Microsoft is looking for help developing applications for the home computer using the Kinect. They have the hardware interface designed, but one article I read that I can't find now suggested that they needed help coming up with ways to use the Kinect as a human machine interface. So they're offering start ups support if they're going to be developing new ways to use the Kinect in the PC environment.
I would just like to say... Neuromancer much? Build the fucking deck! And a wet jack. We're already living in the dystopian corporate culture Gibson so bleakly predicted in Neuromancer, we might as well get the fucking tech that goes with it.
Head for the Red: The ongoing adventures and insights of a magician's attempts to accomplish the Great Work.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thanks!
Thanksgiving is about being thankful for all the things we have that are good in life. I've got a lot to be thankful for this year. You all are on my list of people I'm thankful for. Not only do you like me, you actually pay me to do magic for you or to teach you what I've learned! I love that. Thanks for making my life perfect.My fellow occult bloggers, thank you for all your posts, the ones I love, the ones I hate, and the ones that piss me off the most, because they teach me so much. We have the richest community of magicians who all get along even when we don't. Totally fabulous getting to be alive with you all.
You know we're living through the kind of occult explosion the GD was part of in the last century, right? We're not in the desert of shit sources that people were in through the 1950s. We live in very exciting times. We are the Crowleys and Mathers and Regardies and Gurdjieffs and Blatavatskies of our age. Most of my close friends in the blogosphere are magicians who have far exceeded any of these in personal practice and wisdom. I really love you all, and I am humbled/honored/totally stoked/proud as fuck that I get to be a part of this family. Thanks for proving that human beings can be awesome.
And to Jove, I give thanks for all the health and necessary wealth we have received this year. May his blessings pour out on you and your families throughout the year. Next year, may we all be thankful we're millionaires.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Fama Fraternitas Fun
One of my genuinely favorite Golden Dawn bloggers, Morgan Drake Eckstein, has been writing about his interpretation of the Fama Fraternitas as it applies to making money on the Great Work. He started with an analysis of the English translation that earned him some grief, and then he followed up with a post about the how he's been told the English translation is flawed, and he makes some observations about whether the modern Rosicrucian (RC) movement in English speaking countries* is flawed as a result.
The posts sparked my interest. I've always been interested in the subject of money for the Great Work, especially because I make money off the skills I've gathered in pursuit of the Great Work. I also love a good manuscript mystery. That's my favorite part of grimoire and Bible study, getting into the root languages and being an amateur archaeological word explorer, like a linguistic Indiana Jones. What I lack in training and experience, I make up for in enthusiasm.
Specifically, he dissects the first two of the six rules "the original brotherhood bound itself by." The first is one that gets quoted a lot, and the second he applies to his interpretation of the first to support his argument:
Then the questions of the German manuscript's true meaning came up, and that's the part in the story where I showed up. I found this online version of the Gemran manuscript, and then I used Google Translate to render this result:
So looking at that, I thought there was room for reinterpretation. You can pick apart the literal meaning of root words, add different endings on them and look at how the roots are used in other words, as Morgan did in his analysis, and with a little effort I can see how someone reading the German version could walk away with something different than the English version.
No one should indulge in any occupation? So no working for a living? Works for me!
To Maintain as sick and do so in vain? What the living fuck? I got nothing on that, and I needed better sources. So I googled "online German to English Translator" and ended up at PROMT-Online, pasted in the First Rule from the Fama, and it rendered this result:
The Fama's First rule is simply, "You shouldn't have any kind of job, or do any kind of work, except to heal the sick, and do it for free." I think it's literal, and stands alone. As such, I don't think Morgan's application of the Second Rule, though highly skilled, applies at all. But for the simple literal translation to work in practice, something's got to pay the fucking rent. We've got bills to pay and cats to feed, right?
I think there are two ways that would make this simple literal translation work. The first way it would work is if all Rosicrucians are independently wealthy. If they've done the Work and have been through the Chemical Wedding, they'll have the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, and they won't exactly need any money now, will they? The Philosopher's Stone turns lead into gold! All the gold they could ever need.
That's my preferred source of their independent wealth.
It could also, however, be that the RCs were a fraternity of the wealthy elite, a gentlemen's philanthropist club, like when Bill Gates and Warren Buffet had that private billionaire's club meeting and asked them to pledge to give away half their wealth either before they died or at their death. Still cool, but not as romantic to me as having the Philosopher's Stone as the source of independent wealth.
The second way a literal interpretation of the Fama's First rule would work is if they just didn't worry about it. In my youth, I was a big fan of the idea that the Universe will provide. "If you need it," I said, "it will come. If it's not there, you don't need it." Another favorite phrase was "The Universe doesn't give unfunded mandates." Or "If the Universe wants me to do that shit, it can goddamned well pay for it."
And yeah, U2's famous phrase, "My God isn't short on cash."
The RCs could have just been wandering hippies, living off the things God provides. That would be a pretty extreme lifestyle, completely and totally based on faith. They were, let's not forget, devout Christians. In recent conversations on ethics with Jason, we were discussing the Sermon on the Mount. Having just recently reread it, I couldn't help but be reminded of Matthew 6: 25-26:
There's been a ton of debate in the Christian world about whether this should be literal or figurative, and I won't go into it here, but the fact is, some people live as if it's literal, and they do manage to survive, and at times, to thrive. I'm not as good with other religions, but I believe this basic spiritual truth manifests in many different traditions. Throw it all away and let God provide all your needs, according to His riches and glory. Go be an itinerant monk who wanders around helping people, penniless, but always able to somehow get by. Like Cain in Kung Fu.
