kalagni

10
Apr
2015

Local Spirits: Reasons of Engagement


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Before I start this post proper, can I just take a moment to say how awesome this comic is? Catherine Mason, inspired by my explanation of sadak and shidak did a great little comic on them. Her presentation of Louisiana, NOLA, and Bourbon Street is excellent. Check out more of her art here. Also there will be more work from her to come in this blog because she’s already hilariously illustrated one of my rants about local spirits, so stay tuned for that.
The last few posts have been a bit more Buddhist centric in their sources (but I’d argue fairly universal in application), but the next two posts will be less Buddhist directly. They will also draw on more shamanic practices, witchcraft, ceremonial magick, and personal discoveries. I just wanted to clarify here so what I mention doesn’t get misrepresented as a Buddhist theory or practice.
Now that I’ve laid the framework about local spirits it’s time to talk about engaging them. The thing that so many people ask is “Why bother?” That’s why you can have competent spiritual people engage every spirit in their area, but miss shidak, they don’t see a reason or method to work with them.
There are many reasons to engage the shidak of your areas, first and foremost it’s just a matter of understanding and etiquette. After all you’re living in and on them, you’re a part of them and vice versa, you should be more consciously engaged with them. Tied into that idea, not all shidak are exactly happy with the state of our civilization, we’ve dug into their land, built under it, paved over it, forced out plants and wildlife (another symbiotic part of the shidak), and more or less ignore it. When you work with the shidak, and make offerings to it, you’re showing that you appreciate it, as well as by giving to it you consciously give it access to your life. By giving it energy you help it sustain itself in a more vibrant way. A great deal of pagan and paganesque folks I know understand this on a global level and give thanks to Gaia in this way, but then forget about the spirit that was disrupted to build their house.
On practical levels (because let’s face it beneficence only goes so far) shidaks are great to work with. You exist symbiotically with them, if they’re happy and healthy it makes it easier for you to be happy and healthy. You know when you’ve been to a house of someone who is unwell and you can just feel it in the air, pulling on you? Now imagine that subtly spread all through your area, it would slowly get to you. If the shidak is sick or damaged (and that can happen) then it will filter into your life, and anyone else in their catchment.
Insurance, if you’re on good terms with the shidak and you do something offensive to it without thinking (cutting down that old tree in the back yard, digging in new plumbing) it is more likely to be understanding. Otherwise it might actually retaliate, and yes shidak can and do attack. I’ve seen them weaken people by draining their energy and making them sick, and classically they’re known to cause people to trip and injure themselves. Though I’ve never experienced that, one of my teachers started a retreat without giving offerings to the shidak (which is a huge faux pas) and in the first day tripped on nothing he could find and managed to break his ankle and had to cancel the retreat. If you’re on good terms they’re less likely to lash out.
Influence, you’re part of the shidak, they’re part of you, and so is everyone else in that area. If you need to work on a neighbour, good or bad, the shidak is a place to start. Rowdy loud neighbour, angry with you for no reason, see if the shidak can smooth over the rough edges, or even remove them from the area. Sick neighbour, along with everything else you can work with the shidak to keep the energy of their area healthy and flowing to facilitate their healing. For more concrete actions (getting a raise, or zoning permission) you might be better off with the drongdak (city groupmind spirit), but for interpersonal stuff the shidak is a great ally.
Protection, a shidak can work as a guardian for you, not in a dedicated sense, but if they’re on your side they might have a sense of who and what to redirect for you. Think of it like a friend, if you’re friends with your neighbours they might do something about someone snooping around, or know someone shouldn’t there when you’re not, or know that you don’t want someone there. The shidak is the same, they’re great at dealing with people in that way. Again the trip hazard can occur, I’ve seen shidak utterly disorient people to keep them from getting somewhere, they can drain/intimidate/weaken people who shouldn’t be there. I’ve had the perverse pleasure in watching a shidak paralyze someone with irrational fear about entering the area (a park) to keep them from me. While visiting a friend of mine I felt psychically dead, in a fog, we realized that their shidak wasn’t sure about me so was dampening my senses/abilities, so I couldn’t do anything, they were protecting the friend by inhibiting me.
In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism it’s fairly uncommon to do any major ritual without addressing the shidak (and all the other classes that might be lumped as local spirits that I mentioned in the first post). Their influence is recognized as something to be courted, they can help and hinder, either just by presence or intention, so they’re often addressed before a ritual, even if only to say “I’m going to be using this space for a while, please don’t interfere.”
Also with a well-developed shidak (as they can be varying degrees of intelligent and active) they can make connections, so even if it isn’t their area to do something, if they have influence over someone or something that can help, they can direct you to meet.
I’ve encountered a theory that a lot of spirits in Solomonic traditions are essentially glorified shidak, and I think that can extend to a lot of collections of spirits. They’re spirits contacted in a certain place, and out of their element elsewhere. (Not to mention the fact that some gods just seem weaker outside of their regions, is that belief, or are they major shidak stretched too far?) I don’t know if I believe it, or believe it completely, but I bring it up because if it is true it shows the range of abilities shidaks can have. And as previously said, if they can’t handle something they sometimes can redirect you, in the same way sometimes one Angelic type will pass your request on to a more appropriate figure.
One final reason to work with shidak is because they’re accessible and present. They aren’t always as effective or efficient as an angel, a demon, a Bodhisattva, or god, or whatever, but they’re easier to quickly engage in most cases. There is no need to summon, to invocate or evocate, no special tools or ingredients required, because the shidak is already there. It’s as easy (when you’ve developed a relationship with them) as setting out an offering (to be polite) and just chatting about what you want.
I’ll stress this again, because I mentioned how there are so many things they can do, they’re not necessarily the best at the job you want and some other spirit might be a better choice, but they’re there and easy to work with. Your friend might not be the best choice to help you replace the bathroom sink, but they’ll do it for free, and are a simple text message away. A professional plumber is a better choice, but then you have to pay, arrange times, set up a contract, and a variety of other bureaucratic issues. A shidak might not be the best choice to help with a love spell, but they’d try.
Get to know them, don’t underestimate them, but don’t overestimate them either.
Next time, how to actually work with them.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Apr
2015

