Well, apparently they’re persecuting the Cult of Santa Muerte. Can’t be sure, the Archbishop may have been part of a kidnapping ring. What I find fascinating is that it’s tied to a gang that calls itself El Aztlan, referring to the mythical home of the Aztecs. That would be like a gang called the Atlanteans, esse! The culture is hooked into its mythos a lot stronger than mine is.

So the article mentions they also had these shrines built all along the road in Nuevo Laredo, and the government and the army went out and tore down the shrines. There’s an ongoing war against the cult that’s ratcheting up in intensity. Some will say it’s another front of drug wars between the government and the cartels, but I tell you the truth, the war between the cartels and the government is really just another front of the spiritual war between the Powers and Principalities in high places, aww yeah.

But look, folks, there’s a reason Mictecaciahuatl rules the underworld, and there’s a reason she is Señora de las Sombras. I think they got too public with her, and her image became profaned. I think she’s cutting off the impious, those who would use her image instead of honoring it. You don’t fuck around with Aztec Gods. You just don’t.

Hey folks, with Mercury going direct, but slow, and the Moon being Brand new, and you know, consequently a little stiff, I thought I’d offer some tips and tricks for this kind of weather.

New Mercurial projects should be planned to begin when he’s fully back up to speed, and to be winding down right before he starts slowing down for the next retrograde. Plan it out now, begin to turn your thoughts on the project into an outline, a structured plan, and start filling in the details as he picks up speed. Launch the project when he reaches full speed (January 18th, 2011) and Work it into being between now and early March. Try to schedule the plan to wrap up by 3/15/2011, the last day he’s at full speed, or sooner. Things usually take longer than we plan, so leave some wiggle room. After he starts slowing down on March 16th, you should be cleaning up any left over loose ends and getting ready to go “within” to get new ideas for the next cycle.

In business terms, now’s a good time to be planning out a short term project that you can launch after the 18th, get done by March 15th, and reap the rewards going forward. In book writing terms, outline now, write up the bulk of the work between now and 3/15/2011, and then do the proofreading and editing while he’s retrograde. Then publish when he goes direct, and expect the income to start flying in when he gets going full speed. In healing terms, diagnose now, treat when he’s at full speed, and reassess when things are slowing down.

Conjuring Raphael now can be tricky, but I’ve never had any major difficulties with it. The talisman I use as a “lamen” was created when he was well-aspected, and we’ve got a good relationship built up. That helps a lot. I’m in the beginning stages of some Work that will be benefited by the help of a minor Mercurial spirit…

Hell, it’s easier to just say it. I’m conjuring Raphael and requesting a minor spirit to assist with a “love spell”* for some clients this Wednesday,  and I’ll work with this spirit in tying together the strands from the other spheres. As Mercury picks up speed, the minor spirit will be all over the place making sure the strands are woven together as planned and the clients get what they need. I’ve already begun the prep work, the divinations, and I’ve started roughing out the plan for each individual’s specific needs.**

And that dovetails nicely into New Moon Magic. the recent eclipse revealed some interesting things. Chris Warnock pointed out the light is blocked physically, and that’s a physical metaphor for what’s going on magically. The absence of light. It sparked some thoughts that led to some interesting conversations with the Lunar Intelligences.

Where the Light reflected off the Moon goes is a good indication of what can be done well magically with things under the influence of the Moon. As the light she reflects wanes, it doesn’t decrease at all. The same amount of light is being sent elsewhere, upward through the higher spheres when the Moon is waning and new. When she turns her face to the higher heavens, I turn my face there as well, and most of my magic is spent on exploring the upper spheres. As she turns her gaze downwards to the Earth, I work my manifestation magic.***

The Moon, being the last sphere before things manifest on the way down, rules the outermost shape and form of things in the material realm. By the time an Idea that you’re bringing into fruition reaches the Lunar Sphere, all that’s left to apply is the outer layer. Based on the Work you’ve done in other spheres, it will have some natural tendencies towards taking shape here below. A primarily Martial Working will take on a Martial form in the Moon, for example.

