I’ve noticed lately that there is a rather disturbing trend going on in the world, a trend that I would like to put the brakes to, post haste.

Keith Boyle recently manifested a point of this hideous iceberg that is set to sink our collective battleships. Some members of an esoteric study group expressed concern about having me host a lecture because they worry about materialism being evil, and my stance on materializing the Work didn’t jibe well with their interpretations. And Sun Trust Bank is showing commercials like this:

So there it is. Do you get it? Materialism is now bad. Greedy people are to blame for the recession and depression.

It’s time for a little reminder. It’s time, my friends, that we get our noses rubbed in something we’ve forgotten. It’s time, goddamnit, that we all take a look around at the shit we’re in and remember, yes, remember the truth we’ve forgotten. The truth that sets us free from this bullshit lie we’re being sold, the truth that gets us what we want in life, the truth that isn’t as easy to eat as the semi-digested pablum corporations are polishing and spoon feeding us to make us feel comfortable about how it ain’t our fault that we’re in this shit.

The truth is simple. The truth is eloquent. The truth is this:

Yeah, that’s right. Greed is GOOD.

Meditate on the light all you want, pursue oneness with God, spitting in his eye for manifesting as the many manifestations we see every day the whole way up on your way towards that empty goal of escapism. It won’t bring you any release from this world. You’re still going to be ruled by your desire for escape. You’ll never get it. The spirit didn’t want to be One with you, any less than it could be. It didn’t want to be One, it wanted to be many, and that’s why we are what we are. And why did it want this? It was Greedy.

Greedy for love, greedy for experience, greedy for pain and bliss and agony and joy. It was greedy for ignorance, it was greedy for the AHA! of learning, it was greedy for beauty, raw pure aesthetics in all their manifestations. It wanted, it desired, it craved, and it made us what we are.

If your “Great Work” is a means to escape the pain of life, you’re fucked up. If your Great Work is a pretty veil over the ugly truth that you don’t want to deal with real life anymore, you’re fucked up. If your “Great Work” is a self-righteous judgment of God’s creation, decrying it as evil and worthy of hate and your despite, then you’re seriously, majorly fucked up.

Keep up with the Joneses. Use magic to get what you want. Build a comfortable nice life. You can be spiritually enlightened in opulence as easily as a mud cave in Tibet. (Yeah, I don’t know shit about Tibet, but I said it.) It takes discipline, yeah, it takes focus, true, but why the fuck can’t you do that and have a home gym to work out on too?

The economy’s in the shitter. People are going to be facing the hard truth that there aren’t as many jobs available as there were. I’ve got two jobs, one that pays me without assigning much work, and I just got a promotion at the other. There’s no excuse for you to be living in fear or in hardship if you’re a magician. If you’ve convinced yourself that the material world is evil and magic is some holy Work that somehow removes you from the daily responsibilities and should never be used for anything that might resemble greed, you’re doin’ it all wrong.

And if you throw your money in a savings account, if you don’t take loans because you don’t know where your next check is coming from, if you don’t use that credit card, you’re personally ensuring the recession-depression will last as long as possible. You’re also demonstratig your lack of ability as a magician.

Get a job using your magic. Do magic to prosper. Fix your local economy. This should probably be an Invisible College post. It will likely at least inspire one.

Agrippa is a great resource for all things magical. Using the tables of the scales of the numbers in the 2nd Book of Occult Philosophy, you will be able to put together whatever type of ritual you could possibly need.

However, the details on how to conjure spirits aren’t in the Three Books. Instead, you find a basic outline in the spurious “Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy.” This ritual can be used to conjure any of the spirits listed in the Tables of Book 2.

What you need:

• Something to trace a large magic Circle with on your floor around your ritual area. This can be anything pointy or something that can make a circular shape. This includes a finger, wand, rope, salt, or spray paint. Please note, spraypaint fumes are nasty, and it’s hard to explain to your landlord later. Salt vacuums right up, and if you use your finger or wand, there’s no physical residue to clean up.
• Pencil and Paper (You can also use a “pen”.)
• A compass (the kind you draw circles with, not a North-pointing magnetic thingy), or something you can trace to make concentric circles (different sized coins if you can write small enough, or lids, or different sized canned goods, bottles, etc.)

