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.