abracademia
news journal number 2 autumn 2007
w w w. a r c a n o r i u m c o l l e g e . c o m
abracademia The News Journal of Arcanoriorium college Volume 2, Number 2 Executive and Copy Editor: Res Production and Picture Editor: Isis Solaris Abracademia is published electronically. ISSN pending. Copyright © 2006 Arcanorium College. Individual art and articles copyright © their respective artists and authors.
Contents: What is a magician? by Res ...........3 Editorial Musings Alien Mind materialising a Butterfly-effect , Art by Isis Solaris ............4 Treespirit Montmartre - Paris , Art by Isis Solaris ....... 1 ( frontpage) Experimental Demonology photos + article by John Martiro............ 5 An account of a thorough exploration into Goetic magick. Magic & Media: Or, be careful what you wish for! by Jaq D. Hawkins ..........17 Part one describes the creation process of Jaq’s latest book. Part two will develop this further, dealing with the filming of the book. A new approach to an ancient ritual: Banishing in light of new geometries of space and time by Jonathan Stovall ................20 Bucky Fuller inspired version of a magick circle, based on tetrahedra. My super-physically-intense method of charging sigils without destruction, forgetting, or lusting for results by Jonathan Stovall ............ 21 What it says. One man’s way of casting spells – you may not want to copy him precisely, but you could be inspired by his obsession. How was it for you? Effectiveness in Magickal operations by Jon Sharp .......... 23 Jon follows an ethos of work = results. Here, he discusses the criteria for success, and gives a powerful example of how a vision can have real effects. Musing around Virtual Temples photos + article by Ian Rik .......... 28 A full and vivid account of one our student’s trancework experience, with a couple of the comments posted up in reply. ( this writing originally appeared on the Arcanoriumsite as thread ) Financial Wizardry by T. Galdinarde ............ 38 How one student experienced Dave Lee’s Wealth Magick course. The Apophenion- A forthcoming book by Peter J. Carroll ............ 41 Reviewed by Stokastikos The Chancellor has a new book ready to hit the shelves. Here, he tells us about it. Who better? Feedback from previous courses by various students.............. 42 Why Arcanorium College exists.
What is a Magician? Several of the articles in this issue of Abracademia make statements about magicians. Magicians are creative, are rigorous and hard working, a couple of the writers even say that real magick only works like this... Firstly, I should rephrase that question into e-prime, to satisfy the Chancellor... What does a magician do? What functions does the identity of Magician provide us with? None of the above statements, within the context it appears, should be regarded as ‘wrong’. However as a chaos magician, with a lot of planets in Virgo, and with Mars rising, I feel I must take issue with these statements lest they give the impression to the reader of dogmatic viewpoints. My own two penn’orth therefore follows; Magick and the rational, physical mundane world often get represented as at odds with each other. Hence, Crowley’s rather nice definition of magick as Change in conformity with Will, a tautological circle that can be read in either direction. Either, he means the Will changes as reality changes around it, or, vice versa. Being Crowley I’m sure if I asked him which he meant I’d get a cryptic answer, stretching over a lengthy correspondence or several rites involving drugs and sex galore, but my own answer would be; that because both our individual versions of the physical world, and our individual versions of our Will, are constructs of the mind, they each mirror and cause the Other, so no ultimate start to this ouroboros can exist. My imagination gets stimulated by what lies around in the world, but my doors of perception are open to that which already exists. And, what world I find myself in gets made by the actions of my body, itself a result of my previous actions (and possibly a few of my future actions if quantum physics works as some magicians like to believe). One of the discussion threads at Arcanorium described Magick as the belief system that has no rules, acting as the place where any thoughts can be entertained and considered, before the intellectual process of disposing of useless ideas kicks in. The space where Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted. The hallowed ground of Non-belief. So the chosen identity of Magician acts as a construct within which anything can happen. Another definition of the magician could derive from the etymology of the word, which has been traced to a proto indo European word meaning ‘one who can’, arriving at the same kind of results based interpretation as the previous method. Chaos Magick as results magick therefore gives us a magician who can ‘be’ anything at all; the only common feature of magicians who have progressed along this path manifesting as their success, an ability to consider feasible what others may find inconceivable, and a strong sense of the vagaries of self knowledge, as they explore the arbitrary nature of Reality. Returning to the title question then, a successful magician ‘is’ whatever he/she wishes to believe. An apparently simple trick, which can nevertheless occupy some minds for many years. The path of Chaos Magick has no end, no Ultimate Truth (well, maybe. At times I think it does). Taking this journey through a lifetime of experience gives those who can the starting place, the tools and the proving ground of one’s magick. We hope you get some entertainment, education or even, dare I say, enlightenment and inspiration from some of the accounts of this path provided here. In Chaos! Res Editor of Abracademia Journal Student of Arcanorium College
Alien Mind materialising a Butterfly effect by Isis Solaris
THE OTHER MAGICAL REQUISITES FOR Experimental Demonology: THE other magical requisites are: a sceptre, a sword, a mitre, a cap, a long white robe of linen, and other garments for the purpose; also a girdle of lion’s skin three inches broad, with all the names written about it which he round the outmost part of the Magical Circle. Also perfumes, and a chafing-dish of charcoal kindled to put the fumes on, to smoke or perfume the place appointed for action; also anointing oil to anoint thy temples and thine eyes with; and fair water to wash thyself in. Photos: John Martiro
Experimental Demonology by John Martiro I became interested in Goetia early in my occult studies, after reading Kathryn Paulsen’s Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft and Arthur Waite’s Book of Ceremonial Magic. Of all the works therein, the Goetia seemed the most fascinating. It promised spectacular rewards without a tremendous amount of previous knowledge, and required comparatively little effort. I was young then, and had difficulty satisfying most requisites of the system. I lacked equipment, space in which to work, and the liberty to operate without supervision. So I continued with other occult studies and experiments, but the Goetia still held my interest, occupying the secret labors of my spare time. I copied the text into a small journal, leaving a blank page for each spirit with its seal and office at the top. My experiments at this time, despite my most earnest wishes, did not produce much of anything interesting or useful. Rather, they could be described as a string of total failures. I hope that this writing will help some of you avoid my early mistakes and have a clear understanding of the ceremonies. Curiosity having overcome me, I decided it would be necessary to follow all the rules of the book exactly as written, without exclusion or addition, so that my experiments could be judged rightly. Excuse my clumsy Hebrew orthography. I am a student of these arts and not a teacher. Considerations I believe the Goetia and all true magical arts ought to be regarded with extreme caution. It is often not so terrible to be stuck without the right tools, or to speak a word incorrectly, or to perform the ceremony badly; but to make unwise wishes can lead quickly to difficulty or disaster when they are guaranteed fulfilment. A student would want to first acquire the necessary tools. I found this to be difficult only on account of my initial poverty, but eventually the items became available. I wear a white linen robe, a pointed white canvas hat, and a belt of lion’s skin three inches wide with 45 Hebrew names on it. On my hand is a gold ring inscribed with three more names, and around my neck is a medallion bearing the spirit’s seal in its proper metal with the pentacle of Solomon on the reverse side. I have also a sword, a brazier with coals ready, a chain, and an ebony box holding sulphur and asafoetida in the circle along with me. There is always a wooden tablet with several sheets of paper and a pencil. Before me is a red calf-skin painted with the Hexagram of Solomon, covered in a white linen cloth. The Requisites are part of the pact to which the spirits are bound, and are necessary for that reason
aside from their functions in the ritual itself. No amount of any work will make Goetia “easier,” there are no disciplines or techniques beyond those described in the text. There is no mental condition or will-power involved, nothing beyond the actions and tools described in the text itself. I mean to say that if you do not have the Requisites, you may fail. That isn’t so bad, no gain for small loss... a night at a casino would do far worse for you in terms of time and money spent. On the other hand you can get into a lot of trouble from obtaining lovers, strengths, and knowledge of events when your desires run contrary to circumstance. There is definitely the potential to abuse the system for questionable purposes or useless gains, and I think these are more problematic than failure to manifest apparitions in your basement. There are no purely ceremonial pieces in the ritual... all of it has a function. To be without one of them, be it the robe or the names or the proper day of working, is to be deprived of some part of the system and the powers it can offer. When you see “cock’s blood” as an ingredient, it means the blood of a rooster, not tree sap. Most of the major occult texts are complete at least in that they can be performed. There are no mythic secret disciplines that were somehow left-out until the Theosophists and other New Age types decided to add them. I am fairly confident that anyone can attract the attention of these or other spirits simply by requesting such a thing, without any sort of ceremony whatsoever. Getting them to do anything for you or to even let you know they heard you is another matter. “Sure you can call demons, but do they come when you call?” as someone (Shakespeare?) said. The tools, specifically the Names, are employed to actually conjure the spirits and make them do as you say even if they don’t want to do it, and without any hassle for you. Say for example you conjure a spirit to make someone fall in love with you. Without compelling the spirit to serve, by the Goetia or some other effective measures, the spirit may do just what you wanted but everything will very quickly run afoul. Having the requisites keeps this sort of thing from happening. The secret of Goetia lies in the creation and maintenance of pacts (or covenants, if you prefer) between the spirits and the magician. The case of the Brazen Vessel, Solomon had more wealth and power than any man who had ever lived, but his nation was beset all around by pagans and their gods. Solomon could have wiped them out utterly or put their shrines to ruin, and their gods would have been “deprived of office, joy, and place,” but instead they were made to submit to the Vessel and its terms. Solomon had the power to threaten them in this way, and that gave him the right to make such a one-sided offer. Ordinarily pacts are secured by gifts and mutual arrangement of terms. Obviously the present editions of Lemegeton are derived from a 17th century text copied from an older source, but there’s no telling what sources or how old they may have been. Reference to Solomon’s magic date to at least the 3rd century, and reference to books about demon-conjuring attributed to Solomon can be found in 7th century. Solomon’s reign, from which we have not the slightest scrap of evidence that it ever existed at all, is tentatively dated 9th century BC. All early manuscript editions appear in English, March 10th 1641, is given as the date of the text, and the astrological data given in the Lemegeton confirm this date for England. I take into account the phase of the Moon to determine when to do the conjuration. The Moon is always waxing and on an even-numbered day, measured from the first visible appearance of the moon. The rank of the spirit determines the time of day for the conjuration.
