For anyone disturbed by yesterday’s post and thinking I’m some kind of doom and gloom mad prophet, good news! I’m totally not.

I was trying to express frustration with the role of suffering in existence. I’m not happy with it, and I wanted to know what the alternative was. Why the hell can’t we just not suffer? I asked God, and he said it’s just part of the whole thing, and you can’t exist without it.

Sometimes I think it would be better for everyone not to exist than for the people who get hurt the most to have to suffer as badly as they do. I am he who hates that evil should be done on the face of the Earth, and all that.

But the question I get stuck with

As I was meditating one day, the Spirit descended upon me and took me up into the heavens, whether in body, or in a dream, I do not know.

In the Workshop, I saw my Brother overseeing a manifestation of Plague. It was time for the new pandemic to be rolled out, under the supervision of the appropriate spirits of  Saturn and Venus.

“It’s going to kill millions of people,” I said, and my Brother looked up at me.

“Yes, it is.”

“But why? Why like this? That’s going to hurt, and leave families without children, children without parents, and it’s going to hurt the poor worse than the rich. It’s not fair to any of them.”

Gently, he sighed, and got that look he gets when he’s going to tell me something I won’t like, agree with, or understand.

“They have to die.”

He just looked at me. His face is always so compassionate. He knows what it means to be human, mostly cut off from our birth-right, yet still conscious enough to be aware of the disconnect. He knows I don’t see the beginning and the end the way he does.

“Like this?” I asked.

“Yes. Exactly like this. It has to happen.”

“Why? You’re God, or close enough for it not to matter any more. You can let them live and find their deaths of old age. What could happen if you just had mercy and spared us from this stupid plague?”

“This,” he said, and took me over to a corner of the workshop that seemed dustier than the rest. He sat me on a stool and sat across from me. “Close your eyes.”

He’s totally done this before. It’s a vision trip, where he shows me shit that I can’t understand in words.So I know what to expect; he’s going to show me a future with too many people, or something to justify the horrors this disease will cause.

Instead, all I see is nothing. Deep nothing. Nothing without even anything to compare it to, no way to know it is nothing. Nothing. No eyes to see, no me to look through eyes, even if they were there, nothing for my brain to process, no brain to process with. Nothing. Empty.

“See?”

“I didn’t see anything,” I said.

“Right.” My blank stare spoke volumes.

“Look,” he said. “Remember the sign on the Boot Hill Saloon?”

(The Boot Hill Saloon is a bar in Daytona across the street from the old Boot Hill cemetery, where outlaws and the destitute were buried.)

“You’re better off here than across the street?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the big mystical secret? It’s this or nothing?” There was a brief pause, and I heard laughter in the distance. “Nothing’s a hell of a lot better than unleashing this disease and suffering!”

He returned my gaze without flinching for a long moment, and when he had my full attention again, he simply said one word.

“Really?”

I realized something about myself today. I’m totally happy helping people. I mean, I’m actually fulfilled by this shit. I like teaching, I like it a lot. I like writing books that help people do magic. I like giving people access to the power to change the world. It makes me feel happy. It makes me feel good.

Helping people is fun; who knew?

I found out today that people from both Arab and Jewish cities in Israel are accessing my blog frequently. I can't thank you all enough. The really neat thing is that the Great Work is about transcending the boundaries we see here from an earthly-perspective and seeing the unity underneath, or at least that's one of its effects. If you're an Arab or a Jew, someone in one of those other cities is studying the Great Work, just like you.

Hopefully they don't leave their computer after reading this and pick up a gun and shoot at you, eh? 🙂

I’m in a bit of a quandary. I’ve been Working with this syncretic Judeo-Christian/Neo-Platonic system for a while now, based almost entirely on the the Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Agrippa. I’ve been reading Plato’s Timaeus,

Greetings!

In the course of my rituals, I’ve created several talismen and lamens for use with the Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. Below you will find the Lamen of Kammael, and an image of my “Table of Practice” I use with the rit. I just put the crystal in the center and read the evocations while wearing the lamen.

As you can see, I wrote the names of God around the outer edges in the “Celestial Script” from Agrippa, but the text of the “grimoire” lists them in the Latin script. I just liked how it looked.

So tonight my son, who is turning seven next month, expressed his concern that in his school’s winter program, they are singing songs about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and some other stuff about winter, but there are no Christian or traditional Christmas songs celebrating Christmas specifically. I didn’t bring it up, his mother didn’t bring it up, he did. He figured it out on his own that his beliefs and experiences weren’t being represented. He feels cheated. He doesn’t want to participate.

He’s got a strong sense of justice and righteousness. He’s a Scorpio, and a little genius. He’s not opposed to singing the other songs, he just wants his beliefs represented too. He wants it to be fair.

As a Christian Magician, I know how he feels. Most of my friends and colleagues are pagan liberals. I’m a moderate Christian, with decidedly non-mainstream interpretations of what it means to be a Christian, but I get the blow-off from other magicians more frequently than I should. I understand why; Christianity has done wrongs in the name of Christ for thousands of years, and is chock full of disgusting loud-mouthed opinionated bigoted hypocrites. People have been hurt by people in the name of Christ, and it didn’t just happen hundreds of years ago, it’s happening right now as I type this, somewhere in the middle of America.

