Kenaz wrote an interesting post about the nature of humanity and deity that got me thinking. The Pagan sphere of occultists face a lot of weird issues that I, as a Hermetic-Christian magician do not have to wrestle with. Plato, Plotinus, Iamblichus, and Dionysius the Areopagite laid out the framework of a celestial hierarchy that I use in my regular practices. Between this framework and a couple thousand years of theological debate on the role of Man and God within the Christian realms, I don’t have to struggle much with whether I’m a God or co-creator or whatever.

But for those who might be struggling with where things all fit, I’ll lay out my understanding of the roles, and maybe that will help you figure out where you’re at in the grand scheme of the cosmos.

At the top of the food chain is the Source of all things, the guy I refer to as “God the First Father.” I know there’s no gender, but I’m more comfortable with the masculine pronouns. It’s easier than being politically correct, and if you want to call it a her, go for it, I don’t think she cares since it’s as wrong to call it a her as it is to call it a him, or even an it.

Below God is the LOGOS, who is also God. In the beginning was the LOGOS, and the LOGOS was with God, and the LOGOS was God. Being the first emanation of God, it’s still slightly lower than the First Father.

Below the LOGOS are the gods. In Hermetics, these are the 7 Planetary Governors. It’s no coincidence that the names of the planets are the names of the gods. Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Helios/Apollo, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Many pagans had different goddesses for each phase of the moon, but still. In a recent article on JWMT, Nick Farrell postulates that the 7 Olympic Spirits of the Arbatel are the gods. The Gods. Interesting take on things indeed. I personally Work with the Planetary Governors in the forms of the Archangels or Intelligences of the Planetary Spheres, but Hermetically, this is where the gods fall in the hierarchy. All the brothers and sisters of the gods who don’t get planets would also fall into this level, since they’re kin.

Below the gods are their servants. Iamblichus refers to these as the Angels, or messengers of the gods. In the grimoires we see each spirit having legions at their command, and each of the gods in the classical pantheons had daimon-servants who worked for them.

Next in the general hierarchy comes the Elemental spirits, the Genii Loci, and the various nature spirits we run into in our magical travels. Some of these spirits fall under specific gods, others are more like us, free to do what they will within their sphere of influence without really answering to anyone.

Human beings are on a different track. We’re made in the image of the First Father, and because of this, all the other spirits love us and work with us. We were created, I believe, to appreciate the Works of the First Father, and to continue these Works, functioning as his hands and feet within the material realm. There’s nothing in any Hermetic texts to make me think this is true, but I still believe it. It just seems right.

We spend most of our lives unaware of our Divine Race. We forgot that we were created in God’s image, and that we have the authority and power to create the world, and we spend most of our time in a stupor, pushed here and there by the winds of fate. The goal of the Great Work is to remember and reclaim our eternal nature, and to behave as if we were God’s Image on Earth. It ain’t easy.

Iamblichus teaches that there are Gods, Angels, Heroes, and Men. The Heroes are usually those like Heracles who were born of the union of a god and a mortal, but they are also the humans who, through theurgical magic, reclaim their divine nature and become half-divine, half-mortal within a lifetime.

In the Corpus Hermeticum, we also learn that humans can become “Powers,” leaving behind the mean nature and becoming like an angel or even a god after they die.

Each class of being is an emanation of God the First Father. We’re all related, all in the same family, and the ties that bind us together into a cohesive whole are stronger than anything we can begin to imagine in the flesh. In one sense, “Thou art God” is totally and awesomely true, while in another sense it’s hubris to think such things. While we are all aspects of God, we are not all gods or goddesses, any more than we are all angels. We are lower manifestations of a higher power, and I believe we need to be respectful of our brothers and sisters and cousins in the divine family when we work together with them in creating and maintaining the world.

Regarding the oil spill in the Gulf:

“Now that we know how to fix it… Drill Baby Drill!”

Aww yeah, gonna be pumpin’ out teh powers, makin’ me some cash off BGE for a change, and Ima be chargin’ them outrageous. Of course by then they’ll be regulating what citizens can charge corporations. Fuckers.

But yeah, as soon as they start selling them to residential homes Ima be all over that.

Don’t curse BP, they’re the only ones who can afford to do anything right now. Wait til AFTER they fix the leak, yo.

EDIT: And wait even after that. Cause there’s too much shit going down, as Ron points out.