The Lemegeton says a few things about each spirit: its rank, its office (what it can do), the number of its servants, and its seal. Occasionally the text will add some cautionary note specific to the individual spirit, as with Asmoday or Andras. In reading the text, it helps to take a direct and literal approach to the wording in regard to the spirits’ powers. It may say “changes the places of the dead,” or “moves the dead,” or “makes the dead appear” and these all have entirely different applications. Some are a little cryptic, as with Sitri whose entry says he “flames men with women’s love and women with men’s love.” Now there are several spirits who cause love - Sallos, Gremory, Beleth, Zepar - to name a few, but each one has a slightly different focus and these differences are evident in the text. Gremory for example is used to ensnare the love of virgins and crones, whereas Sitri promotes homosexuality as men become enflamed with the love women have for men. Reading the text carefully is extremely important in choosing which spirit to conjure. I use Sloane 2731. I haven’t seen Peterson’s book, but his website (www.esotericarchives.com) is worth viewing if you want to shop for occult books. A friend of mine ordered copies of all the manuscripts from the British Museum, and I received photocopies from those. His edition is mentioned in a footnote to the 1995 Weiser edition. Purifications I have a white 10’x10’ rug with the Circle of Solomon on it in red, blue, and gold. I do not believe the colors are necessary at all, and when I began I was using chalk on a garage floor. I should just say right now that I do not believe in visualization of any sort for any purpose connected to Magic in any way. The circle is 9 feet across and complete, and anyone who tells you to skimp out here or anywhere else in the ritual is either making excuses for laziness or is simply not doing Goetia. Before the purification ritual begins, I unroll this rug and set up four brass candle-stands with white candles in the four pentacles surrounding the circle. The purification ritual itself is rather simple. Before the ceremony, I shower and get everything ready. Afterwards I wash my face and hands with a basin and pitcher filled with water. There is no treatment done to the water, and I wipe my hands and face with a white linen towel and say the purification psalm. I make the incantations for vesting, and put on my robe over my ordinary clothes. First the robe itself, then the belt, next the ring, then the medallion, finally the hat. I anoint my temples and brows with Hyssop oil, and place the equipment into the circle. There is no prescription in the Goetia regarding the nature of the oil of anointing: I use hyssop oil since it is included in the purification psalm, but other oils are probably effective also. It may be interesting to note that the vesting prayer is probably composed from Hebrew words: Ancor ANKY (upwards) Amacor AMTsOY (from the center) Amides AMYD (prosperous) Theodonias THUD+NYShA (thanksgiving exalted) Anitor ANY+ThUR (I turn) About ten years ago, I consented (after much pleading and despite my reservations) to allow a ceremony to be performed with two observers. One was within the circle, on whose behalf the conjuration was being done, and the other was outside the circle with a video camera. We performed the conjuration in a barn in the summer, and during the second conjuration it became extremely cold... our breath is visible on the tape. At the end of the conjurations, the guy in the circle began vomiting profusely and continued
for five full minutes. It left a massive pile of glop on the ground, and he was disoriented and swaying on his feet. The cameraman was unaffected, leading me to believe it is actually safer outside the circle since it leaves you ignored. I gave the License to Depart (I wonder if he would have died of nausea had it not been given), and have not attempted anything similar since then. I do however make sure to have the ring on hand and at the ready for that “noxious breath.” Consecrations As instructed in the text, I make the prayers described for entering the circle. These are the verses in Artem Novem concerning the figures and the names around the circle. It may interest students to know that the words around the pentacle, read in order of drawing the connected points of the star, are probably derived from Hebrew roots: Abdya ABD + YH (dead god) Bellator BLO + MY (who swallow) Halliza HLYZ (slander) Bellony BLHH + OUNH (terrible torture) Halliya OLYYH (rise up) Soluzen SLUMN (Solomon) “Dead god, who swallows the terrible torture of slander, rise up for Solomon.” I use lost-wax castings for the seals. The seal has an edge and it is circular, but I do not write the name of the spirit around the seal. I do not believe that the double-circles around the seals (like the ones in Crowley’s edition) add anything at all to the ritual (or detract from it), except as a way to draw the seals and give them a “neat” appearance. I attribute lack of results to failure in the procedure or the equipment. The mercury for the seals of the Presidents is combined with sulphur (Mercury sulfide). It is hazardous but stable when completed. This was once called cinnabar, but modern cinnabar is a lacquer from resins and real cinnabar is difficult to obtain except in small figures. I bought a rug on EBay for $3000 and sold the head for $1200 to defray the costs. It was a male lion from Ethiopia with a black mane. Lions have been traditionally associated with the throne of Solomon, solar imagery in general, and tend to be about as long nose to tail as the circle’s diameter. After detaching the rug lining, I sliced it into several three-inch-wide strips running from head to tail. Some of these are very thin and delicate: it would definitely be worthwhile to attach them to leather or sturdy cloth. Others are very robust, and embroidery on these is beyond my present capacity. I used India ink and Hebrew letters, and I made a metal belt clasp for it.
Prior to the lion belt, I used a leather belt with steel studs and clasps, but after Furcas took control over the sound of my voice, I decided that this option left me without some necessary protection. Another of the side-effects of lacking the belt was that I would get insatiably hungry immediately afterward, for unknown reasons. It may be of interest to know that there is an artefact called the Magic Belt of Poland that is made from lion’s skin, with the names on golden plates, dated 15th century. Originally I used a silver ring, since at the time I sold silver rings and semiprecious beads. I found one with a round flat top, and engraved the words on it. I cast the gold ring (18k gold is 75% gold and 25% silver) about four years ago after obtaining the casting equipment, and deciding it would be nice to have something of superior quality. I added the flawless/colorless diamond later as an additional stylistic touch. The silver ring was fine for years though, and I encourage anyone interested to start in the same fashion: get by “on the cheap” until conjuring produces observable rewards. The Pentacle is made in gold or silver and is to be worn as a pendant. It can be used alone following the invocation in Book 5 of the Lemegeton after the initial conjuration and binding of the spirit into a Brazen Vessel. The Pentacle is also used on the back of the spirit’s seal, in the same material as the seal itself.
The “full regalia” is certainly the ideal working condition, so is a 20’x20’ room with a 20’ ceiling like I have here, or an enormous cavern out in the desert, or a desolate beach etc... These are ideal conditions, not the only ones possible. You don’t need a custom tailored robe with white lilies embroidered on the hem, just some white linen cloth with a hole cut in it for your head. You don’t need a fancy colored rug for the circle, chalk on the garage floor works just fine. Make the seals from beaten copper pipes and fishing weights if you need. This doesn’t have to be a “rich man’s game,” but there are certain required tools and a resourceful person can obtain them. I know from experience you can do it with zero money and zero free time/space, if you want to do it. I enjoy making the tools and getting everything done in the proper traditional way. Aside from anything gained from conjuration, it introduced me to the techniques of metalwork, sewing, embroidery, and the Hebrew language. The “greater” Key of Solomon, with its numerous consecration procedures, has no practical relationship to the Lemegeton. Any sword or rod will fulfil the functions required: to hang the box from its chain over the brazier, to mark the triangle, and to pass items out of the circle without stepping beyond it. Conjurations Part of my own work has been to make clear the precise powers and identities of the spirits. I have not been completely successful in either task, but I believe it to be a great leap further than anyone else of the last 300 years. I make an effort to discuss all matters with the spirits, asking questions especially, before making any sort of commands. I describe to the spirit what is said of its power, and ask how it operates and how it would work with my goals. Of the ones who are attributed the ability to tell things past, present, and future, I ask how their intervention will affect my life. I believe it is important to maintain authority, but also to maintain clarity and to have an idea of what you are doing and who is doing it for you. Where possible, I ask for the pronunciation and meaning of the names of the spirits, and have had many surprises. Many of the spirits have an authority that exceeds the limits of their offices under the Goetia system or covenant. For example, Foras is specifically interested in courting the attention of physicians for his expertise in herbs and minerals. To ask Foras about herbs and minerals is within his office, and he must answer you truthfully, clearly, fully, and to your satisfaction; but ask him about medical science in general is beyond his office and in that subject he can deceive you with impunity. The wording of the grimoire is very direct and often people mistake its meaning. For example Sitri “enflameth men with women’s love, and women with mens’ love.” At least at the time of writing, “women’s love” is toward men and “men’s love” is toward women. To enflame a man with woman’s love, in the context of the grimoire, is to make him homosexual. Some spirits “make a man knowing” in various things, and others teach the same or similar things. These are different effects, clarified only by experience. Before conjuring, I usually make a list of the powers of the spirit and possible applications for them on the sheets of paper kept within the circle. It’s just a convenience to use that as a guide in discussing things, and introduces the demands in such a way as to ensure that the spirit knows why I would ask it to perform a particular service. If necessary, the paper is used in the bindings.
