Rufus Opus

Tag: RufusAstraCheck

Tag: RufusAstraCheck

  • Spirit Pot Manual

    I’ve begun the somewhat painstaking process of writing out the events that lead to the creation of my spirit pot, the details of making it, and the results. Maybe it’ll turn into an actual published manuscript. Time will tell.

  • Spirit Pot Manual

    I’ve begun the somewhat painstaking process of writing out the events that lead to the creation of my spirit pot, the details of making it, and the results. Maybe it’ll turn into an actual published manuscript. Time will tell.

  • Magickal Conundra

    I never cease to be amazed at how many people will bull-headedly argue that their interpretation of some aspect of magick is “right”, quoting from Abramelin, Agrippa, and Robert Fludd as if that made them correct. I’m leaning towards the belief that there’s pretty much no factoid about ceremonial magick that should ever be debated in terms of “Right” and “Wrong”.

    Raphael’s location on the Tree of Life is a perfect example.

    I got really interested in where Raphael belonged by way of the LBRP. I was reading through a Thelema-based book, and saw that Crowley had once stated that the LBRP puts the mage at the crossroads of Samekh and Pe on the Tree. I thought, great! So I looked at the Tree to see just where exactly that was, since I haven’t memorized the paths at all.

    Samekh lies between Yesod and Tiphareth, and Pe lies between Netzach and Hod. To understand it better, I wanted to see which Archangels were in the sephiroth. Raphael was attributed to Tiphareth, so you’re facing Tiphareth when you do the LBRP. Gabriel is in Yesod, so Yesod lies behind you. No problem. Michael is in Hod, and he’s in the south, so that’s over on the right. I got a little confused until I figured out you’re standing head-inwards into the Kircher diagram of the Tree of Life. It was still (sorta) making sense.

    Then I get to Netzach. That’s all that’s left, but there’s nothing about Uriel being the Archangel of Netzach. Ok, sez I, Uriel isn’t the Archangel of Netzach, it seems to be some guy named Haniel, or Anael in some people’s texts. What gives? Why don’t we call Haniel instead of Uriel, if Crowley’s right?

    My first response was that Crowley must be wrong, no biggy. But if the LBRP isn’t based on the tree of Life, where does it come from? So I researched it until I found that it comes from the Bedtime Sh’ma, a little prayer that Jewish people said before they went to bed at night. The archangels are the four archangels that surround the Throne of God. That’s why it’s Uriel, has nothing to do with the Sephiroth at all.

    I was a little disappointed to find out that this banishing ritual I’d been using for years, that had worked wonders at clearing out sacred space, foiling clumsy magickal attacks from the people I pissed off in my bi-polar approach to existence, and banishing a myriad of entities was nothing more than “Now I lay me down to sleep” with some pentagrams thrown in.

    But I’d stumbled across something ELSE in my efforts. I ended up going over the attributions of angels to sephiroth going from 777, Bill Heidrick’s Magical Correspondences, on back to Agrippa’s 3 Books of Occult Philosophy and the writings of Robert Fludd, a contemporary of Agrippa. Bill Heidrick pointed out that the attribution of Raphael and Michael flip according to the source, and I figured if I went back far enough, I’d find a definitive answer.

    But no one had an authoritative basis for their claim. It was all hearsay. Agrippa recorded in one set of books what was available to ceremonialists of his time, but it was based on hearsay more than practice, and he says at some point, if you find I’m wrong, by all means, go with what you find.

    Eventually, I figured I’d just evoke Raphael and ask him. I started with the LBRP, then “drew” his name in Hebrew letters the way you “draw” the pentagrams in the LBRP, and waited for him to show up.

    When I told someone how I was doing the ritual, they said I was tainting my results by doing the LBRP first, and I should just do a straight evocation, with no prejudice. For three or four nights I did this, and got really wonderful visions from Raphael explaining where he belongs.

    (Hod, by the way. He directs the flow of the energies of Mercury into Malkuth through Yesod.)

    So what I learned from all this, besides where Raphael belongs, is that it doesn’t matter who said what, or what logical paths people have put together to get to the conclusion that Entity X “IS” in Sephiroth Y. You can’t trust anything in print to be the bottom line truth, and anything you find out on your own is subject to being only as much of the truth as you really need to know at the moment.

  • Spirit Pot Manual

    I’ve begun the somewhat painstaking process of writing out the events that lead to the creation of my spirit pot, the details of making it, and the results. Maybe it’ll turn into an actual published manuscript. Time will tell.

  • Spirit Pot Operation Results

    Well, last night I posted the downside of my spirit pot operation results. I didn’t win the lottery. But I was right in not claiming the operation a failure.

    Today I got called into my boss’s office and he shut the door. I thought I would be reprimanded or laid off. He started talking about the tight budget, and I was sure a pink slip was coming. Then he appologized that my RAISE would be so small… My raise. Heh. A $1,200 a month raise. Ka-Ching!

    And earlier I landed a contract to install color matching paint kiosks at night, which will be bringing in an extra $1,000 or more a month. Ka-Ching!

    And my spouse started her new job, which would bring in almost another $1,000 a month, if she keeps it and actually goes to it regularly….

    So, since performing the Spirit Pot operations, my monthly income has gone up about $3,000. I can live with that, eh?

    Now, I specifically asked for a lump sum. I’ve found out about all this income in the space of two hours today. Maybe that’s how it worked out. It’s still not the exact dollar amount, so I’m thinking that there’s more to report in the coming days. I can proudly say that Bune/Bime is a great Spirit to work with, and that the Spirit Pot is a great method of working with Goetic Spirits. Life is good.