What you don’t need, but they’re nice to have:

• Candles
• Incense
• Scrying crystals or a bowl of water, a pendulum, or IMAGINATION

Some people would say imagination is a necessary thing, and I agree. However, most people don’t know their imagination well enough to understand how to use it in magic. Most people think it’s just something you use to make pretty mind pictures. Which it is. But there’s more to it. And the magic works regardless of your ability to see it in your mind’s pretty-picture-maker, so I’m counting it as optional.

Now what I’m about to tell you is the bare-bones basics of how to conjure a spirit. It’s not complicated, and the main intention is to get people to realize how easy spirit conjuration REALLY IS. I have clients that want to know the details of how to consecrate their wands. That’s great! Empower your tools! (I anoint mine with holy water once in a while, and say, “Be thou cleansed of all uncleanliness, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” while making crosses over it. Sort of a baptism. It works great.

But not necessary for Spirit work.

All you need is love.

Oh wait, that’s a Beatles song. I get that confused.

Here’s the process:

DRAW THE SPIRIT’S SYMBOL.

Most of the spirits in the Tables of Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy can be found with a little research on the internet. The Heptameron and the Magical Calendar are EXCELLENT resources for the seals of the spirits. If you can’t find the seal of the spirit, you can use its NAME. Written out in some script that you consider holy is good, but they also work in English. Somewhere some time, someone got the notion that some languages are holy by being themselves, and others aren’t. Whatever.

You’ll need to draw the spirit’s symbol inside a hexagram, underneath it’s name. A Hexagram is a Star of David, made of two triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down. Each little triangle formed by the points should be the same size.

Around this hexagram, draw FIVE Pentragrams (five-pointed stars). Four of these stars represent the four Angels of the Corners of the Earth. The Fifth represents the Spirit you are conjuring.

Next write the spirit’s name above these stars. In the Fourth Book, you write them in Hebrew.

Next, draw an equilateral triangle around everything you’ve drawn so far.

Next, draw a circle around the Triangle. It should touch the three points of the triangle.

Draw another circle around that circle, about a half-inch or so out from the first circle. In the border you have created, write the Names of God. These Names will vary depending on your source. If you’ve studied the Golden Dawn version of the Tree of Life, and have performed the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram a time or two, and the Middle Pillar on occasion, then you should probably use the Names of God that are assigned to the ten Sephiroth.

In my opinion, you can write IAO, LOGOS, Chronos, Zeus, Apollo, Aries, Aphrodite, Hermes, Artemis, and Hephaestus. You can throw in Hecate instead of Hepaestus too, but I’d keep Hephaestus in there anyhow. Now these are Greek manifestations of the faces of God that were revealed to a set of people that were not given the Law the way God gave it to the Jews. Instead, they were given the Logos in the form of Philosophy and other weirdness.*

Either way, or any other way, you’re representing in the outermost circle the manifestations of God that represent the different phases He went through in his emanation of the physical world. By listing these secret names, you the magician are pointing out to the servants of the Most High that you’re in on the secret, you understand the way things work, and that you’re an initiate. It’s like a badge that a sheriff wears. There’s no magic in the star of the cop, it’s what it represents that makes a criminal have to listen.

You know, like in Practical Magic. With the witches. And the dude with one green eye that flipped pancakes. And the Romanian cowboy. From Hell.

Cut out the circle. That’s your “LAMEN.” Wear it over your heart whilst you conjure Ye Olde Spirit.

Congratulations! You’re ready to conjure. Yes, it is that easy. You won’t get the really awesome mind-blowing results that you get with a fully detailed rite that incorporates all the things that empower and attract and resonate with the spirit, creating a physical space that is so closely in tune with the spirit’s own sphere that manifesting is a simple matter of stepping through a kleenex-veil. You will, however, get the spirit’s attention, and the more you do it, the more you’ll be able to see him/her.

Now, first thing you’re going to do is draw out the big ol’ Magical Circle. Look at the Goetia for a nifty idea of what a perfect magical circle should include. You’ll note that it’s basically EVERYTHING that is a God or Angel or Sphere listed in Heinrich Agrippa’s Scale of the Number Ten. These fellows were REALLY covering their bases.