As far as “spoonfeeding” answers, I can say with confidence that I’m not in any position to lead the witness. I say, “You are said to betray treasures. Reveal to me a treasure worth millions of dollars, in a place accessible to me,” and the spirit describes such a thing. My influence over the answer is minimal. I describe the office to which it is bound, and the things I desire from that position, but I expect (and receive) answers that exceed anything I could have suggested myself. The spirits in Goetia do not have correspondences to anything other than the attribution of planets to their metal seals. They are not the Quinances of the Zodiac nor the cards of the Tarot nor anything else but their own asymmetrical system. The popular Shem-Ha-Mephorash names and their applications are for the most part new age Hoo-Hah, and tend to be used as a substitute for Goetia by people who are too scared or too ashamed to admit they like the idea of conjuring demons. There is little to be said of the incantations except maybe to explain some of the more obscure references: Baralamensis BA+RAH+LAMON+SS (Come, behold the rejoicing) Baldachiensis BLDR+ChY+NShH (an emissary of life demands forgotten debt payment) Paumachia POM+ChYH (the living pulse) Apologia Sedes probably refers to the office and position of Apollyon Tartarean Abode is the underworld, particularly the mythic home of the damned FIAT is Flatus, Ignis, Aquae, Terra: the four elements Biblical Names: common terms referring to God Helioren (H+LOR+OUNH) the forever term: the Eternal Primeumaton: (PRY-MOM-ADNY) “reward from God” Adonay (Lord) Prerai (PRY-AY) “profit not” Tetragrammaton (YHVH) Anaphaxaton (ANP-Ash-ADNY) “the fiery wrath of God” Inessenfatoall (NShNH-PThUL) “probed and twisted” Pathumaton, and (Pth-TUMAH) “be defiled to dust” Itemon (Y-TMN) “invisible hand” Adonai Zebaot (The Lord of Hosts) Adonai Amioran (The Speech of the Lord) Persist Therein Unto the End, according to my interest - one of the more important commands The second conjuration recalls Biblical scenes and related lore, affirming the power of God. During this invocation there are sometimes unusual occurrences in the conjuring area. Following it is the constraint, after which the spirit should appear. If it does not, there are condemnations, below. When the spirit appears, it is necessary to give the Address to the Spirit, displaying the Seal of Solomon. At this time the spirit may not appear in its conversational form, or may not appear at all but instead provide a show of its presence. At the Address, the spirit should cease all of this and assume its humbled form. After giving the Welcome, the spirit is open to communication and afterwards use the License to Depart. I use Benzoin for incense, but the text does not specify in this matter and you could use something else too. The figure at the bottom angle of the Seal of Solomon is probably QDSh or “Holy.” It is possible to conjure the spirit into a Brazen Vessel instead of using the triangle, so that it will be readily available at a later date. In this case the Pentacle alone is needed for making requests of the spirit. The seal on the
Brazen Vessel is what came to be known in Alchemy as the Emblem of the Argent Elixir, which turns all things to silver, and the words around the vessel are as follows: “Ararita: Spirits of the dead gods, the righteousness of God gives you to the darkness of the womb, for the pleasure of the Man of God.” It should be noted that the spirits appear visibly and speak audibly, as they are commanded to do. This is one distinction between the true art and modified forms, another being the amount of security afforded both during the ritual and in the execution of the commands. Condemnations If the spirits are disobedient, whether to the terms of conjuration or in the execution of the tasks you demand, they are subject to penalty. The names and sigils used have no inherent power to dominate spirits, but these have been subjugated and bound to the names and figures: they are liable for failure so long as you have met the required terms. They are punished with Fire, Chains, and Darkness: the general condition of the damned. It may be that they are not being disobedient, but have actually been bound and sealed away. In this case it is necessary to call the King or warden in charge of that spirit. This is a difficult process as it is not clear which spirits are responsible to which of the keepers, but overall they seem to be in groups of 18. If this is not sufficient, go on the curses. First a fire is made in a small brazier, a metal pot on a metal base with coals in it. The conjuration of the Fire is made. Next a small box is wrapped in chain and dangled over the fire from the blade of the sword or from the rod while the Chain Curse is recited. While the curses themselves are rarely necessary, when required this one is usually sufficient. If it is not, proceed to the Curse of Darkness, binding the spirit to be shut out from all light and deprived of its office and place as you drop its box into the fire. In the box are its seal drawn on paper, sulphur, and asafoetida, which imitates the smell of lion’s dung when burned but is otherwise reminiscent of celery. Asafoetida has uses in curries and medicines (as a coagulant) and can be purchased without arousing suspicion. Sulphur may be ordered from chemical suppliers or as part of chemistry sets. When the condemnation is complete, the spirit will appear, after which it may be Addressed, Welcomed, and finally given License to Depart. The placement of the Triangle is apparently a matter of experience and is further demonstration of the asymmetry of the Goetia. It would be convenient to begin with Bael in the east and use that for the 17 spirits after him, then use South for the next 18 and so forth. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way at all, with Paimon in the West and several others listed out of what would be a convenient arrangement. The only way to learn it is to do it and try to make a best guess... I can say with certainty that the astrological/elemental divisions given by Crowley and those after him are simply not applicable. The triangle is not necessary for conjuring the spirit, but it is necessary for forcing it into action against its will. In calling Furcas the triangle was initially in the wrong place. At the time I also did not use the belt and my robe was cotton. I obtained the requested power, but the spirit’s voice was spoken in place of my own for the time, and these days I am more cautious all around.
Conclusions I have never met anyone who had taken up this art in its original form, except those who did so at my suggestion. I have not read of anyone who had done so; all historical personages have made some modifications, including Crowley. I did not find anyone whose opinions I might ask, or from whose experiences I might learn. It became apparent that to study Goetia I would have to do Goetia, and in so doing I have become the sole legitimate practitioner of this ancient magical art. I have often found people claim that they use the precise tradition and then go on about their LBRP or how they merely imagine the circle, or they use other God-names or a zillion other inconsistencies. To say I am sceptical of the whole thing is putting it mildly. My understanding of the way this system works has been pieced together from hindsight over the last ten years or so. I have always tried to remain specific and daring in my requests, and to hold the results under question. When I conjured Agares (pronounced Agaross) to produce an earthquake, a new fault opened with 116 quakes over a two day period. Later, when I requested a 6.5 in a specific place on a specific date, it happened exactly as demanded, leaving me the tentative conclusion that the spirits are reliable despite the two deaths and 40 damaged buildings resulting from the tremor. My Seal of Barbatos has never failed to intimidate even fierce dogs, and Furcas allowed me to win arguments even when I knew my position to be absurd. Foras was unwilling to give me “600 years of healthy mortal life” but has proven itself in saving my life by miracles (not chance, mind you: miracles) twice now. The spirits have assisted in revolutionizing a particular industry, revealed to me the location of a gold vein, furthered the cause of medicine and technology, predicted terrestrial and celestial events, and have done many other things with both personal and public value. I do not see Goetia, or magic generally, as a shortcut to money and power for the inept and impoverished. I do see it as a way in which a clever and dedicated person can make good plans actually work, despite whatever obstacles appear to thwart them. Scientific experiments in magic have been almost totally focused on statistical results that do not reflect the aims and methods of occult practice. I believe it is important to question the validity of one’s work and to apply tests toward the questions, using a scientific method. The spirits serve your desires and it’s a certainty that some of those desires are “mundane”, whatever that is precisely. There is no goal too lowly or too lofty, but there are goals that are counter-productive and that is why I advise caution. I like to think that my work is actually worth something in a wider sense than my own gratification would alone require. Having satisfied my curiosity that it works, I set out to apply it toward what I consider the improvement of the world as well as myself. At this point I’m still more or less trying to understand exactly what sort of impact it can make in the world, and I don’t want to be led around by political bandwagons. There are times when terrible things need doing, and I make every attempt to avoid being petty, but sometimes my intentions still go awry and my goals are still shallow. I strive to make better choices and recognize what influence is possible without ceasing to exert that influence altogether. With some reservations I must admit that I do not put a heck of a lot of stock into others’ reports of evocations, especially in cases where devices, drugs, etc are used that invite personal interpretation or depend on an active imagination. These might have validity (it will be seen in the outcome of the conjuring), but they appear to use your imagination and run with it rather than having you stand and wait for the spirit to make the first move. Authenticity in any magic is demonstrated by results after the fact, no matter what happens during the ceremony or what you believe makes it work.
I think a good first task for a practicing magician of any tradition is to assume a position of responsibility. By this I mean to be responsible for something in particular, not just a sense of accountability. Join a team, take a side, lead the way as you please, but have something to work toward and something to work against. Whatever values you hold will dictate which is which, but it’s good to have people, a project or goal, requiring your input in a significant way. Otherwise you’re just messing around in other people’s business. So far as I know, I am the only living person who uses the system in its entirety without the inclusion of irrelevant trinkets like black mirrors, visualizations, or bornless rituals. This means that while other people may have had a valid experience, they do not know the actual system from any sort of personal experience. Even Crowley modified the system and his Goetia edition as well as his career demonstrates the reduction of capabilities in certain among the spirits. I have deciphered the names, appearances, and proper tasks of the spirits, and in many cases their origins. Up until my own writing, there were only speculations in this area, and I have added to the available base of knowledge tremendously. It was this task, specifically in the understanding of their names and of the words used in the magical figures, that sets my work apart from all contemporaries. I have put the spirits to the task and have recorded my work at http://www.livejournal.com/users/imperialarts/ as a matter of public record. Not all conjurations have been reported, but this is definitely more candid than anything you will find anywhere else, from any time period.
