Rufus Opus

Tag: RufusAstraCheck

Tag: RufusAstraCheck

  • 1.1 – Neo-Platonic Cosmology: How it all started

    The best encapsulation of the neo-platonic creation story that I’ve found is in the second book of The Divine Pymander by Hermes Trismegistus. (Check wikipedia for his story.) It’s simple and to the point. Christians like myself can identify enough parallels to feel at ease in it, and pagans can find enough other gods that they feel at home too. It’s a good little catch-all, and that makes sense when you study its history. Which I won’t get into here. Lots of debate around that, and I’d rather get to the point.

    My understanding of the Creation is summarized below. There’s a lot I’m omitting for the sake of brevity, but I’m trying to include the required pieces to to lay the foundation.

    In the beginning was essential God-the-Progenitor, dwelling in perfect darkness. In that perfect darkness, God still and always resides. By its nature, it radiates infinite pure light. In The Divine Pymander, Hermes Trismegistus is given a vision of the creation of the material realm. Within the infinite light appeared a great darkness, smoking as if it were on fire. Out of the infinite Light leaped a “certain holy Word” and that Word joined itself to the dark mass of Matter that came into being. When this holy Word entered the darkness, it separated into four realms. Fire leaped up highest to be closest to the infinite light, followed by Air, which seemed to hang between the Fire and Earth-Water below.

    Next, God created a Workman. This guy created seven governors, each with their own sphere, surrounding the realm of Matter. When he did, the Word leaped up and cohabited with the Workman. This being then set the spheres in motion, and the natural world began creating animals and plants.

    Meanwhile, God made Man in Its image. Man was the honored and beloved “brother” of the family. Eventually, after a lot went down (!), Man entered the physical realm, containing a spark of infinite God within, and yet also loving and being loved by Nature. We’re of two natures, mortal and immortal.

    The Spark of the Divine within is what gives us “authority” overt the elements, and the seven governors. We’re coworkers though, not masters and slaves.

    Ptolemy laid out the basic cosmology of the NP system. the center sphere is the sphere of Earth, surrounded by the sphere of Water, then Air, then Fire. Then there are the seven Spheres of the Governors. Each of these spheres is associated with one of the seven planets of classical astrology, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Around these are the “fixt stars,” whose influence is primarily felt through the planetary governors. Beyond the stars is the realm of eternal light, and sitting in eternal divine darkness, radiating the light outwards and willing existence is the Primum Mobile, God.

    The following image displays the basic cosmology of the NP system:

    As you can see, there’s a hierarchy involved. Each successive sphere heading “outward” brings you further from the realm of matter and closer to the realm of God. This is the structure brought to Creation by Logos, the “holy Word” created or uttered by God-the-Progenitor.

  • Fetching a Fetch

    Lately I’ve become enamored of the idea of having a “Fetch. A Fetch is another name for a familiar spirit, the kind usually given by the demons of the Abramelin rituals, or conjured from a graveyard at night in some other grimoires, like the Sefer ha Razim.

    From Wikipedia:

    In early modern English witchcraft or Superstition, a familiar spirit, commonly called familiar (from Middle English familiar, related to family) or imp is a spirit who obeys a witch, conjurer, or other users of the supernatural, and serves and helps that person. Although they may not be as intelligent as their masters, they are often as intelligent as the average human. Familiars often perform domestic duties and help in farming, but also aid the person in bewitching people. If they look like ordinary animals, they can be used to spy on their masters’ enemies. These spirits are also said to be able to inspire artists and writers (compare with muses). The familiars of some practicers of black magic also defined the characteristics of their owners. Some reclusive wizards rely on familiars as their closest friends. In demonology, it is said that many demons have the ability to grant to a conjurer a familiar to aid them.

    (More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar)

    I’ve loved the idea of having a fetch ever since I read a story by Lovecraft that involved the main witch character having a white cat-like thing as a fetch. Unfortunately, I’ve never had any reason to have one. Most of the things they are used for in stories and legends I can do for myself. I don’t farm, hexing people is generally bad form, in my opinion, and I’ve already got Bune to help with inspiration for my writing. Burning a tea lite candle is enough to get me motivated for a project, it seems.

    In spite of not having any reason for having one, I’ve got a method I’m itching to try out from the Sefer ha Razim. It involves heading to a graveyard at night, reciting the names of the angels, and performing the appropriate oration. Pretty simple stuff, and there’s as pillar of smoke involved.

    But I just can’t justify it. Doing magick for its own sake isn’t worth it to me. I’ve found that there are all kinds of unexpected side effects for every ritual, and without a pressing need, there’s no point in linking myself to the dead that I can think of. Rather disappointing, I must say.