In the Circle you’ve got candles in each of the four corners of the world for the Angels Michael-Gabriel-Uriel-Raphael. I base that interpretation on the Adonai written around the hexagrams (Adonai is Lord) and the Greek Tau cross in the center (representing the Earth, according to Crowley). Put those together and you’ve got the “Lord of the Earth” in each Quarter, and that, according to the Scale of the Number Four, refers to the Four Angels of the Corners of the Earth. It could be the Four Princes too, Oriens-Paimon-Egyn-Amaymon, but I’m more inclined to think Angels because “Lord” isn’t the same as “Prince.”

You’ve got the Alpha and the Omega listed, referencing the Logos. Then there’s a square in the center in which the magician stands/sits. Around the square is written El (God name of Chesed/Jupiter) and Jah (God name of Chokmah/Sphere of the Zodiak). You’ve got Vav (Nail) and Hod (Sphere of Mercury) too. Put those together, and you’ve got the representation of the “Powers of the Sphere of the Zodiak being brought down by God’s Grace to his Messenger, the magician, who Nails it to the physical realm.” Inside the circle is the Tetragrammaton, IHVH, with the letters drawn and the names of the letters written below for good measure.

In the center of it all stands the Magician.

Can you see all the things represented in the Magical Circle? You’re standing in the center, where I would place the Divine Darkness from which emanates the infinite Light of the Ain Soph Aur. You’re directing the powers of the spheres of the Zodiac outward through the Logos and then to the Four Lords of the Corners of the Earth. You’re surrounded by the Ten Names of God and the Ten Names of the Archangels of each Sphere. And then outside that circle, you’ve got the Spirit you’re conjuring, compelled by Michael and the additional names of God to appear within the Triangle of Art.

Potent stuff there, eh?

Well, here’s a Secret for working with Spirits. It applies to all of them, even the spirits of the Goetia. The Circle that is all drawn out and detailed is not something that has to be physically represented. It is the image of what you already ARE as a human being. You were created in the Image of God. You took on Flesh to manifest in this world out of LOVE of this world. The Archangels of the Spheres surround you and empower you, because they took one look at you when God made you and fell in LOVE with you. You’re the Image of their creator. they respect you, and honor God by honoring you. They compel the spirits you conjure to come when you call, but even those Spirits LOVE you.

But they have jobs to do, and if you don’t know what the circle represents, if you’re not consciously aware of being the Image of God, then no amount of paint, ink, or imagination arranged in any appropriate lines and circles and letters will save you from the performance of their duty: to drive you mad with desire for things of the world, until in desperation you return to your Source for salvation.

Now, I know for a fact that I am made in the Image of God. I’ve had visions and experiences and transformations that have made the Circle of the Goetia become ingrained into my own sphere. I’m aware that I walk in the loving Grace of God and all that he has made.

I try not to take it for granted.

When I trace a Circle, I say, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I consecrate this ground for our defense!” You can say, IAO, LOGOS, and Spiritus Mundi/Spiritus Sancti if you’re not feeling particularly comfortable with the names of God from the Christian tradition. I strongly urge you to stick with the neoplatonic system though. You’ll need a representative of the Monad, the Intercessor, and the Spirit that maintains everything in your world, like the name of your Nativity Angel, Genius, Agathadaimon, or HGA. By touching on these three things, you’re retracing your path up through the spheres, and acknowledging who you are and what your status is. You’re affirming that you are indeed the magician in the center square of the Circle of the Goetia with these simple words.

Well, I am anyway. If you’re not aware of Who you are, of What you are, and Why you are, you’d better go back and meditate on the Circle for a while, and get to know that everything I’ve said here is as true for you as it is for me. Or don’t. If you don’t, you’ll learn sooner or later the same thing, because all things work together for the good of those who serve God. And everyone serves God. Because everyone is, in a way, God. So there.

Ok, so you’ve got the LAMEN, and you’ve got the CIRCLE, you’re ready to CONJURE the SPIRIT.

Most Spirits have a Sphere that they are related to. Messenger spirits, spirits of knowledge, spirits of intellect, wit, and healing are related to Mercury. Spirits of Love, beauty, hearth and home are related to Venus. Spirits of visions of past and future, of gain and loss, of ebbings and flows are of the Moon. Spirits of boundaries and time are of Saturn. Spirits of enlightenment are of the Sun, spirits of mercy, grace, abundance are of Jupiter, and spirits of war, wrath, and justice are of Mars. You can find associations of spirits to elements as well, if you’re looking for things to happen on a mundane level without a lot of spiritual gnosis involved. Identify the traits of the Spirit, and you’ll have access to the Name of God that manifests the highest form of that particular class of Spirit.

