Rufus Opus

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  • That thing I meant to finish…

    A year and a half ago, I posted about making this little mini-altar kind of thing for my Genius. The original post is at this link for your reference.

    Today, I finished it. I’ve learned a lot more about my Genius since then, so it turned out a little different than planned. It’s basically an elemental hierarchy tool now. It’s got my Genius at the top, exalted. The Name is in gold leaf. There’s the Four Kings of the Corners of the World under that, followed by the Four Rulers of the Elements, the Four Princes of spirits, upon the four angels [angles] of the world, and it’s got the Four Princes of Devils opposed in the elements sealed up in lead in the base. It’s also got my Evil Daimon’s name sealed up in lead in the base.

    The lettering on the top and outside of the thing is done in gold leaf. The demonic names I had to improvise. I started by consecrating a sheet of steel to Mars and Kammael by carving the symbol of Mars and the name of Kammael on one side. Then I conjured Kammael in the hour of Mars on the day of Saturn to seal the spirits named on the reverse side of the seal, preventing them from bringing evil into my life. Then I carved the names of the Four Princes of Devils and the name of my Evil Daimon in the steel.

    I melted a 4 ounce lead weight purchased from Walmart, and poured roughly half of it into the base of the thing. Then I placed the steel into the base, and covered that with more lead. The steel tried to float to the top of the lead. The lead literally pulled away from the steel to reveal the names of the demons. It was like they were trying to get out, or at least keep a toe hold in this world. I hit the lead in the wood base with a blow torch, and when it melted, I had to press it down into the lead until it was sealed in nice and tight. I finished by engraving the seal of Saturn into the Lead and conjuring Tzaphqiel to keep them bound in the lead as well.

  • Ohhhhh, the Drrraaaammmmaaaa

    Oh, for Christ’s sake.

    Remember dude I mentioned that wanted to be a Moonchild? I got that all wrong. He corrected me. Seems they weren’t trying to be Moonchildren at all. Oh no, nothing so puerile, he assured me. No, these two geniuses were trying to start the Apocalypse!!! The end of the WORLD!!! For Serious.

    Because, you know, they were bored.

    Wait for it…

    Wait for it….

    Give me a fucking break! “I’m bored, let’s end the world.” Where’s my clue by four? Of all the spoiled, self-centered, obnoxious, stupid, conceited, childish… no, not even childish, just damned bratty things I’ve ever seen… This takes the fucking cake. Hell, it takes the whole party.

    We were talking on a list about how omnipotence would lead to boredom. I mentioned that when I get bored, I meditate on the axiom “Only boring people get bored.” I also mentioned that any being that didn’t have the power to have entertain themselves wasn’t omnipotent.

    This is a beautiful world, full of beautiful things and beautiful people, and it’s a great awesome expanse of things to do. The world is your oyster. There’s nothing you can imagine that you can’t accomplish.

    Want to throw fireballs? Kathy, physics major, wastewater engineer, and author of the “My Gal” blog has the trick. It involves explosives, spark plugs, and pumpkins. Cheating? Yeah, that’s what I said, but frickin’ fun.

    Want to own your own island? Get a job, save money, get your credit fixed, buy cheap properties in the slummy parts of town, rent them out, use the rental as income to qualify for more loans, get more properties, sit on them for a while, and then sell them when you’ve got them all paid half off or so. Move to Florida. There are Keys that no one lives on. Build a house. Include a Hurricane Shelter. Don’t forget a boat for supplies.

    Want to be Donald Trump? Do what he did. Want to be a famous occult author like Jason Miller, Lon DuQuette, Sam Webster, or MacGregor Mathers? Do it. It’s your life. You get what you work for. You start where you’re at, you plan a path to what you want, and you do it. Fuck. It ain’t rocket science.

    “I’m Bored.” Fuck you. Get some fucking balls. Grow the fuck up. The world ain’t going to sit around and come up with things to entertain you, you self-centered piece of shit. Get off your ass and do something. Get a fucking job already. And brush your god damned teeth. Your breath fucking stinks.