When the Moon is New, her light is completely focused Above. This is the time that you too should be focused completely above. Tonight is the night to open an astral portal to the Sphere of the Moon, ascend to the highest heavens, and lay out your plan Above. As she turns towards the Earth, the things you’ve seeded Above will begin to take shape.

Tonight I’ll be working through the spheres on the projects I have for my clients. I’ll be traveling and conversing with the Intelligences, and getting my ducks in a row. I’ll get details on each client’s needs and the influences that have led to their current circumstances. I’ve got several projects on my plate, including a business-luck talisman for a client in the Philippines that I’m Working on as well. As the Moon is fully powered towards the Above, I’ll be using its forces to get me to the highest heights for each project.

As you can imagine, my handy dandy note book is a key magical tool when I’m doing this much. Organization skills are necessary when you’re planning and plotting out your life and the lives of others.

As she waxes, the things I’ve got planned will begin to manifest here below. The Mercurial spirit assistant will have access to the forces hitting the material realm through the sphere of the Moon, and will be able to oversee the manifestation process nicely for me (and my clients). We all work together as a team, in harmony with the forces above to accomplish our goals below.

So, in summary: Plan out your Mercurial rites now, and take advantage of the New Moon to explore the highest heavens. As they progress through their individual cycles, take advantage of it, but make sure you also don’t get sucked out into the undertow when they progress through the rest of their cycles. Don’t tie your manifestation process so tightly to the Moon or Mercury that when they wane or go retrograde everything falls apart. Plan smart, and enjoy the results.

*Note: RO love spells are not your typical love spells, and you probably won’t like what I have to say to you when you ask for help. Just sayin’.

**Note 2: If you want in on this, let me know, I can sqeeze in a couple more. Not too many more, but, you know, a couple. It’s not a one-spell-fits-all kind of thing, but there’s still a little bandwidth available. Select the Relationship Engineering Consult option from the drop down list and I’ll run a divination to see if you’re one of the people I can help with this.

*** Note 3: I’m talking in “general guideline” language here. There’s a puerile myth that being in tune with astrological weather equates to being bound to the fates, limited in what you can do. That’s just not how it works. I have lots of mitigating talismans that allow me to do whatever I like, whenever I feel like it, and I do so as appropriate. The results are always influenced by the astrological weather, but proper preparation offsets negatives, most of the time. It’s like going to the grocery store when you need food, you go whether it’s raining or not. If it’s raining, your bags will be wet when you unload them, that’s all. The advice I’m giving is just, you know, tips and tricks to tap into forces that are at play. The universe is universing, it might as well universe for you.

Money is such a pain in the ass. Magicians really need to be spending their time doing magic, and not worrying about paying the bills all the time.

Now, we have to take into account fact that stress provides the heat that transforms the magician. That can’t be ignored or alleviated, at least not in any way that I can tell. However, no one ever said the only kind of stress that can transform the magician has to be money-related. It’s ok to turn your attention to better things.

Like anything else we do to channel the transformative heat required to accomplish the Work, removing the money-aspect of stress takes a lot of work, both spiritually and physically. It ain’t easy. It is dangerous to you as a person, because you will be changed by the process. The person you come out the other end of this trip is going to be someone else, someone different, wiser in many ways. You will change, and who you are now will be a memory of how you used to be. It’s really for the best in the long run, but the trip can be a real doozy.

But fortune smiles upon the brave! Don’t be afraid of your freedom, and that’s really what we’re talking about, being free from the stress of money. All it takes is making money.

Making money is pretty damned easy, it just takes a while, and a lot of good old fashioned work. About an inch or so of discipline, and the mental fortitude to endure some discomfort for a greater cause. It takes stamina, but like exercise, the stamina comes from doing the very thing you need the stamina to do! You’ve got to do it, and you’ll find that as you do, you are better able to do whatever it is you’re doing.