200th Post: Behind the Magick


Wordpress notifies me this is my 200th blog entry, I’m going to take that as an accomplishment. I started this blog four and a half years ago, and I’ve enjoyed my time writing and musing with everyone. I know there are times when I haven’t made it enough of a priority in my life and went too long between postings, but it was never due to lack of interest, but due to having a busy life that I find kind of awesome.
When I started this blog I was just starting my second year of university, having returned in my mid-late twenties in order to attempt to follow my wishes and get the degrees required to get what has been my dream job since the second grade. I had moved back in with my father to save costs while in school. I was starting to take my Buddhist practice more and more seriously, along with the rest of my magickal practices. I always had some degree of seriousness towards my practices, but it was around then I started to take it to another level.
I like seeing the stats and figures behind my blog. Like any blogger I’m sure, I’ve written posts that received far more attention than I expected they would, and written others that it boggles me that people didn’t engage with them. I’ve never been able to predict it, and that intrigues me. For instance my post on tulpas is my fourth most popular post of all time, despite only being six months old. I never expected my rant would get that much attention. My most popular post ever, being twice as popular as the second most visited post, is of course my Sex with Angels post which while I thought it was amusing I never thought it would be the bizarre hit that it is.
The most searched term to reach my blog is of course “sex with angels” followed by “angel sex” and then “sex angels.” Oh internet, I don’t pretend to understand you.
A lot has happened in all this time. I finished university with two degrees, and was part of the Golden Key Society (or the Smarty Pants club). While I don’t have my dream job yet I am currently working at a job I enjoy with a team of people that I like. I’m not upset about not having my dream job because where I live it is literally 8000 applicants per position, so it’s not an easy thing to get into. I now live on my own in a house in a wonderful neighbourhood and while it’s in need of fixing up it’s a nice house. I’ve received training in chöd and adopted it as my primary Buddhist practice for the last four years. (That happened within two weeks of starting the blog, but I didn’t talk about it because the attitude/exoticism around chöd in the West, I didn’t want to seem like I was bragging or cashing in on what is cool, so I waited until I was well established in the practice to begin talking about it.) I completed the Abramelin working sticking very close to the letter of the text and received Knowledge and Conversation with my Holy Guardian Asshole. (In a similar way, since K&C is such a big thing, I didn’t actually let most people know I was working on it, or achieved it, until a few years after the fact when I felt more stable with what it was all about.) Just a few months ago I received a minor Buddhist ordination, which I don’t think I’ve brought up here at all, though hints and comments were put on twitter and facebook. But yeah, I’m now considered a lay-monk, with actual authority and obligations in the tradition…it’s kinda surreal and scary. I’m not just a weird Buddhist sorcerer, I’m a weird ordained Buddhist sorcerer…who thought that was a good idea?
Through the blog itself I’ve met some awesome people, some are just casual contacts, and others have become friends. It’s been interesting to get feedback on posts, to be challenged either to defend my ideas or think differently. The interaction with others is what really helps with the growth. As people have commented on my blog, linked to it, and reblogged it I’ve had the chance to expand my resources and followed and met even more people, with even more neat ideas to think about.
While I’m not living a perfect life, I’m living one that I love, with clear signs of where I came from, and where I’m going, always going the way of my wishes.
So thank you all for being part of the journey, and I’ll be curious to see what develops over my next two hundred posts.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
06
Apr
2015