It's a radical notion, and one better suited to the young without responsibilities to meet. I did it for a while, but honestly, it sucks. The universe did provide, but not at the quality to which I'd become accustomed. There are times now when I look back through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia and think if I didn't have kids, I'd live that way now...
But the fact is I went hungry a lot, could barely sleep,*** and ate a lot of food loaded with extra salt peter at shelters. I joined up with a clan of old hippies on a commune in Texas for a while, and that sucked too. Communal living. I still shudder thinking about it. Everyone in your space all the time! Feh. Give me doors.
The fact is, I'm too materialistic to want to live that way myself. And there's my family. They deserve better, and I've got the skills, talent, and intelligence to be able to provide better. The Universe does indeed provide, but it provides nuts, berries, and meat that runs faster than you do, and if the weather's shit and there's no vegetables, you're going to die. And that's ok with the Universe. It's balanced, natural, and harmonious. Spiritually sublime.
Fuck. That. Shit.
So, my opinion is that the Fama's First Rule really means you shouldn't work for a living, you should only heal people, and you should do it for free if you're a Rosicrucian. It's a great rule, because for it to be true, some very powerful magic has to take place: either the you've got endless wealth at your fingertips, or you've got to be completely in harmony with the materialization process of the Universe.
And that's ONE of the reasons I don't consider myself a Rosicrucian. Like other Mystery traditions, I think it's got some cool stuff in it, but it's not a system I'd throw myself into completely. My studies and practices have a lot of shared truths with those of the Rosicrucian tradition, and I can use the images of RC to interpret my experiences in Hermetic Initiations, but that's because my tradition and theirs developed in the Hermetic current. They're a formalized facet of the current that is different than mine.
I think the First Rule is the goal, to perform magic until you no longer need to work a profession to make a living, and you can devote your time to healing the sick without charging anyone anything. I sometimes think I'm at a point where I could do that, but honestly, I'm afraid to try to live that way. There are too many people depending on me to take that large of a risk.
So I keep my job, and I sell magical services and consecrated talismans and lessons, and I try to get ahead enough to not have to work for a living so I can do this full time, free, without jeopardizing my kids' future. I'm making progress. I can see how it would be possible to conjure for a living, conjuring the things we need directly and then just having it sort of work in our favor, but it would take discipline I'm only just now developing. Maintenance. Strategy.
If I can find out how to just manifest the things we need consistently, I'm there. I'm all over it. Until then, I'm not an RC, though this research has me comparing the rest of the verses around Matthew 6:25-26 and comparing it to the rules of the Fama. Rule 2 is reflected in verse 28, for example. And Morgan said the RCs are forbidden from living beyond the time God gives them, and verse 27 says something about how worrying about it doesn't add a day to your life. Interesting parallels there.
* I'm including the United States, even though there is some debate from the UK about whether Americans speak English or not.
** Like an Olympiad, but more meaningful.
*** Little known fact, homeless people get very little sleep. That lifestyle is hard, and frightening, and highly stressful. You can't always trust the people you're with, and you can't afford to sleep deeply. It's high, high stress, all the time. And it's dirty as shit.
The posts sparked my interest. I've always been interested in the subject of money for the Great Work, especially because I make money off the skills I've gathered in pursuit of the Great Work. I also love a good manuscript mystery. That's my favorite part of grimoire and Bible study, getting into the root languages and being an amateur archaeological word explorer, like a linguistic Indiana Jones. What I lack in training and experience, I make up for in enthusiasm.
Specifically, he dissects the first two of the six rules "the original brotherhood bound itself by." The first is one that gets quoted a lot, and the second he applies to his interpretation of the first to support his argument:
From the English Manuscript Morgan quoted:
First, That none of them should profess any other thing than to cure the sick, and that gratis.
Second, None of the posterity should be constrained to wear one certain kind of habit, but therein to follow the custom of the country.Morgan masterfully reinterprets the first to mean that it's ok to be more than a pro bono doctor if you're a RC. He performed with the prowess of a professional Semantiad.** I'd have given him at least a 9.3 if it were an official competition.
Then the questions of the German manuscript's true meaning came up, and that's the part in the story where I showed up. I found this online version of the Gemran manuscript, and then I used Google Translate to render this result:
First No one should indulge in any occupation, to maintain as sick and do so in vain.Thank you So Much, Google Tranlate! That's awesome.
So looking at that, I thought there was room for reinterpretation. You can pick apart the literal meaning of root words, add different endings on them and look at how the roots are used in other words, as Morgan did in his analysis, and with a little effort I can see how someone reading the German version could walk away with something different than the English version.
No one should indulge in any occupation? So no working for a living? Works for me!
To Maintain as sick and do so in vain? What the living fuck? I got nothing on that, and I needed better sources. So I googled "online German to English Translator" and ended up at PROMT-Online, pasted in the First Rule from the Fama, and it rendered this result:
Nobody should dedicate itself to another employment, than to maintain sick people namely completely free of charge.Aha! Now we're getting somewhere. PROMT-Online has different intelligence driving it, and rendered something a little more comprehensible, and still used the same words. It makes sense! The English version was right all along.
