Ok, chances are good that you’ve read Jason’s “What If” post. I think it’s interesting and raises some very good questions about things that are worth thinking about. Knowing Jason, he’s got some very, very good reasons for thinking about things this way.

Personally, at this stage of my Work, the classical order of the planets is more appropriate within the context of Hermetic magic than the actual, material, astronomical order of the planets. The Ptolemaic geocentric cosmology is based on how things look from the Earth. You see, it’s a very specific relative interpretation of manifestations in the heavens. The whole system is based on how things affect us while here based on a terrestrial point of view.

It doesn’t matter where thing happen to “really” be, it matters how they affect you in your daily activities. The interpretations of the Chaldeans are accurate and appropriate to the magician performing Hermetic Magic while incarnated on the Earth. The system has more explanatory force, it provides more power to predict outcomes of Hermetic rituals and processes than any emerging magical system that takes the planets actual positions relative to the Sun into account, or relative to the black holes in the centers of galaxies into account. We don’t live on the Sun, we don’t live on the black holes. We live here on Earth.

If you look at Astrology, you’ll see that every chart is created based on a place, a physical location on the Earth, at a specific time. You can’t cast a horary or natal chart without those two pieces of information. They are the base of the chart, literally. It starts with where you’re at on the Earth, and then you start plugging in “where” the stars and constellations line up relative to that particular place and time. It’s all relative, to put it in Einstein’s terms.

Astrological charts are used to gain insight into how things are going to manifest here on Earth. Likewise, the classical order of the planets provides insight into how things are going to manifest within Hermetic magic. The approach, the model, the map influences the overall subjective experience of the journey towards the destination. The events along the journey influence the experience of the destination when it is reached. After the time is spent at the destination, the journey as well as the experience at the destination are remembered and continue to influence your experiences as a whole.

I think that whatever system an incarnated magician living on the Earth uses should be based on their perspective from the Earth. The Altar Glyph that I found in Agrippa’s Scale of the Number Four lines up your altar in harmony with the the apparent locations of the planets and elements as seen from the Earth. It becomes the bridge between the macrocosm and the microcosm from the perspective of a soul incarnated in a physical body, a consciousness that spends most of its time aware of the physical realm. That, in my opinion, is practical. You aren’t going to experience existence as if you were physically in a black hole, I would hope. Jason understands this, he touches on that towards the end of his post.

At some point in my Work, I fully expect to be travelling spiritually to the stars. I’ve already begun, in fact. I’m in the early stages of exploration and integration, and the Intelligences I’ve met so far have only been the ones with direct contact, links, or a current that runs through and into the physical Earth that I experience in my “waking” life. As long as I am incarnated, I think I will continue to frame my spiritual experiences from the perspective of an incarnated being. I think that’s the point of the classical order of the planets.

Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto aren’t included in the traditional system. There are also a few billion stars that aren’t part of any of the named constellations that aren’t included in astrology or Hermetics. Their gravitational effects, the light they emit, the cosmic radiation they generate, the streams of neutrinos that emanate and bounce off them do hit the Earth regularly, causing some form of effect on the physical plane at a really microcosmic level.

But like the stars that aren’t in named constellations, the trans Saturnian planets don’t play a major role in Hermetic magic within the spheres of the planets. I believe their influence and meaning are reserved for exploration of the Sphere of the Fixed stars, the Eighth sphere in Hermetic Cosmology, and the Ninth. Whatever their influence on the physical realm might be, I think it is so subtle, or so intricately wrapped up with everything that it is more important or practically useful to work with the things that are tapping into it than it is to focus on the source. Like Chiah, the fifth part of the soul in Kabbalistic terms, or Quintessence in Alchemy, the forces from these spheres by themselves may not do any “work,” but without them nothing else can do any “work” either. I honestly don’t know though, this is all based on current experiences and interpretations.

But I’m probably right. Within my current context, any way.

Jow’s post about entropy made me laugh and got me thinking about catastrophic failures and my own catastrophic successes.

