful wife, said:

audio quid ueteres olim moneatis amici,
"pone seram, cohibe." sed quis custodiet ipsos—
custodes? cauta est et ab illis incipit uxor.
  
I hear always the admonishment of my friends:
"Bolt her in, constrain her!" But who will guard
the guardians? The wife plans ahead and begins with them!

Wikipedia has an interesting entry on the phrase. You should totally read it when you get a chance. It presents the more common translation in English, "Who watches the watchmen?"

The magical implications of this question are multifaceted, multi-layered, and as deep as any question we can ask ourselves. While reading Heart Drops of Dharmakaya, I was impressed with the Dzogchen practice of observation during meditation. I'm no Dzogchen adept, I'm a bumbler who read a book about some aspects of it while researching something else entirely, so don't think I'm trying to teach something about a system I don't understand. This is just what I took away from it.

Instead of meditating, you watch yourself without judgment. You observe your thoughts, and where they are coming "from." Fear, hunger, desire, what is the source of the thought? What triggered the thought? Is it coming from your own head, or is it a whispering spirit?

You observe, you don't try to influence or control the mind. You see what you're thinking, and simply practice awareness.

Then, after you've done that for a while, you turn your attention to the observer. Who is it that observes? What is it that is watching?

Remember the words of Perdurabo in the Book of Lies (Falsely Called So):

But FRATER PERDURABO is nothing but AN
EYE; what eye none knoweth.

Palin's Power

Have I mentioned my fundy background? I just learned on a pagan site that I'm part of the "3rd Wave of the Holy Spirit", loosely. See, I attained K&CHGA after being born again while immersed in the outpouring of the Spirit that was popping up here and there around the country in 2003.

So Jason mentions Palin today on FB, and I ended up at the Wild Hunt blog through Joe's blog, and there's another article on Palin, this one pointing out her affiliation with a group of Christians who used "imprecatory prayer" to allegedly give a witch cancer and drive her out of Alaska.

Now, on the one hand, I personally write Palin off out of hand. She's a gimmick, and she's distracting America from the next real Republican candidate. And that shit about her receiving the mantle of the presidency that's been prophesied over her... who really believes any of that shit? Like Christians have any access to divination, or the power to set destiny through concentrated prayer...

Right. Which brings us back to the Wiccan who went bline in her left eye, was diagnosed with cancer, and fled Alaske while this coven of Christian busybodies "prayed against the spirit of witchcraft in Alaska."

Am I the only person who has seen the power of Charismatic Christian Magic? Come on! There's more healing going on in the name of Christ than you can shake a stick at. Prayed for rye grew taller than not-prayed for rye. Prayer affects bacteria. Whatever model of magic you adhere to, the results are the proof.

I know these people. I know what they're capable of, and what their ambitions are. In many ways I agree with the Ideal they strive for. I don't trust them an inch to be able to accomplish their goals when faced with the temptations that come with power.

Palin's Power base is an effective team of experienced "prayer warriors" who are not above praying down fire and brimstone, locusts and plague, and cancer and blindness. There are even teams of these people working on killing Obama. It's easy to sit in liberal educated armchairs and laugh at the imaginary threat of the ignorant Christian True Believers, writing them off as "nut-jobs" and staying hidden, safe, watching Oprah alone in your little apartment when Palin's at the local Barnes and Noble signing her book.

But don't get so wrapped up in your comfy blanket of smug dismissal that you can't get unglued long enough to trace out a circle and mutter a few eldritch phrases from musty old tomes you've tracked down on the Internet. Rest assured there are ladies on arthritic knees sequestered amongst their pleather shoes in their closets, calling on God to empower Palin and anoint her in the mantle of the Presidency. Whether it's God or whatever spirits they've got at their beck and call, bet your ass that something is doing everything in its power to make sure Palin gets elected.

What are you going to do about it?

Here's a clue for would be spiritual warriors: expect a lot of the spirits around her to be Nepheshim, the hungry ghosts of the dead. These and similar spirits are the most abundant resources that respond to prolonged prayer. Check the Greater Key for sample Solomonic rites that require nine days of careful prayer to gather the spirits local. These are the kinds of spirits you'll be facing.

Bring a brass pot, or the equivalent. No point in letting the little buggers go to waste.

(Picturing a Hermetic Exorcism of Palin at a book signing; dude in robes reciting the Headless rite over her. As amusing as it may be, he'd have an interesting discussion waiting for him with the Secret service after pulling that stunt. The Black and Tans wear shiny black shoes.)

Tis the Season

The Flu Season. And there's H1N1 mania sweeping the nation on top of that!

So here's a little "get rid of the ick" technique that works really well for me.

Close your eyes, and listen to your heart beat. Visualize it pumping blood all over the body. Follow its paths in your mind's eye, seeing the blood flowing to the different regions of your physical shell. Now turn your awareness to areas of illness or pain. Look at it with your mind's eye, seeing the elemental building blocks that make up the frame. Earth and Fire, Water and Air, blended together in a myriad of proportions at the elemental (like atomic) level. Now see the ones that represent the illness turning black. To me they look like little cubes spinning in space in close proximity. The ones that are the illness turn black, and the one that aren't turn red and white.

Picture the black ones leaving your body. Move them along with the power of your Will. Keep them moving until they're all out, fading away into the background of existence, returning to their raw forms. A little heat applied to the stubborn ones, carefully so you don't hurt the good stuff, seems to work well in loosening up sinus infections.

And take vitamin C.

Some of you may recognize the technique as the result of my Work with EHNB a while ago. I was suffering in silence through a sinus infection last week when Frater POS (His motto is not "Piece of Shit," in case you were wondering) said it's too bad I don't know any magicians who could heal me. (He was home from work because his back was out again, and I magnanimously let that slide. The sinners mocked Jesus with "Healer, Heal thyself" too, after all.)

At the time I said I didn't do magic for sickness because a full ritual takes 2 weeks to manifest, and it doesn't seem worth it to deal with a three day cold. Mostly because I was embarrassed that I hadn't thought of it myself. Then he reminded me that we get to do some things instantly as magicians, and graciously changed the subject.

Of course later on I was thinking about it, and I remembered the Enochian technique that had worked so well last year. I fished it out of the memory banks and put it to use. The next morning I was significantly better.

So, since I had to have a reminder to jog the old memory banks that magicians can heal themselves (after all, I'm not Jesus*), I figured I'd pass it on. Healers, heal yourselves.

* Really. Neither Lon, nor Jesus Christ.