In the Scales of the Numbers, Agrippa lists the names of God for each planet, as well as the Archangels and the ranks of angels. With these three things, you can conjure any spirit of the planets. In the Scale of the Number Four, Agrippa lists the names of the four Princes of the Earth, and in their names you can conjure the elemental spirits. You’ve got all the information you need in those tables to come up with a decent ritual.

To conjure the Spirit, the basic formula is a statment: “Oh [Spirit Name], I conjure you in the name of [God Name of the Sphere that rules the spirit] and in the name of [Archangel that rules the sphere] and by the powers of the [Rank of the Angels of the sphere] I conjure you; appear now before me.” You can say it a couple of times until you feel the Spirit’s presence.

Next you simply state what you called the spirit for. Remember, it’s a person. It’s smarter than you, older than you, and much more aware of its place in the universe than you are, no matter how much we think er know. But also remember that it LOVES you, to the fullest extent of its abilities. So don’t just tell it “I want to win the lotto this Friday at 11:20” and then say goodbye. There may be some reason it can’t or won’t do so, and if you don’t listen for an answer, and actually have a conversation, bi-directional communication with the spirit, you’re not going to get anywhere.

Undsal Sufy, author of the La Croix Petite blog notes that there should always be an exchange of “energy” when you Work with a Spirit. The way I see it, he’s talking about something similar to what I mean by a conversation. I dont’ make a habit of offering things to spirits. Most of my Work is done for knowledge, wisdom, and peace of mind over something that is troubling me. But when I want a THING to happen, or to manifest, I usually provide some form of offering for the spirit, not in an idolatrous way, but as a means of getting what I want done. when I want a spirit to show up, I’ll pour a libation, or run some current through their seal using The Box. I think it makes things easier for them to show up. So maybe he’s right, and every time you light the candles around your crystal ball, you’re making an offering to the spirits, I don’t know. But it’s something to take into account when you conjure the spirits.

Now once you’ve talked with the spirit, you’re almost done. I ask if there’s anything I need to know from the spirit. I “hear” the voices of the spirits in visions, the pretty-mind-pictures that move by themselves, or as thoughts that originate from outside my head. Sometimes I use a pendulum, and as I hold it, I feel my heart open up, and I just know the answer to my question, without hearing anything. The same thing happens as I scry into a crystal. Sometimes I see a face or a swirl in the occlusions within the crystal, other times I don’t, but I always feel like something inside me has “opened” when the spirits are near. However you learn to communicate with the spirits will likely be different than I describe it. I am sort of stuck with the words I have to represent what I do. You will have your own words that you’re stuck with.

Finally, I thank the Spirit for coming. If it’s the first time I’ve worked with the spirit, I say something like, in the [Names I conjured in], come again when I call your name, returning in peace and in power. Go now as you came. When I’m done I sometimes ground out by picturing myself sinking into the earth and then returning back to myself (I’m an Earth Sign, I like that), or I just let the mood dissipate on its own.

That’s it. That’s how you conjure a spirit. It’s not hard. This being a blog post, I’m sure I missed some details. If you have questions about things I should have mentioned, let me know.

* I’m fine with this because Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd,” and “I have sheep in other pens who recognise my Voice.” In John, it says, “No man comes to the Father but by me.” A friend pointed that out and asked me how I reconcile my belief that God is in the Greek Gods, and I had to explain that to understand John 14, you have to understand John 1. Jesus is the Word, the Logos. The First Father spoke, and that speech is Christ. Jesus was the Word made flesh. His Father is “the Good” of the neoplatonists. One cannot get to the Father unless you go by way of the Logos. That doesn’t mean that you’ve got to be a Christian. It means Jesus is going to call you as the Logos in whatever way he sees fit, and if you’re a sheep in another pen, or a believer of religions other than Christianity, then you’ll still be getting to the Father through the Logos when you hear his voice and respond to it. However that manifests to you.

Have you ever heard of an obscure comic strip called Dilbert? You heard of it because it’s hip and edgy to know the publications of backwater web sites with low traffic and locally-published city newspapers, right?

No, of course not. He’s totally mainstream, eh? Had a TV show based on it and everything. It wouldn’t have happened without Scott Adams getting syndicated. Ever wonder how he did it?