Starting is the hardest part. It’s free, so there’s no excuse not to do it. All it takes is time and work. You sit down, you start a blog, set up some pages, and start talking about the things you like to do. You invest a couple of internet afternoons to understanding PayPal and Google Checkout. You set up some means to accept funds.

Then you describe what you love. It’s your passion, your Genius. You wax poetic and profane about the thing you love, and the effort you put into it, and you sell the byproducts of your passion, the commentary, the pieces of art or craft you make along the way. You sell the how-tos, and the tips and tricks, and you tell the truth about your pursuit of your love.

And people like you, who are into the same things will come and talk to you, and about you amongst themselves. Your products will appeal to them, and as the things you make accomplish the goals they are created to accomplish, people’s lives are made better. And they tell their friends, and your sales grow.

And it takes a while. But it works.

Take an inventory of your interests in life. Really think about what it is that you love to do. What brings you the absolute most fulfillment in life? What thing in your sphere of influence would you seriously consider writing poetry about? What’s your art? What’s your passion? What are you really good at doing? What skills do you have that you would enjoy developing? What things make you happier when you get better at doing them?

Do them! Do that thing, whatever it is, and do it with all of your heart. And talk about it to people. And talk about how to do it. And sell it. Sell the fuck out of it. Take your love and your passion and make a fucking profit off that bitch. If you’re making shit, sell the shit, and let the beauty and meaning of that shit go into other people’s lives, and pay your bills at the same time. It’s convenient, it’s efficient, and it’s fulfilling as hell.

And you don’t let the selling become your life, because if you do, you really don’t understand money at all. It’s bullshit, people! Money is just fucking bullshit, a goddamned sick game people play. It’s really, honestly, fucking absurd when you think about it. If you lose sight of that, it becomes your master instead of your means. Jason talks about that in his stuff on finances. Money makes a good servant, but a poor master.

You know, here in the United States where society officially treats sorcery as a harmless delusion (usually), we’ve got it pretty good. As frustrating as it is not to be able to talk to people at the office Christmas party about what you spend most of your personal time doing, it’s better than sorcerors have it in parts of the world where people actually believe in magic.

I’ve been monitoring Google’s news stories lately for occult stories. The news occultists make globally is bad news for the sorceror. 45 people accused of using sorcery to spread cholera were lynched by mobs in Haiti. A guy was expelled from a country because the government suspected he was doing sorcery to aid his friend in an election. And he probably was, honestly, but getting him expelled from the country won’t likely lessen his meddling.

Kinda sucks to be a sorceror, in most places, especially when shit goes wrong.

Of course, that’s true in our private lives too, isn’t it? Even among pagans and magicians, if you’re going through troubles, don’t your friends or family assume it’s your fault, that you’ve done some magic that is having some kind of unexpected consequence? And it really doesn’t help that they’re right sometimes either.

Still, at least I don’t get lynched and shit.

I saw a present from the kids marked, “To Dad, From Sanety Klos.” I thought it was funny, and then I thought maybe the universe was trying to tell me something. Fortunately, I never took that Oath.

But this time of year, who couldn’t use a visit from Sane-ty Klos, come to spread some Sanity to stressed out moms, dads, and kids (of all ages) all over the world?

And honestly, it’s not just at Christmas. All year long, the pressures of life are pushing people beyond the boundaries of sanity and into the realms of being out of control. There’s only so much stress the mind can take before it begins to fracture, and when it finally cracks, the Ruach and Neschemah influence is gone, and we’re all in the power of the Nephesh and the Guf. By the time we get back to being a mostly unified being, we’ve said shit, done shit, and generally made a mess of our lives.

So, I propose a contract modification to the Universe. I think we incarnate humans should have the right to invoke the Sanity Clause at any point in time when the pressures of existence have fractured our sanity. When things start getting bad, we should be able to say, “I invoke the Sanity Clause” and have a brief respite from the stresses of the moment. Or a reset moment.