I believe this article is best appreciated if read while listening to this song. (NSFW)

Change we can believe in… depending on how we define “change” and/or “believe.”

I’m in the process of moving back into my house, so the next couple of weeks may see fewer posts. Rest assured any hiatus will be temporary.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working with some fellow magi on an interesting project that is a long way from being publishable, but it’s definitely had some cool effects that have got my creative juices flowing.

After I get settled in, I will be resuming the Red Work series of courses. Based on recent experiences and revelations, some aspects of the overall course will be updated. It’s coming together nicely, and I believe I’ll be able to provide a simple and effective framework to accomplish the aims of the original Hermeticists as laid out in the Corpus Hermeticum.

I’m very excited about the prospects. I expect the Red Work series to provide communion with the Supernatural Assistant, Theurgical and Practical Work through the Four Elemental Spheres and the Seven Planetary Spheres, Access to and Integration of the Eighth Sphere, as well as a Goety aspect, which I may tone way down based on the evidence of current research. A lot depends on the outcome of the project I’m working on. If things continue the way they have been going, the whole Demon-conjure thing may be completely and totally a red herring, unnecessary to the accomplishment of the process depicted in the Emerald Tablet.

But Goety still provides a useful set of tools that are an aid to the magician while s/he masters the practical implications of the Eighth. Assuming they turn out to be more of what I’ve seen so far, that is.

As you cans see, things aren’t coalesced enough to talk about publicly. There’s too much “swirl,” and not enough data to reach an informed conclusion. But there’s more to come!

Aaron Leitch posted a neat link to an article at the Solomonic yahoo group today. He was excited about the book bindings that are illustrated, and rightly so. They are truly beautiful. Take a look here:

http://www.maybelogic.org/maybequarterly/06/0609RoyalBookbinding.htm.

What I found most interesting is in the interview with the creator of these beautiful works of art and magick. Specifically, the book binder is speaking about an earlier project called the Guardian Angel Grimoire, which he created for his partner Margaret:

The Guardian Angel Grimoire came about as the result of the problems my life partner Margaret was facing. I made the Grimoire as a Xmas present for her, I drew upon the knowledge I had put away 20 years ago and it all seemed to come back as if it never went away. The interior of the book starts with the Enochian Tree of Life, followed by the Major Arcana of the Tarot, followed by the Pre-Raphalite paintings (Morgan LeFay, the seduction of Merlin etc) ending with 14th-19th century magical symbols, with an 8pp section inserted within each illustration to write whatever.

The strange thing is, everything Margaret has written in the Grimoire has happened in one form or another. She has been offered many, many thousands of pounds for it, but now she will never part with it.

How cool is that? How many times would you have used a Magick Book to manifest things if all you had to do was write out what you wanted to happen in the pages?

I’m telling you, I’ve had this in mind for years. Ever since I read Crowley’s interpretation of the elemental weapons of a Magus in the Book of Toth as the implements of a writer. The quill knife, the ink well, the quill and the page. Beautiful representation of the Work of Materialization, in my opinion. In my chaos days, I attempted to create such an item, and failed MISERABLY. The results were pathetic, as usual.

However, I think this guy Paul has hit upon the method here, and I’ve got a theory to explain it, based on my own experiences with my Altar and the Glyph I go on about from time to time.

I’m able to manifest things in my sphere of sensation simply by placing a symbolic representation of what I want on my altar in the Table of Practice. The Table of Practice on my altar represents all the forces of creation and the managing intelligences and spirits that control the processes of manifestation. Articulating what I want symbolically is like planting the seed in the aethyrs and letting it grow.

Paul has done the same thing in his creation of the Guardian Angel Grimoire above. He’s got the structure of existence and all the powers and principalities that manage it represented in the Tree of Life, the pathways of manifestation presented in the Tarot imagery, and specific images that tie his life partner to the grimoire. He’s also got the seals of various entities included with pages for writing at various stages through the work.

It’s a beautiful piece of craftsmanship on many levels.

As soon as his partner writes something in the pages, the spirits associated with their seals set to work to manifest whatever is written. Simple, direct, and aestheticlaly pleasing. There’s not much more that one could wish for.

It reminds me of something Susanne Illes is working on with her Table of Practice. (Check out her blog for some really excellent art work: http://www.bone-singer.blogspot.c