Local Spirits: Clarifying Sadak and Shidak


A week ago I started defining local spirits and what gets lumped as them. This week I’m going to talk about sadak and shidak in more detail. Last time I mentioned that the Tibetan terms for local spirits are sadak (ས་བདག་) and shidak (གཞི་བདག). Sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, but there is a difference. This might be a bit long, but there is no good place to divide this into multiple posts.
Sadak means Earth Lord. As a spirit the sadak tends to be very limited in scope, and very rooted into the land. While any local spirit could be upset if you started to dig without asking permission, a sadak is so rooted into the land that it thinks of the land as its body, and when you dig you’re actually pulling it apart. If you think of the soil as literally being ensouled, then that’s a sadak. I’ve never heard it said how big sadaks are or could be, but I’ve never encountered one that embodies an area bigger than a house property or two in the city. The average person could stand in the centre of a sadak’s influence and throw a tennis ball well beyond their control. I would also say in my experience that sadaks are not that intelligent, far closer to an animal than a human. (Yes, humans are totally animals, you know what I mean)
Shidak means Ground Lord, and is probably closer to what most people think of as a genius loci. A shidak lives in a certain area, and as a certain area. While tied to the land, they don’t tend to identify in and as the land in the way that a sadak does. The human analogy would be that a sadak is a person who thinks they are their body, and that’s it, while a shidak is a person who knows that the body is a part of them, but one of many.
The shidaks really are a soul of a place, a spirit that lives in and permeates an area. They’re the energy that envelops a region. A shidak is immovable within an area, or perhaps can only move slowly as the land itself changes. Saying they live as an area is meant to imply the level of connection they have to it. While the shidak could be considered the soul, and the area the body, you have to understand everything that makes up the “body.” It’s not as simple as the dirt, any more than our bodies are just as simple as a lump of flesh. The lay of the land, the positive space of hills, and the negative space of valleys are the body. The water of the area, the wind over the place, everything is part of the shidak.
Odd fact about the human body: We’re composed of roughly 1 trillion cells per kilogram, but our gut contains roughly ten times as many bacteria cells as are in the rest of our body. Meaning by the numbers our body is more composed of cells that aren’t us, than cells that are, by the numbers we’re more inhuman than we are human. This is another human parallel. The shidak is the land, the water, but they’re also the grass, the plants, the trees, but one step farther the shidak is in many ways all of the living beings within the space. The shidak is the insects crawling in the dirt or buzzing in the sky, the squirrels and raccoons in the tree, and yes, even us.
This is where a lot of people have issues thinking of shidaks, but we’re part of them, and they’re part of us. I don’t mean we’re an expression or incarnation of the shidak, but when we live in a place we’re connected to it, we’re symbolically linked, and while you might think of yourself as flesh and the shidak as dirt, the division between us can be really hard to find. If you have trouble conceiving how this works think of the shidak as the energy field of a place, rather than a sentient spirit. The energy of our neighbourhood transcends us, it moves through us, and shapes us, as we shape it. We draw on this energy, and we release our energy into it. In a lot of ways the “vibe” of a place is an aspect of the shidak. The bacteria in our gut has different DNA, it’s not us, but it’s in us, and we “feed” it when we eat, and they break down our food so that we can process the chemicals in it to fuel our body, and that makes it oddly tricky to clearly divide us. This isn’t a perfect analogy, as shidaks can and do survive without people, but it illustrates the level of connection we can have, and I feel that there is a quality to a “living” shidak that has an living biological component, and ones that are more barren of life.
Now to make shidaks a bit more nebulous, they come in different sizes and placements. So while only one human can occupy a single point in 3D space, more than one shidak can embody the same spot. I don’t necessarily mean a complete one for one, but an overlapping pattern. It’s less a clear cut map, and more a sequence of catchment areas. A shidak has a “core” area, but along the fringes, where their presence is less defined they can actually overlap with another shidak, both living in and as the same place. To go back to the human analogy, while physically only one person can occupy a single space, if two people are standing near each other their auras (or radiant heat) will have an area of overlap. So in the same spot you can actually be able to engage several shidaks of the same magnitude.
Magnitude? Did I just introduce another layer of complexity? Damn straight. Not all shidaks are the same size, and there is even more overlap when this is taken into consideration. Shidaks can be as small as single plot of land, or as large as a continent, and everywhere in between. So it’s not a simple matter of similar sized spirits overlapping in influence, but also larger and larger spirits controlling more land which encompasses even more shidaks. Think of it like a piece of paper with all sorts of different circles on it, different sizes, some overlap, some big circles contain an entire smaller circle, or only part of that area.
In this sense shidaks can be like the Russian nesting dolls, each one contained in a bigger and bigger version. Another way to look at it is place and identity. (Sorry for all the analogies, but it’s the easiest way to make the sense of this clear) Depending on scale, I could say I live in Canada, or Ontario, or Southern Ontario, or the St. Lawrence Lowlands, or the Golden Horseshoe, or the GTA, or Toronto, or Scarborough, or the Bluffs, or my street name, or my house number. All of these are right, it’s just an issue of size. Shidaks have a similar thing of overlapping each other in scale.
But while the larger ones are bigger and more “powerful” in that sense, they’re also less present. The larger shidaks are spread over so much that they’re hard to engage or sense, because you’re always in them and they cover so much, the smaller shidaks are more accessible. Like getting help, in a big city you have a politician in charge of your ward, who reports to someone above him, who reports to someone above her, who reports to another person and so on until you get to the mayor, but then above mayor is the Premier, and above them is the Prime Minister. Well if there is an issue with zoning in my area I can’t complain to the Prime Minister, he’s too distant (and he’s a worthless zealot Christian robot), but my local politician could help. Depending on what you’re doing with shidaks, you might be below their notice or reasonable ability to influence, and if you want something they may be too far removed to be of us, so the smaller more local ones are more practical to engage and sense.
Next week I’ll talk about why it is useful to deal with shidaks, and how to do so. I also plan on touching on the structure of shidaks, and more detailed methods of working with and influencing, and working with shidak and drongdak (the city spirits) in unison, as well as some of my personal work with them.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Apr
2015