The atomic bomb was a successful project, a successful experiment, a successful result based on a lot of work and research. It’s pretty catastrophic. On the whole, I’d say catastrophic failure is much better than catastrophic success. I can’t help but wonder if he did a Goetic rite to get a new car, based on my experiences. The “Want a new car? Ok, I’ll break the one you have!” type of manifestation is right up their alley. Asking them to keep it in good condition and still running is also likely to cause it to break down so you take it to a mechanic and get it fixed, thus keeping it running and in good condition.

And demons aren’t the only ones who brought me catastrophic success. Early Jupiter rites with Tzadqiel for more money resulted in getting a job that paid less money and forced me to budget and realize how much extra money I had that I was wasting on things. Last summer I did a Solar rite with Michael and all the Sun angels from the Heptameron to get me wealth without having to work; I lost my job and spent three months unemployed, and still made a lot of money. I could have turned it into a huge success, over a year or two, but I had some urgent needs come up. So I did a Bune rite for a lot of money fast, and got the specific amounts I requested in my insurance check for the fire that destroyed my house.

In retrospect, I should have stuck with the lessons Tzadqiel was trying to teach me. Would have been better all around.

After my Eighth Sphere stuff started up last month, I was in a hurry to jump to conclusions. A friend told me I needed to get both feet on the ground before running anywhere. Came at a good time. I interpreted that to mean I should keep silent, and I probably should have more than I did.

If I told you how things work, or tried to sum it up, or tried to make a process out of this experience and the results, it wouldn’t work at all. There are too many intricate and subtle forces at play, and I’m just a part of them. It’s not like I thought it would be, but it’s exactly what Hermetics teaches it’s all about. The way to it is the way I went, for me and people like me. Spirit conjure does things to you. It changes you, prepares you. For the next level. Which is a lot like the last.

But saying, “Conjure the Intelligence of Venus and commune with it, and then express your desire in specific words or images, and then ask it’s aid in manifesting those things, and then thank it and say goodnight,” is telling you exactly the process I would use now to manifest a Venus result. Only it means something deeper now.

I haven’t finished getting ready yet, for all the transformations that will take place. I realized that there is no “end” or “goal” that is attained in this process. It’s a series of revelations and integrations, often of the same material in different formats. It’s an ongoing process of revelation. So beautiful, so sweet. And sometimes it’s dreams and pathworking, other times it’s hamonizing with Nature and serving the gods. It can be spirit conjuration and Ruach-Nous interface with God Forms and symbols of manifest divinity, gods and goddesses, angels and demons. Sometimes it’s burning heat (upon heat, upon heat) and crystal cities, other times it’s Divine Law and seeing that it, too, is Love. It’s a direct relationship with the First Father through the Logos, and the joy of creation and existence. And sometimes it’s death.

Then it’s Understanding.

But that understanding isn’t complete, there’s more around the corner. It’s really quite a wonderful process, all things considered.

After what I saw, if I’d tried to put it into words, it would have sounded almost Kybalion in its annoyingness. I would have done so anyway, try to put it into words that is, if I didn’t know the words wouldn’t work, and they’d leave the wrong impression. The words don’t have the right meaning without context, and for me, it’s been a very specific context.

There are goals in this Work, specific levels of attainment that are progressed through, and it works to accomplish its aims. It enables the magician to reclaim their (divine) race and value. As we go through the stages, we see reflections and slices of the Whole Thing, and How it Works, and it’s easy to say I’m done now, I made it. I’ve accomplished something and learned something. And it’s true! We really have.

But it’s not over yet, and jumping to conclusions before the end is not a safe practice. So I keep silent and process, and conjure, and contemplate. And I wait to see what happens next.

On the Solomonic yahoo group, there’s a bit of discussion about pamphlet publishing, Lulu, and how occult writers don’t want to have to set up book widths, and format their stuff for publishing. They want an editor or publisher to do that for them.