Magic and Media: or, be careful what you wish for! by Jaq D Hawkins Part One It has long been my observation that the world of magic(k) attracts a lot of creative people. Writers, artists, musicians and all sorts of creatives have a similar openness to pattern that is necessary for the successful attunement to the patterns of magic. It is not surprising then, that a magician’s involvement in an aspect of popular media can work quite naturally within the same rules and parameters that one might work with in an act of magic. When the magician chooses to use magic, to in some way cause an effect within the world of media, the possibilities for a smooth and successful operation can be far too easy. But magic comes with a price, especially magic that seems to be too easy. And media is a world where obsession may be necessary to gain the desired result. A marriage of the two can easily result in the magician becoming part of an all-encompassing world that takes over his or her life, as my own foray into this realm has shown me. As a writer, I have spent many years heeding the standard advice given to all writers: Write what you know. Writing about magic brings a certain satisfaction that can only come from expressing one’s deepest thoughts and experiences in a medium where others might share in those experiences and even learn from them, in many ways becoming part of the author’s inner world in a remote manner. But the reason I became an occult writer was originally because I wanted to be a writer, as young as age fourteen, and it just happened to be the subject I know best. Many of my early writings that the world has never seen were in fact fiction. Ironically, it would be fiction that took me into a new realm of magic, where everything I had learned from my years of magical study would be required to maintain a hold in the roller coaster world of media. In early 2005, I had finished the last book of my Sprits of the Elements series and had begun work on Women of Power, which I had hoped would have much to say to other female magicians. The series had taken over my writing for several years, I had made no attempt to write fiction for more than a decade. I had no thoughts at that time of returning to my favoured world of fantasy fiction as a writer any time soon. I had also become mildly involved with Pagan activism in response to an election overseas that promised to be detrimental to the general health of the world, as the influence of the US and its presidency has an effect on many nations outside of its own. But my foray into activism had shown me another world of small factions, where people were as divisive as the super powers themselves and too few were willing to work together towards a common goal. In the sort of musings one indulges in while walking home from the supermarket, I was contemplating the progression of events in the world around me and how things should be, when suddenly a single line of dialogue went through my head. “We are not like you. We have no need to have power over our own kind. Or imagine that we do.” Within that line was an entire attitude, a philosophy that thought outside of political structures, and saw into the imaginary hierarchies that allow such social structures to exist by consent of all who participate in supporting
these artificial hierarchies. It was a statement of a true Anarchist. But in the real world, such groups of Anarchists are few and relatively small. There were no nations of Anarchists that would make this argument against another nation. My writer’s mind slipped into the alternate world of fantasy where I have found much recreation in the imaginary worlds of other writers, and found an alternate reality of its own. The speaker became a goblin, speaking to a human who could not possibly grasp the concept of non-hierarchy, and the first glimpse into the world of “Dance of the Goblins” was born. A scene began building around the dialogue; a human captive, not in any real danger but among goblins who tormented him for trespassing into their world. An old wise one among the goblins speaking the words. A world outside, to which he would be returned, more dialogue as the goblins played with him, and a way to make him forget where he had been and how to get there for the protection of the goblins. By the time I got home and furiously typed out the first chapter, the goblins had become the innocent Shamanic people who lived underground living in a peaceful world of Anarchy that works, based on a society I had experienced that organises squat parties on a large scale in London. Their spirituality was found in ecstatic dance, hence the title “Dance of the Goblins”. Soon this would tie in with a tribal lifestyle that included storytelling as their means of education and entertainment, which also ties in with the Dance. And the humans, were as humans had always been. Too quick to try to destroy that which they don’t understand or can’t control. In my fantasy story, the goblins were the good guys. In four months I had a completed novel and notes for two sequels. I hadn’t just written a novel, I had created a world. The creative side of me is well-balanced with the practical (I’m ambi-dextrous), I could not help but see that this creation had extensive commercial viability. Sequels, films, conferences where people dress up as the characters, the works. Best of all, I had managed to write about magic without making the mistake I have seen too many occult writers make when trying to write fiction; trying too hard to teach magic through the story. I made no attempt to teach, but only threw some magician characters in to see what they did. They quickly took over, and became the ruling class. The story of how this came about is one of the more amusing points in the book, and not something I’ll give away to those who may enjoy reading it in context. But first the story had to get published. My publishers for my occult books didn’t do fiction. My knowledge of the writing business suggested that the best move would be to find an agent. My attempts to do so however, were unusually obstructive. As a magician, I’m familiar with the patterns that happen when something is meant to, or not meant to happen. It was not a matter of rejections so much as every agent in Britain saying they didn’t do genre fiction and refusing to read it. Considering how many popular fantasy authors use agents, it was unusual. But I had a certainty that the story, and the series, was meant to blossom. It was time to move back into the world of magic to work out how. I began to contemplate a spell for finding the right agent or publisher when a chance comment on an internet forum brought Ganesha to my attention. I don’t always work with deity forms in magic, in fact very seldom, although I’ve had some spectacular results with Egyptian deities. At the time, I had never been drawn to Hindu deities at all. But Ganesha seemed ideal. God of obstacles and overcoming them among other things, relatively benign as a contemplative and peaceful god. Of course what I didn’t know at the time was that he is also a trickster god. I planned a ritual and began looking for a small Ganesha icon. I had bought an incense burner as a gift for someone a year before that would be ideal, so I went to the same shop to get another one as it was usual stock. They didn’t have one. The city where I live has several shops that would be likely to carry a similar item, and I scoured them all. No Ganesha was to be found, in any form. Even the more unlikely gift shops were checked, with no result.
Then, after popping into a local small grocer to pick up a few things before going home, my eye fell on an overpriced lapidary shop that I would normally avoid. I had been in there before, and knew they had a cabinet with carved stone animals. Immediately, I knew he would be there. I went into the shop, browsed perfunctorily for a few moments and made my way to the cabinet in the back. I’m short sighted and have always had trouble with the refraction of glass, so I had to look very carefully among the clutter of small colourful animal carvings to look for my Ganesha. I started at the bottom shelf, knowing with more and more growing certainty that I needed to look closely because he was there somewhere. I worked my way up slowly, contemplating the cost in the back of my mind as I was rather skint at that moment and the gemstone carvings were far more expensive than I had intended to manage when I had left the house that morning. As I worked my way up the shelves, I saw that prices for the small animals averaged £40 - £60 which was going to be a hardship, but I had a credit card. Just as I reached the top shelf, I realised that a stone icon was going to be ideal, and I would find a way to deal with the cost. Magicians will recognise the process of what happened next. As my eye wandered to the top and last shelf, the exact phrase that went through my mind was, “Whatever it costs, I’ll pay it.” At that moment, my eye fell on him. Five inches high, beautiful sparkly Adventurine stone carved into a perfect sitting Ganesha. £175. I almost hesitated. This was well beyond what I could afford, even on the credit card. But I had said it, and the timing was unmistakeable. I bought the statue. Of course the next day, I received some money in the post that I had forgotten I was expecting to receive sooner or later, and that made up for it. It’s always the next day… I performed the spell that night. During the operation, I received a very strong feeling that I should forget about the agents and go for a small publisher. As it was a Friday night, I decided that I would enjoy my weekend and start looking for such a publisher on Monday. Besides, I had a social engagement on Saturday evening. What did I just say about the next day? To make a long story short, I went to my social engagement on Saturday and ‘happened to’ sit across a table from someone that I hadn’t met before. He was a new publisher, looking for manuscripts. A chance comment about having just finished this novel led to a conversation that resulted in him publishing my book. But the story is far from finished there. It also happened that he had gone to college with a well-known celebrity who I had envisioned playing a major role in the film version. A series of coincidences was just beginning. I still don’t remember the exact wording I used in my spell with Ganesha, but there was something about getting the story out there. In part 2 of this story, I will tell how this series of unlikely connections led to an occult writer transforming into a film producer, and having her life completely taken over by a world she never imagined stepping into before, a world where fantasy, reality and magic all intertwine in a creative twist of fate.
A new approach to an ancient ritual: Banishing in light of new geometries of space and time. Jonathan Stovall As a Physicist who also holds a degree in Anthropology, I tend to look for innovative, scientific methods to infuse into traditional methods of ritual. This adaptability, along with the highly personal nature of the workings in magic, is a major reason the Chaos magical paradigm seems the most sensible, usable, malleable, “structure” for ritual work. Highest praise goes to Peter Carroll for delving fully into the quagmire of physics known as Cosmology. His relentless work tackling this immense, confusing, contradictory, and academically vicious realm heralds the ideas of a true visionary on the verge of a breakthrough, opening this path to all who have less of a capacity to grasp such grandiose concepts. In my own humble opinion, we truly “know” about as much about the universe, as one would see on an old woodcarving. You know, the old geocentric figure with a shell of stars surrounding it? However, humans are much better at manipulating things within the universe based on the plethora of knowledge obtained in the last few Millennia. Venturing into the foray of new geometries of space and time, however, is worth the extreme effort of creative mental gymnastics. By discovering the intricacies and nuances of the structure of reality, one may more effectively utilize and exploit the universe to bring it more completely under the control of the desire of the magician, guided by the force of will. I have created a quick banishing/cleansing ritual that I use often. I hold a reverence for the theories of Buckminster Fuller, especially his geometric interpretation of the fabric of the universe. We all know of synergy and the like, but he also conceived of a geometry based on the tetrahedron and the sphere as the basic units of measure for energy/matter of the universe. This allows for mathematical interpretations and models using the closest packing of spheres, a 60° omnidirectional coordinate system, and whole rational numbers. His is a truly omnirational, comprehensive approach to modelling reality, as well as psychological concepts. His work is online at: http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/synergetics.html
It’s lengthy, complex, extremely verbose, and unforgivably unreadable after a certain point, but as any work of genius the core principles shine through. I digress. I begin (standing or sitting) by imagining a tetrahedron (point up or down depending on the situation) emanating and expanding from my hara or center. I allow this tetrahedron to grow to an appropriate size, and then I imagine the opposite tetrahedron occurring in the same fashion. If appropriate, I will draw these tetrahedra with my hands, magical instruments, or whatever. I then imagine a sphere of energy projecting from my center to the edge of the interlocked tetrahedra, circumscribing it. Thus I have formed a 3D version of a hexagram, with a bounding sphere pushing all unwanted energies out of the area. Each tetrahedron’s corner can represent a classic element (fire, water, air, earth.) Also, there are a total of eight tetrahedron points, inferring a star of chaos, and hidden forces. This structure also holds a cube, for any two interlocking tetrahedra always form the true inner structure that supports the frame of a cube. Numerous geometric forms can be added as ‘shells’ if necessary, but this is usually a quickie.
Another option for the ritual is to keep the geometric structures in flux, particularly the interlocking tetrahedra. This can effectively be used as a ‘screen’ for either containing, or eliminating ‘energies.’ These figures may be as complex as one can imagine, appropriate to the force needed. The spheres may also be projected to any imaginable location. Protect yourself, or someone on the other side of the Earth. The effectiveness of this technique seems to stem from the nature of the fundamental geometry itself. The only hindrance to this technique is the inability to visualize, or manifest the structures. No tools are necessary, so this may truly be used as an open hand technique. It can even be done inconspicuously. No one need know what you are doing. It can be performed anytime, anywhere, without overtly drawing attention to one’s self, and at a moment’s notice. Explore your creative mental facilities. Embrace the cutting edge theories of time, space, and geometry to strengthen your practical magical work. And above all, be flexible in the application of these suggestions. Perhaps unimagined geometries are residing within you, waiting to alleviate your burdens of fixed magical rituals and set your will free.