  • An interesting observation

    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?

  • Neo-Platonic Basics

    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, Plotinus’ Enneads, and Hermes Trismegistus’ s The Divine Pymander, and it’s all been percolating into a pretty strong brew within my sphere. When I hit the epiphany the other day, I was convinced it was a Universal Truth. I still think it is, but the general responses I’m getting are telling me that it’s not making the kind of impact it had on me. In general, I’ve gotten a “yeah, ok” response, when this is the Key to Everything! Well, at least I think it is. For me, definitely, and I don’t see anything that would indicate it wouldn’t be the Key to Life, the Universe and Everything in a much more more meaningful way than “42.”

    So, with that in mind, I’m going to be posting a series of NP basics so the foundation of the system I’m working with is documented somewhere. I see another book in my future. Distant future. 🙂

    So here’s the planned outline:

    1.0 – Overview Sections:

    • 1.1 – NP Cosmology: How it all started
    • 1.2 – The Harmony of the Spheres
    • 1.3 – Spirits: Why we Work with ’em, How we Work with ’em
    • 1.4 – Why we’re here: The Great Work in a NP Magical System
    • 1.5 – While we’re here: The Great Work in Action

    2.0 – Practical Sections:

    • 2.1 – The Lamp
    • 2.2 – About those Planets…
    • 2.3 – The Joys of Making Talismen
    • 2.4 – Elemental Kings
    • 2.5 – Spirit Pots
    • 2.6 – Them pesky demons are at it again…
    • 2.7 – The Genius and the Evil Daimon

    3.0 – The Glyph

    • 3.1 – Putting it all Together: The Altar Layout Revisited
    • 3.2 – Using the Glyph in Practice

    That should cover everything. Along the way, I’ll probably have other posts to make about some pet projects. I’ve started making my Genius/Evil Daimon… thing. Yeah, I’ll get to details on that later.

  • 2.1 – The Lamp

    The first post of the Practical section is mercifully brief, but I think it’s important to include the Lamp in your list of required magickal tools. Its influence and usefulness will help with the application of the subjects that follow.

    The Lamp is a tool I hadn’t really used much before getting the vision of that Glyph that started this series of posts on the NP basics. Usually, I would light some appropriately-colored candles in my Work, and either let them burn out as part of the ritual, or snuff them and relight them later.

    Then Modrocus posted a couple of experiments he had been doing using the Papryi Graecae Magicae (PGM) at the ritual_magic yahoo group. This was about a day or two before I had a revelation about the Glyph and the altar setup it implies. When the revelation came, the role of the Lamp became pretty clear.

    In the PGM, the Lamp is used as a means to commune with the spirits. In some rituals, when the spirit is present, the magician or skryer can see their presence as a quality of the light around the Lamp that isn’t there when the spirit isn’t present. In other rituals, the Lamp is like a transmitter, with the wick being made out of a cloth with the spell written on it and then burned. I thought that was pretty cool.

    Then I had the revelation of the Glyph, and it became apparent to me that the Lamp plays another role as well. In order to be effective in this role, the Lamp must be positioned outside the circle of the planetary talismen, representing the realm of infinite light that surrounds the divine darkness in which the Good dwells. This minor little detail has made a big impact in my Work. I never grasped the far-reaching effects a properly laid-out altar can have on your personal and magickal life. The altar is the representation of the macrocosm and the implements at your disposal to function within that macrocosm as a magician. Just setting up your altar properly results in a fundamental change in your life.

    My “Lamp” is a tall brass candle stand, about 18 inches high. I have a tea-lite candle holder on top of this, and I can drop in a tea-lite before the ritual begins, and it has a really neat effect on the rest of the altar layout. It provides just the right ambiance for scrying in a crystal, and as I go through the various stages of the Work, I can check the Lamp to see if I’m where I need to be. If the Spirit of God is present, it shows.

    In addition, I can use the Lamp as a transmitter through the use of tea-lites appropriately inscribed and anointed, following the guidelines of the PGM.

    So in addition to the “standard” elemental tools a magician in the NP system has on their altar, I strongly urge you to include a Lamp. It completes your altar in a way that can’t be easily described, but is almost instantly understood when implemented.

  • 2.1 – The Lamp

    The first post of the Practical section is mercifully brief, but I think it’s important to include the Lamp in your list of required magickal tools. Its influence and usefulness will help with the application of the subjects that follow.

    The Lamp is a tool I hadn’t really used much before getting the vision of that Glyph that started this series of posts on the NP basics. Usually, I would light some appropriately-colored candles in my Work, and either let them burn out as part of the ritual, or snuff them and relight them later.

