Rufus Opus

Tag: RO’s Musings

Tag: RO’s Musings

  • 1.4 – Why we’re here: The Great Work in a NP Magical System

    “The Great Work”

    A magnificent phrase, eh? I’ve been through so many online debates and discussions about what the Great Work “means” that it isn’t even funny anymore. There are those who say it is “attaining unity with the Divine.” Others say it is becoming the best that you can. Others believe that every person has their own Great Work to do, that it represents the climactic culmination of all their efforts in life.

    In tracking back the phrase in the esoteric community, I ended up back with the Alchemists. I’m sure it goes back further, but I’ll be damned if I can find it quickly enough to suit my purposes. If anyone has any input, let me know. 🙂

    Briefly (there’s never enough space), the alchemists saw the Great Work as the accomplishment of a spiritual transformation. It was also seen as the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone, a stone with the ability to turn base materials into finer materials, like lead into gold. One couldn’t create the Philosopher’s Stone (in my opinion) without being spiritually “advanced.” The process of creating the Stone resulted in perfection of the person, and the perfection of the person resulted in the ability to create the Philosopher’s Stone. There’s a marriage here of physical and spiritual elements that I think cannot be stressed enough.

    In the NP context, the goal of man is to return to the Source of all that is. The Philosophers saw this as a process of training the mind to think like a God without becoming falsely proud. Plotinus speaks of the process as “reclaiming” our race and value. I love that concept.

    It isn’t becoming a God. (You’re already a manifestation of “the good,” “the One,”, the “Primum Mobile.) It’s a process of remembering where you came from. The reason we forget is detailed in the Enneads of Plotinus, and they’re an interesting read. Here’s an excerpt that pertains:

    The souls peering forth from the Intellectual Realm descend first to the heavens and there put on a body; this becomes at once the medium by which as they reach out more and more towards magnitude [physical extension] they proceed to bodies progressively more earthy. Some even plunge from heaven to the very lowest of corporeal forms; others pass, stage by stage, too feeble to lift towards the higher the burden they carry, weighed downwards by their heaviness and forgetfulness.

    It must be noted, however, that the process of reclaiming your race and value did not result in anything spectacularly fabulous. No lightning from the fingertips, or flaming balls of fire. What it did result in was a change in the person you are. It changed the way you acted and interacted with everything else. You remember you’re here, and what your purpose in life is, and you’re suddenly happy. You see things as a whole complete process, and the painfulness of the moments of sadness are gone, and the moments of joy are magnified. It was a philosophical change, a change of Mind that brought satiety, the sense of being completely fulfilled. And if you weren’t feeling that way, you had forgotten, and needed to remember where you were from again.

    So Plotinus said there’s two ways to remember your race and value. You honor the things of the higher realms, and dishonor the things of the lower realm. I’ve turned this into contemplative method of getting rid of the horrors of embarrassing moments that haunt you through your life. I broke it into steps at this link.

    Asceticism blossomed under this philosophy. Lots of Gnostics took up the mantra of “all things material are evil and to be avoided at all costs.” This view influenced a lot of the early Christians too. Paul, for instance, expresses a lot of ascetic notions in his writings in the New Testament.

    Iamblichus, meanwhile, took things down a different route. He was a “wee bit” more into the Hellenised Egyptian mythology. As a result of his initiations into the Egyptian mystery cults, he participated in the Theurgic rituals of his day. I’m intensely jealous. In the Theurgia, his reply to a letter written by Porphyry criticising Theurgy, he explains how working with the spirits of the higher realms results in getting you closer to God. He also talks about our role in this realm of matter.

    Each level of emanation from the higher realms, each entity that inhabits the realms between the material and the Source of Everything has a purpose. We are also manifestations, and our greatest goal as magicians is to remember that we are emanations of God, and that we are here to do something specific. The Work is a process of learning what that purpose is, and how we’re supposed to accomplish that purpose while we’re here. We work with the spirits to learn, and to be raised higher and closer to God, but at the same time, we guide them in their ministrations here in the realm of matter, because that’s where we fit into the hierarchy of things. We’re the part of God that came to matter (Nature) out of love for matter to care for the matter and minister to it through the actions of the spirits on the higher levels. The trick is to remember what we’re here for, and then to learn to do it the right way.