While the Contract Specialists in Jupiter work out all the legal details with Mercury and such, all we can do in the mean time is continue the Work.

In the Solstice Lunar Eclipse Stuff post, I passed on some astrological information about the Eclipse, and Patrick Dunn brought up some really interesting points in response.

Astrology is the art and science of reading the relative positions of the stars and planets to determine what forces are at play in general, and specifically at any given place and time on the Earth. It’s a method of reading the signs so you know where you’re at.

For Hermetic Magicians, astrology is a way for us to look around at the tools we have to work with at any given time to accomplish our magical aims. A chart of a given place and time will tell the trained eye which influences are strongest and which are weakest. Historic observations can tell us what kinds of things generally manifest when the planets are arranged in similar patterns. It lets us know what the tendency of things that manifest under these conditions has been according to astrologers who were paying attention throughout history.

When Patrick did his ritual, he did it exactly the way a Hermetic Magician should do it.

The first point Patrick makes in his post is that he conjured intelligences and didn’t just make a talisman. His point that they might be in a certain mood because of the weather is insightful and true. When working with the intelligences, you’re moving beyond the forces of manifestation and into the pre-manifest realms, sort of. And he did it the right way, asking questions and seeking a favor. He didn’t say, “Take now thy powers manifesting in the Earth and direct them to manifest my desires, forsooth!” By performing his magic the way he did, he became a co-creator, a worker with the forces. He did it exactly the way a Hermetic Magician is supposed to, and mitigated any deleterious effects.

I agree with his point two, that no chart is an unmitigated disaster, and I have no comment on his point three. Ice cream comes in chocolate and vanilla flavors because people have different tastes.

In point four, he brings up some awesomeness. “Those who have attained any degree of Henosis are free of the “twelve governors of fate” described in the Hermetica.” It is the manifest realm that lies under the governors of fate, and as Patrick says, we are free from that realm when we go into their spheres and talk to them. When the favors he’s requested come down to the material realm to manifest, they are going to be subject to the forces of the Fates that rule the material realm, just like any other Idea that gets projected into space-time, but he’s gone to the Intelligence and focused the way the forces will manifest as they come down relative to his intent. He’s right, the Henosis-endowed magician is not subject to the tides and forces of the fates, he is the co-worker with the fates.

I was disappointed with Patrick’s point five, that he’s unimpressed by magic that tells us to sit still. I completely agree with him, but my last paragraph of the previous post was supposed to address that. I take my goal, look at what’s going on astrologically, and see how I can tweak the general forces to work towards my specific goal. Health is obviously Mercury and Jupiter, but it’s also Venus, and also Luna, and the Sun, and Mars can be used, and so can Saturn. Finding one of the planets that is powerful in the current astrological weather is easy enough, you just have to be creative, tweak your approach.

In his first post on the eclipse magic, Patrick points out that he’s used eclipses to burn through obstacles. This is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Eclipses are bad news. The light is obscured, both physically and spiritually. Yet he directed the forces of the eclipse, the negative bad news towards burning through the obstacles. His statement of intent, “I will that America and its people immediately develop greater freedom and prosperity,” is great. Using the eclipse’s negative forces to burn through obstacles that keep people from freedom and prosperity is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about.

Add to that that he went Above and talked directly to the Intelligences, and you’ve got a perfect example of how to incorporate astrological weather into a rite. Patrick said he’s gotten positive indications through his divinations on the results, and I personally think he’s going to have great results.

But for folks who just wanted to absorb the forces that were manifesting and point them towards good things without going up to the highest heavens, without working in harmony with the forces, there’s going to be shit to clean up. Just because a moment is full of power doesn’t mean that power is going to automatically translate into what you want. It takes effort and insight.

The blogosphere’s been abuzz with things to do on eclipse-solstice night, but I didn’t do anything special with it. I don’t understand astrology well enough to know what the effects will be, and I’ve learned not to work from a position of ignorance and assumption when doing magic, it can have really bad effects.

