Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Mess with the bull...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Sunday, October 12, 2008

Ohhhhh, the Drrraaaammmmaaaa

Oh, for Christ's sake.

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

Because, you know, they were bored.

Wait for it...

Wait for it....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Friday, October 10, 2008

Stop the Presses!

This Just In!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Astral Ritual

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, in the hour of the Moon (because I was primarily trying to expand Jupiter's influence to overcome the slow-but-steady aspect of financial growth that controls him while he's in Capricorn), I conjured the following Archangels of the Planets:
  • Gabriel - Moon, to increase Jupiter's influence
  • Tzadqiel - To increase Jupiter's influence, bringing health and prosperity to the situation
  • Michael - To work with Tzaphqiel in a nice smooth manner to loosen bonds and move the boundaries that were constricting hearth and home, and to turn the boundaries from being walls of confinement into walls of protection
  • Tzaphqiel - To actually move the boundaries that were keeping our family poor and ill outwards, providing more space for the Jupiter-Moon effect to fill up the new gap, and to strengthen our defenses of our house and home
  • Raphael - To specifically aid in inter-communications between the other planetary governors, and to provide a focus on business to the rite
  • Kammael - Because it was Tuesday, at first, but as I was conjuring him I realized that he could add a certain "violence" to the rite, making its effects happen more quickly, and to turn it into a military campaign of sorts, like the Delta Force of Archangelic Powers
I didn't have time to set up a full ritual with all the incenses and lamens and seals and what have you. Astrologically, the clock was ticking, and I had about six minutes left in the Hour of the Moon, if I remember right. So I decided to go the Astral Temple route.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thursday, October 09, 2008

The Power Within

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

I wanted to touch and channel the Divine Madness.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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