  • Arbatel Spirits

    In recent conversations with Fr. POS and Optimystic, the subject of where in the cosmology the Arbatel spirits belong has come up. They both place the spirits in the celestial or super-celestial realms. Personally, I think they’re more like the Spirits of the planetary tables, that is, terrestrial reflections of the celestial governors.

    Opti pointed out the Arbatel says: “They are called Olympick spirits, which do inhabit in the firmament, and in the stars of the firmament…” (from aphorism 15). He also pointed to Aphorism 16, which says:

    There are seven different governments of the Spirits of Olympus, by whom God hath appointed the whole frame and universe of this world to be governed: and their visible stars are ARATRON, BETHOR, PHALEG, OCH, HAGITH, OPHIEL, PHUL, after the Olympick speech. Every one of these hath under him a mighty Militia in the firmament.
       
    […]

    So that there are 186 [196]7 Olympick Provinces in the whole Universe. wherein the seven Governours do exercise their power: all which are elegantly set forth in Astronomy.

    (From Joe Peterson’s Twilit Grotto, The Arbatel.)

    So the question remaining to my mind is “What is the Firmament?” Aphorism fifteen identifies their inhabitation as being both in the firmament and in the stars of the firmament. Why do both have to be mentioned? Opti interprets it as the super-celestial heavens. He could be right. He provided a dictionary definition that seemed to say the heavens. In Old Astronomy, the term meant “The orb of the fixed stars; the most remote of the celestial spheres.”(1)  That would place these spirits clearly in the super celestial realm, thus ending the debate.

    I’m stubbon though. I looked up the meaning of the word in more detail, and found from Easton’s Bible dictionary this(2):

    from the Vulgate firmamentum, which is used as the translation of the Hebrew _raki’a_. This word means simply “expansion.” It denotes the space or expanse like an arch appearing immediately above us. They who rendered _raki’a_ by firmamentum regarded it as a solid body. The language of Scripture is not scientific but popular, and hence we read of the sun rising and setting, and also here the use of this particular word. It is plain that it was used to denote solidity as well as expansion. It formed a division between the waters above and the waters below (Gen. 1:7). The _raki’a_ supported the upper reservoir (Ps. 148:4). It was the support also of the heavenly bodies (Gen. 1:14), and is spoken of as having “windows” and “doors” (Gen. 7:11; Isa. 24:18; Mal. 3:10) through which the rain and snow might descend.

    Based on this, and the very Biblical tone of the Arbatel, I believed the Arbatel spirits are within the realm of matter primarily. The physical planets and sphere of the physical stars is certainly not what is referenced by the spiritual spheres of the neoplatonists. If we travel to Mars for colonization, the martian settlers won’t be considered to be in the sphere of the wandering stars, will they? All matter is within the sublunar realms, and the planets and stars serve as signifiers of their relative positionings in the divine or ideal realm. The actual spheres of the planets and fixed stars do not manifest physically.

    Knowing I could be wrong, I performed some divinations that indicated I was partially right and partially wrong. The Arbatel spirits have qualities that make them both Super-Celestial entities, and terrestrial entities. They seem to be, based on divination, a combination of the Spirits and the Intelligences from the Kameas of the Planets in Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

    So, based on the research, conversation, divination and meditation, I’ve decided I won’t be ordering the spirits of the Arbatel around like servants. Instead, I’ll keep my approach formal, as if  it were one Vice-President speaking to another within a corporation. By divine right, magicians are granted the abiltity to petition the spirits of the Arbatel, but there’s no real authority over them provided in the grimoire. Instead, the only authority they are answerable to is God himself.