Fiction for Sorcerers


(My local spirits postings will continue after this post)
Normally I’d be posting a book review here according to my schedule (did you even notice I have a schedule of when I post what?) but I decided this week to finally get around to doing the book meme. When I started this blog the “What 5 Books do you recommend as an occultist” posts were popular, but I never made one, it’s come and gone a few times, and I never bothered with it. What I always wants to talk about, and I will now is such a list with a twist.
What 5 fiction books do you recommend as a sorcerer?
This is pretty straight forward, we’re talking fiction here, not magick books, not mythology, not reference titles, but stories, novels, fantasy and fiction. What makes them required reading for a sorcerer?
Also, after my list, I’d love to hear your own, or if you agree/disagree with any of mine. Really I’m curious about other lists, cause I know a lot of awesome sorcerers read this blog (oh, and you read it too 😉 ) and I want to see what you’d recommend, if only to add to my never ending to-read list.
1. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende.
To those who know me this shouldn’t be a surprise. I’ve blogged about it before, specifically the scene with Grograman, my blog’s subheading “Going the way of your wishes” is taken from the novel, I’ve tweaked a tarot spread to more closely fit the book, and I read it once a year. Every year I reread The Neverending Story, while I might reread favourite books every few years, this is the only one I reread with such enthusiasm. Also, I tell people that it is one of the books they must read if they expect to be in a relationship with me. You want to understand me, read the book. (Books 2 and 4 are also on that list, but this list is about what I recommend for sorcerers, not for potential lovers, though it shouldn’t be surprising there is overlap)
Why The Neverending Story? I think if you’ve ever read the book (after becoming a sorcerer), you don’t need to ask. Also, let me make this perfectly clear…READ THE BOOK. The movie is a horrible adaptation and removes everything that makes the book relevant to sorcerers.
The Neverending Story is the novelization of The Great Work. I honestly think the book serves as an illustration of what the true sorcerer goes through. Atreyu goes through the dark night of the soul, confronts Chronzon at the Abyss, only to cross and encounter his Holy Guardian Luck Dragon. That’s just in the first section, the movie cuts out the entire second half of a novel, which is more important to us. Bastian learns the price of power, that wishes have consequences, he learns to create and destroy, and loses himself in the process becoming No One. Only when he has lost his identity is he able to find his true desire, his purpose, his Will, and reclaim his identity and place in the world.
This is really simplified, and there is so much more, every section has some hidden gem in it for the sorcerous folk to glean from it. I have pages, literally, of quotes from the book in the word file I type this blog in, because one day I want to write a full explanation of the magickal themes, but don’t expect it soon as it’s been on my to-do list for years.
2. wraeththuThe Wraeththu series by Storm Constantine.
While I suggest the entire series, I recommend people at least read the first three books (which are now published as one book, as the novels were slightly short individually, and it is this first trilogy I linked to above).
Brief synopsis: Wraeththu are a new species of humanity: stronger, intersexed, and more psychically/magickally aware. The novels follow their growth from random mutations, hunted as freaks, to finding their place in the world and understanding who/what they are.
Now, I admit, this suggestion might be a bit of a cheat, as Storm is an occultist, and has published a few books on magick. When you read Wraeththu there is a sense of realism behind it, even though the magick is over the top fantasy in most cases, there is something that is resonant with real magick. It’s as if the books show how fantasy novel magick would work, if it followed our rules in our world. When the characters do magick, sense things, talk about energy, as an occultist you can’t help think that it’s on the right track. When a character does magick, you almost feel like you could follow their steps.
The over-arching mythology of the books, explained in more detail outside of the original trilogy, is also something that is familiar. It has shades of the Bene h’Elohim of Enoch, of Faerie, and the otherworlds.
In fact, there is such a sense of resonance with the magick in the Wraeththu novels that people began working with the deities from the novels, and the techniques within. Eventually this developed into The Grimoire Dehara, the first of three planned books* that are real magickal texts using the language and mythology of Wraeththu.
*Admittedly I’m not sure if the last two books will come to fruition, as they’ve been put off repeatedly. But if you work diligently with the system, as I have, the spirits themselves will take you beyond what is published.
A bonus beyond just the magick and mythology, because the Wraeththu species are intersexed, neither male nor female but both and beyond them, the magick system isn’t as divided along a gender binary. As a genderqueer person that was part of the appeal of the system, there wasn’t anything about males do this, females do this, only X can deal with Gods while Y can deal with Goddesses. You’re something that is both and neither within that system.
3. vellumVellum, and inkInk by Hal Duncan.
Vellum and Ink are two novels. The storyline of Vellum and Ink is really really difficult to explain, even having just finished rereading Vellum a week or so ago and currently half way through Ink, I can’t give a clear synopsis. Basically it is a tale about the War in Heaven, but the “Angels” and “Demons” aren’t warring in some astral realm, but here on Earth, in mostly human bodies. It isn’t that straight forward though. The story is being told in multiple timelines and realities all at once. So the same character/soul/archetype may appear as a tribal priestess, tomboy daughter of hippies, cyber-hacker in the near future, a British girl during WWI, a princess in a post-apocalyptic hellscape, and a Sumerian Goddess. The story shifts back and forth between all of these perspectives (and a lot more) all following the same thread of action, but being played out in a variety of ways. Be warned, it is not an easy read, but so very worth it.
Much like Wraeththu there is a resonance, a reality to it. Not in so much what happens or how it is done, but how it is presented. Vellum and Ink take place in a multifaceted reality, where the same person is expressed in every potential variation, sinner, martyr, saint, human, god, satyr, but always the same person. There is something to this, that my explanation can’t touch on, and can only be read…in the same way as what it describes is only something that can be understood by the sorcerers who have pushed Beyond. The idea of our reality being a scratch on an infinitely large page, that what we experience is one simplistic model of an infinitely complex reality that rests below it, these are the elements in Vellum and Ink that really appeal to the sorcerer. It presents a multifaceted reality where more than one truth can exist, where paradoxes are part of nature, and time, space, and reality are interwoven and more complex than we can imagine. This is something I think a lot of magickal folk can read in the series and nod their head at. Even the most scientific and rational occultists can’t deny the paradoxes of reality and multiple realities/truths, and Duncan really hits on that idea and runs with it.
Another aspect, and perhaps this is more based on my experiences, but an important part of the series is the Cant, the language of the Angels. The universal language of power than underlies all things. The speech that does not describe reality, but circumscribes it, shapes it. The way Hal Duncan describes the language, and the written of it, just really hits me as something right. The descriptions of the letters being eerily close to the xenoglossic magickal tongue used by myself and several people I know.
4. siaslStranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein.
Mama, don’t let your baby grow up to read Heinlein, and this book is one of the reasons why.
Basically the story is that there was a lone survivor of an expedition to Mars, a child who was born there. Everyone died, and he was raised to near adulthood by the Martians. Mentally he is not human, but Martian, and eventually comes to live on Earth and learn how to be human.
The thing that makes this a book for sorcerers, is the philosophy behind it. The Martian named Smith sees the world in a totally different way than the humans around him, and struggles to grok it. And yes, this is where the word grok originates from. He has totally different morals, and a different understanding of life, death, and religion. It’s refreshing to see an outsider look at our culture. This is why it is important, as sorcerers we should be critical of what everyone just accepts. We should challenge the reality we see, and experience, question it, test it. Don’t just assume it is right because it has always been shown as right to us. Sorcerers should push every boundary in their life, question everything, and seeing Michael Smith do that to our culture is a great example and reminder. Eventually the book gets into some spiritual stuff too, and becomes more interesting there. Also, I find the idea of grokking something being part of controlling it an important lesson for a sorcerer.
If you’re familiar with the neopagan group “The Church of All Worlds” that name, and basic ideology was taken right from this book by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
5. 51w-Wyp-wgL._SL250_[1]American Gods by Neil Gaiman
I feel this one is a bit cliché to add to the list, but necessary.
If you’ve somehow managed to avoid the book, essentially it tells the story of a man trapped between a war of the gods. The war is between the “old” gods, the gods of Egypt, Babylon, Greece, India, the Nordic lands, and so one, versus the new gods of our culture, Internet, Data-based finances, Electrical systems, roads, and so one.
It has a bit of post-modern chaos flair to it, the idea that new gods are developing, that gods are sustained by belief and energy and attention, and shape our world as much as they are shaped by it. There isn’t much in the book I’d say is a must-learn for a sorcerer, but it’s more the cosmology and world it weaves that I find compelling for a sorcerer.
So what about you? What five fiction books would you recommend that sorcerers read?