  • The Spirit Pot Operation

    I’ve recently created my first, and possibly last Spirit Pot. “Spirit Pot” is a term I picked up from reading a very little bit on hoodoo and root work. It basically presents a dwelling place for a particular spirit to live in.

    I first thought of this while reading an excellent article by Aaron Leitch in the Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition. In it he discusses the links between the Solomonic tradition and Folk Magick. He pointed out that there is a brass vessel discussed in the Lemegetton that has similarities to the Spirit Pot of hoodoo traditions, and I set about creating a spirit pot for one of the entities from the Goetia.

    I selected Bune/Bime as the spirit I wished to have in my pot. He is the 26th spirit of the Goetia, and has two seals that can be used to get in touch with him. I went to 777 to see what types of things to include in the pot. Bune is associated with key-scale 24, if I remember right, and I found that the plant for this key is rush, a type of grass, and the incense was lignum aloes. The magickal weapon is the arrow, and the astrological sign is Sagitarius.

    I purchased a length of woven rush grass and wound it around the base of my spirit pot. I included dates and raisins, some incense containing lignum aloes and sandalwood, and carved a small arrow out of cedar, using the needles of the branch as the fletching. I drew up a Seal of Solomon from the Goetia, and set it in the lid of the pot. I drew one seal by hand, and included another seal I had printed off the internet. As I drew the seal, I felt the spirit’s presence begin to build up in the area. I created a triangle of manifestation, placed the seals in the pot, and the pot in the triangle of manifestation. I then began lighting blue tea lite candles for about a week, which burn for about five hours as offerings to get the spirit’s attention.

    On a Sunday night when the moon was right, I performed the conjuration. I did it rather simply, and made very quick contact with Bune. I spoke to him about why I wanted to work with him, showed him the pot, and asked if he would live in it. He was VERY agreeable.

    Since then I have begun to experiment with the Spirit Pot. I chose Bune because he is allegedly related to my sun sign in my natal chart and because one of his abilities is to bring treasure, and I very much desire to be wealthy.

    I have also included the hebrew words found on the sides of the brass vessel in the Goetia, written in Celestial script from Agrippa’s third book of Occult Philosophy.

    I’ve had some interesting conversations with members of the Ritual Magic yahoo group, and I hope to provide an interview with one of the members in an upcoming post regarding his views of the Spirit Pot as a spiritual condenser.

    [Edit 6-27-06]

    I finally got my camera up and running, so I’m posting a picture of my Spirit Pot at long last.

  • Long Week

    Well, faithful readers, it’s been a remarkably long week. My “real” had me working until after 11:00 p.m. for a change. Most weeks go by with only needing 20 minutes of work. This wasn’t one of them.

    That doesn’t mean I don’t have a tone to say, of course. I had some extremely interesting things happen with the Goetic Kings, and learned a valuable lesson, thanks to my HGA. I had a healing thing happen that left me stumped. A friend wrote a huge-ass essay on why Obama isn’t really black (friend is of African-American descent, so he gets away with that without being labeled a racist, even though he totally is). People have been asking for help with their Genius/Daimon names, and I haven’t had any time to get to them. I think I even sold an eBook that I ahven’t sent out yet.

    And there’s an essay project I’m working on about … well, you’ll see.

    Anyway, sorry for the hiatus, faithful readers. I’ll be back to full-R.O. mode soon enough.

  • Stop the Presses!

    This Just In!!!

    To the right you’ll see my awesome Superman keyboard. In front of it is a set of Geomantic Tumblers, received just today from Witch Doctor Joe.

    I’ve used them about fifty times already. Ok, maybe 15, but still, they rock. Now, did anyone notice that in my previous post today, I mentioned that ideally I’d be doing more divinations? Huh? That was totally before the Geomantic Tumblers arrived.