    This rather helps explain why so much of the Arbatel focuses on your behavior. As a Christian saved by Grace, this behavioral thou-shaltism smacks of righteousness by works rather than by grace. That is, you do nice things and you get rewarded. I’m in Martin Luther’s camp, that salvation is by grace through faith alone. Works, good deeds, being nice to animals and not splashing panhandlers in the rain while cackling gleefully at their misfortune… that’s not going to get you anywhere with God, who says the righteousness of man is as menstrual rags before him. (mmmm, tasty.)

    But we aren’t talking about salvation, atonement or being in a right relationship with God. We’re talking about magic petitions to spirits for direct intervention. Maybe you do have to be all righteous and pure to get anything out of the Arbatel spirits, and they don’t see the Cross when they’re measuring up whether you deserve their blessings or not.

    hmmm. Well, it’s something to think about, anyway. But like I said, I’ll stick with the Goetic spirits for now. They recognize your position with God via the sacrifice of Christ readily enough.

    Notes:
    1. “firmament.” Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary. MICRA, Inc. 29 Oct. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/firmament>.
    2. “firmament.” Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary. 29 Oct. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/firmament>.

  • The Far-Reaching Aspects of Mars

    Earlier today I made a Mars talisman, and then did some work with my HGA and the Sun, and I’m still flying a bit. Post-coital bliss, in a way.

    But while it’s all still fresh, I want to share a bit on the aspects of Mars-in-Sagittarius.

    I had a long history of inappropriate displays of Martial energies. Especially when I got angry. I’m a Taurus, and all the stereotypical images that pop into mind when you think of a bull seeing red applied to me when I lost my temper. I’d snort, rant and rave, crush everything that stood in my way, and then when I calmed down, I was left to deal with the mess I’d made.

    As a result, I was a bit wary in working with Mars. I didn’t want to have any Martial energy coming into my sphere and triggering some kind of outburst. At the same time, I was eager to get that sphere integrated into my own, so it wouldn’t manifest destructively. The solution, of course, is to work with the powers of Mars through the auspices of the HGA. Which I did do today.

    I started with Kammael, archangel of Mars. I did a simple conjuration with my HGA and asked it to integrate the energies of Mars into my sphere. No problem, it said, and I began to behave more judiciously in my actions. That was neat. I also began to see conflict differently, whether in the wars in the middle east, or the politics in the workplace. I also began to stand up for things that I had earned, but in a diplomatic way.

    Today I made a talisman of mars to use in my Table of Practice. I carved the Table of Mars from Agrippa’s Book 3 on one side of a sheet of steel coated in tin. On the other side, I carved the symbol of Mars and the seals of the Intelligence and Spirit of Mars. It was similar to one I had made on paper a few months ago when Mars was in Scorpio. that talisman was made to use in vengeance-focused rituals. This one is designed to take advantage of Mars in Sagittarius, that is, using force, justice, and appropriate violence to make a better future. Mars is also well-aspected by Jupiter today, so there’s an aspect of using violence under authority to accomplish necessary actions to build a brighter future. Al in all, a very useful talisman.

    After making the talisman, I went on to make a talisman of the Sun, this one more of a lamen of Michael. While I was doing that, the powers of the sphere of Mars were still bouncing around in my sphere. My HGA and Michael used the time that I was focusing on drawing the seal to commune with me and reveal some aspects of the powers of Mars I hadn’t recognized before.

    Kammael, the archangel of Mars, is constantly monitoring me, directing the energies of Mars into my sphere at the levels that I require at any given time. Usually this is slight, but lately he’s been TRYING to get my attention. There’s been some spiritual business that I’ve been ignoring because it could easily reveal more character flaws in my self that I really would rather avoid dealing with.

    So I’ve been irritable, mean-spirited, and generally argumentative. I see attacks where there are none, and I feel under pressure. After working with the spirits today, I can see where I need to direct the martial force in my life, and I feel totally psyched about it. Instead of seeming like a bother or something to avoid, it seems like a challenge. The thrill of victory is right around the corner.