On the Spiritus Mundi list, the topic came up, and John Michael Greer pointed out a couple of interesting things:

1. The eclipse is not on the solstice. It finishes more than 15 hours before the solstice, so it’s just an eclipse near the solstice.
2. Greer quoted William Ramesey’s Astrolgia Restaurata, and then made some analysis of the actual chart as it is, not as it seems to folks not familiar with astrology. See the group for more information, but he summarizes thus: Political troubles, poor public health, and a bad vegetable crop.

This matters because hen we’re talking astrological magic, we’re talking about the specific forces that are affecting a particular moment. As soon as you start conjuring up the forces of the heavens that are being projected through the Earth, you’re taking a snapshot of the moment and saying to the universe, “I want the forces represented right here, right now to apply to the following things,” and then you list the targets of the forces available, i.e. political troubles, poor public health, or bad vegetable crops.

So any magic you may have done to channel these forces will succeed, but maybe not the way you wanted them to.

Now, I wish I had time to read the posts before the eclipse, but I didn’t. I wish I’d posted a warning ahead of time, because this kind of magic is tricky, and can lead to bad things if you don’t know what you’re doing, but I didn’t. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and I missed the chance to give an ounce of prevention. Sorry about that.

But at least you can take into account the traditional meaning of the eclipse near the winter solstice and maybe make some adjustments to any rites you’ve done if necessary, or have a clue to figure out the source of any political, health, or … uh … vegetable crop issues you may have if you’ve done some Work on the occasion in hopes of getting something good. You’ll have to find a way to turn that into a pound of cure, if anything bad surfaces.

And remember, when you do astrological magic, you’re taking your idea of what you want to the tool shed, and then seeing what tools and materials you have to work with. At that point, you have to figure out how you can build your desired intent with the tools at hand. Based on your personal ingenuity, you can usually find a way to structure a rite that will get you what you want with the forces and materials available. It takes thought, planning, and understanding of the forces at work to be successful at this kind of thing. And ingenuity.

Pallas Renatus, frequent commenter and interesting blogger who should post more, mentioned on my last post, “Oh dear, it must be Mercury Retrograde again.”

And then I felt all Satanic.

Which is because I’d been reading Wake World again, and was reading the entrance to the Sun via a Gate from Mercury, which is Ain on the Kircher Tree, the path between Hod and Tiphareth, the Devil card of the Tarot:

“But in the first we came to a mighty throne of gray     granite, shaped like the sweetest pussy cat you ever saw, and set up on a desolate heath. It was midnight, and the Devil came down and sat in the midst; but my Fairy Prince whispered: “Hush! it is a great secret, but his name is Yeheswah, and he is the Saviour of the World.” And that was very funny, because the girl next me thought it was Jesus Christ, till another Fairy Prince (my Prince’s brother) whispered as he kissed her: “Hush, tell nobody ever, that is Satan, and he is the Saviour of the World.”

We were a very great company, and I can’t tell you of all the strange things we did and said, or of the song we sang as we danced face out-wards in a great circle ever closing in on the Devil on the throne. But whenever I saw a toad or a bat, or some horrid insect, my Fairy Prince always whispered: “It is the Saviour of the world” and I saw that it was so. We did all the most beautiful wicked things you can imagine, and yet all the time we knew they were good and right, and must he done if ever we were to get to the House of Gold. So we enjoyed ourselves very much and ate the most extraordinary supper you can think of. There were babies roasted whole and stuffed with pork sausages and olives; and some of the girls cut off chops and steaks from their own bodies, and gave them to a beautiful white cook at a silver grill, that was lighted with the gas of dead bodies and marshes; and he cooked them splendidly, and we all enjoyed it immensely. Then there was a tame goat with a gold collar, that went about laughing with every one; and he was all shaved in patches like a poodle We kissed him and petted him, and it was lovely. You must remember that I never let go of my Fairy Prince for a single instant, or of course I should have been turned into a horrid black toad.”