    I was dreading using the Tarot cards again. I can’t stand them. For one thing, I have a five and a six year old. They love cards, and the Tarot cards have cartoons on ’em! And are so brightly colored! And so for the last five years, I haven’t been able to keep a complete Tarot deck in the house. For another, they’re annoying. If I’m gonna shuffle cards, I don’t want to stretch my fingers to the breaking point (I use a mini-Rider-Waite deck because of this, and they’re still as thick as a regular tarot deck, pleah).

    These tumblers, however, are ideal. Even if the kids play with them, they can’t be ruined the way a set of cards can be. and they fit right in the palm of your hand! AND the money goes to help a Pagan be a better Christian than any Christian I know. It doesn’t get better than this. I love supporting a causethat will result in Jesus standing in front of all the Christians, telling a Wiccan, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,” and telling the self-righteous embarrassing nominal Christians that hate gays and convicts to “Fuck off, you said Lord Lord, but I never knew you, be-atch, now burn with those nut-jobs from Colorado Springs.”

    (I don’t think that’s literally what’s gonna happen, but figuratively, aw yeah!)

    We just asked whether my daughter got an A on her previous math test. It came up “Fortuna Minor,” which indicated an unfavorable response because she didn’t rush through the test. We asked if she got a B on the previous math test, and it came up Acquisitia, favorable if you want to gain something. She wants to gain a higher GPA, and a B would help towards that goal. So the Tumblers indicate she got a B.

    This is a set of questions that is perfect for ascertaining the accuracy of the divination. It’s based on work already done, but the results won’t be known for a while. The answer can be proven false. I’ll let everyone know how it turns out in the comments section.

    They’ve got a slight “hum” about them too. While using them, I started sweating a bit. Like I’m in a sauna. Or a sweat lodge.

  • Opening Portals to Commune with Specific Spirits

    For the purposes of this post, a “Portal” is defined as a gateway through which communications with non-corporeal entities can be established.

    All magickal acts consist of working with non-corporeal entities, whether they are gods, demons, angels, egregores, eidolons, or servitors. I prefer the term “Spirits” to non-corporeal entities. It’s more personal. The entities we work with are generally self aware to some degree, and thinking of them as cold constructs with no will of their own can lead to all kinds of problems later in your experiences with the spirit realm.

    To get the spirits’ attention, we have to open a portal between our normal reality and the realms they exist in. There are many ways of accomplishing this, but all seem to include intoning specific god-names. The Druids are recorded as calling out their curses on the Romans, and throughout the Eastern mystical paths mantras are intoned to bring about access to higher states of consciousness. I don’t know what the mechanism is, but vibrating aural tones creates changes in the environment.

    Once the environment has been changed through the intonation of the “words of power,” it is necessary to get the specific Spirit’s attention. This is done by having an image of the spirit on hand. There are catalogues of the symbols and seals of the spirits we have made contact with as magicians over the centuries contained in grimoires and described in sacred texts.

    Having the symbol or talisman of the spirit we wish to contact, we call the spirit by its name(s) and ask/order it to appear by the “power” of various associated god names. I believe that vibrating these god-names further tunes the portal that is opened at the beginning of the rite to the specific energies that are compatible with the desired spirit, and incompatible with any other spirit. When the environment is sufficiently tuned, the spirit can appear, and communications can commence.

    In the Lemmegetton, there are records of the spirits appearing at first in forms that are horrible to look at, and acompanied by noxious fumes and gases. To eliminate this, you are instructed to hold a ring in front of your face inscribed with specific names of God, and to order the spirit to appear in a particular form by the power of specific god names. I think that what might be happening is that the connection of a partially tuned portal must be more finely tuned once the spirit begins to appear. After this has been accomplished, the spirit is comfortable and can communicate quite well.

    In 1918, Aleister Crowley performed the Amalantrah working in New York. During this ritual, he opened a portal to other dimensions, and called various entities through it to communicate with him. One of these entities was LAM, which resmebles what we now call “Greys,” those pesky aliens that are seen during what science calls sleep paralysis and occultists know as night hags. After he finished the Amalantrah working, he carefully closed up the portal he opened.