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
29
Mar
2015

Local Spirits: Categories and Classifications


SekkwThe concept of local spirits is something that is often overlooked with magickal folks, and I think not really examined by enough people. Recently they came up on a forum I’m a part of, and some of the questions made me realize there are some gaps in how people think of them and work with them. Local spirits are a big part of my work, in fact other than Mother the first non-human entity I can remember encountering was a local spirit. In chöd, my primary Buddhist practice for the last several years, there is a huge emphasis on local spirits, to the point where I argue that if you only perform chöd in one spot you’re not getting that much out of it, because it’s all about your work with the spirits around you.
First off, what are local spirits? People use the term, but don’t really define it, and it can mean a lot of different things. Unfortunately while it means a lot of different things there is some overlap in the concepts making it a bit more confusing The term is used as an umbrella (purposefully or otherwise), so let’s break it down. Note: While I’m going to be saying several things that get called local spirits aren’t actually local spirits, that’s not any sort of judgment against them or working with them, just drawing distinctions, and there are reasons to work with all the classes I’ll discuss…except the last one.
The first is the most “obvious” of the meanings, what is generally called the genius loci, the literal spirit and intelligence that is embodied by a place. In Vajrayana Buddhism they’re known as sadak and shidak (ས་བདག་ and གཞི་བདག་). I’ll talk more about them later, because despite being the most obvious it’s actually a fairly complex concept. Also I’ll use the term shidak for this classification, not so much because I think it is more correct, but because it is free from a lot of the associations that local spirit or genius loci have.
Something that sometimes gets called a local spirit is more of a group spirit. Over time a place that is unified by a certain idea/identity builds up an energy to it, and eventually that can coalesce into a type of spirit, similar to an egregore. Not necessarily an innate soul, but still a potentially sentient and powerful spirit. In Vajrayana they’re known as a drongdak (གྲོང་བདག་), though the assumption/understanding is that they’re a “real” spirit rather than constructed, and I personally lean more to constructed or coalesced. A lot of cities have this type of group spirit. It isn’t the shidak of the place in a proper sense, but more the expression of the humanity of that place. Toronto’s spirit always shifts, which to me is appropriate for such a diverse population in such a time of transition, but generally feels like a large friendly woman of ambiguous/shifting ethnicity, but with a cautious edge to her. Cleveland’s spirit always strikes me as a grumpy old white man who just wants to read his paper in peace. These spirits are built up of the culture of the place, the attitudes, the feel and interaction. Old buildings with a lot of use can create something similar. I’ve been to a museum that has a sort of spirit curator, who isn’t/wasn’t a person, but is more of decades of tours and field trips slowly solidifying into a personality. Even though I wouldn’t classify them the same as a shidak, this does not mean I think they’re any less important or powerful, just different, and useful in different ways. In some cases the group spirit might be an interface for the shidak, but generally I perceive of them as distinct entities with an overlap in influence.
Related to the group spirit and the history of a place are ghosts, and ghosts sometimes get labelled as local spirits. Here, for simplicity’s sake, I mean some sort of remnant of a human, whether or not it is an actually spirit bound in a place, an energetic echo, or a cast off shell that has been animated. These might be spirits that are local, but are in another class from local spirits. Generally they are not nearly as big or influential as a shidak. I have encountered a spirit once that borders between ghost and group spirit, it was as if over time it subsumed (or was subsumed by) the collective identity of a place. I’m not sure if that’s something that happens with frequency, but I’ve only ever once got that sense from a spirit, and there was a sense that it was purposeful (on their end or someone else’s I can’t say). When you do offerings to a shidak, you may also be offering to these ghosts, and there is nothing wrong with that, but again I just want to have the terms a bit more clear and thought out. I say that specifically because I’ve seen people confuse a ghost with a shidak, simply because they didn’t know better, and the shidak didn’t want to be engaged so they assumed the only spirit in the area had to be the shidak.
There are guardian spirits that are tied to places. Again, this is something I could subdivide into its own post, but for simplicity I’ll just run through it quickly. Place guardians can be “natural,” for some reason or another a place has generated another spirit to watch over the place, almost like an assistant shidak. Other times a spirit “adopts” a place and watches over it. Sometimes the spirit is brought there by a person. How many sorcerers out there have set a spirit to guard a place? What if you die and never released it? Or it liked the place and stayed of its own accord. I separate these from shidak because they’re more specific, they protect a place, and dwell in it, but they don’t seem to permeate it, and exist in it in the same way, nor do they have the influence in the area that a shidak has.
Elementals can easily be grouped into local spirits and confused as them. Arguably many of them I’d be more likely to say are shidak than the other classes discussed. Elemental here is a vague term for the spirit of an element/quality of a place. Rivers, for instance, often have some spirit tied to them, the size/influence depending on the size/power of the river. While I wouldn’t call them a shidak, they do live in and as the water of a place, so it’s harder to make the distinction. Trees are another great example, but also that nebulous area. Trees can have individual spirits, trees in close proximity can also have a hive spirit. Again I wouldn’t call these a shidak, but more a spirit living in/on the land. It’s hard to draw the line between them and some shidaks. What makes it more complicated is shidaks often focus themselves in different areas, and large, old, or distinct trees are a common focus for them. So even if I don’t think tree spirits are shidaks, some shidaks focus their essence into a tree, making that division harder to identify.
A classification that I find in Vajrayana, that I’m only including for sake of education, is the naydak (གནས་བདག), which is the Sacred Place Lord. As far as I can tell they’re shidak of sacred places. While I’ve never encountered one I can’t say for sure, but I assume they are no different in structure/function from a shidak, but set apart because they inhabit a holy area, rather than a mundane one. Perhaps they’re more of an “angelic” type spirit occupying the place, it’s hard to say. They’re rare, apparently only living in the most sacred of places, so not every temple or powerplace will have a naydak.
Last, and certainly least, would be fae-things. I’m saying fae-things to avoid having to make long, complicated explanations. While we might quibble on details, you have a rough sense of what I mean. Elven, fae, faerie, and the like. While not human spirits, I’d say they’re like ghosts, in the sense of they might reside in a place and be local, but that’s not the same as being the local spirit, the shidak. Though their interaction is a bit more complicated. While a ghost exists in a place, the fae-things actually live there and consider the space their own. Even though they’re free to move on in a way that a ghost or elemental couldn’t, they can be more possessive/protective of the area because it’s their home and chosen land.
This is just the cursory break down of things that get classified as local spirits. In the next post of this series I’ll talk more about shidaks specifically.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
25
Mar
2015