    That, I think, is the lesson I’m walking away with. There’s more going on than a lesson from the spirits, of course, but this is a blog, after all, and the words are all I have to put it into in this particular forum. The point I learned today about the powers of Mars is that they empower you to achieve victory in any circumstance, not just for violence or revenge, but for Success. All the things you read about successful business plans, successful family management, successful parenting, all these things are aspects of the powers of Mars. Victory.

  • The Far-Reaching Aspects of Mars

    Earlier today I made a Mars talisman, and then did some work with my HGA and the Sun, and I’m still flying a bit. Post-coital bliss, in a way.

    But while it’s all still fresh, I want to share a bit on the aspects of Mars-in-Sagittarius.

    I had a long history of inappropriate displays of Martial energies. Especially when I got angry. I’m a Taurus, and all the stereotypical images that pop into mind when you think of a bull seeing red applied to me when I lost my temper. I’d snort, rant and rave, crush everything that stood in my way, and then when I calmed down, I was left to deal with the mess I’d made.

    As a result, I was a bit wary in working with Mars. I didn’t want to have any Martial energy coming into my sphere and triggering some kind of outburst. At the same time, I was eager to get that sphere integrated into my own, so it wouldn’t manifest destructively. The solution, of course, is to work with the powers of Mars through the auspices of the HGA. Which I did do today.

    I started with Kammael, archangel of Mars. I did a simple conjuration with my HGA and asked it to integrate the energies of Mars into my sphere. No problem, it said, and I began to behave more judiciously in my actions. That was neat. I also began to see conflict differently, whether in the wars in the middle east, or the politics in the workplace. I also began to stand up for things that I had earned, but in a diplomatic way.

    Today I made a talisman of mars to use in my Table of Practice. I carved the Table of Mars from Agrippa’s Book 3 on one side of a sheet of steel coated in tin. On the other side, I carved the symbol of Mars and the seals of the Intelligence and Spirit of Mars. It was similar to one I had made on paper a few months ago when Mars was in Scorpio. that talisman was made to use in vengeance-focused rituals. This one is designed to take advantage of Mars in Sagittarius, that is, using force, justice, and appropriate violence to make a better future. Mars is also well-aspected by Jupiter today, so there’s an aspect of using violence under authority to accomplish necessary actions to build a brighter future. Al in all, a very useful talisman.

    After making the talisman, I went on to make a talisman of the Sun, this one more of a lamen of Michael. While I was doing that, the powers of the sphere of Mars were still bouncing around in my sphere. My HGA and Michael used the time that I was focusing on drawing the seal to commune with me and reveal some aspects of the powers of Mars I hadn’t recognized before.

    Kammael, the archangel of Mars, is constantly monitoring me, directing the energies of Mars into my sphere at the levels that I require at any given time. Usually this is slight, but lately he’s been TRYING to get my attention. There’s been some spiritual business that I’ve been ignoring because it could easily reveal more character flaws in my self that I really would rather avoid dealing with.

    So I’ve been irritable, mean-spirited, and generally argumentative. I see attacks where there are none, and I feel under pressure. After working with the spirits today, I can see where I need to direct the martial force in my life, and I feel totally psyched about it. Instead of seeming like a bother or something to avoid, it seems like a challenge. The thrill of victory is right around the corner.

    That, I think, is the lesson I’m walking away with. There’s more going on than a lesson from the spirits, of course, but this is a blog, after all, and the words are all I have to put it into in this particular forum. The point I learned today about the powers of Mars is that they empower you to achieve victory in any circumstance, not just for violence or revenge, but for Success. All the things you read about successful business plans, successful family management, successful parenting, all these things are aspects of the powers of Mars. Victory.

  • Research in the Occult

    Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Apologies to my adoring fans. 😉

    Recent conversations on occult lists have got me thinking about research in the occult. It is extremely important to know where the material you’re using in your practices came from, and how it integrates into your system of performing magick, but at the same time, the fact is that much of the material available is limited.

    I’ve seen people argue incessantly about recent Egyptian archaeological evidence impacting Golden Dawn rituals. I’ve seen people make various claims about the Goetia because of the similarity of the names of the spirits to ancient gods from other cultures. I’ve seen the Hermetic QBL totally gutted by some people’s research into the traditional Kabbalah in the context of Hasidism.

