Omaha

'Omaha...

Somewhere in middle America
Get right to the heart of matters
It's the heart that matters more
I think you'd better turn your ticket in
And get your money right at the door"

- Counting Crows

Tonight my son, who is 15, is going to be teaching a class on the Magus Card of the Thoth Tarot deck, as a part of Thelema 101, a class he's presenting with Harper Feist. She'll be teaching the gematria of Love and Will in the Greek and doing some Isopsephy with people's names. It's going to be cool.

Listening to him prepare has got me thinking about the Magus card in general, and magicians in particular. I've been doing these classes on Thursdays that are about Hermetic basics, and the Magus card of the Thoth deck is totally us. All the symbols on it are the symbols of Magick. They are the tools of the Magician. Elemental, scriptorial, the things necessary to take a thought and make it manifest in the material world where it can be experienced. All the Hermetic Magick Stuff.

But guys, where is the Magician? Right there in the center. All the symbols that represent the elements circle around him. The Magus is the center of the universe, and all the things that manifest in it.

And I heard in my head Counting Crows singing about Omaha, somewhere in the middle of America, and the heart of the matter, and the heart that matters more.

The Magus is all air and Mercury, and it doesn't talk a lot about the heart. But before the Mind of Air, or the powers of Mercury can focus on making a thing manifest using the symbols of the spiritual elements of our daily existence, there has to be something you want. Something you desire.

And that's the heart. And it's the heart that matters more.

To me, the heart is the source that tells us what we want, and what we like, and what we love. It beats in the middle of the Magus. It's the source of the ideas that manifest. It's the instructor of the mind. It's the indicator of success and failure. It's what tells you whether you're doing it right. And whether you're fucking up.

Joseph Campbell talked about following your bliss to find enlightenment. In Thelema, the phrase goes "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love is the law, love under Will."

That love, our hearts are the only real guides we have in this path of magick that means anything. Gotta listen. Gotta be in the middle, balanced within the symbols we use as tools to make this world as we see fit.

And we can't be without listening to the Heart.

It's the heart that matters more.

Holy Crap. The Air Force Rocks.

Browsing the news feed, I found Lt. General Jay B. Silveria's recent response to racist comments written on the doors of black human beings in the Air Force Academy's prep school. Dude has some powerful things to say, and they are simple.

Watch it, it's great.

But guys, this is not just a speech. This is a sermon. And I find in his words the current, the power, the force that I tap into to accomplish my great work on the daily. He's talking about something that matters. He's talking about it in the context of his institution. He's speaking from moral outrage. He's speaking from the heart about how his community, his tribe is behaving. He's talking about doing better, being better, or gtfo.

And guys, this is what I think we're all about in this Rosicrucian Hermetic Great Work schtick. this planet, this shared space we all inhabit, this is our "institution." We are the leaders, the members, the followers that make up humanity. We are the people that create and experience this world. We are the owners of this existence. It's ours.

And we have a better idea. Those of us into this thing. Our idea is better, because it is compassionate. It is clear. It is fair. It is cool, for us, for our partners and allies, and for our children. This idea is that we are something divine, who have taken on the form of mortal humanity, and that each of us is worthy of respect, no matter where that person is at in their path, no matter how stupid they might be in this incarnation, no matter how bad their decisions might be, compassion, illumination, enlightenment itself is not about being good, feeling good, or doing good.

Dude nailed it. Right on the head.

If you can't treat someone with dignity and respect, then get out.

Applied Hermetics for Masters

I've been running a weekly broadcast on Facebook from the local O.T.O. lodge called "Applied Hermetics." The goal of this effort isn't necessarily to teach magick, or even Hermetics. It's to talk about what we're all about in this Hermetic thing.

Illumination - Easy as 1-2-3

This Magick thing.

Now, there are a ton of people teaching the fundamental processes of magick these days. Plenty of folks will teach you advanced methods to get laid and paid. I think Jason Miller's courses are probably cutting edge, but many of my former students have branched out into the world of teaching magick, and they are doing a fine job of it.

And honestly, I'm sick of teaching magick. I have a limited spiel on the subject, really. Get into the four elements, get initiated into the Seven Spheres of the planets, take the plunge into the Eighth Sphere and learn to Hymn in Silence and become a Power. Make the freakin' Stone. Make it into medicine, and heal the world.

I mean, honestly, that's it. There's a few years worth of Work involved, but it could be condensed to only a couple, depending on how fucked up you are about things. Each initiation comes with a purification period that influences your mind, body, and experienced reality. It's a process. I hope you're doing it.

But when you've done it, then what? What are you? Who are you? Why are you here?

Most of the answers to these questions get answered as you do the Work. We know we're god-flesh-all-at-once, we know we're here to create and experience our realities. We know we're illuminated masters, curious Eyes looking at everything, and beaming our manifest wills into the raw potentiality that becomes our daily lives.

We get that part, it's not that hard, really. Like the image of the levitating yogi. Tools, techniques, and making it look good. That's about it, seriously. We just have better tools. And we make it look better.

But this kind of thing seems to be rather muddy when it gets applied. There's confusion, doubt, and a lack of personal discipline that results in thinking we're nuts, or other people thinking we're nuts.

I've learned first-hand that you can't just say you're Illuminated and you've made the Philosopher's Stone, and that you have all the answers that vex the average person without getting flack for it. Some people attack you for having the gumption to admit it publicly, because they haven't got it yet. Other people attack you for having the gumption to admit it publicly, because they have it, and they don't think you're supposed to go public.

Basically, both those groups of people can go fuck themselves, in my humble opinion.

I worked my ass off to get here, and so did you. I'll be fucked if I am going to sit by and pretend like I don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Fuck that shit. Life happens as I speak it into being, and I'm supposed to pretend like I'm a cube farmicle? We can do better. I can do better.

I just think it's useful to talk to other people about this stuff. Do some exercises and relaxation meditations. Rise through the spheres. Talk shop. You know, work together to get things going, in our own lives, in the spheres that we manage, and together for all the plebes and troglodytes who just haven't done the work yet.

It's arrogant, and assumes a lot. I get that, and I'm ok with that.

Join me on Thursday nights, we'll be going over Hermetics and the application thereof. Like pros. Not like noobs.