Shapeshifting Saviours, Meditation, and Logic


Mercury WebDue to the convergence of newage and Buddhism I’ve seen the so-called “non-violent” communication for a while. I’m fed up with it, and I’m not the only one. Here is a look at how non-violent communication is just as violent, if not more so, than normal communication.
Why is rape such a central element in many religious myths? This came up at dinner this week actually, it’s more than a bit unsettling to modern sensibilities how the mothers of Zoroaster, Jesus, and Buddha never gave consent to become pregnant, it was just placed upon them.
Speaking of that Jesus fellow, the first written description of him calls him a magician. Not surprising to most occultists, but still neat. Also not surprising if you’ve read Jesus the Magician by Morton Smith.
A later text about Jesus calls him a shapeshifter. While I would never have labelled him such, it’s an interesting reason and covers a small hole in the Gospels. (And I don’t mean the ones through Jesus’ palms…too soon?)
Want some great life advice from five awesome female mystics? You got it.
Like a lot of sorcerers I collect tools, but I like to know the whys and hows, and histories of the items. Here is the start of a great in depth look at magickal blades, which helps fill in some of that.
I’ve wanted to talk about ancestor work for a while, because I keep getting more questions about it, and why I do it, and how do I make peace with the idea. Brother Moloch addresses the common question of why to work with ancestors, especially if your family was less than stellar.
Believe it or not the Onion wrote an article about me. Or at least it sounds like how many of my friends talk about me.
Speaking of meditation, TUM talked briefly about a short meditation retreat he did and how it’s not all fun, games, and stress relief. Let me say to those curious about his experience, that’s just the tip of the rabbit hole.
Continuing on meditation, I know I always complain about those scientific studies explaining the benefits of meditation…we get it, it’s good for you…the American Psychological Association says it helps fight depression. It’s also good seeing it from a serious source, not just random blogs or papers pulling info together.
On the flipside here is a list of 10 things science will make you happy. Bacon must have been 11th on the list. It might seem initially odd that I’d share this, but remember I think a sorcerer is judged not achievements, titles, tools, or training, but by the life they live and if they’re content and productive.
I also think a sorcerer should be firmly grounded in reality, which is why I advocate for more scientific rigour in practices, and scientific literacy. So, to kill a favourite pet I see among pagans, an analysis of 240 different studies shows that there is no notable health benefit from organic food.
Keeping with reality, here are eight common mistakes in how we think, and how we can avoid them. Some of these are even more an issue to those who follow magickal forms of thought.
Another problem with how we think is how often we ignore omens, and how the majority of deaths are caused by such ignorance. Totally true fact.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
21
Mar
2015

Dakinis: The Ganden Girls


ganden girlsContinuing my theme of super serious Buddhist posts being applied to non-Buddhist stuff I want to talk to you about the dakinis.
Specifically the four primary dakinis who appear in a variety of rituals, they appear “secretly” as HaRiNiSa, are the rulers of the four actions, and represent the Buddha families. They are Vajradakini, Ratnadakini, Padmadakini, and Karmadakini.
Now to the super serious part of this post…after a discussion with a friend, I realized that these four dakinis have manifested in pop culture, and are none other than the Golden Girls. (Okay, maybe that’s stretching it, but there is an amusing parallel.)
roseFirst there is the blue Vajradakini in the East. Her action is pacifying, she is used to bring peace to disruption, not to destroy it or command it, but to settle it. She binds people together harmoniously. She is also very detail focused and literal, precise. She is the emotional mind and the memory, and she transforms anger into wisdom. I see this as being Rose. While often the butt of an angry outburst (shut up Rose), she is ultimately the most peaceful of the Golden Girls, in fact, it is stated that if it wasn’t for her none of the women would be living together, she is the one that makes them work together. She is also the most literal, which is part of her charm in the way she misunderstands things. She is the heart of the Girls, and that is Vajradakini.
sophiaSecondly there is yellow Ratnadakini in the South. Her action is enriching, she is used to ground and increase, to expand. She is the earthiest of the dakinis, the most interested in the body and the here and now. She is about the physical past and origins. She transforms our false pride into wisdom. This would be Sophia. Sophia is the master cook, nurturing the bodies of all the others. By far the most grounded and physical of them. She’s probably the most open about her body too, most episodes include some complaint about her body and age that most people rather wouldn’t hear, but she is the body and earth elements. She supports the Girls, but also keeps their egos from getting too big. She is thoroughly grounded in her past as a foundation “Picture it Pussycat, Silicy, 1922…”
blancheNext is the red Padmadakini in the West. Her action is enchanting…and I could probably stop there. She is the more Venereal of the dakinis: attraction, magnetism, enchanting. She is also connected to passion and drive. All I had to say was enchanting, and I’m sure we all could see this is Blanche. Beautiful, sexual, sensual, and all about the chase, the attraction, the drawing in of others.
dorothyLastly is the green Karmadakini to the North. Her action is discrimination and being wrathful. She helps eliminate distractions and delusions, to clear away that which is preventing us from seeing things the way they are. Tied to this is her wrathful action, she is the one who gives us the tough lessons that we need. It’s not a cruel action, but a swift one. She destroys our illusions, even the ones we enjoy. This is Dorothy, she was always the most frank of the group, the sharp mind backed by a sharp tongue. Dorothy said what needed to be said to her friends, even if they wouldn’t want to hear it. Of all the Golden Girls she had the most wit and clarity.
I hope from this people will come to see some of the transcendent wisdom that is the Golden Girls.
Thank you for being a friend.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
17
Mar
2015