    Then Modrocus posted a couple of experiments he had been doing using the Papryi Graecae Magicae (PGM) at the ritual_magic yahoo group. This was about a day or two before I had a revelation about the Glyph and the altar setup it implies. When the revelation came, the role of the Lamp became pretty clear.

    In the PGM, the Lamp is used as a means to commune with the spirits. In some rituals, when the spirit is present, the magician or skryer can see their presence as a quality of the light around the Lamp that isn’t there when the spirit isn’t present. In other rituals, the Lamp is like a transmitter, with the wick being made out of a cloth with the spell written on it and then burned. I thought that was pretty cool.

    Then I had the revelation of the Glyph, and it became apparent to me that the Lamp plays another role as well. In order to be effective in this role, the Lamp must be positioned outside the circle of the planetary talismen, representing the realm of infinite light that surrounds the divine darkness in which the Good dwells. This minor little detail has made a big impact in my Work. I never grasped the far-reaching effects a properly laid-out altar can have on your personal and magickal life. The altar is the representation of the macrocosm and the implements at your disposal to function within that macrocosm as a magician. Just setting up your altar properly results in a fundamental change in your life.

    My “Lamp” is a tall brass candle stand, about 18 inches high. I have a tea-lite candle holder on top of this, and I can drop in a tea-lite before the ritual begins, and it has a really neat effect on the rest of the altar layout. It provides just the right ambiance for scrying in a crystal, and as I go through the various stages of the Work, I can check the Lamp to see if I’m where I need to be. If the Spirit of God is present, it shows.

    In addition, I can use the Lamp as a transmitter through the use of tea-lites appropriately inscribed and anointed, following the guidelines of the PGM.

    So in addition to the “standard” elemental tools a magician in the NP system has on their altar, I strongly urge you to include a Lamp. It completes your altar in a way that can’t be easily described, but is almost instantly understood when implemented.

  • 2.0 – Practical Sections

    With the posting of Section 1.5, the basic philosophical foundations of the Neo-Platonic cosmology (as I understand them) have been laid out.

    The next section of posts will be on the practical application of the system presented in the previous sections. In this next series, I’ll be looking at the practical applications of the following aspects in a bit more detail:

    • 2.1 – The Lamp
    • 2.2 – About those Planets…
    • 2.3 – The Joys of Making Talismen
    • 2.4 – Elemental Kings
    • 2.5 – Spirit Pots
    • 2.6 – Them pesky demons are at it again…
    • 2.7 – The Genius and the Evil Daimon

    These sections will present the methodologies and the tools used in the magickal application of the NP system.

  • 2.0 – Practical Sections

    With the posting of Section 1.5, the basic philosophical foundations of the Neo-Platonic cosmology (as I understand them) have been laid out.

    The next section of posts will be on the practical application of the system presented in the previous sections. In this next series, I’ll be looking at the practical applications of the following aspects in a bit more detail:

    • 2.1 – The Lamp
    • 2.2 – About those Planets…
    • 2.3 – The Joys of Making Talismen
    • 2.4 – Elemental Kings
    • 2.5 – Spirit Pots
    • 2.6 – Them pesky demons are at it again…
    • 2.7 – The Genius and the Evil Daimon

    These sections will present the methodologies and the tools used in the magickal application of the NP system.

  • 2.0 – Practical Sections

    With the posting of Section 1.5, the basic philosophical foundations of the Neo-Platonic cosmology (as I understand them) have been laid out.

    The next section of posts will be on the practical application of the system presented in the previous sections. In this next series, I’ll be looking at the practical applications of the following aspects in a bit more detail:

    • 2.1 – The Lamp
    • 2.2 – About those Planets…
    • 2.3 – The Joys of Making Talismen
    • 2.4 – Elemental Kings
    • 2.5 – Spirit Pots
    • 2.6 – Them pesky demons are at it again…
    • 2.7 – The Genius and the Evil Daimon

    These sections will present the methodologies and the tools used in the magickal application of the NP system.

  • 2.0 – Practical Sections

    With the posting of Section 1.5, the basic philosophical foundations of the Neo-Platonic cosmology (as I understand them) have been laid out.

    The next section of posts will be on the practical application of the system presented in the previous sections. In this next series, I’ll be looking at the practical applications of the following aspects in a bit more detail:

    • 2.1 – The Lamp
    • 2.2 – About those Planets…
    • 2.3 – The Joys of Making Talismen
    • 2.4 – Elemental Kings
    • 2.5 – Spirit Pots
    • 2.6 – Them pesky demons are at it again…
    • 2.7 – The Genius and the Evil Daimon

    These sections will present the methodologies and the tools used in the magickal application of the NP system.