Eighth Sphere magic is really good for weight loss. Last year around this time, give or take a month, I was around 220, and by the end of winter I was back up to around 230. Spring hit and I lost some weight, and I went on a diet, and I lost some more. I made it down to 217, and then started creeping back up until a month or so ago.

Before Thanksgiving, I decided I wasn’t going to get fat this winter. I weighed myself then, and I was at 226. It was getting colder, and I knew I wouldn’t be doing much exercise, and the holidays were coming. So I did some magic, 8th Sphere style.

I went into myself and raised my metabolism, ever so slightly. I did it by meditating on it for a couple of minutes. Pictured the chain of manifestation from the Idea world of the Nous to the manifest corpulence, and just sort of raised the vibration of the body manifestation current a bit so it would result in a slightly higher metabolism. You wouldn’t believe how very subtle the changes were. Sooooo subtle.

And then I just went about my business. I ate holiday food, ice cream and pie and more pie, and cookies and cakes and egg nog til I was sick once, and then I had a little more pie, because I like pie.

And this morning I’m looking in the mirror after showering, and I wasn’t disgusted by my front proportions. As much. So I weighed myself at work,* and I’m down to 213. Two weeks ago I was at 216. Considering the millions of calories I ate, I’ve got to say, not bad.

Do I recommend it? No, it’s dangerous. Taking conscious control over shit that’s designed to be autonomous can lead to fucked up bullshit, like blown livers. I know how to fix anything I might fuck up, I go to Raphael of Mercury for shit I don’t understand about health, and he takes care of me, or clients. So having a strong relationship with the Archangel of Mercury leaves me with the confidence to make those kind of adjustments, in really small amounts, but I don’t advise it to anyone else.

But man, it’s convenient.

Pie.

*I don’t own a scale. If I need to know how much I weigh, I’ll find one somewhere. If it’s that important. Oh, and work has a scale for their Biggest Loser contest, which they cancelled because the Virginia office and the Baltimore office were getting really evil with each other in the competition.

Long ago and far away, I had a pact with Jason to lose weight this year. We had aimed to lose around 60 pounds. I started at 238, a weight I was proud of being at, since it was less than the 270 I had managed to accumulate after my last child was born.

Over the summer I managed to lose about 15 pounds by doing a lot of walking and exercises. I hit the 225 mark and stalled, but I finally broke through that plateau and made it down to about 220, before Halloween hit.

Optimystic asked me to do a write up on the element of Fire over on the Lemegeton list, and this is one of the elements I had planned on working with (at the beginning of the year) to get the weight off. I was hoping to simply increase my metabolism with some gentle work with Oriens, Prince of the East. I was thinking of doing a conjuration of Oriens for the article, and then while I was at it, asking him to up my metabolism.

Due to the experiences of a certain blogger who shall remain nameless related to magic and weight loss, I have been hesitant to use magic to lose weight. A hasty ritual that doesn’t take into account basic physiology can be hazardous to one’s health. I think that simply increasing my metabolism under the tutelage of Oriens will work. But at the same time, the biggest driver for actual weight loss is always exercise for me. If I build up some meaty major muscle groups, my body burns more calories throughout the day. Long walks and hours spent on the old exerbike seem to work wonders for me. I don’t want to inflame my metabolism, and then give it no outlet to burn.

So I’m taking a holistic approach, and resisting the urge to conjure up Oriens and get him to do the driving for me. I’ll probably end up Working with each of the elemetnal Kings, and doing some kind of Work on the Guf itself. the Moon’s waning, so I’m thinking it’s a good time for it.

Even though I’ve only got a couple of months to lose the rest of the weight. Sigh. I don’t think I’ll make it to the full 60 pounds this year, but I do aim to at least break 200 by January.

To aid in not forsaking the vow, Brother Inominandum and I have decided to make a magical pact to lose 60 pound each by the end of the year.

I feel sorry for him, personally. I’m going to win. (Not that it’s a contest…) I just bought a dog, and walking her will have me losing about 20 pounds in a month. Add to that the fact that he’s having twins and SOMEONE’s going to have to eat with his wife…

Let’s just say he’s going to have it harder than I am.

As of today I weigh 238 pounds. So come Dec. 31, I need to weigh at least 178,  although the ideal weight for me is 165 unless I work out.

So we’re both going to use magic to get this done in addition to your normal stuff. Me I don’t diet. I hate diets, I’m no good at them. I can do portion control though, that’s not too hard. And exercise, I can play guitar hero on my playstation while I ride the exercise bike, so that’s like a no-brainer. I need another copy of Guitar Hero II though, the kids ate the last copy I had. (Actually, I think my old PS2 ate it. I’ve seen odd scratches on the disks that look like my PS2 itself is etching something into the disks.)

So anyway, my plan is to work with Enochian Angels of the Fire tablet. Mostly just to get me more active and exercisey. I don’t want them to get rid of the weight for me, I want them to get me to get rid of the weight. Maintaining Exercise is the hardes part for me. My Taurean nature is earthy and I really like to sit. In a hole. In the Ground. A Lot.

Mostly I need to get things in balance. So I’ll be asking my HGA before conjruing up fire Angels on a whim. I wouldn’t want to have them decide to take my lovely office with its wifi internet connection away to make me want to do something.