Elixir Applications


In my previous post I gave an adaptation of a Buddhist method for consecrating a liquid through continued ritual work with a god. Now I want to talk a bit about how to use it. I’m sure most sorcerous folks out there have already clued into a few ideas, but I thought I’d add in some more, traditional or otherwise.
The first thing you can use the liquid for is continuing your work with the deity in the same way. Use part of it as a “starter” liquid in the bowl when you begin your next month’s work. It’s a great way to feed back into the current and keep building. It already has their resonance, so it makes calling them easier.
The next obvious use is imbibing it. Trust me, vodka with paprika in it isn’t the tastiest creation out there, but it can be worth consuming. When you go to invoke or evoke the god, take a shot, and you’re pulling their essence right into you. (If you want to mix basic bio with magick -which is questionable and perhaps better seen as a metaphor- alcohol isn’t absorbed like most liquids and passes into your blood stream and through the blood-brain barrier rather quickly. So by drinking the liquid you’re actually going to have their holy water coursing through your veins and into your brain.) It’s even more effective if you “refresh” the image. So say their mantra or name a few times, and picture them sitting in the liquid, and then you drink it.
A more complicated use, that again I can only partially explain and simplify, is to use it in offerings and purification of food. This is done in a lot of devotional practices, retreats, or all the time if you have that commitment. When you go to eat, have some of the liquid with you (I carry a 1oz flask on my belt for this purpose), dip your left ring finger in it (traditional reasons), and with your palm facing down curl the finger under, grab it with your thumb, and then flick it at your food. See the god (preferable in hundreds of little forms, but whatever you can manage) flying out from your finger and casting out everything unwanted from the food. Base impurities, imbalances, “negative energy” whatever you see it as, or how you understand it. Dip your finger in the liquid again, and this time do the same flick, but with your palm facing up. See the blessing of the god shoot up, and then come down in a rain of their essence onto the food, imbuing it with their traits. Now you’ve consecrated the meal to them, which is great as a general offering, or a way to maintain connection with them.
(I’ve had to do the full version of this in retreats, with the idea that everything is that god, and you’re just returning it to that purity, that way everything you see, think, hear, and eat is that god, to completely fascinate and immerse yourself in them. This food is now for them, and of them, it sustains them and brings them into you. When done right, and continually, it’s a very powerful way to begin living in and as the deity.)
Even if you don’t have time for a proper invocation/evocation it’s a great way to get a boost of their essence. Running out the door, late for a meeting, take a shot of the god to help fortify you. Or it’s great to have on hand when you have the time, but are unable. If you’ve worked with a healing figure, if you’re too sick to actually do some magick to clear things up, drink some of the holy water and it will help, at least to put the symptoms aside enough for you to properly do some healing.
Feed the current by using it in other related magick. Say you did it to a wealth deity, anoint your talismans and yourself, sprinkle it on your cashbox (from The Sorcerer’s Secret), put it on your petitions, pour it out in strategic locations (like if you’re looking for a raise, spread it around your office). Turn it into another materia for your workings.
Even if it’s not directly applicable to a working, you can still use it as a way of establishing divine authority. Let’s say, hypothetically, that the only god/spirit you really work with is Aphrodite, but you have an unruly spirit around the house. Aphrodite isn’t traditionally used in banishing, but if you just need to prove you have a strong ally, using the holy water to her is a way to show it.
Really the possibilities are endless when you think of it as both a connection, and materia. People burn incense to their god to fill the space with appropriate forces, if you have a humidifier or desktop water feature, toss in the liquid there and let it work in the same way. Whenever I have leftovers of this stuff that I can’t really make use of, I toss it into my house’s humidifier to let it carry the essence all through my house. Also if you use high proof alcohol it can be burnt if you know what you’re doing.
When I don’t use an alcohol base I sometimes offer the liquid to appropriate plants that I grow for magickal purposes. Cook with it, clean with it. While I don’t mean to devalue it, it’s something you can work into your life and your sphere in hundreds of different ways, make it complex, keep it simple.
Let your imagination run with it, and feel free to share any other ideas.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
13
Mar
2015

Consecrating Elixir


The following is a simplified variation of a Buddhist method for creating consecrated liquid (what I tongue-in-cheek refer to as “magick skull vodka”). Simplified and altered because there is some stuff that can’t be shared (oh, how mysterious) and other things that really only work in a Buddhist context (oh, how pretentious). Since it’s meant to be adapted for you own practice I’ll leave out some specifics to be worked out in your way.
This method is for creating a holy water that is dedicated to a specific figure, and by extension their sphere of influence. I’ll use the word god in this post, just because it’s easier than saying Buddha/Bodhisattva/God/Saint/Angel/Demon/whatever, but don’t think this is actually restricted just to a god. Really you can make this in a single sitting, but ideally it’s something that you will take a month to consecrate.
You will need:
A bowl*
A round mirror
Liquid**
Herbs/spices*** (Powdered)
Oil
Thin wooden sticks (Kabob sticks work great)
Thread
*Traditionally a skullcup, but I’ll assume most people don’t have a skull cup hanging around (boring). Just use a white bowl, or a bowl of the appropriate colour for the god
**Liquid: Personally I use vodka. There are a lot of reasons that are relevant in Buddhism on why to use alcohol. If you use alcohol it should be something of a high alcoholic content, and low in sugars. It’s going to sit out in a bowl for a month, and high alcoholic percent will keep it sterile, and low sugars will prevent it from spoiling and/or attracting fruit flies and the like. You can use water if it is more appropriate.
***Herbs/spices: Pick something that is appropriate by either herbal/magickal associations or colour. My practice uses chili powder or paprika for that deep red/rust colour.