    Years later, in 1947, Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard performed the Babalon rite. They were attempting to create a Moonchild, a human body that contained the spirit of Babalon from Revelations. It is postulated among many occultists that the rift they opened to draw down the star spirit was never properly closed, and this portal remains open to this day. 1947 marks the beginning of the UFO sightings that swept the world. Another connection between the interdimensional astronauts and the occult.

    As this example demonstrates, there is an important need to close a portal after you’ve communicated with a specific entity. This is done rather simply by performing an LBRP. Thank the GD for that contribution.

  • This Just In…

    A friend and magician is visiting pagans in jail and providing spiritual support for them. He’s one of 3 chaplains in all of (where else but) California that perform any kind of prison ministry for heathen pagans damned to burn in hell for all eternity. Can’t imagine why.

    But! I respect him for that. And he’s in need of fundage to cover the expenses of his efforts. He made these cool “Wonder Wands,” or “Tumblers” (he really needs to work on the name) to perform geomancy with. He’s selling them to raise money. He’s a smart feller.

    So if you’re a pagan and you want to support turning criminal pagans into reformed, spiritually seeking pagans with a good balanced perspective on magic and social obligations… It’s a good cause. Check out his site. I’m going to see if he wants me to set up a page over on RufusOpus.com where he can sell stuff to fund his ministry, if he doesn’t already have site set up.

    For more info, see his blog:

    http://witchdoctorjoe.blogspot.com/2008/08/sortior-virgae.html

  • An Astral Ritual

    So last Tuesday I was dealing with some annoying crap in my life. Finances were sucking. My job, my beautiful job, was in trouble. The gov’t contract has to be reviewed and funds reallocated at the end of each fiscal year. (That’s Sept. 30 for you civilians that don’t know.) My company subcontracted renegotiations out to the locals, and they totally dropped the ball. I should have known this would happen, but you know, I was distracted by other things.

    I got a call saying I would lose half my hours and all my benefits. Oh boy, was I thrilled.

    Since I had failed to proactively magick up a good contract ahead of time, as I should have, I ended up having to do damage control magic instead. Reactionary rather than Proactionary magic is not the preferred modus operendi, but it would have to do.

    Tuesday, what a wonderful day for doing wealth magic, eh? I checked my Current Astrological Weather, and found that Mercury was Cazimi (within 17 minutes of the Sun). Cazimi is supposed to be like plugging the planet into a tesla coil or something. According to some, and I believe it. I figured the Cazimi effect would overpower the retrograde sufficiently to get some clear communications with the spirit world, plus I needed help in business.

    The Moon was also right on Jupiter’s ass, in the Second House. I mean, they were overlapping one another. I found this gem on an astrology site about the Second House: “Specific possessions covered by the Second House include earned income and our ability to influence it.”

    The Moon is waxing, and I had been reading in Agrippa that day about how the Moon has power over all growth and decrease (Book 2, chapter something or other). Since Jupiter is health and prosperity, and I needed both of these things for various other reasons, I thought, hey, that’s great!

    The other issue was Saturn hanging out in Virgo. As you may know, this can bring strife and discomfort into the hearth and home. My spouse was ill and dealing with a great deal of pain since Saturn wandered into Virgo. She’s a Capricorn, so I suspect that wherever Saturn wanders, she gets hit especially hard in that aspect of her life. This job issue was affecting our house and home and family, and knowing what I know about Saturn, I figured out that I would need to include this planet in the rite to get the boundaries moved.

    Since I was going to be trying to move the boundaries, I knew I’d need to go through the Sun to get to the proper part of Saturn’s sphere. The Solar Gate to Saturn provides the best landing pads, in my opinion. The Mars Gate sucks.

    So if you’ve been keeping track, by this time I had figured out I needed to work with the Sun, Saturn, Mercury, Jupiter, and the Moon. And it was a Tuesday. I looked at what I was thinking about, and laughed. Five of the Seven Governors working together to get me out of a mess on a day that none of them ruled. So what the hell, says I, I’ll throw Mars in too. I should probably have included Venus anyway, but it didn’t seem to make sense at the time. Looking back, it could have helped with the Hearth/Home issues too.