    Also, for anyone interested, I can get more of those pots from the Goodwill. They cost me $8 each, and I’m reselling them for $12.50 plus shipping and handling. Shipping is around $5.00. If you’re interested, email me at frredactumopus@gmail.com.

    It’s good to be a magician.

  • Spirit Pot Operation Results

    Well, last night I posted the downside of my spirit pot operation results. I didn’t win the lottery. But I was right in not claiming the operation a failure.

    Today I got called into my boss’s office and he shut the door. I thought I would be reprimanded or laid off. He started talking about the tight budget, and I was sure a pink slip was coming. Then he appologized that my RAISE would be so small… My raise. Heh. A $1,200 a month raise. Ka-Ching!

    And earlier I landed a contract to install color matching paint kiosks at night, which will be bringing in an extra $1,000 or more a month. Ka-Ching!

    And my spouse started her new job, which would bring in almost another $1,000 a month, if she keeps it and actually goes to it regularly….

    So, since performing the Spirit Pot operations, my monthly income has gone up about $3,000. I can live with that, eh?

    Now, I specifically asked for a lump sum. I’ve found out about all this income in the space of two hours today. Maybe that’s how it worked out. It’s still not the exact dollar amount, so I’m thinking that there’s more to report in the coming days. I can proudly say that Bune/Bime is a great Spirit to work with, and that the Spirit Pot is a great method of working with Goetic Spirits. Life is good.

    Also, for anyone interested, I can get more of those pots from the Goodwill. They cost me $8 each, and I’m reselling them for $12.50 plus shipping and handling. Shipping is around $5.00. If you’re interested, email me at frredactumopus@gmail.com.

    It’s good to be a magician.

  • Something For God To Do – Prayer Wheels & Petition Boxes

    Recently, Jason Miller posted that he has a petition box that he will place people’s needs in. I’m not going to repeat his whole post, so just click on this link for more information.

    Today I got one of those emails that people forward around to their friends. Chances are you’ve gotten it. It’s the “Memo from God” that says:

    “This is God.  Today I will be handling All of your problems for you.  I do Not need your help.  So, have a nice day.”

    I’ve gotten it before. Somewhere along the way though, someone added this neat little bit:

    “P.S.   And, remember… If life happens to de liver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself!  Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.”

    Now I don’t entirely agree with the whole “Let go and let God” philosophy this reflects. I mean, we’re HERE after all, and we can do stuff, so I think it’s safe to say that if we can, there’s a reason. We’re supposed to be doing stuff to affect our realm of influence.

    But I like the SFGTD box. It’s a modern cultural way to get back to petition boxes, like the one Jason made for Michael.

    I’m going to start using the Prayer Wheel part of The Box to write out things that I want God to do. Since he has this thing about graven images of himself, I’ll connect the ‘trodes with something other than an egraved seal. Maybe I’ll make a YHShVH or something out of copper wire.Oooh! One of those ubiquitous Jesus fishes might work, or just a simple cross. heh. I’m a friggin’ genius. Of course.

  • 4-11-06

    Introduction

    Welcome to the Head for the Red blog. The title comes from the four stages of the Alchemical Great Work, Black, White, Citrine and Red. In the Red Work, the final stage is reached, and the base elements are transformed into the Philosopher’s Stone.

    That’s my goal, to reach the Red Work, and this blog is going to record my thoughts, ideas, and experiences along the way. I hope to play the Hierophant here, or at least to record the wanderings of one Hermit and his experiences. I figure I’m still at the Black stage, and I’ve got quite a ways to go before I get to Red, if I ever do, but I have no qualms in striving.

    Fr. R. O.

  • Bune and the Lotto Tickets

    Well, I hate this part. Another MegaMillions Lottery drawing has come and gone and I am still not the winner. [Picture if you will: Fr. R.O., hunched over his keyboard, typing by the light of his monitor, heaving a large and exasperated sigh of disgust.] The jackpot would have been way beyond my desired amount, so maybe it’s my fault for expecting anything to come of the lotto tix. My past experiences with getting precisely what I requested were exactly that: precisely what I requested to the letter, not more or less. So I guess it wasn’t really a good expectation. Would have been nice though.

    So I’m sitting back and waiting to see what comes of the ritual. I don’t count it a failure, because I didn’t specifically say the lotto had to be the way it manifested. I just figured that would be the easiest way. Moloch posted an interesting thesis on how bad winning the lotto is on people who win anyway. Personally, I think I could handle it, but it seems that whatever Bune has in mind is going to be different in some way. I can’t think of anything that would bring in $7,142, 857.14 off the top of my head other than a lottery, but that’s just me. Bune isn’t stuck with thinking inside the box that I’m thinking in. Maybe I’ll land a government contract or something.

  • Mediocribus Magis

    Well, I hate this part. Another MegaMillions Lottery drawing has come and gone and I am still not the winner. [Picture if you will: Fr. R.O., hunched over his keyboard, typing by the light of his monitor, heaving a large and exasperated sigh of disgust.] The jackpot would have been way beyond my desired amount, so maybe it’s my fault for expecting anything to come of the lotto tix. My past experiences with getting precisely what I requested were exactly that: precisely what I requested to the letter, not more or less. So I guess it wasn’t really a good expectation. Would have been nice though.

    So I’m sitting back and waiting to see what comes of the ritual. I don’t count it