burial

To start off my Wednesday Webshare I thought I’d remind readers that I have a small etsy shop BlueFlameMagick Supplies. I sell consecrated pendants, malas, and divination services. I’ve been thinking of listing more of my services on there to make it easier for people to contact/contract me. Anyways three items I want to call attention:Quartz Mala, of which there is only the one; Custom malas, which are fun to make, I’ve been asked to make them for the Three Rays of Witchcraft, Hekate (twice), Hermes (twice), Lilith, Samael, Lucifer, Vajrasattva, and the concept of Ice; and lastly the Chthonic Mala, because they’re back in stock, and were the first item I had that ever sold out (also jokingly called the most Goth item I’ve consecrated).
I shared this on twitter quite a while back, but it really deserves to be shared again. This is fairly graphic, so consider yourself warned. Below is photo documentation of a sky burial (jhator), an example of excarnation. I really enjoyed it. If you’re unfamiliar with the practice this is a Himalayan form of disposing of the dead. It’s a great reminder of impermanence. In the burial a body is partially (or completely) cut up, and left for carrion to eat. It’s fascinating to watch how it all happens (I love the photo of the guys running away from the vulture swarm), you can also see where some of the idea of offering the body in Vajrayana Buddhism (specifically in Chöd) came from.
Speaking of Buddhism, not sure what to wear to meditate? How about $995 meditation pants? I’m pretty sure Buddha wore them too. And people worry about commercialism and religion.
Such pants may not be on as long as normal pants, as apparently meditating boosts the sex drive. I will say that some of you know me, and no more needs to be explained. Though it does make me curious about celibate monastics, no sex, lots of meditation, poor guys.
While it seems overly simple, and is your basic sympathetic magick, there is some evidence that destroying or throwing away written negative thoughts helps you get over them. Like I said, it’s simple, but considering some of the ideas behind sympathetic magick (not to mention psychologizing and giving form to things) it’s not too surprising.
To go back in time, The Unlikely Mage has recently started his Agrippa for the non-Medievalist. He’s going through The Three Books of Occult Philosophy chapter by chapter and giving a synopsis, explaining some of the background material, and trying to have it make sense to modern readers.
Polyphanes has started a series of posts on the depth and seriousness of magick. It’s an attitude I understand and love seeing expressed, I recommend everyone check out Getting Burnt by the Stars.
Going farther back io9 asks Can we bring the Greek Gods back please? I know more than a few people who are upset at the implication they left, but it’s a fun article on the “advantages” of bringing back the Greek gods.
Also from io9, and also dealing with Mediterranean culture, do you want to look like a Vestal Virgin? A hair-stylist goes out of the way to learn how to recreate the iconic hair style and gives some brief instructions on how to do it.