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup

Here is the stick frame on the skull cup


Take the sticks and tie them into a shape that is appropriate to the god and of an appropriate size to place over the bowl to hold the mirror up. In my practice it’s a chöjung (a hexagram). If there isn’t an appropriate shape you can use I’d either use a triangle or hexagram, to symbolize manifesting the work into our reality, giving it form. Pour your liquid into the bowl, and place the stick frame on top.
With the mirror on top

With the mirror on top, stop judging my tile floor


Now take your mirror and make sure it’s clean. (There is a good Buddhist analogy about clean mirrors, but really this is just for hygiene) Now coat it with a thin layer of oil, just pour it on, tilt the mirror, nudge it with your finger until it’s completely covered. Sprinkle a layer of your spice on top of it, I use a small tea strainer to help shake it on more evenly, cover it thoroughly and then blow off the excess. Inscribe the seal, sigil, mandala, whatever of the god you’re working with onto the spice, so you can somewhat see the mirror through their image. Place this on top of the mirror, and you’re ready to go.
Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.

Here is an example I found online of the same set up. This is more ornate and shows all the offerings which I excluded in my picture.


You might have to tweak how you work with the figure, because the Buddhist method has some specifics regarding self and front generation. Every night (or whenever) do your ritual for the god. In the Buddhist ritual I use, first I invoke the person into me, then I evoke them onto the mirror, then we do the ritual of offerings, and whatever is required.
What you should do is find a way that works for you to call whomever you’re working with onto the mirror. Think of it like their throne, or the base for whatever they’d sit/stand on. In a simplified Buddhist approach you can just visualize them sitting on the mirror, recall their appearance and traits, then when you have a good solid mental image of them actually call to the real god and get them to inhabit the visualization. Basically you’re making an energetic/mental receptacle that looks like them, to make it easier for them to be in your space and work with you.
Once they are present work with them how you see fit. Sing their praises, give them offerings, make your requests, negotiate with them, whatever. When you are done, thank them, but don’t dismiss them. You’re not forcing them to stay, but you’re not dismissing them either. You’re welcoming them into your sphere and life. The idea is that every day the energetic form becomes a little bit more solid and powerful. Every day you build on the previous, collecting more and more merit/blessing/energy/whateveryoucallit. Eventually you can build up a pretty powerful presence in the mirror. Every day when you do this, refresh your liquid, usually you just need a splash, you don’t want to lose it all to evaporation.
Traditionally this is done for a lunar month, new moon to new moon, but depending on purpose and practicality you can change that, though if you really want it to have some umph behind it, do it for at least two weeks.
When you’re done and ready to finish the consecration perform the rituals just as you have. Make the visualization, call the god into it, give the offering/praise/requests. Then when you’re done you dissolve everything. The simplest way to do this is to see the figure as made of liquid light, and let it lose cohesion. See the figure melt, the real them and the visualization (because there is no difference at this point) through the mirror into the liquid, purifying and transforming it. Spend some time making sure they’re “blended” well, that the energy you’ve built up over the month is now really in the liquid. Then take a knife, or a flat edge, and scrape the spices into the liquid, to carry that physical component of the blessing, after all your god or whatever has been sitting on that for a month, using it partially as their connection to your space.
Put the consecrated liquid in a bottle, and you’re ready to go. After a day or two you can strain the liquid if you don’t want it to have as much of the spice physically in it. (I do, but it’s a bit of a pain to let the vodka drip through a coffee filter.
There you have it, consecrated liquid to a specific figure, or purpose. While I trust folks out there to be inventive, I’ll probably post about things to do with it in a few days.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Mar
2015

Round Pegs and Round Holes


Or Shut Up and Stick It In
square_peg_round_hole[1]Sometimes magickians go out of their way to make things more complicated than they need to be. That in and of itself could be a series of rants, but instead I want to focus on something that happened to me recently. I performed a mo dice reading from a friend, and got Ra-Na, The Dried Up Tree, it’s not a good answer, but the piece of advice was to perform rituals of offering for deceased family and ancestors.
So I explained that things didn’t look good, but he should give offerings to his dead family and ancestors, not to get them to fix it, but to make sure they’re maintained. Hungry ghosts are disruptive ghosts. So we talked a bit and he said something that gave me pause, so I asked and found out he thought I meant family/ancestors as in his past lives. Admittedly sometimes the tradition we work with uses that language-coding, but I had to clarify this time I meant blood family, and actual ancestors, not ancestors as code for past-lives.
“I don’t have any dead family, none of them stuck around.” So I explained one of the models of the soul in several parts which says that the “soul proper” reincarnates, but leaves a shade or remnant behind, an echo that can be animated. My Grandmother died seven years ago, and her soul has moved on, but she still visits me, and I have good conversations at her grave. “I don’t have any connection to my family that is dead.” I explained that it’s not about a connection like that, that’s why some systems of ancestor work uses people who died long before you were born or even parents or grandparents were born, it’s not about a standard idea of familial love, but this idea of supporting your legacy. So even if you didn’t connect in life, or weren’t alive at the same time doesn’t mean you can’t give them offerings, and that they won’t help out. I also explained that offerings to dead family can be made to their current lives, whoever/wherever Grandma is, I can offer her my merit to help out, in the belief that it will benefit her current life.
After a while he responded “So I guess I’m screwed and there is nothing I can do.”
This baffled me. He spent a large portion of our conversation transforming the round peg I offered him into a square peg that no longer fit. I wasn’t asking for a huge change in beliefs, I wasn’t railing against his ideas, I didn’t suggest anything drastic. All I said was to perform an offering to dead family and ancestors, tea and bread by the pictures I know he has up of them. Instead he complicated the issue by trying to force it to match his beliefs “So by family you mean past lives?” “I don’t have any dead family.” “I don’t have any connection to my family that is dead.” “There is nothing I can do.”
Now granted, I hate people who pull, twist, and mixmatch traditions improperly, and appreciate synthesizing beliefs intelligently. On the other hand when you ask for advice, and get clear advice (mo is straightforward there, which is part of why I love it), and you’d rather mangle the advice until it can’t fit or work in your world, then you’re doing something wrong.
Yes I’m picking on a friend a bit here, but I see this a lot. Sometimes life gives you a round peg and a round hole, so shut up and stick it in. Occultists seem to like complicating matters, yes, synthesis is brilliant, but sometimes your attempt at synthesis is more akin to blindfolded jigsaw puzzles.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick