Last Friday was Halloween, but as Lavanah reminded (or in my case, “taught”) us, today is the day that Samhain should be falling on.

ERGO! Re-review last Friday’s blog post and see how that works out for you on a day when the sun is cross-quartered; if you didn’t see the spirit you were looking for, try it again today when the veils between the worlds is truly thinnest.

And really, shouldn’t we go trick-or-treating all over again? And light the candles in the gourds?

Not me, I’m a Christian… but we’re not THAT far removed from you heathens. Scrape a little of the Holy Roman Patina off, and voila!

Anyway, I should get candy. That’s all I’m sayin’.

Last Friday was Halloween, but as Lavanah reminded (or in my case, “taught”) us, today is the day that Samhain should be falling on.

ERGO! Re-review last Friday’s blog post and see how that works out for you on a day when the sun is cross-quartered; if you didn’t see the spirit you were looking for, try it again today when the veils between the worlds is truly thinnest.

And really, shouldn’t we go trick-or-treating all over again? And light the candles in the gourds?

Not me, I’m a Christian… but we’re not THAT far removed from you heathens. Scrape a little of the Holy Roman Patina off, and voila!

Anyway, I should get candy. That’s all I’m sayin’.

From http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/project-management/?p=277&tag=nl.e101:

‘Twas the night before Christmas (or “holiday break”)
But I was still working — I kicked off a rake.
Secure shells were placed on my desktop with care,
So no one could sniff what I typed away there.
My clients’ hot issues were all put to bed,
But what those had preempted still caused me to dread.
So I in my bathrobe (’twas cold in that room)
Had just settled down for a long game of Doom.
When out on the WAN there arose such a mess
I thought that it must be a DDoS!
Away to the firewall I flew like Jet Li
Denied all incoming, even SMTP.
But as I more closely inspected each packet,
I realized with awe what was causing the racket:
A download! What format? I couldn’t have known it
But I found it included a textual component:
“Now JavaScript! Perl! Now Python and Ruby!
On Haskell! on Clojure! on Scala and Groovy!
To the Web-facing site, to the edge firewall,
Now bash away, bash away, bash away all!”
The download completed, though I tried to abort,
And a little man popped out a USB port!
His glasses — how thick! His gut — a real softy!
And his beard was all stained with cold pizza and coffee.
He was nerdy and plump, a right jolly old geek,
Though he smelled like he hadn’t had a bath in a week.
He spoke not a word, but went right ahead
He wiped off all Windows, installed *nix instead
The software I’d need, he downloaded it all
(Still using less space than a fresh Win install).
In the USB port he inserted his thumb
And vanished right into it the way he had come
But I heard him exclaim, ere I even had missed ‘im
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good system!

I had this image from somewhere on the ‘net, and I’ve been meaning to post about it, but didn’t have the context. Thanks to brother Inominandum’s Star Wars-themed post at Strategic Sorcery, I have an excuse!

The piece is based on the OBEY art project’s nationally famous Obama poster. It’s pretty unrelated to magic, unless you understand the Gra’al quest is epitomized in Episodes 4-6, AND you equate that to the Great Work, AND you think that we are performing our own Gra’al Quest as we ritually conjure the experiences in life that result in the esoteric manifestations of the Alchemical Processes that create the Stone…

Hey, it’s on topic after all, with very little stretching of the imagination. Thanks to Susanne and Stalking Hyena for the comments on the Animal Stone mentioned in the Ode to a Weasle post yesterday. That’s why I was back at the Alchemy Web Site and could fit it into today’s post.

After losing to Fr. POS in a friendly game of chess last night, I tried basking in the warm glow of Tiphareth to soothe my wounded ego. Actually, I was intending to do some Solar Work anyway. Before talking to him, I had felt downright suicidal for no apparent reason. It was totally against how I normally feel, so I figured some Solar Work would clean me out and do me some good.

After losing to the good Frater, I only had a couple of minutes left in the hour of the Sun, so I decided instead of a luxurious soak in the Rays of Father Sun, I’d conjure up Och instead, from the Arbatel. I engraved his seal on the inside of my wedding band a week or so ago, with the intent of never having my “purse” be without the jingle of gold. I had meant my bank accounts, but all I got was a wallet that hasn’t quite finished being depleted of funds in spite of hungry kids who outgrow their clothes at the worst possible times, and many bills.

Concern with those many bills had me conjuring the spirit Och, and when he showed up, he gave me all kinds of side-stepping issues, saying he couldn’t give me gold in a moment because there were “other things” going on that were interfering. I said, “Yes, there are other things going on, and that’s why I conjured you to get me the gold. You can do it. It’s in your office. Now, go do it.” Then I felt the spirit leave, and a sense of peace fell over me. I looked at the planetary hour, and it had shifted to Venus, the ruler of my Sun Sign.

I’d like to say a pile of gold appeared at my feet today. It didn’t. I got a couple of job opportunities today, but none within my area of experience or geographic location.I got notice that a job I’m waiting to be approved should be given a green light in early November, pushed back from late October.

Personally, I think Och is giving me the run-around. I don’t appreciate it much at all. I plan on having words with him about it later. Then again, I haven’t actually conjured him using the techniques of the Arbatel, specifically. Probably should, I suppose. I have used my Box and have had communications with him, though, placing my ring across the electrodes. I’m just not convinced he’s doing anything. Hmmmm… Just rolled the Geomantic Tumblers, and they say “Carcer: Restriction, limitation, and binding.”

I’ll think on that; confirmation of the spirit’s message is something I can’t readily ignore.

In the mean time, a closing quote:

But you
Why you wanna give me a run-around
Is it a sure-fire way to speed things up
When all it does is slow me down
Tra la la la la bomba dear this
is the pilot speaking
And I’ve got some news for you
It seems my ship still stands
no matter what you drop
And there ain’t a whole lot that you can do
Oh sure the banner may be torn and
the wind’s gotten colder
Perhaps I’ve grown a little cynical
But I know no matter what the waitress brings
I shall drink in and always be full
My cup shall always be full

–Run Around, by Blues Traveler

I had this image from somewhere on the ‘net, and I’ve been meaning to post about it, but didn’t have the context. Thanks to brother Inominandum’s Star Wars-themed post at Strategic Sorcery, I have an excuse!

The piece is based on the OBEY art project’s nationally famous Obama poster. It’s pretty unrelated to magic, unless you understand the Gra’al quest is epitomized in Episodes 4-6, AND you equate that to the Great Work, AND you think that we are performing our own Gra’al Quest as we ritually conjure the experiences in life that result in the esoteric manifestations of the Alchemical Processes that create the Stone…

Hey, it’s on topic after all, with very little stretching of the imagination. Thanks to Susanne and Stalking Hyena for the comments on the Animal Stone mentioned in the Ode to a Weasle post yesterday. That’s why I was back at the Alchemy Web Site and could fit it into today’s post.

“Rosco P. Coltrane” was the name to you we gave,
soon to be written in childe’s scrawl above your garden grave.
“Pets die more oft’ than people do,” I told her as she cried,
it didn’t help because to her more than a weasle died.
A friend, a toy, a pet, a joy, the girl had lost too much.
I held her as she sobbed and shook, and blubbered on, and such.

I do not understand, I’m sure, the pleasure she had found
in that smelly, creepy-looking thing that recently had drown’d.
So my silence I shall keep on this, I will not bitch or moan
or mention that we have a chance to make the Animal Stone.
For now, Rosco, I bid adieu, and hope the childe can bear it,
this grief your passing brought to us, so long you smelly ferret.

(C) 2008, Rufus Opus

“Rosco P. Coltrane” was the name to you we gave,
soon to be written in childe’s scrawl above your garden grave.
“Pets die more oft’ than people do,” I told her as she cried,
it didn’t help because to her more than a weasle died.
A friend, a toy, a pet, a joy, the girl had lost too much.
I held her as she sobbed and shook, and blubbered on, and such.

I do not understand, I’m sure, the pleasure she had found
in that smelly, creepy-looking thing that recently had drown’d.
So my silence I shall keep on this, I will not bitch or moan
or mention that we have a chance to make the Animal Stone.
For now, Rosco, I bid adieu, and hope the childe can bear it,
this grief your passing brought to us, so long you smelly ferret.

(C) 2008, Rufus Opus

“Rosco P. Coltrane” was the name to you we gave,
soon to be written in childe’s scrawl above your garden grave.
“Pets die more oft’ than people do,” I told her as she cried,
it didn’t help because to her more than a weasle died.
A friend, a toy, a pet, a joy, the girl had lost too much.
I held her as she sobbed and shook, and blubbered on, and such.

I do not understand, I’m sure, the pleasure she had found
in that smelly, creepy-looking thing that recently had drown’d.
So my silence I shall keep on this, I will not bitch or moan
or mention that we have a chance to make the Animal Stone.
For now, Rosco, I bid adieu, and hope the childe can bear it,
this grief your passing brought to us, so long you smelly ferret.

(C) 2008, Rufus Opus