The Fama's First rule is simply, "You shouldn't have any kind of job, or do any kind of work, except to heal the sick, and do it for free." I think it's literal, and stands alone. As such, I don't think Morgan's application of the Second Rule, though highly skilled, applies at all. But for the simple literal translation to work in practice, something's got to pay the fucking rent. We've got bills to pay and cats to feed, right?
I think there are two ways that would make this simple literal translation work. The first way it would work is if all Rosicrucians are independently wealthy. If they've done the Work and have been through the Chemical Wedding, they'll have the secret of the Philosopher's Stone, and they won't exactly need any money now, will they? The Philosopher's Stone turns lead into gold! All the gold they could ever need.
That's my preferred source of their independent wealth.
It could also, however, be that the RCs were a fraternity of the wealthy elite, a gentlemen's philanthropist club, like when Bill Gates and Warren Buffet had that private billionaire's club meeting and asked them to pledge to give away half their wealth either before they died or at their death. Still cool, but not as romantic to me as having the Philosopher's Stone as the source of independent wealth.
The second way a literal interpretation of the Fama's First rule would work is if they just didn't worry about it. In my youth, I was a big fan of the idea that the Universe will provide. "If you need it," I said, "it will come. If it's not there, you don't need it." Another favorite phrase was "The Universe doesn't give unfunded mandates." Or "If the Universe wants me to do that shit, it can goddamned well pay for it."
And yeah, U2's famous phrase, "My God isn't short on cash."
The RCs could have just been wandering hippies, living off the things God provides. That would be a pretty extreme lifestyle, completely and totally based on faith. They were, let's not forget, devout Christians. In recent conversations on ethics with Jason, we were discussing the Sermon on the Mount. Having just recently reread it, I couldn't help but be reminded of Matthew 6: 25-26:
25 Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment?
26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value then they?
There's been a ton of debate in the Christian world about whether this should be literal or figurative, and I won't go into it here, but the fact is, some people live as if it's literal, and they do manage to survive, and at times, to thrive. I'm not as good with other religions, but I believe this basic spiritual truth manifests in many different traditions. Throw it all away and let God provide all your needs, according to His riches and glory. Go be an itinerant monk who wanders around helping people, penniless, but always able to somehow get by. Like Cain in Kung Fu.
It's a radical notion, and one better suited to the young without responsibilities to meet. I did it for a while, but honestly, it sucks. The universe did provide, but not at the quality to which I'd become accustomed. There are times now when I look back through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia and think if I didn't have kids, I'd live that way now...
But the fact is I went hungry a lot, could barely sleep,*** and ate a lot of food loaded with extra salt peter at shelters. I joined up with a clan of old hippies on a commune in Texas for a while, and that sucked too. Communal living. I still shudder thinking about it. Everyone in your space all the time! Feh. Give me doors.
The fact is, I'm too materialistic to want to live that way myself. And there's my family. They deserve better, and I've got the skills, talent, and intelligence to be able to provide better. The Universe does indeed provide, but it provides nuts, berries, and meat that runs faster than you do, and if the weather's shit and there's no vegetables, you're going to die. And that's ok with the Universe. It's balanced, natural, and harmonious. Spiritually sublime.
Fuck. That. Shit.
So, my opinion is that the Fama's First Rule really means you shouldn't work for a living, you should only heal people, and you should do it for free if you're a Rosicrucian. It's a great rule, because for it to be true, some very powerful magic has to take place: either the you've got endless wealth at your fingertips, or you've got to be completely in harmony with the materialization process of the Universe.
And that's ONE of the reasons I don't consider myself a Rosicrucian. Like other Mystery traditions, I think it's got some cool stuff in it, but it's not a system I'd throw myself into completely. My studies and practices have a lot of shared truths with those of the Rosicrucian tradition, and I can use the images of RC to interpret my experiences in Hermetic Initiations, but that's because my tradition and theirs developed in the Hermetic current. They're a formalized facet of the current that is different than mine.
I think the First Rule is the goal, to perform magic until you no longer need to work a profession to make a living, and you can devote your time to healing the sick without charging anyone anything. I sometimes think I'm at a point where I could do that, but honestly, I'm afraid to try to live that way. There are too many people depending on me to take that large of a risk.
So I keep my job, and I sell magical services and consecrated talismans and lessons, and I try to get ahead enough to not have to work for a living so I can do this full time, free, without jeopardizing my kids' future. I'm making progress. I can see how it would be possible to conjure for a living, conjuring the things we need directly and then just having it sort of work in our favor, but it would take discipline I'm only just now developing. Maintenance. Strategy.
If I can find out how to just manifest the things we need consistently, I'm there. I'm all over it. Until then, I'm not an RC, though this research has me comparing the rest of the verses around Matthew 6:25-26 and comparing it to the rules of the Fama. Rule 2 is reflected in verse 28, for example. And Morgan said the RCs are forbidden from living beyond the time God gives them, and verse 27 says something about how worrying about it doesn't add a day to your life. Interesting parallels there.
* I'm including the United States, even though there is some debate from the UK about whether Americans speak English or not.