I’m thinking, I do that for a living! I’m a tech writer by day, mad occultist by night. Maybe more people would publish their stuff on Lulu and Amazon’s Create Space if they had someone who would do all the final editing and layout of their manuscripts for them.

So, if you’ve got a manuscript mostly written, but the technical details are beyond your patience or tech savvy, let me know. I’ll do proof reading, copy-editing, layout, and formatting for you. All you’ll have to do is upload the files and figure out how much you want to charge. I’ll even put together a quick reference guide for you that walks you through the process.

Layout and formatting is a flat fee of $150 and includes page numbers, a Table of Contents, Introduction (you write it, I make sure it’s on pp. i-whatever, not page 1-whatever), and getting it lined up with whatever online publisher’s template you want to use. Note: the publisher you’re using must supply a template.

Copy-editing and proof reading is $0.02 per word. This takes a while, and honestly, no editor catches everything that’s wrong in a manuscript. There’s also no such thing as a final draft, there’s only the one you sent to print and then found errors in later. I can make sure the basic grammar rules are followed, and that exceptions to the rules add value rather than make your work look like some kind of pre-schooler got a hold of the keyboard, and that the spelling is consistent (Aethyrs, Aethers, Ethers, and so forth). This gets you a readable book.

So for a manuscript of 60,000 words, the whole package would come to $1,400. For a pamphlet of 10,000 words, a complete package would cost $400. It’s the copy-editing and proof reading that cost the most, and it’s strictly optional.

If you have it “ready enough” and you just want it laid out and formatted to the specs of the print on demand place, it’s a simple $150 fee. You tell me how big you want your book to be, and I’ll go from there.

Note: If you pick a cover template offered by the site, I’ll make sure it’s formatted right too. I don’t do all that graphic manipulation stuff though. It has to be a template.

Maybe someday I’ll start a micro-publishing house that only goes through Amazon’s CreateSpace. Or something.

So I was telling someone about my courses, and I was talking about the Black Work phase, and they asked me if it was Black Magic. I was surprised, because I am so into my own way of seeing things, so immersed in my way of talking about the Great Work that I didn’t even see that there was a correlation between the name of my course and Black Magic.

I’m pretty sure my regular subscribers will know, but for any recent additions to the blog, here’s a little intro:

When performing the Great Work, alchemists began with raw materials and began refining them through a variety of different processes. The raw materials could be ore containing a precious metal, or chemicals that needed to be refined to be put to industrial use, or they might be plant or animal tissues. No matter what the original material or the processes used, the first stuff they started with, or Prime Materia, underwent a process of dissolving (solve) and then reforming into something else more refined (coagula). Lavanah has been doing a series of Spagyrical (plant alchemy) extraction of the essences of planetary herbs, which can be found at Practically Magic.

Alchemists used “wet” and “dry” methods. Some were immersing the material in strong acids that dissolved it, then reconstituting it through chemical processes. Others set the Prime Materia aside in a controlled environment and then observed it as it decomposed. Others used pure heat at varying temperatures for extended periods of time. As the Prime Materia changed, the Alchemists observed the metamorphosis and recorded their results. They compared notes, and found that four main stages could be identified and classified (generally) according to the color the Prime Materia changed during the process, regardless of the methods used.

The Prime Material would first turn black, as the impurities rose to the surface. Metal oxidized, plants decayed and grew black molds, and when you burn something, the first color it turns is black. This is the Black Work. It’s the beginning of the transformation process.

Then the Prime Materia turned white as the carbon turned to ash, or white mold began growing on decaying things. The impurities were refined, dissolved down to their core essence.

Next, the Prime Materia went through a quick succession of color changes, ranging from blue to green like a peacock’s tail feather. This is the Green Work. If you heat copper slowly to lower temperatures and then let it cool, you can see it go through the green phase. Higher temperatures yield a dark red. Pretty cool.

Finally, the Prime Materia would turn red, entering the Red Phase. This is the final product, the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. This final material would then be ground up and used.