    Research is a valuable tool, but at a certain point in our research we must apply the knife. Take the Goetia, for example. The names in the list include Ashtoreth, and lots of people say its a demonized version of Ishtar-Isis. The argument is that the system of Goetic magic can’t be trusted because it casts entities from a particular culture in a role that they didn’t have originally. The Goetic “Ashtoreth” is a perversion of Isis, so if you summon Isis using the Goetia, you’ll piss her off and have an angry spirit to deal with.

    However valid this idea might sound, in practice Ashtoreth is a friendly entity. It must be understood that when the Goetia was compiled, it drew from all kinds of resources and cast the spirits into the context in which they are presented in the text. At that point, they ceased being the entities of the previous system they were adapted from, and became new manifestations of the properties they embody. Ashtoreth may or may not have been Isis to some people at some point in history, but Ashtoreth summoned through the rites of the Goetia is not Isis. It’s Ashtoreth.

    Applying the model of the four worlds of hermetic QBL, Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah, the Goetia is an Assiahtic (material) representation of the Yetziratic (symbolic) interpretation of the Briahtic (conceptual) spirits that revealed themselves from the Assiatic (archetypal) realm to the compiler(s) of the Goetia.

    Modern research can track back the sources of the system presented in the Goetia up to the limit of the Briahtic stage. We can see the forms that were used to symbolize the spirits in the Yetziratic stage, and we can make a scientific wild-ass guess about where these symbols came from, but we cannot know what was going on in the Briahtic or Atziluthic stages of its creation.

    Knowing where our realm of knowledge ends and conjecture begins gives us a guide for where to apply the knife. When your practice begins to trespass into realms of speculation, you must cut off the absolute authority of your knowledge and return to the realm of theory, and approach your conclusions the way a scientist approaches experimentation.

  • Falling in Love with Binah

    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.

    August 11, 2006

  • 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.

  • Falling in Love with Binah

    As noted previously, I’ve been working on integrating the energies of the planets to balance out my hyper focus on the energies of Jupiter. My work with Binah/Saturn more than a week ago continues to ripple through my sphere.

    I think I commented before that the energies of Saturn left me depressed, and that the operation I did most recently was completely different. Instead of feeling depressed, I find myself encouraged by the boundaries I face in life, and aware that they are not set firmly in place, but serve as placeholders to support the unfolding of my life. Like pylons on a bridge, the energies of Binah serve to support the weight of our endeavors.

    There’s a scripture in the Bible that talks about people moving out their tent pegs. It means that the lord will bless them, and they need to prepare by making more room for the blessings to fit in their lives. It’s old testament speak for thinking outside the box.

    The power of Saturn in the magician’s sphere manifests as the power to set, or reset the boundaries of our empire. Knowing yourself leads to knowing your limitations, but knowing Binah leads to knowing how to move your limitations out a bit at a time. Bigger vaults means more room for the energies of Jupiter to fill with the treasures you seek in money rituals. Raising your expectations provides more room for opportunities. Raising your standards results in higher quality of character. Moving the boundaries of your mind releases you from the prison of your fear. Tearing down the walls of your heart makes room for love to flow into and out of your experience.

    The power of Binah is infinite because it is the power of making things finite. Looking back now, I see that the depression I felt came from the powerlessness I felt when I surveyed the boundaries of my life. These boundaries are firmly ensconced only by my attachment to them, which helps explain what the Buddha meant when he said attachment is the source of all sorrow.

    Barriers, walls, limitations… these things can seem to be negative, if your desires are beyond their limits. But at the same time, the walls support the roof, the dam stores the water, and the bones provide the support that lets us live as more than amorphous blobs. The skin limits us, keeps us from spilling out in a pile of goo, protects us from the intrusions of the malefic forces of nature.