    So I had analyzed my situation and identified what some of the contributing factors were. I looked to the stars and found what was looking good and what wasn’t. I identified the key players, and figured out how each could be used magically to turn around my situation.

    So, in the hour of the Moon (because I was primarily trying to expand Jupiter’s influence to overcome the slow-but-steady aspect of financial growth that controls him while he’s in Capricorn), I conjured the following Archangels of the Planets:

    • Gabriel – Moon, to increase Jupiter’s influence
    • Tzadqiel – To increase Jupiter’s influence, bringing health and prosperity to the situation
    • Michael – To work with Tzaphqiel in a nice smooth manner to loosen bonds and move the boundaries that were constricting hearth and home, and to turn the boundaries from being walls of confinement into walls of protection
    • Tzaphqiel – To actually move the boundaries that were keeping our family poor and ill outwards, providing more space for the Jupiter-Moon effect to fill up the new gap, and to strengthen our defenses of our house and home
    • Raphael – To specifically aid in inter-communications between the other planetary governors, and to provide a focus on business to the rite
    • Kammael – Because it was Tuesday, at first, but as I was conjuring him I realized that he could add a certain “violence” to the rite, making its effects happen more quickly, and to turn it into a military campaign of sorts, like the Delta Force of Archangelic Powers

    I didn’t have time to set up a full ritual with all the incenses and lamens and seals and what have you. Astrologically, the clock was ticking, and I had about six minutes left in the Hour of the Moon, if I remember right. So I decided to go the Astral Temple route.

    I sat here in me leather chair before the computer monitor, closed me eyes and breathed. Focusing on the breath stills my mind, like the Qabalistic Cross used to back in the day when I practiced the GD-style magic. As my mind cleared, I began intoning the name of my HGA. At the same time, I visualized my Astral Temple around me. I basically placed myself at the center of the Altar setup I have, with the Four Angelic Kings surrounded by the Seven Planetary Seals. I felt my HGA’s presence in the room with me, and the golden light descended into my astral temple, bringing the seven planetary seals representing their spheres around me into sharp relief.

    As each of the Planetary Seals began to pulse with light and life, indicating to me that the Intelligences represented by each were at least listening, I began conjuring the Archangels. Each seemed to materialize around the seals that represented them, sort of. When I got to Raphael, the other Archangels seemed to clear up, and it was like putting on your glasses in the morning, or when the weather changes and a haze you didn’t realize was there just goes away.

    When I had all the Archangels present, I outlined why I had conjured them. I explained what had happened at work, and how it was affecting me. I then went through each of the Archangels mentioned above, and went over what it was I wanted them to do. I felt this warmth and this tingling in my body, which I had mostly forgotten about by then, and had to focus again on the temple. Can’t get distracted when the magic starts working.

    The Archangels all understood what it was I was trying to accomplish. Each agreed that they would do their part to make what I wanted manifest. It was a lot like a corporate meeting. they “talked” amongst themselves, and I sort of sensed what they were doing as different parts of my “Sphere” would resonate to each angel’s influence as they wove together the fabric of reality to accomplish what it was I was looking for.

    I thanked them, and my HGA, and God in Jesus name, and returned my awareness to my body. I felt completely different. Before beginning the rite, I was stressed, and felt a lot like a cornered, caged animal. The stress was like a heavy, humid heat wave on my soul. After the rite, it was jsut gone. Instead, I felt alive, healthy, and optimistic. That’s a big thing for me, because when I get going down the depression road that stess usually puts me on, optimism is the furthest thing from my mind.

    That day I got a call from the Vice President of the company I work for, and he went over everything that was going on with the contract in detail with me. He explained how things had happened, and what they were doing about it. He assured me that he would reissue a new contract that would work things out in my favor.

    My thoughts: “Yeah fucking right. You’ll say anything to keep me on your payroll, I’m making you money. No way I’m staying with a place that cut my paycheck in half and cut my benefits. Get fuct.”