My super-physically-mentally intense method of charging sigils without destruction, forgetting, or lusting for results. by Jonathan Stovall I would like to discuss methods for charging sigils. This is an ancient topic for some, beaten to death by numerous sources, but I’m commenting on behalf of all of us who have new insight to the arena, or were possibly not even born during its “heyday” (whatever that means). Publishing non-conventional techniques seem to be few and far between, despite their personal nature. The literature on the subject is vast and detailed, leaning toward the use of sexual methods, The Death Posture, or static exhaustion as the main techniques. Also, destruction of the sigil is almost always given as a mandate. I wish to share my personal way of transferring this energy which may slightly differ from published methods. I am no artist, but I have seen excellent work expressed subtly, yet openly. In my opinion, artists who can convey subconscious signals are masters. Being a scientifically minded person, I create the sigil in a journal using the established sentence techniques. I prefer to omit vowels along with repeating
consonants, and it seems capital letters work better than lower case letters, unless the message is subtle. I transfer the sigil to a standard 8.5x11” piece of paper using a marker, and I begin the process by bounding the area to be drawn in by a circle of approx. 20cm. After the sigil is complete it is added to a pool of them which I work with until I feel it is no longer necessary. I do not usually destroy them unless I feel so compelled. To charge the sigil, I basically use exhaustion in the form of exercise. Go ahead, be a big, bloated, beautiful enchanter if it suits you. I prefer to keep the body temple pure and efficient as homage to the forces assembling it. First, I briefly stretch my hips and legs, doing general grounding with Tai Chi or BaGua. Then I run on an elliptical machine for at least 30 minutes, and listen to music in headphones. I place the sigil stack that I’m working on in front of me (on the magazine rack). I stretch my upper body during the cardio, using various yoga and aikido techniques. After I complete my stretches, I hold my magic swords for usually the remaining 6-4 minutes of cardio. (I keep them in my pockets during stretching), charging them, or letting them cleanse me imagining them as spinning Omni directional blades, slicing apart the unwanted within me. (I use two almost identical palm sized obsidian spheres for my swords. Obsidian was one of the first minerals to be used by early humans for razor sharp knives). Simultaneously, I have to work on breathing and balance techniques. While all of this is occurring, I gaze at the sigil and try to relax my mind, opening myself to its influence, charging it. I find that by trancing out with the above techniques, the gazing allows me to follow curves, and detect energy flow around each glyph. I often find that whole new meanings or inspirations jump out at me during these times, aiding me with my work. It’s like a biofeedback loop from my subconscious, teaching me slyly by using my own conceptions, and how they flow forth originally, morph, and return as new inspiration. As for the music, I find solace in what others usually find annoyance or dislike. So, I usually listen to some intense flowing metal while I am doing all of this. Slayer, Slipknot, Meshuggah, etc. I usually change the sigil with each new song, using each in an order, so that no two songs/sigils coincide over several sessions (if this does occur, I take note). Sometimes I listen to longer dirges from doom metal bands like Electric Wizard, OM, or Sleep and change the sigil when intuition strikes. I try to do this often. If I continue for several days relentlessly I consider this “psycho–spiritual warfare” being carried out on myself. Afterwards, I stretch my legs/hips more thoroughly for about 30 minutes, ground, and meditate for around 15 minutes. I usually do this all in the morning before work: what an excellent way to start the day! I also try to mix things up a bit with my practice, yet in a different way. I scan some sigils into a computer and print them on transparencies, overlaying several at a time. I will pool a set that may relate in some fashion, and mix them to create new shapes out of the synthesis of the old ones. For instance, I might have one for influencing the timeflow in my life, another regarding health matters, one that tells me a particular event never existed, one that expands my creativity, and one that destroys a bad habit. The focus of the group is the same, yet the combinations and variations allow new meanings and insight to arise. These of course are done over an appropriate length of time. I have also dabbled with ‘morphing’ sigils into servitors when they seem to speak to me as if to say “give me life,” although only on a handful of occasions. This has been successful, but I must share a story. I had created a sigil for having a clean house or something as such. I kept having the feeling that I should give it a limited ‘life’ so I did. At a later date while exercising / charging as described before, one of the toilets in the house backed up and flooded 1/3rd of the house. Needless to say, afterwards the house was clean, and I could only laugh at what had transpired. As for the maniacal “work” ethic with charging sigils ...we’re all human. I do sleep in sometimes.
How was it for you? Effectiveness in Magical Operations by Jon Sharp The aim of this short paper is to consider how we might, as magicians, go about judging the effectiveness of our workings. My interest in this area has been nibbling away at me for a number of years and stems from a concern with the potential to frame practical magical work within a recognizably valid (or potentially valid) philosophical framework. I have been working on a PhD thesis which attempts to account for ‘non ordinary’ experience using Husserl’s notion of the eidetic consciousness; a point where we experience ‘the things themselves’. A fellow member of Arcanorium College made the excellent point that, ‘ a magician ought to have some evidence that magic has worked’ and it was Aurum’s point that spurred me to look at this issue in a more practical context. Much of what appears below is culled from my various posts that relate to this question as discussed on the Arcanorium College site. If anyone would like to read a more philosophically dense discussion I have a lengthy and typically dry academic paper I would be happy to email out. The question of ‘did it work?’ is perhaps the most important factor that allows us to clearly separate magic as an active process intended to generate a result from the passive state of belief associated with religious experience or the mystical path where the nature of any result is left to the God/s to determine. Interestingly, it’s surprising how reluctant most self proclaimed occultists, magicians, witches and so forth are to offer up any evidence when asked. When talking in the general it is common to hear such dilettante types talk in terms of magic as a process that impacts in the visible world. However, when asked to talk in the particular there is usually a retreat into the safer position that claims magic works only on the inside. This failing seems most noticeable amongst the New Age crowd who confuse standard consumer values with genuine magical work. This is not to say that magic must be verifiable in the way in which hard core materialism would seek to verify any truth claim or that there is no internal role for magical operations. For me magic has to be about both the external and internal. The latter is both the most important aspect of the work and inevitably much harder to test in terms of genuine effect. However, there is a need to move away from the mutually indulgent unquestioning acceptance that predominates in much of the so called occult scene. If we honestly challenge ourselves in this regard we are on the right road I think. Towards the beginning of Ian Read’s Rune course we were presented with a quote from Heimskringla; ‘trua á mátt sitt ok megin’. The substance of this nugget of wisdom was that each of us must hold true to one’s own might and main. In the context of how we determine the effectiveness of our magical work this suggests that the crucial determining factor is the need for our magical work to align with our own inner sense of right action and Truth. However, like Crowley’s insistence that we should follow our will, this does not mean that the measure of success is entirely subjective or that it can afford to lack rigorous analysis. In terms of working with the Runes, this quote also suggests that you have to look to where the strength of the runes originates. The runes are potentially embedded in the person but have their meaning also embedded in a tradition, and so to take them too far out of that tradition would be to lose their strength. We need to be careful where we locate our might and main. If we go only as deep as our immediate conscious existence we will lack the strength afforded by climbing a tree that has its roots deep in the dark earth. In locating our own truth and strength we should be driven to dig deep in whatever tradition from which we draw our current will to progress. Odhinn only spilled a single drop of the mead of inspiration when passing over Midgardh and so we need to give every moment we can to seeking out the rare remnants of that drop wherever we can find them. If we wish to plough a furrow that will yield good crops it is better to turn the earth over deeply in a single channel than to scratch at the whole field with a tooth pick. Thus one aspect of the effectiveness of our magical operations may lie in the going deep rather than spreading ourselves thinly. As Dave Lee said ‘magicians and insects specialize’. This view is immediately problematic in a world that values quick fixes and abhors hard work. Magic can be very
attractive to the postmodern consumer who wants it all now. The idea that the effectiveness, both internal and external, is reliant on bloody hard slog runs counter to the gospel of consumerism. The new God of the West has only one commandment and that is ‘Thou shalt consume’. In consuming we do not need to be concerned with the process of becoming, we simply want to accumulate goods. In such a culture a surface knowledge of many systems appears to be more valuable than a deep understanding of one. In addition the current ‘culture’ seems adept (pun intended) at turning forces which might oppose it into just another product. There is a general infantilising of our society, which seems to be stimulated by a range of factors, from the nanny state, to low levels of educational expectation and achievement, to a lack of any real challenges for many; either in terms of what they might seek to achieve, or the work required to achieve those things that are deemed worthy of striving towards. Unless we recognize the value and necessity of work then our magical expectations will be equally shallow. The excitement of an experience to be swallowed and tasted as yet another novelty replaces the desire for a deepening of understanding. Before the question of measuring effectiveness there is the question of what would constitute success in magic. A look around the shelves of any bookstore will demonstrate that many so called occult paths have been reduced in their public presentation to self development of the lowest kind. The quest for the mysteries becomes a search for better sex, career advancement and flatter abs all of which are obtainable in ten easy steps using new and improved Egyptian runic tarot! [Sounds excellent. Where can I buy a copy? Ed.] Such tat will claim to foster inner change, but also claims to know before you even begin, and before you have reached the end (the very notion of which is itself short sighted), know where it is you are meant to be going and how you are meant to be changing. The teleological nature of most occult paths betrays an inner religious orthodoxy that makes a nonsense of any magical work. E.g., if the end point is known already, and is determined by a higher power, and all my operations are simply a manifestation of the will of that higher power that lies outside me, there can be no magical work; only puppetry. This circular thinking was present in the Golden Dawn system in which I was previously immersed and prevents any assessment of effectiveness. Any result or absence of result has to be interpreted as the will of the higher and so all operations are by definition both successful but equally wholly redundant. To talk meaningfully of effectiveness in any magical work we must first take on the responsibility for that work and its outcomes. In my own experience, 20 years working with hermetic Kabbalah and Egyptian forms was intellectually stimulating but never really touched my innards. The magic was always located outside of oneself, the operator reduced to a conduit through whom the Divine moved. In contrast the work with the Northern tradition has hit me on a whole other level, there is a sense of unfolding what is already there, but lying dormant in the darkness. This is because I have a connection ‘in the blood’ to this particular presentation of the mysteries. In terms of effectiveness it presents a furrow that was already deeply etched and so can be fruitfully sown. Another key to its effectiveness lies in the responsibility placed upon the magician. In this system it is I who is successful or who fails in an operation. This then allows a genuine analysis of any given operation. It is only when I accord to myself the potential power of being effective as an individual as opposed to a functionary that I can ask myself if I have been successful. In this concept of magical work there is no creator God working through me, rather the All Father functions both as that element within me that the work brings to consciousness, while at the same time being a conceptualisation of that acausal being that preceded me. Hence I am descended from him, if I have the will to allow that to be the case and seek to manifest it. I find it hard to conceive of working with Runes in the wider sense of the mysteries without incorporating the sense of an internal pre-existing relationship to the mysteries (the rime egg of Hagalaz) within the individual that the process of rune working causes to unfold. This individual process mirrors the manner in which the rune ring unfolds out of the hail stone. Similarly, the link between the vertical axis of Eihwaz and the spiral function of Jera represents the harvest that each person may reap by digging in their own earth. Thus for me effectiveness in magic requires first the possibility of being individually effective, this in turn requires that I am responsible for the outcomes, and I can best acquire that responsibility by working to fully realize the root of that potential for individual action.
While the above presents a view about what effectiveness in magic requires as a starting point in order for it to make sense as an idea, it offers nothing in terms of how we might judge the effectiveness of a particular magical working. The simple answer to that problem is that the ultimate arbiter of success can only ever be the individual. What is therefore most important is that a rigorous notion of magical work and of responsibility is established within the individual to minimize the danger of self indulgence in such personal judgments. It seems reasonable that effectiveness will in no small part be related to the level of work that one puts into the operation. If magic operates on all levels of being (the physical, mental as well as deeper levels of the individual), it seems reasonable to assume that effective magical work should also involve all those levels. As a recent practical example I could look at the process I used in finding a name to reflect the persona at work when working with the runes. Crucially, the name of this persona, Odhs Fadhir (Father of the Odh) was not consciously selected but ‘arose’ in the back of my mind during meditation. The spontaneous arrival of unbidden ideas can often point to effective work but as ever needs rigorous testing and analysis. To test this name and to develop its significance I spent considerable time looking at the symbolism of each individual letter, its numerical value and the numerical value of the whole as well as its various subtotals in order to determine if some form of internal coherence could be found. The next bit of embedding the name was to spend time going through the galdor for each of the rune staves in the name as well as the use of prior experience of vibrating names in other systems to create a way of singing the name Odhs Fadhir. While singing I wrote out the name using the appropriate staves and tried to ‘feel my way’ into the pattern. This brought a lot of insights for me, a lot of it focused around the centrality of dagaz in both the elements of the name and the relationship in terms of the rune row between the numbers 3, 5 and 8 along with 12 and 9 (total value of name is 108: 12 x 9 = 108). For me one of the benefits of this approach is that my whole focus is already absorbed in the creation of this persona before I even begin the ritual proper. In terms of effectiveness this again points to the principle that the energy exerted is likely to be indicative of the relative success of the operation. In order to counter the potential that is always larger than we would like to think for self indulgence to overtake any magical working, I made a point of not having any shape in mind for this persona to acquire during the subsequent ritual. Instead I constructed a bind rune from the letters in the name to have on the ground as a physical focus, which would also govern the form that would be constructed. This level of preparation has a double advantage in that it pushes out the monkey chatter that usually clutters up our conscious mind. Magic is not like self assembly furniture though and while following the instructions that one has written is important since it emphasizes the responsibility for the work the fact that effectiveness is in the hands of the practitioner means that improvisation is also a plus. This is entirely different to attempting magical work without preparation relying solely on one’s feelings at the time since the latter approach lacks the essential element of rigorous work. In this particular work after projecting the rune staves I chanted the name Odhs Fadhir both as words and letter by letter repeatedly while focusing on the bind rune, but because it felt right to do so I took the bind rune and traced over the rune shape with a little blood and red paint I had left over from creating a rune circle. I then simply sat in the darkness focusing on the bind rune. I had a lot of Dittany of Crete going so there was a nice thick smoke in gloom which always helps. For a long time all I had was the name and the rune shape but eventually I had a number of very quick images in my head all of which made sense to me and related to the theme of the name. The most powerful being a horse headed figure and repetitions of very angular shapes which resolved into triangles. I don’t tend to visualise outwardly except when concentrating on projecting a particular sign or shape so I didn’t so much see a shape in front of me to walk into. However, I did have an internal sense of a seated hooded figure in front of me. Inside the hood was very vague and I had an odd sense of not being able to look up to see the face fully, it was like being on the edge of seeing it but not quite and it would subtly shift each time. There was an overall atmosphere about the figure that I recognized but haven’t experienced so directly before. The experience was very intense and physical much more so than the results of rituals I have experienced in other traditions. I judged it to be effective for a number of reasons that in part point to the inability of any mainstream notion of testing to validate the results of magical operations. The fact that what I saw was entirely unexpected helps to rule out mere imagination being at work and this was emphasized by the inability to see
the figure as clearly as I wanted to. Additionally, results that both resonate with the aim of an operation, but are not immediately clear as doing so also suggest that more is involved than the conscious mind generating appropriate images and concepts. On top of this are the physical sensations that accompany successful magical workings. All of these are undeniable to the individual magician, but are for the most part impossible for any third party to test. An experiment in using Runic talismans or Taufr magic certainly appeared to yield an external result. The function of the taufr was to remove a problem in my sister’s workplace that was threatening her job. Not only has she retained her role in the work place but the individual in personnel causing the problem has been sacked as a direct result of their appalling handling of the matter. My sister took the taufr wrapped in the verse which I had written out on parchment for her to the final meeting and it was this meeting that seems to have clinched it for her. However, since magic tends to lack the predictable repeatedly that scientific experiments appear to provide, while I may see this is as good evidence of an effective working someone else can legitimately see it as pure coincidence or at best a strong placebo effect affecting my sister’s behaviour in the meeting thereby influencing the outcome. I don’t have a strong science background and have no mental toolkit that would allow me to prove even to my own satisfaction how magic works, but experience over the years tells me that the outward projection and manifestation of a willed event is entirely possible, in the right circumstances. My interest is not in the mechanics (quantum or otherwise) of the magical function, but more in how the magician or indeed other third party is able to evaluate the whole event in terms of effectiveness. In mundane terms I don’t what to know what chemically happens when I put the pie in the oven, but I am interested in how we decide whether the pie is tasty or not. As magicians we operate a different set of truth categories to the majority of the population. This allows us to engage in magical acts for if we did not believe in the possibility of directing our will to effect change (inner and outer) we could not even begin to attempt to make that possibility a reality. This capacity for believing that which is widely ridiculed has to be carefully managed, in order to avoid what we might call the Loch Ness syndrome, where anything however daft is accepted, for to do otherwise would be to cast doubt on our own ‘non ordinary’ experiences. The New Age seems to attract people who having decided to give up belief in mainstream religions often on the basis that they lack credibility but will then go on to believe almost anything that various snake oil sellers throw out at them. However, magicians have an aversion to this blanket acceptance and are often very careful to separate the reasonable from the ridiculous in terms of systems, truth claims and crucially, in relation to individual claims about the effect of magical operations. So what is going on when we make that judgement? For the vast majority of the population ‘Truth claim A’ is certainly just as ridiculous as ‘Truth claim B’ and yet many magicians will accept A (I invoked Tahuti last night and now I have an urge to buy lots of pens and eat bird seed), but utterly reject B (I spent £50 on a psychic and they got through to my gran who told me she was very happy). I think that the way to judge the effectiveness of a magical operation ultimately goes back to the quote referred to earlier on; ‘trua á mátt sitt ok megin.’ We have to be the judge ourselves based on our own inner might and main. There is no measuring stick to be found, or quality assurance checklist when it comes to magic. Even if I perform a working to bring me £3,120 exactly and a month later find myself writing a piece for a fee of exactly £3,120 this is not proof in the accepted sense that my magical working was effective. It may have been the magical operation, it may have been chance, it may even have been the undisclosed work of someone who knew I needed that amount of money. The ability to judge the effectiveness of magical work seems to increase with experience of magical work that we have judged to be effective. This all sounds pretty close to being a horribly circular argument that amounts to nothing more than your magic is effective if you think it is effective. However, as magicians we are all seeking to know ourselves and we only do the imperative Gnothi Seaton justice if we are brutally honest with ourselves. Judging the effectiveness of a magical operation seems to me to be an act of complex magic in itself, since only when we are genuinely True to ourselves can we make that judgment accurately. What’s more, at that point it does not matter what anyone else may think and very often the success of a magical operation is inversely proportional to the felt need to tell anyone about what you have done or its result.
We do of course not only make judgments about our own workings, but whether we like to admit it or not, we make judgments about the workings of others. There is a tendency in our degraded culture to regard judgment of others as an absolute negative, which of course ensures that we live in an hugely judgmental age, but an age where those judgments are restricted to trivial issues. Thoughtful judgment on the other hand is largely absent, it is no surprise that discrimination has become a dirty word! As magicians we must accept total responsibility for our lives for the possibility of effective magic to even make sense. This means that when asked ‘who are you to judge?’ our answer should be a proud reference to our willingness to take a position, to take responsibility. It is possible to judge the Truth claims of others, including claims about magical operations. The fact that validity of our judgment can never be proven in the currently understood sense of the word is irrelevant. Long before the God of Consumerism decreed that we must only buy, buy, buy we spend a lot of time making things and engaging in activities that were genuinely productive. Such activity creates a form of knowledge based on experience that allows us to make experiential judgments. A consumer culture based on the constant repetition of novelty has no place for experience and so it’s ability to discriminate is cast into doubt. As I gain more experience of doing I am able to make judgments about the work of others as well as my own on a level that is deeper than intellectual assessment. Such forms of judgment are now discouraged because they suggest that there may be a hierarchy of value that cannot be bureaucratically administered and controlled. Moreover, such judgments rely on forms of knowing that cannot be articulated and so place a responsibility on the individual making a judgment and place trust at the heart of whether that judgment is then accepted by others. Since trust is dangerously linked to notions of honour this kind of judgment is disregarded and treated as though it were mere bias. Aristotle had a wonderful category of judgement known as Phronesis. This is a judgement that is not based on rational deduction or inferential reasoning but on experience. It is the form of judgement that a footballer uses when taking a curving free kick which hits the top corner of the net. He can’t articulate how he did it, but he knew it was the right way to strike the ball. I think phronesis is the key mental tool that we need to be able to use when responding to the magical claims of others. By applying Phronesis we rediscover a way in which we can judge the effectiveness of activities that seem to defy a more mechanical approach to testing. It also provides a means by which we can avoid the Loch Ness syndrome without resorting to what are usually dubious attempts to show a physically verifiable difference between two competing claims. We can also use phronesis wisely in reflecting on our own magical operations. Of course we can indulgently ignore what our phronetic judgement may be telling us and try and regard every operation as a success, but at the heart of Phronesis is the requirement that we are first and foremost honourable in the application of our understanding, which takes us right back to, ‘trua á mátt sitt ok megin’.