He cheated.

http://mindhacks.org/scott-adams-affirmations/135/

A friend of mine is seriously into understanding the how and why of magic. He’s forever coming up with these rationalizations for why things work. He said something about the subconscious mind (which is a myth; if it were subconscious no one would know about it) and the conscious mind working together to manifest the affirmed whatever blah blah blah.

I couldn’t give two shits less about how things work. I’m happy with the spirit model. It’s all angels and demons and people. (People spirits only recently got the nod of approval from me, after recognizing that the spirits have been tuning my sphere for the last couple of years and I now have these weird abilities that I used to conjure Gabriel or Raphael to see manifest; in less scale than they do, for sure, but nevertheless present.)

Scott Adams wrote his affirmations out something like 15 times daily for a year. It’s been a while since I read the blog post linked above, so my details are sketchy. He did this without any help from any spirits. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t believe in such nonsense, poor fellow.

However, how much better would it be for magicians like ourselves? Writing out such affirmations as letters to the Genius, for example, or writing them in a book dedicated to manifestation, inscribed with the seals of the spirits of each Sphere and our own Magical Motto somewhere on the cover. It’s something I’m going to Work on. see how things go.

Specifically, I’m going to mention two things in this endeavor:

• Losing the 60 pounds before Jason (I’m at 225 now, for the record)
• Manifesting the Gold Brick

I believe the key is to keep it simple and specific. Crafting a sentence is important. One of the books I read a couple of years ago was “The Irresistable Offer.” It talks about how you’ve either made or lost a sale in the first three seconds of your presentation, or something like that. It’s not new information. Every creative writer learns the “hook” is the most important thing in your writing, whether it’s an essay or a book chapter. Not that we use the things wer know, but we learn it in High School.

So my affirmations will be:

“60 pounds gone by November 2009” and “Five Nines pure gold brick on my bedstand.”

We’ll see how it turns out.

Jake Stratton-Kent mentioned on either Solomonic or Ritual-Magic that the magic of Abramelin is primarily demonic.

I find it odd that so many people have missed this rather obvious point. The “Holy Guardian Angel” was launched (back) onto the occult scene via the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, as translated by Mathers and popularized in concept by Crowley. The publication of the OTO, GD, and A:.A:. literature that laid the foundation for people like Kraig to write Modern Magick really has crystallized the world view of ceremonial magicians around the particular interpretations of things made by some industrial age Victorian British folks who happened to study something of Hindu mysticism through Theosophy, an exotic fad that wasn’t much different than Spiritualism.

In recent years, we’ve seen a new renaissance in magic, a return to the grimoires, but not as much to blindly follow them (although there are some staunch supporters of that particular vein), as much as to learn what magic looked like before it got industrialized and assembly-lined. People have realized the machinery of the Orders doesn’t work on everyone, and have gone back to researching the techniques, adapting them, but holding true to the tradition that spawned the movement.

Thank God.

It’s time for people to do the same with the HGA. Take a look at the Sacred Magic, and tell me the truth: is it about attaining some Western form of enlightenment? Is the being described in the text the “Atman” that Crowley claims it is? What is its function? WHY DID ABRAHAM WRITE THE BOOK FOR HIS SON?

It is a book of demonology. K&CHGA is the means to attain the authority to conjure and command the demons. The point is not to attain spiritual enlightenment. It is to attain the power to control the world by gaining authority over the spirits that manage it.

That, brothers and sisters, is the Great Work.

So for all of you that are convinced that K&CHGA is your ticket to Nirvana, and the means to transcend this plane and reunite with God, you’ve missed the point of the magic entirely. I’m not saying that isn’t part of it. The point, however, is to control your world. If you’ve got K&CHGA and you aren’t working with demons (earthbound spirits) of some kind… you’re doing it wrong.

I said it at my lecture, and I’ll say it again: If the whole point of the Great Work were to return to God and reunite with Him, then suicide would be the fastest way there. It’s obvious, I think, that the Great Work is about heading up through the heavens, gathering awareness, experience, and building a tight, close, personal relationship with God and his servants. But it’s not about re-unifying with the One. You were created separate for a reason.

Return in Power. That’s the goal of the Work: PROJECTION of the powdered Stone. You get the authority to USE it, not to sit on the mountain and shit. Sitting on the mountain is to get you the Authority. Coming down and teaching others to use it, that’s the goal of the Hierophant. Using it is the goal of the magician.