Good times! And then after she goes through the other two paths to the Sun, via Luna and Venus, she says,

“We came by and by to the Sixth House. I forgot to say that all those three paths were really one, because they all meant that things were different inside to outside, and so people couldn’t judge. It was fearfully interesting; but mind you don’t go in those passages without the Fairy Prince. “

They all meant that things were different inside to outside, and so people couldn’t judge. Not shouldn’t, but couldn’t. Because what things look like is not what they are. The things in the path of AIN are gross and disgusting, but they are also holy and divine. They are gates to illumination, even though they are debaucherous. There’s a danger, of course, for those who let go of their HGA for even a second on this path. People can turn into horrid black toads if they are pursuing Illumination through depravity, but there is a way through it that makes even the most depraved act holy if it’s done for the right reasons, and you never lose sight of the goal. The Cainite Gnostics come to mind. So easy to slip into utter oblivion on that path, but still a viable method of attainment if you can hold onto the Guide, and not lose sight of the Goal.

The depraved acts are, in truth, Evil. The depraved acts, done in innocence and without malice are, in truth, Good. It’s dualism at its finest, really. Truly evil and truly good. But there’s more to it than the apparent evil and the occult good. Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis. The Third Truth is that you cannot judge them to be either good nor evil, whether by merit of their appearance or the result. The real truth is that there is no good or evil other than your likes or dislikes.

This third truth is essential to the accomplishment of the Art/Temperance tarot card that represents the path of SAMEKH between the Moon and the Sun. You cannot make the Philosopher’s Stone unless you have rectified the Red Lion and the White Eagle, if you haven’t found them in a pit of nasty filth where they were savage, if you haven’t raised them to be faithful and good by always treating them kindly. You have to see beyond the apparent filth and savagery to get to the point where you have the refined faithful companions, the refined pure ingredients to create the Stone. You have to reach the third truth, that appearance and essence are often at apparent opposite ends of the spectrum, but their utility is only attained by balancing both.

The third truth is essential to passing the Third Path as well, the Path of NUN, the Death card of the Tarot. All who incarnate will walk down this path, and only one will emerge from the end, and yet the One and the Many are again the Outer Appearance and the Inner Truth, and again they are both illusions, references to the thing and not the thing itself.

So when Pallas Renatus said, “Oh my, Mercury must be retrograde” in response to the previous post, I realized that I’d better make some things clear, just in case. The apparent hubris of the post is the outer truth, the message it contains is the inner truth, but its true purpose was simply to entertain.

Jow’s observation on the self-centered nature of ceremonialists got me thinking. Ceremonial Magicians have earned a certain degree of contempt from the pagan and occult community at large because we do tend to be dicks, or haughty bitches on occasion. We spend all this time learning ancient forms of astronomy and correspondence tables, and we take the time to study the writings of magicians and mystics that can be difficult to understand, and some of us, at times, can get kind of arrogant.

But sometimes we just seem that way. When you’ve taken the time to actually read the source material Crowley references in his Book IV for example, you learn to understand a great deal more of what the man was saying. The jokes become apparent, and then when you point it out to people they get all offended because they don’t get the joke.

And on top of that, you’re a social retard who spent a lot of your time in books and communing with spirits, and most humans don’t understand what you’re trying to do. You finally meet some occult-people who seem to have an interest in what you’ve already done, and you try to talk to them, and then you figure out they’re just starting out, and you want to help, but you don’t know what they know, and you don’t want to offend them by patronizing them, but you’re excited to tell them something that would really help them, and so you try to make it sound like it’s something they might already know, you refer to it at a high level so it just reminds them what you’re talking about if they already know it, but if not leaves you open to go into more detail, and then they just look at you, and you try not to burn out their eyeballs with the glittering brilliance of your sphere as they gaze upon you with their stupefied inbred deer in the headlights look, and later on you learn they thought you were just being an asshole when you were trying to do a good thing. They aren’t capable of understanding it, let alone appreciating it or participating in the real good times, and they walk away thinking YOU’RE the dick.