It’s not fair though. People desperately demanding equal rights don’t give them. People demanding “justice” don’t want the scales even, they want them in their favor. They don’t see their own hypocrisy. No one ever does.I want people to overlook the wrongs other people have done in the name of Christ and see what I’m saying and judge it on its own merits. I try to do that with others. I fail sometimes, but I at least try.

I want $7 Million Dollars, too.

I expect to get the money before I see non-Christians treat Christians with the respect they expect.

So my son wants to opt out of the Winter Holiday recital. We sent an email to the music teacher to get a list of the songs being sung, so that we can see if there’s something in there that represents his beliefs that he doesn’t recognize as traditionally Christian or Christmas-ey. We haven’t been to church in a year or so, he might just not recognize the songs as Christian. I’ll feel pretty lousy if that’s the case. I want him to participate with his friends and not to feel like an outcast because of his beliefs, if possible.

If the school is presenting religious songs and excluding Christianity, I’ll stamp my feet and raise a stink. If it’s a secular Program, then I’ll explain the separation of Church and State to my son as best I can, and see if he wants to participate. If he still feels morally, ethically, or just plain old conscientiously unable to perform in it, then I’ll support him in his determination. Hell, he’s so stubborn he’d probably go but just stand there and not sing if I tried to make him anyway. He’s nobody’s fool.

But I do expect to find out that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are represented while Christianity is left out. I expect that all mention of the word “Christmas” will be verboten because it dares to have “Christ” in it. I expect my son to learn that his beliefs will, at times, leave him ostracized, pushed to the side, and treated disrespectfully. That saddens me, but I’m pragmatic and know he’ll learn it anyway.

But I am totally and completely proud that he is willing to take the ostracism and stand by his convictions. That rocks.

Mike Rock’s recent blog post is a must-see.

http://blog.mike-rock.com/2008/10/make-mine-freedom.html

In a couple of places, I’ve seen people complaining a lot about the economy. Magicians even, who should know better.

Gee, we’ve got bad financial times while Jupiter’s in Capricorn? Wow! Absolutely shocking.

Gee, it’s affecting homes while Saturn’s in Virgo? Holy cow! That’s amazing!!

Come on, people, get your heads out of your anal cavities. We’re magicians. The state of the world is not frightening to those in the know, it’s expected. We navigate behind the scenes. You can turn this generally bad time around for your benefit with a little planning and magic.

I suggest talking to Tzaphqiel, or some other manifestation of the Intelligence of Saturn, since that’s where this is all coming from (Capricorn holding Jupiter hostage is ruled by Saturn, Saturn’s in Virgo Maleficently influencing things). Throw in Tzadqiel of Jupiter, and Michael of the Sun (he cushions the Saturn landing). Talk to Hanael and Hamaliel, Archangels of Capricorn and Virgo respectively as well.

“They aren’t going to move where the planets are, what difference would it make?”

The planets are still where they are, yes, but the planets are indicators of general influences at large. Like the label on the back of a plug you plug into the wall that tells you, “120VAC in, 9VDC out.” They tell you what the natural state of things are, but they don’t tell you how that will manifest in detail within your own life, within your own Sphere of Influence. You can run a clock radio off the plug, if it’s 9VDC, or you can run a flashlight, or whatever … as long as it’s got the right receptacle and runs on 9VDC.

How the astrological influences manifest depends on a few million variables that are different for most people.Even people born in the same place at the same time will be raised by different parents, influenced by different teachers, or move to different parts of the world where their spheres of influence are shaped and molded uniquely. Twins are different, and it’s hard to get much closer than twins.

Magicians get to do a lot more consciously than mundane folks with no interest in the occult. We get to say, ok, that’s a 9VDC output there, so I can run it through an oscillator to step it down to 4VDC to get it to light this here LED without burning it out. We get to do a lot that way.

I don’t care if you’re a magician like Jason Miller with his roots and prajna, or St. Faust with his sigils and whatever, or even Fr. POS with his GD initiate ways and means. Heck, you can even be a Wastewater Consultant wth an epicurean garden and multiple OTO initations like the author of My Gal. It doesn’t matter, you’ve got techniques at your disposal to rewire the output and put it to use the way you want.

Hop to it. No one’s going to sit around and do it for you.

However, if you’re new at all this, here’s a talisman for you to print off and color. Silver-grey (the color of Lead, Dark Blues, and Dark Greens would be appropriate, per the Golden Dawn color scheme (colors are from the Assiah Scale becauise this is supposed to affecrt the manifest world).

Write out how you want things to go for you in your life in the form of a prayer or petition on the back where Money and Home Life are concerned, and consecrate it by running it through incense, praying over it, anointing it with oils or holy water, and repeating the prayer you write on the back for seven days.

Feel free to post your results in the comments area below (expect results to begin manifesting within 2 weeks, but sometimes earlier, rarely later).