Now here’s an odd thing I’ve found. I Work with the Angels a lot. A whole lot more than any Goetic Spirit. They’re cool for most shit that I need done. But you know what? The celestial, planetary intelligences I work with work on ME. They change me, point things out to me, explain things to me, teach me, tune me to their harmonies. When I ask them for something here on earth, guess what they do?

They send someone else to do it. They’re celestial. They aren’t going to Fall to Earth every time we want something from them. They’ll either send us back with the necessary attunement to our sphere to make our request manifest as a natural result of their influence on us, or they’ll send one of their Spirits. One of the spirits assigned to the earth.

The higher you get up the magical ladder of light(s), the more authority you get, and the more discernment, and wisdom. It’s ok to use magic to do what you want, because you either have learned to use it appropriately, or you’re about to.  Either way, you’re the winner. And the way the universe works, when you won, everyone else doesn’t lose; they have an equal chance at winning by following your example.

So anyway… The HGA. The Genius. The Nativity Angel. The Acquired Supernatural Assistant. Different names for spirits that all share a common ancestral revelator. The further back you go, the more you find they aren’t there to bring you enlightenment alone; they are there to provide you with the means to DO MAGIC.

And that, my friends, is the Great Work.

Give me your times and dates and locations, and I will give you the POWER to control your world!

Check this out:

 

[…] he sends dreams, he brings women, men without the use of magical material, he kills, he destroys, he stirs up winds from the earth, he carries / gold, silver, bronze, and he gives them to you whenever the need arises.  And he frees from bonds a person chained in prison, he opens doors, he causes invisibility so that no one can see you at all, he is a bringer of fire, he brings water, wine, bread and [whatever] you wish in the way of foods:  olive oil, vinegar with the single exception of fish–and he will bring plenty of vegetables, / whatever kind you wish, but as for pork, you must not ever tell him to bring this at all!  And when you want to give a [dinner], tell him so. Conjure up in your mind any suitable room and order him to prepare it for a banquet quickly and without delay.  At once he will bestow chambers with golden ceilings, and you will see their walls covered with marble and you consider these things partly real / and partly just illusionary and costly wine, as is meet to cap a dinner splendidly.  He will quickly bring daimons, and for you he will adorn these servants with sashes.  These things he does quickly.  And [as soon as] you order [him] to perform a service, he will do so, and you will see him excelling in other things:  He stops ships and [again] / releases them, he stops very many evil [daimons], he checks wild beasts and will quickly break the teeth of fierce reptiles, he puts dogs to sleep and renders them voiceless. He changes into whatever form [of beast] you want:  one that flies, swims, a quadruped, a reptile.  He will carry you [into] the air, and again hurl you into the billows / of the sea’s current and into the waves of the sea; he will quickly freeze rivers and seas and in such a way that you can run over them firmly, as you want.  And [especially] will he stop, if ever you wish it, the sea-runnning foam, and whenever you wish to bring down stars and whenever you wish to make [warm things] cold and cold things / warm, he will light lamps and extinguish them again.  And he will shake walls and [cause] them to blaze with fire; he will serve you suitably for [whatever] you have in mind, O [blessed] initiate of the sacred magic, and will accomplish it for you, this most powerful assistant, who is also the only lord of the air.  And the gods will agree to everything, for without him / nothing happens.

For anyone who’s read the Book of Abramelin, this should be a no-fucking-shit moment of comprehension.

Quit making your HGA into a fucking guru that sits high upon a mountain top. Yeah, that’s part of it… but shit, it can do a whole lot more.

For they shall be called the Children of God.

Fr. BH and Jason expressed disapproval of people trying to make peace. I agree in part with what Jason and BH said, people don’t have to get along to like each other. I haven’t talked to Jason personally (besides leaving comments here and there) since calling bullshit on his obviously WRONG opinion of things, but, he’s right, we’re both enjoying it and not antagonistic about it. I’ve been finding so much in common with him lately that it’s damned refreshing to have something to differentiate ourselves on for a change.

And neither of us have to be right about this to perform magic.

Anyway, at the same time, I understand why people are trying to make peace between us. They’re used to seeing people argue on the internet and have it blow up into something hugely unhappy, ruining friendships, destroying the safety net they’ve managed to find among the fucking belligerent online occulture. They like the camaraderie we’ve got, and they don’t want it to get fucked.

