21
Aug
2014

Review: Grimoires, by Owen Davies


51Mp9yLSz1L._SL160_[1]Grimoires: A History of Magic Books – Owen Davies
Oxford, 2010, 368pp., 9780199590049
If you’re an academically and/or history driven ceremonial magickian, then Grimoires is a book you really need for you collection.
After reading a few reviews about this book, I feel I have to make one point clear: This is an academic text, this is not a book about magick, it is not how to understand or use the grimoires, it is a look at the texts, the social influences on them, historical documents, and how they have changed over time. If you want an overview of grimoires for your magickal practice, look elsewhere.
Davies covers the history of grimoires, going as far back as we can and still understand the texts as grimoires, arguably sometime around the BCE/CE crossover, up until the present day. Along this journey he touches on a variety of factors that influenced the grimoires. It would be too easy to conceive of them as something isolated in the field of magick, but they’re not. Grimoires grew and were shaped by pressures from the Church, by popular fiction, by technology, cultural exchanges, and perhaps something spiritual. “They not only reflected the globalization of the world but helped shape it.” (5) Davies doesn’t write as a magickian, doesn’t write as a believer, but as a historian analyzing the texts and the histories, and that’s to the benefit of this book, otherwise it would be too easy to assume lines of thought persisted only due to magickal reasons.
When we think of grimoires we tend to think of the same handful over and over, but what really intrigued me was how many grimoires were identified and created in the Middle Ages. All of the text was interesting, but the interplay of the grimoires and the medieval Church were really fascinating. Davies covered how various grimoires survived, but more importantly why they were used, and how they were viewed. You could see some of the push and pull around the Church and the grimoires, as both an organization threatened by their existence, and yet obviously making use of them. In that same period Davies makes a case for the “democratizing” magick through the printing press.
Another plus for the book is that lot of magickal histories tend to drop off in the Renaissance, pick up with the Golden Dawn, maybe address the OTO, and then jump to the present. Davies on the other hand covered all that time between, as grimoires flowed into North America, becoming pulp books sold everywhere, in mail order catelogues even, and how they were a part of rural American cultures right up into living memory. This type of continuous thread of thought and practice is just what he traced from the earliest records, through the Dark Ages, into the Renaissance, to the present.
The data itself in this book is amazing, unfortunately Davies has a habit of throwing in random knowledge which seems less to illustrate a point, and more to illustrate his knowledge of something obscure. At first these little side-trips were interesting, but by the end of the book these details felt like they were detracting from the big pictures. When discussing an interesting text, there will often be an inclusion of one of the more unusual spells, even when it is irrelevant to the discussion of the text itself.
As someone who recently finished a university degree in History, with my final paper on Liber Iuratus Honorii, I found this book an excellent resource for creating the context and background for my paper. As a ceremonialist magickian I find this book invaluable to help me centre my practices both in their own magickal tradition, as well as a historical reality.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
18
Aug
2014

Magickal Diaries: Truth-speakers, Old Friends, Wise Teachers


Hello, I want my book. Bonjour, je veux mon livre.
If I have one regret about my magickal career: I didn’t start journaling sooner, and didn’t really know what I was doing with my journal for the first few years. The earliest magickal diary of mine that I can find is from 2006. I’m sure I kept records earlier than that, but maybe not. If not it boggles me that I waited so long to start. I know I recorded individual events from earlier on, but nothing complete.

A handful of my diaries

A handful of my diaries

Recently I’ve been rereading my magickal diaries as part of climbing trees for apples instead of grabbing fallen ones from about the field (Dear HGA: Be a grown-up spirit and use your words). What I have found has been so very insightful, and surprising, and it reminds me, this is one of the many reasons to keep journals.

I found conversations with gods and spirits I had forgotten, sometimes their lessons had been integrated into my life and my Work, other times I reread what they told me, and realize eight years later I’m still making the same mistakes because I forgot and moved on.

Some things surprise me, like dreams of Tubal-Qayin eight years ago, when I wasn’t even working on that Path yet, or patterns/symbols/figures showing up long before they became consciously part of my life. (Oh ye gods, so many peacocks…) Or a Vision of Mother giving me Kalagni, years before I picked it up as a pseudonym, and I had forgotten.

I found techniques I’ve forgotten, but records show were effective.

Perhaps more importantly I’ve found things that were ineffective, or areas I’ve always had difficulty with. Money magick, I’ve had a knack for shifting things to get what I need when needed. Sex and romance magick, excellent results. Job magick on the other has routinely been hit-or-miss, with more on the miss side. I find that interesting, and while I don’t know the reason (bad strategies, money is more open-ended, there just aren’t enough jobs and magick only does so much, whatever) it’s something for me to consider. It’s also something I can take solace in as I’m job hunting right now, and even with magick my results have been less than encouraging.

This is something I talked to a friend about recently though. He’s more of the fly by the seat of his pants energy focused magickian, so journal keeping seems alien to him. In the time I’ve known him I’ve seen him pull a few rabbits out of his hat, I’ve also seen a few situations that have me feeling like Rocky the Squirrel. The thing is, his opinion is “I don’t need to record my stuff, I want, I work, I get what I want.” He completely glazes over his failures. He might not be doing it on purpose or in an disingenuous way. Think of intuition, if you suddenly think of someone, and run into them, why that’s something you’ll note and remember, but if you think of them and don’t run into them, then you forget the next day. You’re not trying to be dishonest about your intuition, it’s just you’re not going to remember a non-event generally.

Still looking for this book

Still looking for this book

Magickal failures, unless they’re spectacular blow outs (like frying your first laptop, flooding your basement…twice), are not going to be remembered as easily as the successes. Not because we try to forget, but when cause doesn’t have an effect our mind doesn’t link the event (magick working) and the non-event (failure) and so we forget all about it. Obviously we shouldn’t dwell on our failures, but we really should be aware of them. It teaches us where our magick is weakest, be it a realm of magick (like Martial magick or job work or healing) or if it is a specific technique (scrying or invocation) and this opens up two options. It lets us see where we need to improve or perhaps shift things around to get them to work, or maybe it tells us not to focus somewhere and that be the area we ask for help in. It’s come up before, but not every occultist can or will be good at everything, and while I think we should work on some degree of proficiency, we should also know when it’s better to turn to someone more skilled than we are.

