Rufus Opus

Blog

  • Solve et Coagula

    The other day, I was reading Ouspensky’s “The Symbolism of the Tarot” over at the Sacred Texts web site (www.sacred-texts.com). In the section “What is the Tarot”, he used the word “problem” in a sentence that shed new light on an old question of mine.

    Regarding the study of IHVH, he said “The study of this Name (or the four-lettered word, tetragrammaton, in Greek) and the finding of it in everything constitutes the main problem of Kabalistic philosophy.”

    He wrote in 1913, and his use of the language is different from my own. When I say I have a problem, I don’t usually think about it as a good thing, or as a subject of research. I think of “Problem” as something that’s bad, negative, something that is impeding my ability to enjoy life. I

  • 4th Pentacle o’ Jupiter

    Ok, so now I’ve scanned the 4th Pentacle of Jupiter I made:


    I also have a digital image I made in “PowerPoint” of all the stupid things. It’s a rough approximation based on colors I have on my pc, fonts I have on my pc, and images I copy-pasted from Joe Peterson’s web site.

    The outermost circle has Muriel and its seal, then the next circle inwards has Jupiter, Tzadqiel, the characters of Jupiter, and the seal of the Archangel. The circle within has the gloria… psalm, and the innermost circle has the symbol from the Key of Solomon. The coloring below is allegedly based on the Picatrix, according to this site.

  • My Favorite Blogs

    Recently, I’ve discovered that many of my friends are starting to blog about the nature of their Work. I’m very excited. I want to encourage as many people to blog about their magickal practice as much as possible because it was from the Work and insight gained by others that I grew the most. I found confirmation in my own experiences, encouraging me to continue in my own pursuits.

    My current favorites (in no particular order) are:

  • Sepulchers are Graves

    It has come to my attention that people don’t know what sepulchers are. This causes confusion in determining what, exactly, the traits of Bune of the Goetia are.

    Sepulchers are graves. You put dead bodies in them. They’re usually above ground, but not as impressive as a mausoleum. Any cave you put a body in would have been called a sepulcher, I think.

    Anyway. Graves.

  • Sepulchers are Graves

    It has come to my attention that people don’t know what sepulchers are. This causes confusion in determining what, exactly, the traits of Bune of the Goetia are.

    Sepulchers are graves. You put dead bodies in them. They’re usually above ground, but not as impressive as a mausoleum. Any cave you put a body in would have been called a sepulcher, I think.

    Anyway. Graves.

  • Sitting wth the Elders

    I sit with the elders of a generation this world has seldom seen.

    If you pay attention, you’ll note that’s been added to my signature line on various message boards. Sure, it’s like the lyrics of the Led Zeppelin song. Sure, it seems a little pretentious. Nevertheless, it’s true.

    I and my magical friends and nemeses are doing more meaningful magical acts today than I’ve ever been aware of in the occult realm. Pagans are paganing, CMs are returning to the grimoires in droves, magi are expecting magic to work, and demand explanations when it doesn’t.

    People are reading my stuff, linking to my sites, reading my articles, and getting inspired to do more Work. That’s awesome. I feel privileged to be a part of this generation.

    And my friends, they’re the most magically active members of the online community. We’re working on our own projects, comparing notes on different spirits we work with, and getting a lot done personally.

    I’m honored to be among them. They’re the elders of this generation, not necessarily in years, but in experience. We are the Crowleys, Matherses, and Westcotts of our generation. We are the Agrippas and Brunos and Iamblichuses and Plutarchs of our time. We are the masters of the Emerald Tablet, ascending to the heavens, and returning to the earth in great power to create the universe.

    It’s so easy, anyone can do it. If you want to do it, do it. You wouldn’t have a desire to do it if you weren’t capable. Do some magic. Talk to some spirits. Take the world by the balls and make it do your bidding. Heal the sick, empower the downtrodden, manipulate elections. Send evil upon your enemies and blessings upon your friends.

    Be a magician, and join the Elders of this mighty generation.

  • Enduring unto the end…

    I just left one of my online message groups today. I had joined because someone invited me there, and it was a Rosicrucian forum so it looked interesting. I’ve been reading about alchemy to get ready for this upcoming series of blog posts I’m noodling over, and I thought I might get some insight into some symbols or something.

    Man, what a let down. A couple days into it, I had received about twenty or so posts about the nature of Will. Great topic, wonderful exchange of ideas and opinions and theories, and all that. These people were smart, witty, and nice.

    But I’m so bored with that kind of talk. I mean, this is stuff that we went over in like metaphysical kindergarten. I’m at a point now where everyone is saying the same things I’ve already seen other people say before. Sometimes they’ve been said better, other times they’ve been said worse. It doesn’t matter much to me, I’m bored either way.

    I’m a little concerned. This is the stuff that I thought would be passionately interesting. I’m finding out that no one’s got anything to say that Solomon didn’t already say in Ecclesiastes. I used to think that if more people did magic, I’d have more to talk to about stuff. I’m finding out that isn’t true.

    Caring less and less about more and more. That’s what seems to be happening as I continue in my work. I’m thinking I must be going through either a stagnation or putrification phase. If so, the solution to the problem would be steady and progressive addition of Mercury, Air, and whatever other alchemical symbols for that might be.

    What gets me about all this is the damn time it takes. 30 weeks for the Stone, if you use lead and don’t mind poisoning yourself and everyone you “project” onto later. Just “Putrification” can take 6-12 weeks. Dissolving faesces, recondensing, blah blah blah.

    Oh well. Perdurabo, as they say. There’s nothing more important to do with life, after all. The trick is to keep the heat steady.

  • The Intelligent Communication Between the Spheres

    Shit. You’re catching me mid-satori at the moment, so forgive me if I ramble.

    Ok, so I’ve been doing the Neo-Platonic/Merkavah (NPM) rite my HGA and I pow-wowed on. I’m talking to my friend Fr. Bone Head today about some of his dream journals, and we get into the topic of Tiphareth consciousness out of Crowley’s notes (Point III) of Liber Samekh, the sentence in the text that has footnote 8 in it, and the preceding paragraphs:

    “…the Tiphereth-consciousness alone is connected by paths with the various parts of his mind.”

    The image of the Tree of Life was illustrated in my mind in great detail, showing all the paths from Tiphareth to the other spheres. In a flash of insight, I had the image of myself doing the NPM rite, and I saw myself traveling through all the spheres as I progressed from the realms of matter to the highest heavens. In the image I was like a “Little Mercury,” and by doing that rite I was delivering communications between the spheres.

    In a moment, I saw that magicians doing the Great Work are all sort of doing the same job. We become the messengers between the planetary governors, in a way, linking them and strengthening their ability to work together as a team.

    When we Work with each planetary intelligence, our sphere is tuned to the vibration of the sphere it represents. When we travel to the next sphere, that sphere’s Intelligence is directly aware of the impression in our sphere left by the previous sphere’s intelligence. We become part of the communication that occurs between the spheres when we perform the act that is described in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

    This mini-satori explains why my Daimon included the trip back down through the spheres. By going up and then returning down, each sphere receives interaction with every other sphere. If we only went up through the spheres, the Intelligence of the Moon would miss an opportunity to see the recent impact of the Intelligence of Saturn on one magician’s sphere.

    It’s almost like we’re Sparks traveling the neural networks of an interplanetary Intelligence’s brain.

  • The Intelligent Communication Between the Spheres

    Shit. You’re catching me mid-satori at the moment, so forgive me if I ramble.

    Ok, so I’ve been doing the Neo-Platonic/Merkavah (NPM) rite my HGA and I pow-wowed on. I’m talking to my friend Fr. Bone Head today about some of his dream journals, and we get into the topic of Tiphareth consciousness out of Crowley’s notes (Point III) of Liber Samekh, the sentence in the text that has footnote 8 in it, and the preceding paragraphs:

    “…the Tiphereth-consciousness alone is connected by paths with the various parts of his mind.”

    The image of the Tree of Life was illustrated in my mind in great detail, showing all the paths from Tiphareth to the other spheres. In a flash of insight, I had the image of myself doing the NPM rite, and I saw myself traveling through all the spheres as I progressed from the realms of matter to the highest heavens. In the image I was like a “Little Mercury,” and by doing that rite I was delivering communications between the spheres.

    In a moment, I saw that magicians doing the Great Work are all sort of doing the same job. We become the messengers between the planetary governors, in a way, linking them and strengthening their ability to work together as a team.

    When we Work with each planetary intelligence, our sphere is tuned to the vibration of the sphere it represents. When we travel to the next sphere, that sphere’s Intelligence is directly aware of the impression in our sphere left by the previous sphere’s intelligence. We become part of the communication that occurs between the spheres when we perform the act that is described in the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.

    This mini-satori explains why my Daimon included the trip back down through the spheres. By going up and then returning down, each sphere receives interaction with every other sphere. If we only went up through the spheres, the Intelligence of the Moon would miss an opportunity to see the recent impact of the Intelligence of Saturn on one magician’s sphere.

    It’s almost like we’re Sparks traveling the neural networks of an interplanetary Intelligence’s brain.

  • Fourth Pentacle of Jupiter Results

    Well, that certainly didn’t take long. In the first weekend after creating the talisman, I enjoyed a very pleasant inflow of cash, and multiple long-term opportunities for multiple revenue streams.

    While I was hoping for a cash-cow, single-source bonanza of stupid-wealth, I never quite BOUGHT the lotto tickets, which pretty much ensures no winning there, eh?

    Anyway, I’m very happy with the results. Here’s a brief list:

    • Spouse landed a part-time job watching a friend’s son before and after school, adding about $600 a month to our income; there’s a chance another friend of hers is going back to work as well, and will need someone to watch her son too
    • Spouse had biggest weekend to date in Avon Sales after last week’s Work
    • My “Products and Services” have sold more in the last week than they did in the last year

    There were a few other things that happened rather positively in general. Respiratory infections we’d been fighting since October have left the house. It feels like a gentle “Happy Blanket” has descended on our house, for the most part, except for the ongoing low-grade warfare with my spouse. I scored a professional-grade laser printer-copier-scanner-fax for free. A bunch of other stuff that builds up wealth over time is coming into fruition at the same time.

    Note that even though the Gematria of the figure could be Jupiter-Taurus, and the ritual itself is Jupiter-Cancer, the actual manifestations so far have been in keeping with Jupiter in Capricorn, slow steady, carefully measured growth.