And they have something intrinsic in THEIR belief systems that makes them want to point out the harmony between apparent opposites. I do that a lot in my own Work, and I’m sure Jason does too, and Bone Head. Bone Head not as much, cause he’s a Leo, but god bless him anyway. Everyone can’t be an enlightened Bull.

But I disagree with any condemnation of those who are compelled to make peace between people. For one thing, they can’t help but try. It’s their calling. For another, there’s absolutely NOTHING wrong with trying to bring peace and harmony. It’s very much what magic is about. They are being magicians, harmonizing elements and bringing together arcane bits for their talismans in their efforts to bring a bit more of the Heavens down to the Earth.

So to those who tried to bring peace and harmony, understanding between apparently opposing viewpoints, thanks, appreciate it, way to go. You’re real Children of God. It shows in your actions, you demonstrate the caliber of your soul. Don’t let the crusty free-will-believing unenlightened folks bring you down. You’re the Heroes of the Pagan classical myths, the Nephilim of the Old Testament, and my personal fave, you’re Jesus. Keep up the Great Work.

Well, I’ve been not writing the Practically Agrippa series all week long! Hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.

Seriously, my brain power’s about kaput, but I’m planning a reload this weekend. Maybe I’ll get to it Saturday and schedule the series to come out through the week. Five basic rituals based on five chapters shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe something not based on chapters, but on subjects even. Self-Initiation, Conjuration, Remote Viewing, Divination, and I dunno, Agrippinian Chaos Magic, what the hell.

I’m test flying a new initiation procedure on a somewhat informed and charmingly willing victim. Those of you who experienced my Solar Sphere Initiation failures (your fault, you didn’t do the follow up Work), or if you’re one of the folks that burned out while I was having you Samekh your way into the Sun, you’re aware of the issues that arise in jumping directly into a Solar initiation right out of the gate. So I’m experimenting with a new method to soften and loosen up some of the crap that turns into flaming projectiles when you go straight to the Sun. In the Alchemical process, the Black Stage comes from steady, lower-temperature heat applied to the base material. The negative crap rises to the surface in preparation for burning into White ash in the White Stage. Maybe pushing folks into the Sun out of the gate isn’t as efficient, so I’m starting sub-lunar now.

If he lives past tomorrow, I’ll eventually publish the methods.

I’m really too tired for this right now, but it’s either respond to Jason’s (and now Fr. BH’s, and now Monsignor Rossbach’s) post, or copy-paste yet more text from a word doc into a spreadsheet that will be morphed into yet another word doc in a few weeks.

Clearly, I am predestined to write this now.

In my comment on Jason’s post, I began with my favorite expletive. “Bullshit!” It’s totally apt for a number of things I run into in life. I’m adept at recognizing it. I am a Taurus. And I believe firmly that bullshit makes the flowers grow, but then again, I’m a predestinationalist. The bullshit is there TO make the flowers grow, on PURPOSE.

Now, I’m not just a predestinationalist, I’m a full-fledged Calvinist. TULIP, five points of Calvinism, baby. I waffle on limited atonement on occassion; right now I suspect the internet-runners that are as bright as a bag of hair when it comes to white horses being horses have no fucking soul. Overall though, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Iressistable Grace, and Perseverance of the saints, that’s me at the core. It seems pretty out-dated in this new-fangled world that has so blithely accepted the illusion of free will. I don’t really care how hip it is.

Long ago, and far away, I got a Vision. The Universe stretched out before me into infinity, and I saw that everything was moving like clockwork, together in perfect harmony. I saw that “now” unfolded endlessly before me, according to all that had come “before.” I saw the Angels dancing and singing and doing their thing, I saw the demons laughing and playing and doing their thing, and I saw crowned above it all a King. Who smiles all the time. (Good Omens reference, 13 points if you got it.)

Cabalists of the GD persuasion might say I received a Vision of the Mechanics of the Universe, the spiritual vision of Yesod. I wouldn’t argue, but I’d also point out that it wasn’t just the engine parts that I saw, but also the harmony of the movement, and the role of mankind as an angel working in harmony with all other things. There was the Vision of the Harmony of the Universe mingled in with it, the Vision that they assign to Tiphareth in the Sun. Its father is the Sun, and its mother is the Moon (Emerald Tablet reference, score 7 points for that one). And on their Tree of Life, the path between is Samekh, as in the Liber, and there’s a damned good reason.