Musing around virtual temples and astral space TEmple Photos related to article : Ian Rik
Musing around virtual temples and astral space by Ian Rik Musing around virtual temples and astral space in a course that Isis directed, I went to consider one power animal that used to chase me when I was entering my ethereal laboratory. (I use ethereal as I always found the D&D cosmological separation of astral and ethereal somewhat clever).
In my mental work in alpha trance, I started with a laboratory space for the virtual rituals (mostly healing and influencing others), then a holy wood with an underground of tunnels and caves invited itself outside the giant hut to host the “she” representation, as a round tower (Irish style) did for the “he” representation. Later, after a mouthless liquid gold angel presented itself a few times as my holy guardian spirit (we have a relation predating this visualisation practice) I found a golden temple on a neighbouring mount: A big cube not much more than three times my virtual size, topped by a pyramid. Silent contact seems to be established by conceptually ascending the temple from within to the dimension beyond the pyramid (and beyond my working space). And the Dragon! You know I’ve mentioned him earlier, well he roams outside, and Ok teacher, I’ll let him play with me longer next time. Hum. Ok... this time. I log out, move the laptop to be comfortable in lotus, play your 29min wow entrancing audio and see what comes. [...] That ultrameditation audio you linked us with brings in a deep trance Isis! The procedure: put on relaxed pyjama trousers, sit on two cushions in lotus with my favourite hand mudra, play the audio and start my alpha procedure (three Aum aloud, mental visual count three times 3, three times 2, three times 1, with slower deep exhaling), go through the preconditioned greeting routine, go through very slow visual trance from 10 to 1 to meet the Dragon without entering the work space. Already strong theta signs with bright red foetus in womb visions flashing with the count down, complete numbness in the body and eyes rolling up. The count down is slow, as seems the breathing in and out. The Dragon is there waiting already by 5, and strongly impatient by the count of three. At 1 he rushes on me, grabs me by the neck, plays at high speed cheerfully with me, then rips me into pieces, his first move being to pierce my belly and exit through my back. Ok it’s a cultural classic. So I let go with the spine ripped off, the arms, the guts and the bloody details. When I feel and see myself spread in this black ether, the dragon closes in, and starts ripping parts of my conceptual self with his claws. I feel him ironic and a bit nasty, and lose my comfort as he rips pieces off my head leaving cold empty places. The body feels heavier in real space and I observe my breath exhaling completely, and staying empty, ripped off, heavy, with only my bowels as remaining base of my being. After being ripped off nearly completely, the Dragon takes my remaining essence in his claws and carries me away in the dark void. My breathing came back, in rhythm with his wings (or my wings as sometimes I feel part of him, but as he notices this feeling he rips my conceptual wings of him apart; I hope it makes sense). At first the Dragon had the appearance of a cream white hairy Asian dragon, now he turned into a European cream white reptilian dragon. We go on in the void until I get bored of any expectation, then he stares at me with this reptilian attention, I am uselessly staring back at his massive head with no intension, and he dissolves into darkness. Void for a while, no idea of how long but the audio is still playing, so few minutes at most. Then within darkness, an oily darkness takes shape, that becomes thicker and not friendly at all, like a massive
giant of dark sewer mud that takes humanoid shape in an effort to interact with me. The thing, or earth elemental as it appears, nearly crushes me by trying me with his giant finger, gets bored and leaves. Water spirit comes at me as a breaking wave, tumbles me around, have to focus on my body to restart my blocked breath by remembering in a flash that I’ve breathed underwater in dreams; then leaves. Then fire comes, engulfing me from nowhere, with the sound of burning paper in the audio, see my flesh retract and burn away, I am spared the smell replaced by a thick and oily breathing until the lungs dries to dust, the bones crackle into pieces. The fire is gone, the body barely reassembling itself when a blade shaped tornado slices it once more, taking pleasure in re-slicing the torso, throat and brain in tiny pieces. It looks then so extreme and caricature like that it is massaging, relaxing. The audio reaches the end, I feel like a tiny crystal buddha statue waiting for some hypothetical fifth element to light me up... The sound track is ended, only the hard drive gives a rhythmic buzz once in a while, I don’t wait any more, I rest. Then some light comes with a shy joyful feeling warming up the heart, I am a bit stuck and lack consciousness to grasp who or what is there, vaguely anthropomorphic shadowy shape, a sentence is said that overflows me with confidence and makes me forget it right away. I feel good but dumb, like I’ve missed the momentum. Time passes and nothing comes again even as I’ve asked with a faint mind to please repeat. I assert a bit stronger that the sentence will come to me either now, or in my night sleep, or coming out. Yes coming out! I slowly recollect myself to go out of the trance, I believe the third strategy worked (slow mental aum, until I can feel my throat exhaling, then vocal aum), meanwhile a taste of a sentence about “keep practicing healing” echoes, it gives me strength to focus, open the eyes and slowly come back, move those hands there and unlock the legs. Ouch!
Debriefinganyone? So much for being the toy of the Dragon. It feels very classic shamanistic paradigm. The kinaesthetic impressions were very strong, definitely the breath behaviour and the deep death simulating exhalations created some anxiety. There is a humbling down remark I wanted to add: I expected something like this, and avoided it for a year, so I can’t tell where is the preconditioning or the premonition, or simply the revelation of a common archetype within the shamanic culture (which is not surprising after so many readings on the subjects, well ok plus numbers of strong synchronisms, Arcanorium being just the last one.
ISIS replied:
Quote from: Ian Rik That ultrameditation audio you linked us with brings in a deep trance Isis!
Comes from my collection and research of lightmachines and tapes one can use. This one lived through my critical tests. It does induce theta , specially for people who are already used to meditation. The kinaesthetic experience is what we look for. Excellent shamanistic journey. From what you tell, I would take that one serious. The shamanic death part could be related to the poweranimal itself, but also a sign of your subconscious integrating this part.
In my tradition you wait now for a gift related to a dragon. No matter how tiny. Dinosaur or snake relates. Then one builds an altar, surrounds one with related items and so on. Poweranimals have to be kept alive. Plenty of nice slides of dragons on the net. So you might like to find what god google has to offer. Snakes, dragons all related to healing power, kundalini and also death. The healer is a killer. Also Dragon - Tiamat - Chaos Dragon changing into European in connection with prenatal memory: Can indicate some DNA relation, also in Europe the dragon was big. The dragon leaving the guts: the place of the second brain. Also may be a relation to Tai Chi... which is basically a shamanistic dance. (the shamanistic origin of tai chi and martial arts is not widely known, but actually pretty obvious) Don’t think you missed momentum, just because you feel more potential.
RES replied:
I’m intrigued by the way the spirits regressed from mammal to reptile, then a black void, before elementals appear, the first of which is anthropomorphic, then a physical form (wave) next just a sound of fire lastly a blade further refining the dismembering process. A progression towards the abstract? Not surprising that there is a tiny You, waiting for the fifth element! The sentence you heard is, as noted, a classic shamanistic paradigm. My main work as a magician changed focus from self-development to healing some years ago. I suspect the actions taken since aren’t that different to what they would have been, as my selfish desires were/are about making the world a better place any way, but the change in approach alters everything. Magick lived as a healing process, opens many doors on so many levels, from the internal through the elemental spirits, fairies, local energies, right on to the way other people regard you and your motives. “Shamanic Voices” (Joan Halifax, publ. Penguin Books, 1980) is a collection of stories written down directly from shaman of many traditions. The role of healing is central to all of them (which is not to say that all shaman are very nice people. Some of them were/are really stupid, nasty etc). The candidate for initiation often undergoes real physical suffering, either from illness or induced hardship. This suffering endows power to heal upon the shaman. One woman met the spirits of the mushroom when she was a young girl, hungry enough to eat whatever the mountain had growing on it, after the death of her father (whose father and grandfather were themselves shaman); later performing her first intentional journey to their world to seek a remedy for her sick uncle when she was eight years old. Marcia Sabina later introduced Gordon Wasson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Gordon_Wasson) to the cult of the mushroom in 1955, when she was 61.