If you can find a medieval recipe for making red paint out of cinnabar (mercury sulfide), you’ll see that it goes through all the color stages of the Work. Some alchemists didn’t recognize the Green Work as a separate stage of the Work, and others didn’t end up with a red-colored Stone as their final product, but the phases stuck and they work as a classification tool for people performing the metaphorical, esoteric Great Work using themselves as the Prime Materia and Magic to perform the refinement process.

The Great Work of the Alchemists may look like a labratory and a scientist puttering away, but these guys weren’t just interested in the chemical process and refined Stone. They were performing these experiments in a spiritual context, looking to find in the natural processes the true manifest Laws of God, and by so doing become closer to him. At each stage of the Work, the Alchemist was observing the transformation of the Prime Materia. As they observed the processes in the controlled environment, and the changes that the materia underwent, they found that they too underwent a purification process by proxy. Just seeing the Prime Materia get refined caused changes in themselves, brought understanding that could be applied to all areas of their life, and made them wise in the workings of the manifest realm.

So there’s nothing “black magic” about the Black phase of the Work. It’s the beginning of the process, is all.

[Edit: I just read Jow’s most recent post on Natural Philosophy, and I think it helps explain what the Great Work is all about. The Great Work is a facet of the thing he’s talking about, and the steps we go through in our magical Hermetic approach, or interpretation, are going to result in the same kind of exploration and discovery. Jow’s post helps put the Alchemical Work in context.]

I’m rebuilding my occult supplies now that we’ve got most of the house put back together. Incense burners, tarot cards, a new crystal ball… I had to rebuild The Box, too. Most of my talismans are gone, and I get to rebuild everything, pretty much, from the ground up. It’s kind of weird, but at the same time, it’s exciting. 

Dionysian Atavism: Via an LJ Friend

Actually, I know several of these guys. And Girls. You’ve met a wasp or two, right?

You know, my recent leaving behind of the Lem’s Goetia spirits may have left people thinking my approach to the Spirits doesn’t have room for demons. Nothing could be further from the truth at all. The Hermetic System has plenty of room for Demons. They fit right into the cosmology. Recognizing they exist and are responsive to the conjuration techniques we use is essential for long-term success and the accomplishment of the Great Work. Ignoring their existence, not making room for them in your system doesn’t eliminate their influence from your life at all. Plugging your ears and going “no demons no demons no demons” isn’t going to result in acquiring the Philosopher’s stone any more than an ostrich poking its head in the sand keeps it from getting eaten.

You’ve got to have room in your system for demons, that’s the bottom line.

My personal opinion is that the room in the system should look something like this:

See? Plenty of room for demons!

Does that mean no Hermetic Magician should ever let them out to go to work for them? Heck no! If you need something done that you haven’t acquired the initiations or empowerments to accomplish without the use of Demons, then by all means, conjure up the demons if you’re that impatient. Jason advocates having a laser-specific goal in mind before turning to them, and that might help too.

But what I’ve seen is that the demons don’t deliver what you want or need in the long term. I’ve found that turning to them for anything is likely to look really appealing in the short term, but eventually circumstances will arise that negate whatever benefit you received from them. You end up extending the problem, postponing some of the effects you want to avoid in the short-term, while adding more problems to clean up later. Eventually, and it might take a couple of years, you’ll end up wishing you’d spent the weeks or months Working with nicer spirits with better intentions developing the resources and powers you need to accomplish the goal without infernal influence. Better to leave them in the vault.

I wonder sometimes though, whether my experiences with them has given me some level of protection from stupid magicians sending them against me. A couple were hanging out a month or two ago, and they went away when I noticed them and told them to be gone. They took some things that I needed, but they left.

The thing is, my HGA could have gotten rid of them too. So could my relationship with God. Or Michael. Or holy water. Or even the LBRP.

Nope, I really can’t think of anything really useful that came out of my Work with them. Maybe there’s something I can’t see right now, but if there is… I don’t see it.