    Yet Saturn is cast as a malefic. Its role of death and binding are detrimental when passive. If we don’t expand the boundaries, we outgrow them, and feel like we’re wearing a suit two sizes too small. But when activated through magick, when approached through the heightened awareness of the metaprogramming magickal consciousness, Binah is a beautiful friend, a mother full of love, a helper and a guide, a focuser of the forces that follow in her footsteps.

    With these revelations, I have found myself falling in love with Binah.

  • Mess with the bull…

    I swear to god, I’m sick of the ones that are convinced that they are ready, able, and willing to do the Work, but on their terms.

    IF you are redefining a system of Conjuration revealed to magicians in the 15th century, AND IF you have NEVER conjured any of the spirits from said system using the system as defined, not even to the best of your abilities:

    Your Work is a Work of PRIDE. You’re off your rocker. Get a clue.

    IF you are redefining a system of Initation and Attainment developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, yet have NEVER been initiated into either the line you’re “reforming” or its offshoot that rhymes with BoTeeOh, THEN you too are full of shit.

    If in order for you to begin to explain the merits of your system, you must first make up lies about initiations into ceremonies that you have not participated in, your system is worthless.

    But not only that, you fucking idiot, you’ve put yourself in the running with people who actually know what they’re doing. You think Crowley’s sitting in the City of Pyramids next to Christ and Buddha, and now all of a sudden he’s beyond sending the Spirit of the Planet Mercury to confound and conflagrat you? Bullshit! He’s got a better line with him.

    If any of this shit above describes you, you’re nothing but a bald monkey jumping in the middle of a stampede. And I’d like to take a moment to remind bald monkeys what the fuck happens when you fucking jump in the middle of a fucking stampede. See below. And if you’re interrupting magicians that have a couple tons of momentum behind them barreling their way towards a goal you can’t imagine, expect at LEAST what this guy got as you’re tossed to the side.

  • 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. In Ouspensky’s mind though, a problem is the central core of a philosophy.

    It got me thinking about how philosophy is a solution to a problem. When you have a problem, you try to solve it, and that got me thinking about the old alchemical axiom, Solve et Coagula.

    I’ve tended to think about the process of Solve et Coagula as the process of breaking apart a conglomeration into its individual parts, refining it, and bringing the parts back together as a new and better whole. That’s how the Great Work has manifested for me. But to the Solve stage, you must first recognize on some level that there is a problem that needs to be solved. What’s my problem? What is it that I’m trying to solve?

    The goal of “reuniting with God” is the solution to being separated from God. I’ve understood for a long time that the separation is only one level of existence, and that ultimately no one is separated from God. Through the Logos, the way back to Union and communion with the Divine was paved. So my problem isn’t that I’m not united with God.

    I perform the Great Work because I want to be a better person. I want a stronger character, I want to pass on a legacy of doing the right thing for my fellow incarnate beings to my children and grand children. I want to help people, and not be a selfish, lazy, ungrateful man. My problem is that I do the wrong thing instead of the right thing.

    At any given moment, I have a pool of energy I can draw on to do something. I can go for a walk, give money to the poor, or insult some moron who cut me off in traffic. The potential for whatever I do is always there.

    How that energy manifests is determined by what I decide to do. My decisions are influenced by my impulses towards selfishness, and how I’m going to make myself happy in the next moments. I’m a conglomeration of parts, some parts of me want to do the right thing, others jsut want to do the lazy thing. The way I make my decisions is heavily influenced by these component parts. The parts of myself that have control over my energy resources, my potential determine what I’m going to decide to do with my potential in any given moment, in any situation.

    The solve process is where the component parts are melted down, and the imputities are taken away. The Great Work is to get rid of the negative components, and allow the positive components to dominate the decisions, to control the manifestation of the potential I carry.

    So what is the Great Work? At this point, it’s a series of little problems that need to be Solved and Coagulated. Each of my “High Magic” rituals need to be focused on resolving the problems in my character that I’m made aware of through the Conversations with my HGA. There are areas of ignorance about the roles of the archangels I need to Solve. There are problems of the heart, mind, and spirit, each of which will need to be addressed, and in the process, perhaps the greater Work will be accomplished.