    The next day, I got the contract. I got a raise, I got my benefits, and I was able to work out a 32-hour work schedule with the local sub-contractor that’s managing the project. I’m still losing money, but not half, and not the benefits. With a five-person family, you’ve got to hae benefits. That day, I also got multiple other job leads that would double my income for a couple of months, which was as long as the company expected me to be on reduced hours. I will be able to hold both jobs simultaneously by a stroke of luck.

    Now, ideally, I would have been performing divinations regularly enough to know what was coming. I would have seen this heading my way and done some proactive magic to eradicate the stress. I blame no one but myself. I’ve got to get a grasp on my life, and do all the things I mentioned in the Invisible College post so that I’m no longer left in a position of climbing back up the side of a cliff after I’ve run off like the Coyote chasing the Road Runner.

  • Just what are those spirits up to?

    Have you ever wondered why exactly the spirits are so helpful? For years I suspected there was some plot or conspiracy behind what was going on, from the GWB to the Illuminati. When I went through a fundy phase, I was convinced they were demons trying to lead me away from Christ (never mind that they all pointed me back to Christ anyway). In my secular human phase, I assumed the advanced technology of some members of society was being used to manipulate otherwise talented individuals to keep them from interfering with the plan for interdimensional control.

    I think I’ve finally got it figured out. It has to do with their intrinsic nature. Each of these spirits is a self-conscious non-corporeal intelligence. It was created (or emmanated) in order to direct a current that influences manifest reality. For instance, Jupiter is an aspect of God that is assigned to dignities, prosperity, and offices of authority. Venus is an aspect of God that has influence over the domain of the heart. They each have a set of skills and talents that they’re really good at.

    These spirits are helpful because that’s what they do. They want to spread love, or assign dignities. That’s what they exist for. While they have general work to do, every time a specific mage calls upon them or their representatives, they have the opportunity to work with another intelligent aspect of God that wants to communicate with them. It brings them joy.

  • Bored Magi

    I have come to believe that there is nothing more dangerous than a bored magician.

    Some people get bored and torture their victims, like a cat toying with a mouse that was unlucky enough to catch its mercurial attention. Some people sit back and mock others. Some people take their boredom and invest it in whatever madness they’ve been keeping on the back burner for just such an occasion.

    On the whole, I’d say those who toy with others are probably the safest of the bunch. I’m in the camp of “let’s make things interesting,” and that usually means conjuring something I haven’t before, or making some magical craft in the Lab. The gold-painted Sculpey Seal of Bune was probably the least dangerous, and most amusing.


    The Crystal Skull was less amusing, but more interesting. The Spirit Pot has been the most profitable and has provided the most long-term fun.

    I also use this forum to discuss things that are on my mind, like Bored Magi. 

    I’m not saying I don’t toy with people on message boards when I’m bored, or that I don’t mock people. I’m probably the worst offender when it comes to that.

    That’s dangerous though. I’ve been reading Patrick Dunn’s latest book, and I’m only on the intro where he talks about the possible etymology of the word “ABRACADABRA.” One possible original meaning is “I create as I speak.” This is the epitome of what I practice as a magician. Made in the image of God who created through Logos, the Word, and created to continue this Work in the world around me.

    When we speak, as magicians, we are changing the world. Everyone does it, but I think magicians have a little more power behind their words as a result of their closer-ness to the Source of our being. Watching what we say is important. I called someone an “unmedicated bipolar” person on a list today. I don’t know if that’s what they are or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out later that I was right. Did I seal it into being by saying it, or was I just commenting on what was apparent already? Does it matter?

    I don’t know. On the one hand there’s the real possibility of megalomania. On the other, there’s the real possibility that everything we speak into being does come into being. Maybe not EVERYTHING, but … still. Better safe than sorry, I suppose.

    So my advice to anyone else and especially myself is to think before you speak, and speak proactively. Have a list of good things to say, not like affirmations, but as alternate text to put forward when confronted with a situation that you could make worse.

    I’ll get started on mine.