Your journal doesn’t have to be supercomplicated, I had a period of six months were mine was, it wasn’t worth it, but make sure it’s complete. Record your dreams, record your practice, record anything out of the ordinary, if a ritual feels weak or weird or powerful, record your visions. More importantly though, don’t record and forget the magickal diary, come back to it. I reread my Abramelin journals every year just before my anniversary, and I love it, and now that I’ve reread all my journals for the last 8 years I have a lot to think on, and arguably I learned more from rereading them, then I’d learn from any other magickal text you’d give me.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
15
Aug
2014

The Sphinx Gate Tarot Spread: Book Edition

AURYNAURYN
nesO[1]ver on Conjure Gnosis Balthazar recently posted a tarot spread based on The Sphinx Gate from The Neverending Story. I highly recommend you check it out.
Considering how important The Neverending Story is to my occult cosmology I can’t believe I had not thought of a tarot spread based on it, though I have worked out all the Majors as characters and events. (Seriously, I have 28 pages of notes on how it’s actually a mystical/occult text, I reread it ever year, and have an AURYN pocketwatch, based on the movie design, because that’s the only thing better about the movie.) Anyways Balthazar did a great job, with one fatal flaw…he used the dreaded movie!
I know I know, everyone born in the late 70s and 80s loves the movie, and as a standalone movie it’s pretty damn good…but if you read the book you realize how horrible the movie is. The movie only tells half the story, and worse still it tells the setting, it paints the picture for the real story which takes place after Bastian renames The Childlike Empress, after the movie ends. I’m digressing. Anyways, I like what Balthazar did, and the inclusion of Gmork and Falkor cards is a great idea, but I’m a book purest in this regard, and the Gates are different in the book than the movie, the movie removed one of them even, so I thought I would alter his spread to be in line with the book. Inspired by his work, I shifted the meaning of some of the cards, and added in the No-Key Gate, the hardest gate to pass through.
*********[G]***********
*****[5]******[4]******
*********[3]***********
*********[2]***********
*********[1]***********
*********[F]***********
nesE[1]verything Atreyu did was for his a quest to stop the Nothingness, which leads him to the Southern Oracle. This spread is for when we’re on our own quests, when we have goals to reach. My few experiments have shown it is more insightful for quests regarding our inner self, than external world, but that could just have been me with my readings.
So think of your quest, and deal down the cards, 1-5, and then F and G. The F card is Falkor and the G card is Gmork, they’re extra cards and only one may be used in the spread.
Card 1: The Great Riddle Gate: What do I have to answer before proceeding on my quest?
The Great Riddle Gate is very abstract, that’s why the simplified it in the movie. The sphinxes stare at each other, sending out riddles, all the riddles of the universe. Anyone caught in the stare of the sphinxes is frozen to the spot, unable to move until they have solved every riddle in the universe. Obviously no one ever does, so they perish. Only if the sphinxes close their eyes can you pass.
So the first card asks “What do I have to answer before proceeding on my quest?” The sphinxes aren’t giving you all the riddles, but if they’re going to close your eyes you have to know the answer to this one. These often seems to be about motivation or preparation. Question why do you want this quest, are you ready for it?
Card 2: The Magic Mirror Gate: Who am I really?
“When you stand before it, you see yourself. But not as you would in an ordinary mirror. You don’t see your outward appearance; what you see is your real innermost nature. If you want to go through, you have to – in a manner of speaking – go into yourself…I’ve known travelers who considered themselves absolutely blameless to yelp with horror and run away at the sight of the monster grinning out of the mirror at them…What some saw was not so frightening, but it still cost everyone one of them an inner struggle.”
Who are you, really? The result is somewhat quest dependant too, so what is this quest showing you about your true self, what aspect is it highlighting. Is it something that terrifies you, makes you uncomfortable, surprises, disappoints, or delights you?
If this card is very negative, this is when you flip over the Falkor card. I will quote Balthazar directly here

“Falkor is Atreyu’s luck dragon and always believes in Atreyu because he knows his true potential – as such he represents what the Greeks called the Agatha Daimon (the good guardian angel). The Falkor card in the spread represents your ideal self, your highest potential – what you CAN become. This card should ALWAYS be interpreted its most empowering light. If the truth revealed by either gate is disheartening allow the Falkor card to balance your vision of yourself, so you can integrate the knowledge of your total being and thus grow stronger in your quest.”

 
(I would also point out that his assessment as Falkor as the Agathd Daimon is spot on. “From now on you’ll succeed in everything you attempt. Because I’m a luck dragon.” He is Atreyu, and Bastian’s Supernatural Assistant however you want to parse that. All the more telling because Atreyu meets his suspended over an Abyss, and has to get past Ygramul, the Many, who is quite clearly Choronzon.)
nesI[1]f on the other hand Card 2, the True Self is very positive, it is time to flip over Gmork.
 

“Gmork is the agent of the Nothing bent on destroying Fantasia (your dreams). The Gmork card shows you where you could potentially stumble in your quest, your weaknesses or your blind spot. It represents what the Greeks called the Caco, or Evil, Daimon – this is the shadow self. The parts which are hidden, denied or toxic. By bringing any positive revelation given by the gates into balance with the message of the Gmork card you can achieve greater balance and personal power.”

 
Gmork, as an agent of the Nothing, spreads hopelessness with him, but is in understanding his nature that Atreyu actually regains his hope. Read the Gmork card as negatively, that which interferes inside of you, what you overlook, what takes away your will, your hope, but understand that you need to recognize that to overcome it.
Falkor reminds us what is great about us when we feel lost and worthless. Gmork reminds us what is still unbalanced, misdirected, and negative inside of us.
Card 3: The No-Key Gate: What do you have to give up to complete the quest?
“The No-Key Gate is closed. Simple closed. And that’s that! There’s no handle and no doorknob and no keyhole. Nothing. My theory is that this single, hermetically closed door is made of Fantastican selenium. You may know that there is now way of destroying, bending, or dissolving Fantastican selenium. It’s absolutely indestructible. Fantastican selenium reacts to our will. It’s our will that makes it unyielding. But if someone succeeds in forgetting all purpose, in wanting nothing at all- to him the gate will open of its own accord.”
In order to pass through the No-Key Gate Atreyu had to forget everything, who he was, why he was on a quest, and even that he wanted to pass through the gate. It was only through his connection with Bastian that he was able to make that final journey. What do you have to give up to complete the quest? What is holding you back? It might be something negative, but it could even be something that seems positive, but doesn’t fit this situation. Atreyu remembered everything when he passed through the gate, so whatever you give up can be something reclaimed, but what has to be put aside for you to finish the quest?
Cards 4 and 5: The Southern Oracle: The secret to completing your quest, and the actions to take.
Here you meet Uyulala, the Voice of Silence, the Southern Oracle. The Oracle provides you with an answer, and it comes in two parts. The first is the fourth card, what is the secret to completing your quest, what do you have to do? The fifth card the concrete action to do now. The fifth card can also manifest as the next step in a smaller quest to finish to finish this greater one. Don’t be surprised though, no quest was ever completed just by knowing the path, the hard part is to walk it.
(For those comparing spreads I put Falkor and Gmork in different positions. I put Falkor beneath or before the Great Riddle Gate, because Atreyu encounters him before the gate in the web of Ygramul and it’s their interaction that gets him to the gates. Gmork on the other hand is found in the Spook City, which occurs after, so I thought I’d put them linearly.)
Also, if you’ve never read the book do yourself a favour and pick up a copy. It is on my list of books all occultists should read.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
12
Aug
2014

High Priestess Sadhana: Self Generation


This is a sadhana I was requested to write for my lama. A sadhana is a Buddhist ritual, over-simplified but true. Depending on the type of sadhana there is a set formula they follow, like any ritual tradition, and the methodology and cosmology behind them isn’t exclusively Buddhist. My lama believes that the Western Mystery Traditions are like yoga for Westerns, and that the tarot contains all the archetypes you need for spiritual realization. So what he wanted to do was to combine Tarot imagery with Buddhist sadhana structure, to use Buddhist technology with images and archetypes that are more familiar and acceptable/accessible to the average person in the Western world. So I wrote him this.
This is a basic self-generation sadhana, which in Western lingo would basically be an invocation. Normally you’d be given an empowerment by a lama, some explanation, and some training to do a ritual in a Buddhist context. In the empowerment the lama would “implant” the energy or Seed of the being into you, so that you can then call on them. Alas, most lamas don’t have High Priestess empowerments so it’s not an option. So this script serves as a visualization for generating and embodying the nature and force of the High Priestess, it might lack the “punch” of a proper sadhana due to the lack of initiation involved, but if you work with it you can build that connection on your own without the empowerment. (And from there offer it to others, which actually was discussed at one point)
One of the hardest parts in creating this was coming up with syllables for Creation, and the mantra. In Buddhist ritual every time you create something major in the visualization there is a syllable that accompanies it, from a PAM appears a lotus, from a RAM a sun disk. We didn’t want to lift those syllables, and they wouldn’t work (what tarot card has a sun disk or skull cup?) and they don’t come with mantras. They do come with their own Seed Syllable though, the Hebrew letter. So what we decided on was breaking down the letter, into all the letters needed to spell it, and rearrange them to make the syllables. (Gimel is Gimel Mem Lamed, so the syllables and mantras are different combinations of G, M, and L in this case) It’s not perfect, and I want to rework it, but it works for now. Also some of the descriptions and wording is very Buddhist, it’s hard to shake the tone, but I think it is still clear without a background in Buddhism what is meant and intended. You should know what a Gimel looks like as you’ll visualize a few of them.
My lama prefers the BOTA deck, so the image was taken from it, it’s almost the exact same as the Smith-Rider-Waite tarot. The point of this is to clear your mind, draw the High Priestess into you, abide in her mindstate, take into yourself her gifts, and with experience wield the power of her archetype when embodying it. Oddly enough my lama prefers the BOTA deck and has all the books about it, but isn’t a member of the BOTA. I on the other hand was a member, but don’t have all the books, so we balanced out. The meaning of the High Priestess is also drawn from Case’s understanding of her.
-=-
bota-tarot-key-2[1]Begin by performing some basic mindfulness meditation to clear, slow, and focus your thoughts and ready yourself for the visualization. See everything in the room melt into light and fade away.
From empty space a Gimel appears, deep blue in colour, it radiates outwards becoming a tranquil ocean.
From the sound GAM appears a yellow square resting motionless on the surface of the ocean. From the sound MAL a grey cube arises in the centre of the square. And from a GAL appears two pillars on either side, one white and one black each topped with a lotus sculpture. Between them drapes a curtain decorated with pomegranate fruits and leaves.
Above the cube rests your consciousness in the form of a Gimel, deep blue in colour. From it light shines out, carrying with it a calming wisdom to all sentient beings. The light is drawn in again, and the Gimel, you, become the High Priestess sitting on the cube. Behind you stretches the curtain, to your left is the white pillar, and to the right is the black pillar and you rest between them as a point of balance. You wear an inner robe of pure white, over which appears a deep blue cloak resting on your shoulders and flowing down past your feet, transforming into water, connecting you to the ocean. You are the ocean, and the ocean is you, you are but a ripple on the surface. In your right hand rests a rolled up scroll marked with the word TORA, the Law, and your left hand rests peacefully in your lap. A white veil hangs from the sides of your head, which is topped by a silver crown in the shape of two horns with a sphere resting between them.
On the centre of your chest appears an equal-armed cross, glowing with the radiant white light of a full moon, and at its center appears another blue Gimel. Around the Gimel see three blue spheres of light representing the syllables of her mantra LAM LAG MAG. Repeat her mantra and let it bring about a state of equipoise and stabilize the image. LAM LAG MAG.
These lights shine out of the Gimel activating the cross, which then bathes the ocean in the cold white of a full moon. The light dispels confusion, forgetfulness, and ignorance, leaving the surface of the ocean perfectly calm and clear to the depths. In turn the ocean reflects the light out into the Cosmos clearing away the confusion, forgetfulness, and ignorance of all sentient beings, illuminating them and guiding them back to their personal wisdom, to the store house of knowledge in their unconsciousness.
The light is drawn in again, dissolving the ocean as it goes. The ocean dissolves into the yellow square. The curtain behind you dissolves into the pillars, which in turn dissolve into yellow square. The square dissolves up into the cube upon which you sit, which in turn dissolves into the water flowing from your robes. The scroll and the crown melt into light and pour into you, your entire being glows with their light and then melts into the moon white cross on your chest. The cross dissolves into the blue Gimel at its heart which glows with the light of the ocean and the moon. Finally the Gimel dissolves into Nothingness.
Rest in meditation until your thoughts naturally emerge.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Aug
2014

Pushing the Plateau


Last week I talked about how most of the time it’s the practitioner and the practice, not the tradition that makes for a good occultist. I’d like to build on that now, with part of what makes a good occultist, dealing with the plateaus and moving beyond.
SONY DSCHrafn from the Weaving Wyrd (who needs to post more) wrote a good piece on The Okay plateau and the Occult. Now I recommend you read what they wrote, but I’ll give you the Abyss Notes Version.
With any skill -physical, mental, or magickal- we practice and train up until a certain point, and then we tend to slow down or slack off. We often think that we’ve gone as fair as we can, that we can’t improve, but really there are a lot of factors to why we stopped improving.
Anyone who has been doing magick for several years probably knows this feeling. You feel like you aren’t progressing, or you can’t progress. Maybe you feel like there is nothing else to learn. Perhaps it has become so normal in your life that you’re no longer enamoured with your Arte. We go through the routine daily practices, but go nowhere.
Hrafn suggests four great ways of dealing with it
• Keep a Journal
• Back to the Basics
• Attend a Periodic Workshop
• Find a Group
I would give a resounding yes to all of them.
I’m writing this because I feel I’ve been at an Okay Plateau for several months, and it’s only in the last month that I’ve gotten through it. (Dread Lords of the Abyss have I gotten through it…)
So without trying to copy Hrafn’s plan, I did all of the above. During my Saturn Retrograde hell I stopped journaling. Journaling is tedious, and boring, but it’s also magickal accountability. Any magick that didn’t work during the months I didn’t journal, I don’t remember, so I can pretend everything went awesome. Now that I’m journaling if something doesn’t work, I can’t forget it, the record exists. This forces me to face it, reevaluate it, and figure out why it didn’t work, and thus improve. (Also, reread your magickal journals every once and a while, you’d be amazed as the wisdom you’ve forgotten.)
Under orders from my HGA I’m not allowed to buy new books (something about apples and fields and trees) so I’ve been rereading old books, like Magus of Strovolos and Hands of Light, and it’s refreshing to touch base with old important books, much like your journals seeing the wisdom and skills you’ve forgotten.
I attended and presented at the same occult convention Hrafn mentions, took great classes, and spent a weekend talking shop with great occultists and experimenting.
I found some nifty new occultists online to talk to. Personally I’d rather a group in Toronto to work with, but I’ll take what I can get.
That all said, there are a few things additional ideas I’d like to suggest for the Okay Plateau.
• Different directions/model
• Work a system/book
• Combine systems
• 110

This model needs to change...

This model needs to change…

First off: Switch your Model. If you’re unfamiliar with the Models of Magick proposed by Frater U∴D∴ you can read this article on Spiral Nature (A more complete explaination is in his book High Magic which I recommend, but isn’t necessary for this post). Basically all forms of magick can be framed through four different lenses. (And it’s become vogue to bash his system by people who haven’t even read the works, advanced or simple on the models, and don’t know know what they’re talking about) Chances are your practice or world view focuses on one of them, switch it up. That can mean either including new practices, or reframing what you do. If you do pure energy work, try using a spell format for what you want to do instead, make an incantation and use physical material in your work. If you do conjurations try interpreting what you do via the information model or calling the spirit by drawing/attracting their energy. If your work is psychological magick, switch the process/interpretation to energy work. Do this for a week, a month ideally. The intent isn’t to convert you, but more broaden your perspective a bit, and even if you go right back to what you were doing before, you very well might find that period has pushed you forward when you thought you were stalled.
When I was working on my physical fitness I plateaued at being able to do 120 pushups, just couldn’t break that point. So what I did was I started changing my hand positions, sometimes I did pushups with my hands touching, or father apart, or unevenly spaced with one farther up than the other. These new pushups sucked! I couldn’t do nearly as many, because they were hitting a lot of different, but related/connected muscles, that I didn’t use. After a few weeks of toying around like that, I went back to normal pushups and beat 120. In some ways the models are like that, and when we shift our model work, just for a while, you work magickal muscles you rarely use, which in turn strengthen and support the muscles you have, letting you break your plateau.
Work a new/old system or a book. The rational here is pretty much the same as the above. Pick a book, or a system, old or new, the less related/connected to your system the better, and work through it. I recently did this with Christopher Penczak’s Inner Temple of Witchcraft. That book is frankly and politely not my style in the slightest. But I read it, and performed every exercise in the book, albeit in a shortened period of a week and a half when he suggests a year and a day. So I tried all his meditations, called the Goddess, did some candle magick, wrote petitions, practiced basic energyballs. It’s a 101 book for his version of witchcraft, completely different from what I do, and what I like* so it was perfect. It forced me to do new things, different things, and the basics and while there may be only one thing in the book that I go back to (which was ironically one of my first energy techniques I stopped using), I found it useful to work through it. It flexed my muscles in new ways, and over that week and a half I felt my daily routine pick up steam it hadn’t in a long time. Or if you’re a tarot reader for instance grab all those little white books that you hate that came with your deck. Most decks have a unique/cheesy theme spread, work your way through all of them, use the book to re-reference the meanings, see how that goes.
*I find it odd, most interviews with Christopher I adore his stuff, and he’s a friend of a friend, and the friend vouches for what he can do and what he knows, but his books just don’t cut it for me.
Not all combinations are good, but at least you learn.

Not all combinations are good, but at least you learn.

Combine systems and practices. More of same rational, do something old in a new way. Plateaued? Combine two of your practices. Ceremonialist who reads tarot? Summon the spirit of a card they way you would an Angel. Rootworker and Mindfulness practitioner? Sit on the cushion with an herb, breathing it in and out, see what it does. Maybe you’ll find something awesome to teach and share, maybe you’ll feel like an idiot for the attempts, but it both flexes though related muscles, and has you experiment, the best way to do magick. Mix traditions, mix practices, meditate on the Name of your patron god, invoke an herb spirit, use your kitchen witch baking for divination, whatever.
110%. So obvious, so cliché, so true. We plateau because we think we’ve hit the limit, shift the limit. It’s easier with some practices than others, but you can always push harder. If you pray for 10 minutes a day, make it 15. If you meditate for 20 make it 25. If you perform offerings for your spirits include something new on top of the usual. If you say 400 mantras a day, make it 500. Whatever you do, just do it a little bit more. It has to be enough that you notice (10 minutes of meditation becoming 11 does nothing, 15 is noticeable) and it pushes you. Again, you don’t have to stay this way, just do it for a week or month and it will help things come into place. (Also, yes, those are not literal 110%, the point is increasing your effort)
Having just broken through an Okay Plateau, I know they’re one of the most frustrating periods you’ll go through as a magickian, but it happens to us all. The key is as a good and wise practitioner, we know this, and we know how to break through. Keep going, Work harder, Work smarter, Work more, and you’ll break through the plateau, and oh from there the places you’ll see.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
06
Aug
2014

Wednesday Webshare: Suppliers, Satanists, and Shamans


Mercury Web
The wonderful Polyphanes created a list of places to buy occult supplies that aren’t Lucky Mojo. I’ve refused to use them for years due to a variety of reasons, and in the last day several more issues with them have come to light that I can’t agree with, from broad perspective things, to targetted attacks on people both smear and cursing. So go support the awesome places Polyphanes listed, whenever possible support smaller independent, local, and awesome suppliers.
Over at the Strategic Sorcery blog Jason continues to address eclecticism in magickal practice. He addresses competency and dilettantism, which while I agree with his point, part of me feel that he’s a bit lax there. Or maybe I just underestimate competency in some people because as is often the case the loudest person in the crowd (eclectics in this case) is generally not the best person to represent them.
Since I wrote the draft of this post Jason has also posted Part 3 of Sane Eclecticism (Alas, his naming convention, not mine) It’s actually a repost of his rules from way back with one additional one.
Occultists debate about how much technology should be a part of what we do, but it’s time we catch up because a priest in Poland claims to be getting text messages from demons. And here I am using a black mirror like Luddite!
While not really magickal or occult, a wave of dolls have been left in front of houses, and they resemble the little girls that live in those homes. Definitely creepy, and my first thought was what a great way to nocebo someone into a curse. Don’t do anything to the person you want to curse, but leave a doll that looks like them in front of their house, they’ll freak out and probably do more than your curse would.
Another ancient temple has been found in the Near East, but it’s in danger cause its in a war zone. Seriously these temples are awesome things, hopefully this one survives long enough to really be studied. (Don’t forget, I have a history degree that in part focused on Near East history, so I have a bias)
Speaking of, Sounds from Silence is a CD that includes information on ancient Sumerian music, and instruments, with an example song on a recreated traditional lyre type instrument. I shared a version of this song a ways back, but this is a more complete product.
Also a Shamanic festival was held in Tuva, with the goal of revival of shamanic cultures It sounds really amazing, shamans from Mexico, to Greenland, to Korea, to Russia came to teach, learn, and share. I think it’s also great that they can share and learn. It makes me think about the Christian/Buddhist gathering in the 80s (I think) were all the more booky preacher types got into dogmatic arguments, but all the monastics who practice and meditate could relate to each other. (Also, you have to love that the article says the “World’s strongest shamans” I’d love to see that competition)
In the midst of the Hobby Lobby fiasco in the States (I’m Canadian, like a reasonable person, but I keep an eye on what my boot is up to) there is some good news via the Satanists (who are often the bearers of good news). Women, under the religious rights of the Satanists are allowed to be exempted from the “right to know” laws. Which if you’re unfamiliar basically means doctors are allowed to feed their patient any kind of bullshit (no, seriously, it’s not medical information, look it up) around the “reality” and dangers of abortions. It’s a pro-fetus law meant to coerce women in emotionally fraught positions to not go through with their choice. I don’t know if it will hold up in practice, but good for the Satanists trying to sidestep one religious law with another one.
Also, in the midst of the horrors going on in Israel, an odd story comes out. The Second Temple was destroyed about two thousand years ago, and there are a lot of prophecies and beliefs about the Third Temple. So how will the Third Temple be built? Welcome to the 2010s, where we can crowdfund the Third Temple, via indiegogo.
Harry from The Unlikely Mage replies to my HGA posts with his post Who Has the HGA? I Don’t. In it he addresses having similar experiences and contact, but that it isn’t the same thing, and how it was different. What amused me (as you can see in the comment) was both of our experiences pushed us into Buddhism. (That’s right, a centuries old Jewish ritual summoned an angel that told me to go Buddhist.)

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
03
Aug
2014

Your Tradition Can't Beat Mine


“It is folly to suppose that the Black or the White Mass is of greater importance, it is but the Power enslaved in them that must be freed –the Power of their Belief that must be utilized and aligned unto Our Path.” ~Chumbley
Came across this quote again, and it resonated with something I’ve been thinking about off and on lately. Another potentially controversial statement: Your tradition isn’t better than mine.
Okay, not too controversial depending on how you read it. By which I mean to say what I feel is fairly obvious, and mostly true; that magickal systems in and of themselves aren’t superior to one another. Most of the time it’s the person working the system that makes the difference, not the system itself.
TLDR: Good sorcerers, not traditions.
I got thinking about this for a few reasons, but most evidently when watching a friend, who recently converted magickal traditions, talking about how amazing their new system was, that it was far superior than the last one they were a part of (or the one before that, as the middle tradition was superior to the first) and just worked so much better. She might be right, but to an outsider it doesn’t look like it. Why? She’s always been good at what she does, and even if the first two traditions she studied in were shitty, she made them work for her. I say in this case it isn’t so much her new tradition or initiation did anything, it’s the fact that she is a wise person (with her blind spots like us all) with great focus and discipline. It wouldn’t matter if she was studying Neo-Wicca, Khemetic Reconstructionism, Santeria, Buddhism, or whatever. As long as she is in a system that has room for magick and flexing willpower, I think she would be a good sorcerer.
Now, don’t get me wrong, some traditions have different advantages and niches. Want to evocate a spirit, I think Ceremonialism is the route, want to invocate a spirit, I think Buddhism has that down, want to be ridden by a spirit, get thee to a Santero’s house. The thing is these advantages are only there for people who have the capacity to use them, some hypothetical good sorcerer. Just because you work with the grimoires doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get spirits appearing, just because you have an empowerment doesn’t mean Vajrayogini is going to come dance in your mind, just cause you made Ocha doesn’t mean Oya is going to take your body for a spin. All systems have the potential for training and growth and magick, but it’s the person that does the work, not the system. Though again caveated some systems are better suited for different people and bringing out the desired traits.
The second thing that got me thinking about this was seeing someone automatically assuming that someone from a certain tradition couldn’t hurt them magickally because it was an inferior system. Two things can happen here, either your disbelief works wonders on your personal magick and deflects stuff, or more likely, you’ll leave yourself open because you assume that Goetic spirits or animal fetchs have nothing on your protective angel/spirit/Chihuahua and get your etheric ass handed to you. Again, some traditions have different advantages, some might have better offence, others better defence, but that is no reason to discount them. As much disdain as I might drip on the newage movement, if think a whitelight newager can’t curse you, you haven’t crossed many of them, cause some of them wield the most potent hateful energy you’ll ever encounter. I see with pagans a lot of disregarding Christians and their prayer/magick, but I know a Catholic priest who works as an exorcist. He’s the sweetest man, but magickally he is a force to be reckoned with. He’s nearly thrown a friend of mine out of body (and said friend is well trained and not exactly “fragile”) and I had him bless an object for me so I’d remember this lesson, and when he blessed it I felt like someone was crushing my heart in a vice, just from the pressure and type of force/energy he called upon.
Granted most of the time this isn’t an issue in the occult community, we get along for the most part. I’m a Buddhist ceremonialist and my closest friends and my magickal allies are everything from newage neo-Native shamans, to vampires, to strict Solomonic practicitioners, to Santeros, to atheists (they can do magick too), Cambodian shamans, witches, and whatever else I’m not thinking of. We learn to talk across the differences, and learn from each other, but the thing is, the traditions we follow, the techniques we learn, they’re not what make us good sorcerers. It’s the fact that we’re people of devotion, intelligence, focus, and drive.
The flip side of this is look at yourself and your practice. Is your magick not what it should be, do you not get the results you need or want? Is the problem the system you’re studying, does it lack the technology for the result you want? Or could it be the fact that you don’t have the Strength/Wisdom/Compassion to wield it? You might be better off working on your discipline and focus, redoubling your effort than adding in another tradition or technique. Crowley said “About 90 % of Thelema, at a guess, is nothing but self-discipline” (Magick without Tears, Chapter 70) but I think much the same applies for all magick. Magick, techniques, spells, and visualizations, they’re tools, and can be phenomenal, but if you don’t have the skill to wield them, then the world’s best written conjuration won’t really change that.
I’m not saying don’t try new things, I’m not sayin learning techniques from other traditions is useless or bad. I’m just saying that no matter how many spells you know, no matter how many meditations you’ve been taught, how many magickal techniques you have, or how many initiations you’ve taken, you’re the sorcerer not these tools. If you don’t have the focus, discipline, and drive, if you don’t have the Strength, Wisdom, Compassion to utilize these tools, then they’ll never be truly effective.
“Sorcery uses Will, Desire and Belief with such precision as is permitted by the talents of the Individual Practitioner.” -Chumbley

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
31
Jul
2014

Review: Hands of Light, by Barbara Ann Brennan


handsolightHands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy Field – Barbara Ann Brenna
Bantam, 1988, 294pp., 0553345397
This is a rereading review. Hands of Light was probably one of my first energy work books I read way back, I was possibly still in high school then, which is scarily more than a decade away… For various reasons I’ve felt the need to go back and recover some old stuff, and this book was high on my list.
Hands of Light is probably one of the best books I’ve read on the energy body and energy healing, it definitely has its flaws, but overall it’s a great book.
Let’s look at the flaws first. First and foremost this book is very newage in its delivery, the author’s language jumps from culture to culture with little-to-no understanding of the basics, but using them as buzzwords. (The highest levels of your chakras exist in the Ketheric template, for instance) The book deals with channelling, spirit guides, white light, universe as happy-love, and things like that. The material is great, and even when she’s framing it as newage as possible there is a lot of good stuff in the book, you just have to be willing to filter out some of that language. The second problem is this text is very prescriptive. Red means this. A bulge here means that. Cancer will look like this. If you don’t know me, I have issues with prescriptive texts like that, people can and do perceive (not even see) things radically differently, and our energetic bodies, like our physical ones, are too complex to say X=Y with certainty, but it might be a good indicator. Must like the newage language, if you’re willing to reframe her descriptions as personal and a bit nebulous you’ll get more from it. Originally I thought she was more of an authority, so I tried diagnosing and evaluating people by her colours and symbols, sometimes they were right, sometimes they were wrong. Perceptions don’t map 100% across people. (Normally I wouldn’t comment about that in a book, but as I went through that way back I thought I’d bring it up.) I assume that is in part due to Brennan’s background, she has an M.S> in Atmospheric Physics and worked as a research scientist with NASA (these claims pan out), which may not be the most conducive to accepting a more flexible subtle reality.
So what are the good things about this book? It is detailed. It’s nearly three hundred pages (which are 8.5X11) so there is a lot in here. It covers the aura, how it interacts with the “Universal Energy Field,” therapy and energy healing, physical manifestations of psychological-energetic imbalances, the chakras, major chakra patterns, how they operate and interact, past life damage and healing, layers of reality and the way templates affect the bodies, various methods of perception, how to heal and a lot more. Brennan covers the basics all books on the subject hit, but does so more in depth, and covers a lot more.
The book also has a lot of exercises, and case studies for you to work with, these really help people who want to learn, and they’re practical and effective. The perspective and depth of Brennan’s work is what sets it apart. Even after all this time it’s the only book I’ve read that really handles the idea of multiple layers of the energy body in a way that’s rational and informative. Usually it’s glossed over or not mentioned, but her model is the one closest to my own, as well as the models used by several groups I’ve worked with.
With everything she covers this book really is probably the best resource or place to start, if you’re willing to be a bit more flexible, and divorce the newage language. I honestly think if you work through this book, follow the instructions, then you’ll have an amazing foundation for energetic healing.
While it is white light newage, no doubt, if you’re looking for a book on the energy body, and how to work with and heal it then this book is a great starting point and resource.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
28
Jul
2014

I Want To See Your Peacock…


Come gather around children, and hear the tale of how twins, angels, Orion, and peacocks are out to drive Kalagni batty. People who follow me on facebook or twitter have seen part of this ongoing battle, but I thought I would share it here, unfortunately my journaling has sucked since March, so I might miss parts.
It started about a month ago, I started getting information hints, some were from my HGA, some were from Me, and some were from something/someone else. It was suggesting a connection between twins, Orion, and angels. I couldn’t piece together the entire thing, but there was something, some link between these concepts, and it was tugging at my spirit to solve the problem.
During this time my Beloved bought me a beautiful necklace made of 200+ year old glass, and just the feel of it, I knew I had to do something magickal with it, but I didn’t know what. Then when I was looking at it in the sun light I realized the light was highlighting some bubbles in the glass. It’s over 200 years old, I’m not surprised there were bubbles in the glass from back then. Three big bubbles in a row, almost, a crooked row…like Orion’s belt. As soon as I realized that I looked closer, and there were bubbles for the shoulders, and the shield, and one of the feet. By some messed up chance in making the glass, the image of Orion was almost perfectly preserved in my necklace. I was mildly freaked, I also noticed that the colour and pattern of the necklace reminded me of peacocks, a very dangerous observation for me.
Then I was discussing an astrology based magickal technique with Polyphanes, and he recommended the use of the Syzygy and at first I didn’t like the idea. Anyways, I woke up the next morning with my Holy Guardian Angel telling me that I should use the Syzygy. In the abstract multimodal way my HGA often communicates I was told to “accept the Twin” which was accompanied by a vision of the Sun, Full Moon, and Earth. I knew this meant the Syzygy, which in Jungian terms is about paired opposites, and in general it means something in Union, which was how I linked it to twins, and from the placement of the bodies in the vision I could tell what it meant.
So then I looked at where my Syzygy is in my chart. Oh look, Gemini, the Twins. Oh look, more specifically it’s Conjunct Rigel, Orion’s Foot…oh look, Rigel is a binary (twin) star. Twins, Orion, Twins. Then I checked the time I woke up (when you wake up when family dies like I do, you habitually note when you wake up unusually) and drew the astrological chart, and conjunct the ascendant when my Angel woke me up? Rigel. The twin star in Orion…
As I played with these synchronicities peacocks started appearing to me more and more. First they started showing up peripherally in vision work, and then they appeared quite clearly when a spirit was seeking to contact me (speaking in Latin, because, screw me). Now, peacocks have been “chasing” me for about eight years, I don’t want to deal with them as a symbol. But I started to entertain this now, what connection was there between twins, angels, Orion, and peacocks? I still don’t have a solid answer. (I know of links between Orion and a specific angel, and between peacocks and angels, but not all of them together)
I felt inspired one day to clean my front porch, the downside to living in a large house on your own, is your family occasionally uses your place as storage. Anyways while cleaning up I came across a picture I had not seen before. I’ve since found out it was a gift to my father and he had it hanging in his office for years before he switched careers, then he packed it up and put it on the porch. Would anyone in the studio audience like to guess what it is a picture of? Two peacocks, you could say, twin peacocks even. I believe my scream/laugh/cry when I unpacked it was audible for many kilometres.
I decided to dive away from Western stuff and focus on Buddhism, that would help me escape these things, right? Until I found a reference to my Yidam as “the Peacock Bodhisattva.” So I decided to give in, I’d make space for the peacock entity in my life, I hung up the picture, and then doing some trance work I was given a set of three Seals for the “Angel” who was trying to contact me
Over the course of a week I decided to consecrate the necklace to this Angel, as a transvocation point, a nexus where our two realities touch, making communication and skrying easier. Then, as I was still getting to know the spirit, I invited them into my dreams, because while I suck at dream magick, it is one of the few places where contact with spirits will be largely unfiltered. So every night before bed I opened space over my bed, and called down the peacock spirit to visit me, so we might talk in my dreams, and for seven nights nothing happened. Through this process though I felt compelled to contact an Angel in Orion, but I knew it had to wait until I had better contact with the first angel. After the week was up I conjured the angel, it was faint, but the connection was established. It had the feel of an initiation, that I have to work through things in order to gain greater access.
Then, I felt an odd inspiration to good clean my room, and I mean good clean, including the storage under my bed which I never touch. I found my old sleeping bag in a vacuum sealed storage bag under my bed, but there was something odd and blue-green in with it. It was under the far corner of my bed (it’s a queen bed in a corner, so that corner storage never gets touched) and I had to crawl under with a staff to get it out. I open up the bag, unfurl the blue-green blanket, and fall onto my bed laughing, wondering for a moment if I might have actually lost my mind, because suddenly I had a peacock blanket I had never seen before. No, let me correct that, a blanket with two peacocks, you could say twin peacocks even. No idea how (mundanely) such a blanket could have been vacuum sealed with my sleeping bag, and shoved into the farthest reaches of my bedroom, without me knowing.
Finally on Friday, I went to the Bluffs an hour before dawn, when Rigel and Alnilam were on the horizon rising, and conjured the Angel in Orion.
Who knows where this bizarre madness will take me…though I have a nagging suspicion it will involve summoning a lot of spirits.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
25
Jul
2014

Refuge Tree: Triple Gem and the Triple Root


Last time I talked about the purpose of Taking Refuge, and the Triple Gem, now I want to go a bit farther. In Vajrayana Buddhism Refuge often includes four, or six figures, rather than the three I introduced last time. No matter what happens those three will always be present, but because Vajrayana Buddhism is a lineage-focused initiation tradition you will often Take Refuge in your personal guru, your teacher. Now if you don’t have a teacher, or don’t feel that your teacher is worthy of Refuge (admittedly a dicey idea in Vajrayana, usually it’s better to understand they are inherently Enlightened and that is the part you Take Refuge in) you can use one of the major historical gurus, such as Padmasambhava or Lama Tsongkapa, I’ve also seen it suggested people use Vajradhara or Kuntuzangpo in this position, but have not been told that through my lineage. In Vajrayana the guru is of the utmost importance, in fact it’s often said that your guru is more important than the Buddha, because it is your guru who introduces you to Buddhism, without the guru you couldn’t encounter the Buddha. If you’re Taking Refuge and including the guru you just Take Refuge in them first, so it becomes “I Take Refuge in the Guru, the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.”
Now the more complicated Refuge involves six figures, the Triple Gem, and the Triple Root. The Triple Gem is the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, as covered before. The Triple Root is the Lama/Guru, the Yidam, and the Dakinis. Your lama or guru is the teacher who initiates you and guides your practice. Your Yidam is your personal meditation tutelary deity. The Dakinis are…complicated, but they’re fierce female spirits who help bring on enlightenment, perhaps by any means necessary. When Refuge includes all six it tends to be broken into two parts, Gem then Root. “I Take Refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, the Lama, the Yidam, and the Dakinis.”
If you’re using Refuge in another system your guru, would obviously be your teacher, or a great teacher of your tradition, again much like the Buddha last time, you can visual an idealized teacher rather than a specific one. For the Yidam think about your practice, if you’re an occultist you might have a Patron/Matron deity of some sort, that’s the person you’d use as the Yidam to Refuge. Now if your personal deity is also the transcendent deity you use as a Buddha (as mentioned last post) that’s fine, see them in their different forms. Kali as Yidam could be the Wrathful Mother dancing on Shiva, while Kali as Buddha is the Force and Fabric that makes up the Universe and the Fire on the Edge of Time. For Dakinis you can use helpful and sacred spirits. While I’m not majorly found of the comparison sometimes the easiest way to explain Dakinis is to say “Buddhist Angels,” it’s not right, but it’s close enough that you get an idea. So picture here the angels or messengers or sacred helper spirits of your Path.
The Three Roots and Three Gems are reflections of each other. You can parallel the Buddha and the Lama, they’re both the teacher and guide. You can parallel the Dharma and the Yidam, the Yidam is your main practice, and Dharma is your practice, the Yidam is the focus of your teachings. Lastly the Sangha and the Dakinis are paralleled; they’re the community that is working on supporting you and uplifting you to Enlightenment.

You would be the central blue figure on this Tree

You would be the central blue figure on this Tree

Now in Varjayana it’s taught that when you Take Refuge you visualize/generate a Refuge Tree. This is a visual representation of the Three Roots and Three Gems. Depending on the practice, and the sect and tradition they’re laid out in different ways, but they’ll always contain the Buddha, and Lamas or the lineage, a variety of Yidams, generally a text is hidden in the image (the Dharma), and then dakinis, dharma protectors and people. You visualize this in front of you when you Take Refuge.
My lama has taught me to do it differently, instead of projecting the Tree in front of yourself you build it around yourself, so rather than having the Tree as something separate you’re making yourself a part of it, in fact, you are the Tree itself. I really like this method, Vajrayana practices take the external work of other systems and make it internal, instead of summoning a figure outside of yourself, you Become them, so why should the Tree be different? I also like it because many traditions around the world have something where you connect yourself to the Tree of the World, the Axis Mundi, and this slight change makes a Buddhist version of just that, with you as the Axis.
I’ll give a simplified English version of the practice first, and include the Tibetan after. I’ve never done it in English so I have to think through it as I go.
Sitting in a meditative posture know that you are the Centre of Reality, the World as you know it revolves around you.
With your right hand in the position of preparing to snap touch the Crown of your head. “To the glorious Lama I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing upwards visualizing the lama springing from your head into the space above you. When you say “Refuge” snap your fingers and see that snap Creating the image of the guru, making it solid and real, not just your imagination.
With your right hand in the position of preparing to snap touch your Third Eye. “To the glorious mandala of the Yidam I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing forward a foot from your face visualizing the Yidam springing from your Third Eye and standing in front of you. Again when you say “Refuge” snap your finger and solidify the image.
With your hand in the preparing to snap position touch your right temple. “To the Buddha I go for Refuge.” As you say this move your hand so it is pointing to the right while seeing the image of the Buddha leaving your temple to float off to your right, again when you say “Refuge” snap your finger and make the Buddha real.
With your hand in the snap position touch the back of your head, that bump on the other side of your skull from your eyes. “To all the sacred Dharma I go for Refuge.” Saying this move your hand to point backwards seeing a collection of Holy Texts flowing from your skull and piling up to become a solid foundation you can lean against. Again with saying “Refuge” snap to make it solid.
Touch your left temple in the same hand position. “To the great Sangha I go for Refuge” Saying this move your hand out to point to the left, seeing a collection of Bodhisattvas springing from your left temple to stand to your left, and again while saying “Refuge” snap to make the image solid.
With your hand in the position of preparing to snap, with your pointer finger pointing up say the following while moving your hand in a clockwise circle in front of your body, so that when you finish your hand is back where it started. “To all the Dakinis, Guardians, and Dharma Protectors I go for Refuge.” As you’re saying this and moving your hand see a collection of Dakinis, and Guardian figures leaving your heart to stand in a circle around you, to protect you, and your efforts, then when you say “Refuge” snap and make them solid.
This entire process should be done three times, when you get used to it the entire thing can take 45 seconds, though obviously it can take more depending on how much you want to put into it.
Take a moment to reaffirm the presence of all of them, I personally like to reconnect to all of them, so I see ethereal threads flowing from each of them back to the place that they emerged from. Don’t worry about holding the image the entire time you’re practicing, you’re just to make them clear and solid at the beginning to connect with the current, also these are not figures you banish, just leave them be and they will fade back into Emptiness and your Mind.
-=-=-=-=-=-
This is the Tibetan, the phrasing is a bit more complex. You’d do it the same way, except “Chio” is when you would snap each time.
Palden Lama Dampa Namla Chap Sou Chio
Yidam Chilkor Gyi Lhatsog Namla Chap Sou Chio
Sangye Chomdende Namla Chap Sou Chio
Dampe Cho Namla Chap Sou Chio
Phape Gendun Namla Chap Sou Chio
Pawo Kandro Cho Kyong Srungme Tsog Yeshe Khi Chyen Dang Denpa Namla Chap Sou Chio

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick

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