** Like an Olympiad, but more meaningful.
*** Little known fact, homeless people get very little sleep. That lifestyle is hard, and frightening, and highly stressful. You can't always trust the people you're with, and you can't afford to sleep deeply. It's high, high stress, all the time. And it's dirty as shit.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Building up and Maintaining
I was finishing up a Hermetic Diagnois for a client today, and when I was talking to Tzadqiel of Jupiter about some of his financial issues, I was told that there was little that could be done to increase the Jupiterean forces in the client's sphere until he was out of Retrograde, which doesn't happen until December 25th. There were things he could do to improve the general well being of the client, but for this one specific plan the guy had in mind, there wasn't going to be any outpouring of new blessings until after Christmas.
I was also told that if the client would have done the Jupiter rites before the retrograde, there would have been more Tzadqiel could do now. It's like when you're building a house, there's a part of the work that has to be done when the weather is clear, but once you've got the frame built, you can cover it in plastic and keep on working on the plumbing and electric even before the roof is put on if necessary.
Now there have been other clients who needed Jupiter Work during a retrograde, and it was no problem. Maybe they had less specific aims in mind, or maybe they had laid enough of a foundation while he was Direct to be able to work with during the Retrograde. Or maybe this one client's natal chart leaves him personally susceptible to Retrograde Jupiter, or maybe the other clients' natal charts left them with the ability to receive Jupiter blessings no matter what the astrological weather was like. Chris Warnock or Austin Coppock would be able to decipher the details better than I can, I have no doubt. There are so many variables to take into account.
In general though, it seems like its a good idea to do the foundational building up Work with a specific planetary power while they're direct, and then maintenance Work when they're retrograde.
A panacea that would address all the variables regardless of their causes would be a regular regimen of working with the planetary powers. If you cycle through the seven planets on a regular basis, communing with their Intelligences, working with the powers of the sphere, you'll have a good momentum built up that will assist you when something unexpected pops up.
I was also told that if the client would have done the Jupiter rites before the retrograde, there would have been more Tzadqiel could do now. It's like when you're building a house, there's a part of the work that has to be done when the weather is clear, but once you've got the frame built, you can cover it in plastic and keep on working on the plumbing and electric even before the roof is put on if necessary.
Now there have been other clients who needed Jupiter Work during a retrograde, and it was no problem. Maybe they had less specific aims in mind, or maybe they had laid enough of a foundation while he was Direct to be able to work with during the Retrograde. Or maybe this one client's natal chart leaves him personally susceptible to Retrograde Jupiter, or maybe the other clients' natal charts left them with the ability to receive Jupiter blessings no matter what the astrological weather was like. Chris Warnock or Austin Coppock would be able to decipher the details better than I can, I have no doubt. There are so many variables to take into account.
In general though, it seems like its a good idea to do the foundational building up Work with a specific planetary power while they're direct, and then maintenance Work when they're retrograde.
A panacea that would address all the variables regardless of their causes would be a regular regimen of working with the planetary powers. If you cycle through the seven planets on a regular basis, communing with their Intelligences, working with the powers of the sphere, you'll have a good momentum built up that will assist you when something unexpected pops up.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Awww, Kitty!
I thought this phrase summed up the relationship between magician manipulating manifestation, and the actual manifestation itself:
"Sometimes you can control it. But other times it's going to do what it wants and you have to roll with it."
Monday, November 14, 2011
What's the Endgame?
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
- H. L. Mencken
Fascinating comment on Débrouillard Magique from EKB:
That said, how is this essentially different from the rave-ist chaote scene in the 90s? Contextually, it's quite different. Essentially, I'm not seeing much to distinguish it from the Mondo2000 reading magical thinkers as they built the Valley start-ups that busted in August 2000. Other than making loads of cash (note the term used), what's the endgame?What's different in the Peak Oil movement today vs. the 70s? There's a lot less oil, and it's got more traction.* Essentially, I would say it is not different, other than we're older, heavier, and have more kids. And we do different drugs to modify our serotonin levels. Society trends in 15-20 year cycles, each generation adapting a bit, growing stronger and more effective. Consider it a continuation of the current, if you like. We're older, smarter, and we've got better magic than we had back then. We've can remember what happened 25 years ago now, when we weren't even 25 years old then.
The endgame... What has the endgame ever been? To get from where we're at today to the moment of our death in a manner that makes us happy, satisfied, and proud of what we've accomplished with our time on the planet. Figuring out what that means to us, and then actually doing it is, imo, the Great Work.
* Less oil... more traction...
Friday, November 11, 2011
Débrouillard Magique
Note: The inspiration for this post came from last Thursday's Jupiter Working. I perform the Gate of Jupiter regularly, at least once a month, and usually weekly. The morning after the rite, I woke up to some notes I'd left myself from the Working, and the things Tzadqiel had showed me.
System D is a slang phrase pirated from French-speaking Africa and the Caribbean. The French have a word that they often use to describe particularly effective and motivated people. They call them débrouillards. To say a man is a débrouillard is to tell people how resourceful and ingenious he is. The former French colonies have sculpted this word to their own social and economic reality. They say that inventive, self-starting, entrepreneurial merchants who are doing business on their own, without registering or being regulated by the bureaucracy and, for the most part, without paying taxes, are part of "l'economie de la débrouillardise." Or, sweetened for street use, "Systeme D." This essentially translates as the ingenuity economy, the economy of improvisation and self-reliance, the do-it-yourself, or DIY, economy.
A while back, Jason Miller was talking about jealousy of the named path and whether magician or sorcerer were the right terms for what he does.
I would like to propose that perhaps a good term for him is débrouillard. When I read the description of the débouillard, my first thought was that it's exactly the kind of person I am, and shortly thereafter identified Jason and many of my other friends online in the occult community as also being débrouillards. It's what I like about them most, the central shared trait that draws me closer to them in particular than others.
I'm not the best at it, by any means, but I'm an opportunist who can see money to be made in most situations. I'm an entrepreneur. While I prefer to use the system that presents the least risk, I'm willing to weigh risks against return on investment and make the most beneficial choices as necessary. I have no qualms about resorting to System D to supplement my income and my needs. I've learned enough about how life works from the spiritual level to know that the official regulated economy is really all based on an agreement made between those with weapons and those without, usually. The official economic system is a shadow economy anyway, aimed at benefiting the rich elite rather than all who participate.
The way System D works is just like magic. We work with the entities of a hidden system to accomplish our desires. One could even accurately say System D is the Occult Economy. Heh. It's ours.
So I was thinking about how débrouillard magic would look in practice. The way I see it, there's two phases to focus on to be successful at integrating myself into the $10 trillion global economy:
a) Making Connections in System D so you can begin working with it more
b) Blessing the fuck out of business opportunities within System D once you get established
c) Keeping the activities occult
c) Keeping the activities occult
For part a), I've got a rite to the Moon, Venus, and Mercury in mind. Part b) would be an extensive operation working with the spirits of all seven spheres, and Part c) would be more Lunar magic.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Lucid Dreams
First, this:
Next, this:
Ok, so a friend of mine was asking about lucid dreaming the other day. He recently acquired the Supernatural Assistant (SA), and had been through some intense Solar initiations. He's also been through the planetary initiations, and is going through what I interpret as the Green Phase of the Work, where the magic comes to life and you really start doing it and learning about how to use it effectively. It's my favorite phase of the Work, personally.
The first thing he wants to do is Lunar Work. Specifically, he's got a hard on for Lucid Dreaming. He conjured up all the spirits of the Moon and his SA and asked for a lucid dreaming experience. He was serious about getting that lucid dream. His SA confidently assured him that he would be successful, and that this kind of thing was right up his alley, no problem providing the experience, it will happen. So he went to sleep.
No lucid dream.
So he came to me with his concerns that it might not be the SA he's actually contacted, because he didn't get the results he wanted instantly as promised. I explained that what he asked for was a skill that takes a while to develop, and that means it's going to take discipline and practice to get good at it.
People don't generally believe they can conjure a spirit and it will transform them immediately into a Banker, with a degree, experience, wardrobe, and position in a bank they've held for years. Yet when it comes to spiritual attainments, we sometimes think they can just instantly transform us into Ascended Master Priest Kings overnight. I do it myself, all the time, in spite of my experiences.
So I talked him through the process I went through to attain the ability to dream lucidly, explained the things I learned from my experiments, gave the tips and tricks I could. I encouraged him to do the work that results in lucid dreams, and to let his spirit do its work, give it a couple weeks before jumping to conclusions. I "level-set his expectations" so he would get the most out of his experience.
Sort of like Patrick Dunn, Aaron Leitch, Otter, and Jason Miller did for me after I made contact with my SA. It made me feel good to be able to help.
So after talking to him about his plans and his goals in Lucid Dreaming, I found myself getting a little wood over it too. A little teak. I've been doing an ongoing lunar rite for the Astral Warrior Talismans (which should be shipping this weekend), and my sphere's abuzz with the powers of the Moon in general. Why not? I thought.
And then things got weird.
In good ways.
I tuned into a dream the first night, opening an Astral Vortex and stepping through after saying the Magic Words, and it was epic. As soon as I stepped into myself, I remembered the dream had been going on for months. I've been leading an entire life in a dream, doing things that I didn't know about while awake because I haven't been paying attention. I was fully aware of all the plans I'd made in the dream realm, and I remembered everything I had done over the last few months to accomplish those plans. I remember it now consciously, and I've been busy.
I felt a bit like Tyler Derden, but without the confusion and amnesia phase.
I remember now that the reason I've been so tired lately when I wake up is that I've been working my ass off in the Dream. I remember doing some specific things that fucked up my back in the dream, and I had this excruciating back ache for three days afterwards. This happened twice in the last two months. In my waking life, I've felt distracted, tired, and unfocused. I couldn't seem to get my shit together long enough to make any headway on several important projects. I was annoyed in general, but I wasn't really aware of it enough to address it as an issue. I was stressed, but it was a background stress I couldn't put my finger on.
It's irritating to have spent so long in a fog. This morning, I woke to dense fog all around, except over the highway where fast cars had cleared the air. I drove through a tunnel in the fog bank all the way to work. It was fascinating. In the midst of the fog there's a current of motion and activity that has cleared the air, but to participate in clarity, you have to keep in motion.
In the Dream, things are always in motion, and I'm directing things like a conductor or an electrician conducts the flow of sound or electricity. It's sort of like plumbing too. And weaving. Only all at once, keeping time to a beat and a rhythm that's been going since the beginning of time. The tides are echoes of the heartbeat of the World.
In the waking world, things are always in motion too, but sometimes I feel a lot less like a conductor, and a lot more like someone coming into an art film student's movie in the middle and trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.
Things are making a lot more sense now than they were. I can sense more of how things are interconnected between the activities in the Dream and the experiences here below. The flow of manifestation between the realms sounds a lot like the flow of blood through vessels in the brain.
The Moon sphere on the Tree of Life is Yesod, meaning the Base. She is the consort to all the planets, receiving each of their seeds and bearing them to fruition in her womb, manifesting the things Above here Below. Things emerge into being, attain fullness, and pass slowly away, returning to the realm of the Unmanifest.
It's our base of operations. Our astral realm is the Idea that is represented on the Altar. Our elemental tools, our spiritual assistants are there to be worked with. When we do the rites down here, we're doing them up there at the same time, in more detail and purity.
Being aware of what's going on up Above isn't something that comes without work and exercise. When we conjure the spirits and ask for initiations, we receive spiritual exercises to perform. For lucid dreaming, you don't even have to conjure the spirits, they've already been recorded in lots of different places. Conjuring the spriits will help, of course, but it doesn't replace doing the exercises that lead to mastery. Meditation, Contemplation, Rituals, and the mundane task of remembering to write shit down every morning for a few weeks, or in the middle of the night when you wake up. The exercises build connections in your brain so you can remember what's going on and interact with it more directly. It's training for the mind.
And watch out for the Shadowlurker.
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Ok, so a friend of mine was asking about lucid dreaming the other day. He recently acquired the Supernatural Assistant (SA), and had been through some intense Solar initiations. He's also been through the planetary initiations, and is going through what I interpret as the Green Phase of the Work, where the magic comes to life and you really start doing it and learning about how to use it effectively. It's my favorite phase of the Work, personally.
The first thing he wants to do is Lunar Work. Specifically, he's got a hard on for Lucid Dreaming. He conjured up all the spirits of the Moon and his SA and asked for a lucid dreaming experience. He was serious about getting that lucid dream. His SA confidently assured him that he would be successful, and that this kind of thing was right up his alley, no problem providing the experience, it will happen. So he went to sleep.
No lucid dream.
So he came to me with his concerns that it might not be the SA he's actually contacted, because he didn't get the results he wanted instantly as promised. I explained that what he asked for was a skill that takes a while to develop, and that means it's going to take discipline and practice to get good at it.
People don't generally believe they can conjure a spirit and it will transform them immediately into a Banker, with a degree, experience, wardrobe, and position in a bank they've held for years. Yet when it comes to spiritual attainments, we sometimes think they can just instantly transform us into Ascended Master Priest Kings overnight. I do it myself, all the time, in spite of my experiences.
So I talked him through the process I went through to attain the ability to dream lucidly, explained the things I learned from my experiments, gave the tips and tricks I could. I encouraged him to do the work that results in lucid dreams, and to let his spirit do its work, give it a couple weeks before jumping to conclusions. I "level-set his expectations" so he would get the most out of his experience.
Sort of like Patrick Dunn, Aaron Leitch, Otter, and Jason Miller did for me after I made contact with my SA. It made me feel good to be able to help.
So after talking to him about his plans and his goals in Lucid Dreaming, I found myself getting a little wood over it too. A little teak. I've been doing an ongoing lunar rite for the Astral Warrior Talismans (which should be shipping this weekend), and my sphere's abuzz with the powers of the Moon in general. Why not? I thought.
And then things got weird.
In good ways.
I tuned into a dream the first night, opening an Astral Vortex and stepping through after saying the Magic Words, and it was epic. As soon as I stepped into myself, I remembered the dream had been going on for months. I've been leading an entire life in a dream, doing things that I didn't know about while awake because I haven't been paying attention. I was fully aware of all the plans I'd made in the dream realm, and I remembered everything I had done over the last few months to accomplish those plans. I remember it now consciously, and I've been busy.
I felt a bit like Tyler Derden, but without the confusion and amnesia phase.
I remember now that the reason I've been so tired lately when I wake up is that I've been working my ass off in the Dream. I remember doing some specific things that fucked up my back in the dream, and I had this excruciating back ache for three days afterwards. This happened twice in the last two months. In my waking life, I've felt distracted, tired, and unfocused. I couldn't seem to get my shit together long enough to make any headway on several important projects. I was annoyed in general, but I wasn't really aware of it enough to address it as an issue. I was stressed, but it was a background stress I couldn't put my finger on.
It's irritating to have spent so long in a fog. This morning, I woke to dense fog all around, except over the highway where fast cars had cleared the air. I drove through a tunnel in the fog bank all the way to work. It was fascinating. In the midst of the fog there's a current of motion and activity that has cleared the air, but to participate in clarity, you have to keep in motion.
In the Dream, things are always in motion, and I'm directing things like a conductor or an electrician conducts the flow of sound or electricity. It's sort of like plumbing too. And weaving. Only all at once, keeping time to a beat and a rhythm that's been going since the beginning of time. The tides are echoes of the heartbeat of the World.
In the waking world, things are always in motion too, but sometimes I feel a lot less like a conductor, and a lot more like someone coming into an art film student's movie in the middle and trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.
Things are making a lot more sense now than they were. I can sense more of how things are interconnected between the activities in the Dream and the experiences here below. The flow of manifestation between the realms sounds a lot like the flow of blood through vessels in the brain.
The Moon sphere on the Tree of Life is Yesod, meaning the Base. She is the consort to all the planets, receiving each of their seeds and bearing them to fruition in her womb, manifesting the things Above here Below. Things emerge into being, attain fullness, and pass slowly away, returning to the realm of the Unmanifest.
It's our base of operations. Our astral realm is the Idea that is represented on the Altar. Our elemental tools, our spiritual assistants are there to be worked with. When we do the rites down here, we're doing them up there at the same time, in more detail and purity.
Being aware of what's going on up Above isn't something that comes without work and exercise. When we conjure the spirits and ask for initiations, we receive spiritual exercises to perform. For lucid dreaming, you don't even have to conjure the spirits, they've already been recorded in lots of different places. Conjuring the spriits will help, of course, but it doesn't replace doing the exercises that lead to mastery. Meditation, Contemplation, Rituals, and the mundane task of remembering to write shit down every morning for a few weeks, or in the middle of the night when you wake up. The exercises build connections in your brain so you can remember what's going on and interact with it more directly. It's training for the mind.
And watch out for the Shadowlurker.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
A quick point on ancient aliens
Ok, Jack wrote something that needs to be said and understood about the Ancient Aliens movement. He raises a massive issue that really needs to be addressed, and not in the Ancient Astronaut crowd specifically, but in my sphere, your sphere, and every magician's sphere.
One of the arguments the Ancient Astronaut crowd often puts forward is that "If we could just barely do it today with all our advanced technology, how could those primitive tribes have possibly managed it?" In this argument, "primitive" doesn't just refer to the technology, the tools they have, but also to their minds, their intellectual capacity. Modern folk start with the assumption that because we know more about how the world works, our intellectual capacity is therefore much greater than those primitives.
It's not. The human brain hasn't changed much in the last 10,000 years. Advanced maths and sciences might not have existed back then, or they might have, but the brains we have today performing complex astronomical calculations are the same brains they had back then. The difference was the level of technology and the level of effort increase because they didn't have machines to do the work. They had slaves. They could look at the world and figure out how to drain a swamp and build a pyramid, as Jack points out.
Modern brains are not better adapted to processing higher maths than the brains of the people 10,000 years ago. The pyramids prove it. We tend to think you can't do advanced geometry without a scientific calculator, but we're wrong. They were doing complex equations with sticks and rope, and modern folk have the audacity to say they weren't smart enough to build the pyramids. Whatever, dumbass.
But the Ancient Astronaut core belief is that human beings have been visited by extra-terrestrial entities across time who brought advanced technological and other inspirational ideas. That fundamental belief is something I agree with entirely, I just don't think they were physical aliens in space ships. I think they were the same spirits that bring us things like Enochian systems of Magic.
One of the arguments the Ancient Astronaut crowd often puts forward is that "If we could just barely do it today with all our advanced technology, how could those primitive tribes have possibly managed it?" In this argument, "primitive" doesn't just refer to the technology, the tools they have, but also to their minds, their intellectual capacity. Modern folk start with the assumption that because we know more about how the world works, our intellectual capacity is therefore much greater than those primitives.
It's not. The human brain hasn't changed much in the last 10,000 years. Advanced maths and sciences might not have existed back then, or they might have, but the brains we have today performing complex astronomical calculations are the same brains they had back then. The difference was the level of technology and the level of effort increase because they didn't have machines to do the work. They had slaves. They could look at the world and figure out how to drain a swamp and build a pyramid, as Jack points out.
Modern brains are not better adapted to processing higher maths than the brains of the people 10,000 years ago. The pyramids prove it. We tend to think you can't do advanced geometry without a scientific calculator, but we're wrong. They were doing complex equations with sticks and rope, and modern folk have the audacity to say they weren't smart enough to build the pyramids. Whatever, dumbass.
But the Ancient Astronaut core belief is that human beings have been visited by extra-terrestrial entities across time who brought advanced technological and other inspirational ideas. That fundamental belief is something I agree with entirely, I just don't think they were physical aliens in space ships. I think they were the same spirits that bring us things like Enochian systems of Magic.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Aliens, Ancient Astronauts, and Astral Entities
But the subject fascinates me, the ties between extraterrestrial intelligence and human beings. Especially magicians.
Venusians? Yeah, I talk to them. I call them the Tharshisim, the angelic choir of Venus, and I work with them under the auspices of Anael, the Intelligence of the Planet.
Extraterrestrial beings from Sirius? Agrippa says:
Under the greater Dog-star, they made the image of an Hound and a little Virgin; it bestoweth honor and good will, and the favor of men, and Aerial spirits, and giveth power to pacifie and reconcile Kings, Princes, and other men: Under the lesser Dog-star they made the image of a Cock, or of three little maides; it conferreth the favor of the gods, of spirits, and men; it giveth power against Witchcrafts, and preserveth healthMagicians work with "aliens" all the fucking time. Aerial spirits indeed. This isn't new stuff, this alien interface. I don't have the knowledge or experience to do a full-on mapping out of all the alien lore to traditional occult sources, but it's there for those who have the time and interest. A friend of mine is planning a book about this kind of thing, and he's much more aware of the alien conspiracy theories than I am. I'm looking forward to his writings as soon as he starts producing them.
I'm not saying the spirits we work with are "really" aliens as we understand aliens today. I just think the spirit realm manifests in peple's lives, and they frame it using the symbols that work. One node on The Current might be Alien Conspiracy Theories and Newage Channeled Wisdom. Hell, Tesla got a lot of insight from aliens.
Astral magic is tricky, and it's easy to run down crazy wild rabbit trails acting on the instructions of the Cosmic Stupids you can (and do) run into in that realm. Alien conspiracies and channeled writings from various star groups are likewise tricky to wade through, you never know which housewife from rural Florida is just making shit up to make a buck and which one is actually receiving blue prints for hyperspace technology and antigravity drives.
But regardless, I think we traditional occultists can learn a thing or two from the Alien Abduction crowd. They're going up and interacting with entities and getting the shit scared out of them. We go up there and get all this spiritually useful information. But we don't ask about technology much, we tend to think these entities are trapped in the angel-demon categories and expectations of the Renaissance. In fact, they have access to all kinds of clean energy solutions and sweet ride technology.
If I had a better set of technological symbols to work with, I'd take a look at it further myself, but I don't. I don't know electronics well enough to give them the symbolism they need to work with. Dee received the Enochian materials the way he did because he had a penchant for cryptology, and it's a system that works well for the cryptographic minded among us today. Likewise, folks with training in modern technology should be able to receive systems from the spirits that integrate more than the rudimentary electronics I've got working for me in The Box.
And when you start looking deeper into the spheres, and get into the Eighth Sphere, you see things that aren't really very easy to put into words, but would make a lot more sense to your average alien conspiracy theorist than your average traditional occultist. It would totally confirm their worst suspicions, I'm sure, but only because they don't have the framework of neoplatonism to put it into perspective.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
Why you Need Occult Authors to Tell you Right and Wrong
Jason wrote that magical ethics are as bad as regular ethics, fucking just... whatever, do what you're going to do already, and don't worry about what the author says about it.As happens on occasion, I may appear, at first, to disagree with him
The fact is, you don't know right from wrong, and you're really not capable of figuring it out. You might think you know right from wrong, but you don't. You just think you do.
Here's proof: Killing is wrong, right? Yeah, killing is obviously wrong. Except for sometimes. When you really start thinking about it, there are some situations that make it ok. Self defense, justifiable revenge, war, or capital punishment are obvious ones, but also... eating. You don't eat without killing something, right? Or did you just mean killing people is wrong? Or maybe only killing animals is wrong, but it's ok to kill plants to eat. Because if you don't, you're killing yourself slowly by starvation... and suicide is wrong.
Right?
Ethics... you may really think you have them. A code guides you through the conundrums of life, and yeah, maybe it's a LITTLE relative and subjective, but basically you know right and wrong, and you do your best to do the right thing when you feel like it. Most of the time. I mean, even people with ethics that don't mesh with the rest of pop culture's ethics still generally do what they think is right, don't they? On some level?
Jason had skin in a game and cursed a business, and he says it's unethical, and he's right, it's against the objective standard of good and evil that our culture holds the proletariat to in public... But there's another kind of ethics that he followed that goes deeper, the ethics of business. He was paid to do a job, not to ask questions about its right or wrongness.
But if you're worried about whether or not something is right to do, then you do indeed need to be told what's right and what's wrong. If you're stuck in duality, if you haven't grasped the truth that the Universe appears both Good and Evil while it's actually neither, then you're going to need codes of conduct to keep you from fucking yourself and others up. You need rules. You need to be ruled.*
Also, there are really stupid people in the world who think that doing things that are evil is cool. The teenage rebellion factor. They don't realize that the things people call "evil" are really just "things with unpleasant consequences." They think there's something holy to be found in dark paths and wicked pursuits.
And some of them find it, whatever, more power to them.
But here's the fucking thing: there is no right or wrong, there's only what you do, and the consequences, and whether you're happy with them or not.
Everything else is motherfucking bullshit, a lie to keep you bound to the feeding trough like the good little fat piggy you are, until they're ready to eat you. Smoked, salted, fried, chopped, baked, diced with asparagus, red potatoes, and alfredo sauce. That's right, you're a ham slice. In shrink wrap, sitting on a shelf waiting to be consumed, staying carefully in the boundaries you have to stay in until someone gets hungry.
You know how bad the economy is? It's not. The economy that can be measured, that can be regulated, that can be taxed is falling to shit, it's true, and that gives us lots of graphs and charts and headlines we can look at and freak out about, and demand more laws to make it all better.
But there's another economy that's doing great. System D. Read that article, brothers and sisters, it's where the real profit will be made for the next decade while the ethically challenged are arguing over who should be taxed more and who should be regulated more. Those not bound by ethical constructs are going to be the real winners, the way they always are. And it's not necessarily evil and damaging to anyone to participate in that kind of thing. It's really helpful, when you get down to brass tacks, and it makes the world a better place for a lot of people.
* Kings aren't worried about ethics. They do what's "right" because it's beneficial to themselves and their subjects. It's the benefit to his subjects that makes it right, not an ethical rule about it.