Financial Wizardry By T. Galdinarde Gaining wealth through magic is not as simple as casting a series of money spells and hoping for the best. It is a long-term endeavour that requires a great deal of self-examination, before constructing a mechanism through which money can manifest. Wealth magic involves an understanding of money and an intuitive knowledge of how to engage with it. A great way for a magician to do this, is to personify money as a “daemon” in an attempt to create a dialogue with it. Of course you could just cast spells to gain money on the fly when caught in a tight situation, and you may even have good results, but in any form of sorcery it is best to put the groundwork in to ensure that you have the highest probability of success. One thing I’ve learnt while working through Dave Lee’s course ‘Wealth and Money Magic’, is that being wealthy is not simply a matter of having a lot of money in the bank. A poor person could miraculously gain money, and blow it all through their lack of knowledge of how money works, or their belief that they simply do not deserve to have money. Wealth is a state of mind, while money is the state of your bank account. Since coins and notes are a representation of money itself, they are the ideal magical link to money, making it essential in working magic with money. In America, the “lucky dime” has a long tradition, although the use of lucky coins to attract financial success can be found in many cultures dating back to the medieval era. One European tradition is to file an ‘X’ into a silver coin to personalize it, making it a lucky token of some kind. Coins, notes and cheques all have potential for magical work. If money itself is regarded as a kind of daemon, it can be worked with to establish a greater connection. My own attempts to do this have not been that extensive at the moment, but the results have been interesting enough for me to pursue this line further. I started in a simple way, by meditating on coins, pondering their symbolism, and meditating on wealth and money in general while holding a coin. On the first day that I attempted this, I left for work only to find a pile of coins on a wall that I walk past daily. They were not coppers either; pound coins and fifty pence pieces. If I was a tramp or a destitute thief, that would have been a lucky find. I didn’t nick them however, because I would have just spent them on rubbish in the vending machines at the workplace. Instead, I regarded it as an encouraging sign that I was actually getting somewhere with this kind of magic. Another time, I took a £2 coin into a shop to buy a paper and some envelopes. In the shop I looked at the coin, turning it around in my fingers and briefly pondering the circulation of money and wealth. This was during the stage in Dave Lee’s course where we discussed investment, and the idea that “money makes better money than work makes money”. That morning I had spent some time with that £2 coin, thinking about how I could turn £1 into £10, £10 into £100, and so on. In the shop, my purchase amounted to £1.97, so I handed over my coin, expecting to receive 3p change. The till assistant gave me 30p instead. While 30p is nothing to shout about, 3p had somehow turned into 30p. I regarded this as another sign from the Universe that I was doing something right. The more I focused on ways to enhance my wealth through magic, the more inspirational material started to come my way. While browsing a local bookshop, I found a copy of “Wealth & Abundance in
8 Simple Steps”, by the hypnotherapist Glenn Harrold. According to Harrold, the first step in achieving wealth is to cut back on excess, live within your means, remove clutter from your home and overcome any obsession you have with non-essential material possessions. This is basic stuff, but if you want to achieve wealth, then it would be very difficult with debts and poor financial planning. Some people are even able to make money through cutting back on pointless luxury items that don’t really satisfy them, and saving hundreds of pounds a year. The second step in Harrold’s book involves overcoming negative ideas one might have around the issue of money. This is where wealth psychology comes in, and it is a good idea to root out any of the demons that lurk in your dark corners of your mind before attempting to do something that would increase your wealth. A good example of negative conditioning surrounding the issue of money is the way many poor people despise and ridicule the rich, simply because they are wealthier. There are plenty of ways in which a magician can attempt to change their own personal beliefs. Negative conditioning seems to revolve around firmly held beliefs of not “deserving” to be rich, or of being a poor person who is not very good with money and content to carry on that way. A chaos magician might personify these limiting beliefs by naming them, and confining them to an image of some kind. It would not be advisable to banish them, but you could negotiate a kind of pact with them. All personal demons have a positive intention that is supposed to benefit you somehow, although it doesn’t always work out that way. Another way of working through a limited self-image is to work with a deity who is associated with wealth for a while, and even invoking them if it seems appropriate. Two popular Gods among chaos magicians seem to be the Hindu God Ganesha, and the Roman God Jupiter. Although I cannot speak for Jupiter, I found that performing devotional ritual to Ganesha for some months resulted in liberating myself from counter-productive ideas that I was holding onto out of some egotistical obsession. The third step in Harrold’s book involved creating a list of a clear set of goals towards creating greater wealth, as well as a series of affirmations that bolster a positive self-image as a wealthier person. I decided to supplement this practice by creating a “wealth scrapbook”. I was inspired by a documentary on BBC2 about a married couple who attempted to pay off their mortgage in two years. They were advised by an NLP consultant, who told them to place motivating images around the house. These images were of things they were going to do with their money once they had paid off their mortgage. The couple cut out pictures from magazines of the sports car they were going to buy, and the exotic holiday they were going to go on. I also cut out images from magazines of things I would like to see more of in my life if I were wealthier, but I did not fancy pasting them on my walls. So I compiled them into a scrapbook, which I would look at twice daily. On the inside cover I wrote out my goals and affirmations, so that I could repeat them to myself as looked at the images. I hoped that this would not just motivate me to work towards them, but they would strengthen the more positive beliefs that I was trying to develop.
Months later, I found myself reading a book by Paul McKenna, the famous hypnotist who is rumoured to be worth over £10 million, only to find that he had done the exact same thing when he was poor; he had created a wealth scrapbook. The book was “Change your Life in Seven Days”, and thinking I was onto something, I bought it immediately.
McKenna’s book has a chapter devoted to “Creating Money”, and one of the ideas he puts forward involves extensive use of creative visualisation. This does not just mean sitting down, closing your eyes and seeing an image of yourself in a big house with a Mercedes parked outside (although that could certainly help if pursued for long enough). It involves creating tangible, sensory experiences of wealth to stimulate your deep mind. One of the interesting things McKenna did, was to cut up an old bank statement and paste it back together so that his final balance looked as though he had thousands more pounds in credit than he actually had. He claims that as soon as he did this, he burst out laughing, making me wonder if he is familiar with the concept of “banish with laughter”. McKenna also writes about writing out cheques and paying-in slips for vast amounts of money, just to see what it would be like to be that rich. Peter Carroll mentions an idea almost identical to this in the “Blue Magic” section of Liber Kaos (the plot thickens; Paul McKenna a chaos magician?). The inventive magician could take these ideas one step further. The wealth scrapbook could be made into a magical object in itself. Goals and affirmations could be sigilized and printed among the pictures. The book itself could be treated as a magical entity, a personal servitor, bringing the desired objects closer to the magician somehow. More elaborate acts of ritual enchantment could be performed to hammer in the desire for these things into the subconscious of the magician. Fake bank statements and cheques could be the basis of acts of ritual enchantment, or a daily working to establish wealth consciousness.
The Apophenion. A forthcoming book, by Peter J. Carroll. I cannot turn down an invitation to review my own book before it’s even found a publisher, get your retaliation in first as they say. This book contains something to offend everyone; enough science to upset the magicians, enough magic to upset the scientists, and enough blasphemy to upset most transcendentalists. However on the plus side it contains a cutting edge magical theory hypothesis which just might finally do the trick, eliminate organised religion at a stroke, and resolve a number of scientific paradoxes in passing. I’ve called it General Metadynamics and it seeks to show that magic forms part of this universe for precisely the same reason that strange quarks also appear in it – because time actually has three dimensions. I had considered calling this book ‘My Struggle’. I retired as Head of the IOT Pact in large part to work on this hypothesis; however in view of the prior use of that title by another author in another language, I decided not to. I spent about a decade wrestling with the three dimensional time idea; much of the thrashing about appears on my Specularium website. Then, partly as a result of an invitation to lead some Chaos Magic seminars on Maybelogic Academy, it all started to gel into a coherent set of ideas and towards the end, Apophenia revealed her hand in it all. In gratitude I have presented a full Invocation of Apophenia in the text and commissioned artwork in her honour. However the book does not contain many of the recipes for results magic which have characterised my previous publications. Rather it implies a fresh look at the type of operations in enchantment and divination that have the best chances of success. Basically the book discusses meta-magical concepts and what they imply for our basic ideas about the universe and mind itself. The idea of gravity implies that our world has a roughly spherical shape and that it orbits the sun, however some people had deduced as much before gravity theory emerged. I have used an hypothesis of magic which controversially implies that the universe has the shape of a vorticitating non-expanding hypersphere, finite but unbounded in both space and 3D time. Such ideas constitute very much an heretical minority opinion at the time of writing, so I present a reinterpretation of some recent observational evidence and some predictions for future observations. This does involve a wee bit of sacred geometry, expressed algebraically, but it won’t hurt if you approach it fearlessly. [Safely corralled in a couple of the appendices! Ed.] If these predictions and interpretations pan out, then a revolution in our view of life the universe and everything awaits, for in contradistinction to the usual reductionism of contemporary materialist thought, this meta-magical paradigm implies that consciousness itself gives the universe its observed form. The Apophenion may represent my final Magnum Opus if its ideas remain unfalsified within my lifetime, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board. Yet I’ve tried to keep it as short and simple as possible. It consists of eight fairly brief and terse chapters, and five appendices. It attacks most of the great questions of being, free will, consciousness, meaning, the nature of mind, and humanity’s place in the cosmos, from a magical perspective. Some of the conclusions seem to challenge many of the deeply held assumptions that our culture has taught us, so brace yourself for the paradigm crash and look for the jewels revealed in the wreckage. Stokastikos.
Feedback comments: Beginning the Runic Path I’d like to thank you for teaching the course Ian, it seems to have opened some doors in my psyche and my world. Well it’s been a lightning fast course, but I have started a journey that is going to keep me busy for a lifetime.
Tantra 4 One I’m hoping to implode an orgasm into my third eye tomorrow...
Writing Magical Fiction I feel nearly overwhelmed with possibilities for these weeks’ techniques (head in the clouds), yet I can employ them immediately to makes something happen (feet on the ground).
Ritual and the Art of Simulation Design Group magick is just the best thing ever. More please!
Wealth and Money Magick Thanks very much Dave for your work in the domain of wealth and the freedom potential it has for our lives.
Exploring Liber Legis, Thelema and the aeon of Horus This term I read the Book of the Law and I learned...That I can be a number and a free man.
Alkaos It took me places I had not yet gone, provided me with new ideas, new ways of thinking, new techniques for transforming the moment.
Acknowledgements Abracademia wishes to thank the contributors to this issue, as well as the editorial staff Res and Isis, who all spent hours making the work of creating a magazine look effortlessly simple. Thanks also to Jaq for setting up the myspace page for us. In addition, thanks are due to the staff and students of Arcanorium College. Without their thousands of online interactions over recent months, none of these articles would have crystallized from the aether.
Submissions Wanted!
Got a magic theory of everything (TOE) you just have to tell us about? Or perhaps some art, a ritual, or instructions for new ritual technology? Tried the latest fad from Wands-R-Us and want to share your opinion with our readers? YOU CAN! Please send us your theories, essays, instructions, reviews, opinions, stories, spells, drawings, paintings, photographs, and anything else fit to print—apropos of magic, of course. If you send us text, please make it legible. 5,000 words, less or more , .doc, .rtf formats accepted. If you send us images, please make them Web friendly, 500 × 800 pixels or less, 150, 72 dpi. Send all submissions to
[email protected] (if you must submit your work via non-electronic media, email us for arrangements). Please express if you want your email address published with your name, or we will assume you do not. Only faculty and students (past or present) of Arcanorium College may submit works to Abracademia, so please include your forum ID with all submissions. But there is always an exception to the rule. Please send us as much as possible original works that you have not had published elsewhere . Once we publish them, you can do whatever you like with them including republish them. We do not want ownership of your intellectual property, but we do want to offer our readers something they cannot get anywhere else, or at least they can get it here first.
Always Accepting Students and Fellowmagicians For more information including class descriptions and enrollment instructions, please visit: http://www.arcanoriumcollege.com. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in Abracademia are those of the individual authors, artists and interview subjects, and not necessarily those of Abracademia , its staff or Arcanoriumcollege