Now I don’t pretend that it doesn’t SEEM like we have free will. I don’t use it as a cop out or anything that the ignorant so often accuse me of. The ignorant will say, “if it’s all predestined, nothing I do has any meaning…” All I can answer is that everything you DO has meaning because it is in complete accord with the rest of the harmony and mechanics of the spheres and their entities. It wouldn’t unfold the way it’s supposed to without you.

The marvelous thing about it is that we have the illusion of free will. It seems like we get to make our own decisions. Smarter folks than I have argued and pondered the implications. Fr. S.L. is consistently using dice theory and other mathematics to demonstrate that even though only one thing can happen at any given moment experientially, that doesn’t mean a thousand (well, 36 sometimes, if I remember right) other things COULDN’T have happened… He’s quite convincing.

But I just know he’s wrong. I saw it. I live it. I don’t get left empty in the acceptance of that at all, instead it’s really cool. It makes me eager to discover What Happens Next (Great and Secret Show reference for 22 points). I live in ignorance of the future, and I know that the way it unfolds is by my actions. Even though my decisions are predestined and are a given, I remain ignorant of what they are and am able to experience them as if I actually made a difference. And I did. It’s through our choices that the divine plan set in motion and locked in stone at the beginning of time unfolds. And that’s awesome.

When some relatively local nut went on a rampage and shot some Amish kids in a little school house in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago, someone suggested that I go in and tell them that the fact that their kids were killed is beautiful and part of god’s plan, let’s be all joyous that our children’s blood is on the walls. His issue was that evil, bad shit, and suffering are part of the overall harmony too. I’m sorrowful, a tone that brings pain and longing for freedom and oneness, on his behalf, for the bitterness he carries over the idea that he’s meaningless if he wasn’t the only part of himself making the choices he makes. But that’s beautiful … too.

Why does any of this matter? Why are we stuck reaping the consequences of actions we didn’t set in motion? How is it fair?

It ain’t. It’s just life. Sometimes it feels good and sometimes… not so much.. Two adult friends had grandmothers go into the hospital in the past week. One is recovering from surgery on the flesh suit, and one is recovering from her time in the flesh suit. Both are every bit as much existant as they were before. The difference is that part of one is done with her time here, part of one is still finishing up some shit that has to be done. Who got the better end of the deal? The one that doesn’t have to drink metamucil to take a dump ever again, or the one who gets to hold her great grandchildren a couple more times? Who knows?

The reason it seems so fucking unfair to free-will believers is that they just don’t have a perspective on life from the standpoint of ETERNITY. Ultimately, if half the shit we know is right in our hearts is really right, we’re all going to be hanging out in the Elesian Fields, the Summer Lands, Heaven, New Jerusalem, and maybe the Mormons really do get theri own planets where they are Gods and their many wives become their choirs of angels. Doubt it, but it could happen. Point is, everyone knows it’s etter to stay alive while we’re here, and even better than that once we’re gone.

But I guarantee that anyone (even me, I’m no perfect schmo who lives what I’m saying all the time) who is suffering, sad, angry, depressed, anxious, or upset has SOLID lost sight of eternity, and needs a refresher course pretty badly.

Where’s the proof? Somewhere between the Moon and the Sun. It’s right there. Samekh. Temperance. Art. And it’s beautiful.

(If you got all the points and caught the reference of your final score, score youreself another 376!)

Couple things to point out, I don’t have a lot of time.

First, there’s some neat graphics about the current Mercury Retrograde that shows where mercury is relative to the Sun throughout this retrograde. Interesting interesting stuff:

http://www.alphalifetrends.com/MercuryRetroGraphs-Jan09.pdf

Second, I’ve started writing up some practical magical rites and rituals based on Agrippa’s information. Someone pointed out that the tables of information don’t tell you how to do the magic. Oopsie!

So, I’ll write five or ten simple rituals that demonstrate how to use the Three Books of Occult Philosophy in practical magic, focusing on both Ascension magic and mundane manifestation magic. To begin, I’ll start with the elements, then the planets, the geomantic and other planetary figures, and some Angel magic. Most likely I’ll focus on books 2 and 3, but who knows?